The round white-lilac eyes roamed around the dining room with a gentle smile hidden within the orbs. They drank up the tender and peaceful image of a family spending a dinner together. The owner discreetly focused on particular Uchiha, the very Uchiha she would not have thought would ever be sitting at their table eating with them and smiling about it. Well, Hanabi supposed that the tilt in his lips was less of a smile and more of a smirk.

It was better than the emotionless and unfeeling facade he wore in public. There was a side to that man she would never have been able to see without her sister. He was cold but kind, intimidating but protective, aloof but considerate. Uchiha Sasuke was still a great mystery, but with her sister's help, she'd unravel him.

It had come as a huge shock, years back, when Hinata revealed that she was interested in the Uchiha. Sasuke had returned from traveling around Shinobi world for Naruto and Sakura's wedding, something that had been a huge astonishment for her sister but hadn't been to Hanabi. If her sister had been paying closer attention to reality instead of fawning over the Uzumaki, she would have seen how close Sakura was to Naruto when compared to her.

Hanabi felt that it was only a matter of time before Sakura accepted Naruto's feeling for her. The two had been through so much together as a team, and when Sasuke left to join Orochimaru it was only natural they grew closer. It had only been a matter of time before their friendship and close bond turned into something more, something stronger. Then the wedding came along with Hinata's broken heart.

Hanabi had only seen her sister cry like that once before, and that had been after Neji's deaths. Hinata had stopped training, didn't go on as many missions, and even saw less of her teammates. It was as if the light had gone out of her, everything that Hinata had done she had done for Naruto, he had been her goal and her reasoning for fighting on even after their father had given her birthright title to Hanabi.

Her sister, no matter how many times she got knocked down and belittled, she got back up. Hinata's love was so strong and pure that even now, Hanabi got a little irked remembering how Naruto seemed to be utterly oblivious of her sister's feeling, going as far as personally inviting Hinata to the wedding. How dense can someone be?

The flicker of pain in the joints of her left hand reminded her that she was squeezing her chakra laced hands underneath the table. She had drawn the curious eyes of Hinata to her, but thankfully father and Sasuke were still chatting with each other across the table. The Hyuga Head took in some deep breaths to settle her rising chakra and temper. When it came to her sister she always got just a tad bit carried away.

Hanabi, for the longest time, despised Naruto Uzumaki. He had taken something precious away from Hinata, even if he hadn't meant or didn't know, it was already done. She had feared that her sister would never be the same again, that was until the night she came home from the wedding. Hanabi had assumed she'd be all teary-eyed and depressed, but she had come back to the estate with a tiny smile playing at her lips.

She seemed to radiate a little more light and happiness, Hanabi wouldn't get to the bottom of her sister mood swings for a couple of months. She highly doubted anyone in the whole Shinobi Universe would have guessed that it was an Uchiha who was bringing that joy to Hinata.

It had taken Hanabi a little time to warm-up to the Uchiha. A man who's only rival was the Uzumaki. A man who had defected from their village only to return and try and destroy it. A man who was practically a god himself. It was unnerving to see him, a dark, disturbing, ruthless and slightly insane, man with Hinata, light, sweet, innocent, kind, Hinata.

At first, she had thought the man had some sort of hidden motive with going after her sister when she had just taken a knife to the heart. After the first year of them being together and Hinata's vast improvement in strength as a Kunoichi, she slowly came around to the idea that he might be sticking around. It was only after the marriage and birth of Akira did she fully approve of him. He was rough around the edge, but with sister's help, the man managed to wedge himself into her heart too. He belonged here even if not everyone in the clan was exactly welcoming.

Their father, after four grandchildren and old age, started opening his heart a little more and accepted the Uchiha Head as well. It was funny to see the stern, no-nonsense former Clan Leader fawning over the younger generation. Hanabi was truly happy for her sister and for sharing her family with them. Yet there, in the back of Hanabi's heart, would always be a little spite for the Uchiha, something that would have built and festered within her heart forever if not for Sasuke.

It had been a three years after Himawari's birth, Hanabi had taken on her last mission as an ANBU before she'd retire to concentrate solely on her duty as the Head of the Clan. She had been distracted by unwanted feeling and thoughts, she slipped up and made a grave error, one that had nearly cost her her life. They had gotten her to the medical-nin barely alive, Sakura was able to save her life but the damage was already done. A gruesome scar ran from the left of her hip all the way to the lower right breast.

If she hadn't been retiring, she felt her career as a Shinobi would have come to an end right then and there. The worst of it was the fact that she'd never be able to have children, Hanabi really didn't mind retiring if she could have had a family like Hinata, children, a husband, something to keep her smiling. Now it could never happen. She had gone to a bad place for awhile, saying some very terrible and hurtful things to her sister, blaming her for Neji's death, for abandoning her to Sasuke, and more. She had been at her ultimate low for months.

Konohamaru visited her daily when she was in the hospital. She never took much of an interest in him when she was young, he started off as an annoyance, and that slowly turned into a friendship, now she wasn't sure what he was to her. He stayed at her side no matter what she called him or told him, he took all her frustration and anger without flinching, always coming back the next day.

She guessed she grew dependent on him in a way. Her depression, 'it's heavy' was the only way she could define it. She had to carry it around even though she never wanted to. It was always over her, casting its shadow on her life. It was hung by a thin thread, too fragile to hold something so heavy. Most of the time she didn't know what caused the thread to finally break releasing the weight on her.

It fell too fast, and before she could run she'd be pinned down. It crushed her ribs, made it hard for her to breathe. She tried to scream; a cry for help was of no use. No one else could see it - the weight that had been slowly crushing her to death.

Then it would lessen, just a little so she could breathe again, Konohamaru would lift that weight when it became too much. He helped show her that life wasn't over yet, she could still fight she was still strong, she still had an entire clan to look after. He helped give her a purpose for a little while, the weight would always come crashing down whenever she saw Hinata and her family, the constant reminder of what she couldn't have.

She hadn't want her sister happy and smiling when she was hurting and dead inside The sadness grabbed her heart tight, crushes it to pieces. She wished that her sister would be as miserable as she was, she wanted her to know what it felt like to experience real pain. When Hinata had her fourth child, Ryuu, his birth was tough.

They had gotten him out alright, but he had killed his mother. Hinata had died on the table, she was dead for a full minute before they were able to get her heart beating again. Her wish had come true, Hinata had been utterly miserable and disheartened when she learned that she wouldn't be able to have any more kids. Any brightness inside of Hanabi had been gulped by something dark. No, she would be wrong to say it is dark - it is empty, nothing. She had hated herself so much.

It would be four long years before she could come to peace with her demons. The night Sasuke came to her doors had been a particularly stormy one, the sky weep tears of rain in rapid succession and the wind howled and screamed it's rage, thunder ruptured and clapped and lightning danced a little jig in the stormy sky. It had been well past midnight and she had been training when she was summoned to the front entrance where she found a drenched Uchiha.

She had taken him to her private studies, once her father's and now her own, where he showed the tiny bundle underneath his cloak. It was a child, a little girl no older than his youngest son. The girl's ebony hair had strains of white in it, her eyes resembled those of a Hyūga yet the girl herself was not one Hanabi had ever seen inside the clan. There were a few members outside of the clan that had been placed in marriages outside of the clan to secure trades and strengthen alliances, but those were very rare and all records of any births were recorded.

Sasuke had told her the girl's name was Tsubaki, she and the mother, Sango, had been brought into the village when they were found at Konoha's borders and taken straight to the hospital. Sango gave them no last name nor any clan, no husband either, just told them that she had traveled from the Land of Honey to bring her daughter to the best medical-nin in all of the Hidden Villages.

Tsubaki had an oddly high amount of chakra in her system for a child, it didn't behave like normal chakra. The chakra had been destroying her chakra paths and slowly killing her from the inside out. Tsubaki was kept at the hospital for research and testing alongside her mother, no one had ever heard of anything like this before. Tsubaki was a good docile patient for a year. After that year, she was always out of her bed roaming the halls at nice, laughing and playing with her 'friends' Kuramen and the balls of fire. That is when Sasuke had taken an interest in the little girl and her friends.

Hanabi had thought he had been joking when he told her that the angelic looking child had the nine-tailed demon seal inside her. He hadn't given her very many specifics just said he needs somewhere to keep her out of sight for a while. She blended in with the Hyūga the best, there was no doubt she had to be their descendant.

Hanabi had agreed to keep her in the Clan, a while would turn into one year and then in another half she adopted the child into her family. It was hard at first hearing the question 'where's my Okaasan?' day in and day out. It took six long months before the news of her mother's death actually hit her and the denial washed away.

For two months the night terrors would come nonstop, the black hair would turn a colorless white due to the constant fear and paranoia of seeing her mother's dead face everytime she closed her eyes. Then finally her eyesight would wan before failing completely. Sakura theorized that it was trauma when nothing could be found wrong with the child's eye.

Despite her flaws and her fears, it would be the little smiles or the loving hugs that completely lifted the weight from Hanabi's shoulders and melted her heart. The motherly love she had for Tsubaki is the ordinary kind. It is no more than any mother she knew and respect. It is the kind of love that would move heaven and earth for her child if she had the power. It is the kind of love that says 'I would give my life for my child anytime, any place.'

It was the spark that should ignite in every mother. She loved that little girl like she was her own, so one could only imagine the fear that gripped her mind when a branch member stepped into the dining room and whispered into her ear. She lost the typical mask she wore as her lips quivered and her eyes widened in horror. She was up and out of the room before another breath could be taken, her chakra laced feet carried her down the hallways towards the west side of the Compound.

Her Kekki Genkai awakened itself with heightened emotions, she was able to see them before she was anywhere near them. The bodies, fifteen Hyūga members laying motionless on the ground, the blood oozed out of their bodies and seeping into the wooden floorboards. She bypassed them as tears formed in the corner of each eye, she went straight down the hallway and turned the corner to reach the room.

"Tsubaki!" She didn't sound like herself, panic had dug its claws into her chest and wasn't letting go. Hanabi knew she wasn't in here, her eyes said so, it didn't stop her from looking in the girl's closet, the bathroom connected to the bedroom, in the girl's massive stuff animal collection. She didn't even check before she strikes, spinning effortless on the tip of her left foot, she thrust an arm out with a hand laced in lethal chakra.

The blow connected with the sheath of a sword, cracking it instead of breaking it. The black eye shifted to red as the Uchiha glared at her, the panic inside her wavered just a tad at the fierce frown she was given. She moved to maneuver around Sasuke yet he wouldn't allow her to go far, a strong hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back.

"Let go!" In her haste to find her daughter, Hanabi slammed another chakra laced palm at the man, she never came close to touch him. The sheath lashed out and struck her wrist making Hanabi grit her teeth in pain.

"Knock it off." The low tone had a warning edge to it. "You're not going to find her if you're not thinking straight." He released her arm from his grip and walked ahead of her out of the child's room. "I can't sense Ryuu. He's probably with her." He commented, waiting for her just outside the room. The sword that he constantly carried around was back in place behind him.

As he looked over his back at her that eye was no longer glowing red, there was no way to tell he was concerned by his facial expression it was the fact that he had stopped at the doorway to make sure she was coming along that said it all. Hanabi took in a deep breath and stopped pumping chakra to her eyes, turning them off, before stepping behind the man. She hoped that whoever was trespassing did not touch Tsubaki or they would have hell to pay.


Someone was crying, it would have been soundless if not for the small hiccups that came with it. Ryuu tries to rouse himself into a state of awareness and finds that something is very wrong. Everything is so heavy, his arms, his legs, his head, even his eyelids. It takes him three attempts before they finally do as he demanded, even then he had a difficult time keeping them open. The one in his line of sight is that girl, his playmate.

His vision is blurry until his eyes brought themselves into focus, he only sees her and two of the blue balls of firelight hovering over her shoulder. There were pearl-shaped tears rolling down her cheeks from wide luminous eyes. Her tears made wet trails that glistened in the moonlight, her teeth are digging into her lower lip again as her chest heaves up and down as if she can't get enough air. He's worried that she's having a panic attack and wants to tell to calm down, wants to know why she crying, wants her to stop chew on the bottom of her lip before she breaks the skin again. But he can't even open his mouth, what's wrong with him?

His head lops forwards when he feels the pressure on his wrists. The blood that had once flowed thick and scarlet in his veins was clasped in her miniature fingers. She had one hand on each wrist and was holding them together, but the blood slipped through the cracks and stained the grass crimson. His wrists? When had he cut his wrists? He couldn't remember anything after falling asleep with the girl in his arms.

He wanted to tell her to go find his mother, she'd be able to help him. His tongue felt like lead in his mouth and refused to budge. He managed to get his head to lean back against the bark of the tree trunk, he could feel himself fading fast. If he could just gather enough Chakra he could heal himself up, regrettably, between his training with his Otousama and the game with this girl, he had used more chakra then he had willing to spare. He was practically running on low now. Was this really going to be how he died?

He took in several shallow breaths and concentrated on his core where his chakra laid dormant, as he expected his chakra was too low. For him to use any at this moment would be signing over his life to death. He didn't like this feeling, it was new and terrifying, the feeling of being helpless. He didn't know what to do. His eyes returned to the girl or rather over her shoulder, there was someone standing there just behind her.

The sight had his heartbeat pick up, and his eyes widening a fraction. He willed his mouth to move and his tongue to work, nothing worked all he got was a soft groan to escape. His arms fell limp on his thighs as the girl was grabbed by the back of her collar and suspended in the air by an adult.

He couldn't tell if it was a male or female, they were cloaked in a loss black robe and a hood concealed their face. Four more materialized out of the shadows to stand beside their leader.

"Are you sure this is the one?" The leader questioned one of the subordinates who looked over in Ryuu's direction.

"Yeah, I'm sssssure. Nagini checked before poisoning the boy, that one hasss the sssseal." The voice replied with an unusual hiss after every S. As if doubting their word, the leader hoisted the child higher while slipping a hand underneath her kimono to lift it up. Too petrified to even think of moving, the child flinches as the cold night air brushes against the bare skin of her little legs. The leader pulled the dress up just underneath her chest to find the seal on the lowest part of her sternum. The leader drops the dress once he has a visual and turns to the others.

"Are we unsealing her?" One asked and gets a head shake from the leader.

"No, the Lord wants this one brought in. She's young we can use her."

"What about the boy?" Another asked.

"He's as good asssssssss dead, if not from the blood lossssss the poissssion will kill him." The hissing one reminded them, leaving the group to kneel down in front of Ryuu. "You're pretty. It'sss ssuch a shame to just kill you? Perhapssss I'll take you with after you die you'll corpse would make such a beautiful nesssst for my babiesss." Those words might have put a new kind of terror in his head if he hadn't been watching those orbs.

They had grown small, mimicking those glowing bugs he always saw during the warmer nights. One had floated down to hover right behind the hissing one's shoulder. Then it flew right inside the body, the ball of light phased through the chest, the hissing one didn't notice a thing.

"We have to move, Sir. Someone is coming our way fast." A lacky reported to the leader who was staring at the girl with unseen expression. Her lips were moving but her words were too soft to be heard, the tears did not stop falling. The man leaned into to hear what the child was saying and wished he hadn't.

"You're all going to die here." A nanosecond after the last word left her lips the screaming began.

The hissing one's hand raised themselves to their neck, taking in deep and noisy breaths of oxygen only to gasp when trying to exhale. They couldn't get a breath out, they couldn't breathe. The hood is thrown off revealing a feminine face with unnatural yellow eyes that are blinking too fast to keep up with. Her hands wrap around her neck as her legs give out from underneath her.

Her head is pounding, her lungs are burning and every cell in her body is screaming for oxygen. Her heart started beating frantically, desperate for sweet oxygen. But it was no use. The oxygen she had had moments earlier was spent and she was left with a headache, dizziness. After a what felt like eons in suffering, her thoughts and memories were taken away as sweet blackness engulfed her world and her life left her body.

Another one who had dropped his hood was clawing frantically on his stomach, crying about how much it burned. In his left hand, he grabs a sickle like weapon and plunges into his stomach, if he feels the pain he does not give any sign. As the flesh splits, crimson liquid pops from the barrier and seeps away from the wound.

The blood flow started slowly before gushing from the abdomen wound as over and over again the man cut through his robes and carved into his flesh. He sliced and cut until the flesh was raw and organs started to be seen. He stabbed and ripped until the blood coated his hands and his blade fell from his hands: until his legs were no longer able to hold him; until he slipped into a coma before death followed in its wake.

The leader watched his subordinates fall right into death's clutch one after one, he propelled himself forwards and up to the rooftop when he sensed the killing intent coming from behind him. He just managed to avoid losing his head as a blade sliced through the air directly where he had been seconds ago, the one standing beside him hadn't been as lucky.

The head was cleaved cleanly from the body and dropped to the ground with a solid thump before rolling a few inches away, the body fell backward onto the grass. The scarlet-eyed man standing behind the fallen body was a rather grim sight. The last remaining subordinate made the mistake of look the Uchiha in the eye, they hit the ground in a motionless heap.

Sasuke viewed the man as he fled off the rooftop, he was more than ready to pursue until he saw his son. The boy was just sitting there against the tree, his eyelids had grown too heavy for him to keep open and so he had succumbed to the darkness. In a rare instance, Sasuke's mind was starting to fail, like an engine that turns over and over, never kicking into action.

He couldn't formulate a thought. The sight freezes him in his spot and drained all hope, dreams and feeling from within him, replacing them with a feeling of despair, hopelessness and most of all, fear. Its claws cut through his body and wrapped around his brain. Rationality taps its way into his mind when he sees the boy's chest rise and fall, he can sense what little chakra still in the body. Ryuu is alive.

He is bending over his son when Hanabi catches up. His eyes observe the deep indents in the boy's wrists, the vein had been punctured and the blood wasn't conjugating. The marks looked identical to those of a snake bite, he knew them well.

"Where is she?" Hanabi came up behind his shoulder, eyes misty at the sight of Ryuu yet in constant motion as she searched for her daughter. Her jaw unlocked itself, appearing ready to repeat the question as Sasuke pressed his forehead lightly against his son's before he rose to stand.

"Take him to Hinata. I'll get Tsubaki." His voice rumbles like a storm deep inside of him. It's low and emotionless but powerful enough to send chills through Hanabi's body. She knew this tone of voice well, it brought her back to her years of Shinobi training instilled within her. She grits her teeth and lowers her head just a little when the man glared at her. She loses any will to argue with him with that glare. It was scary.

"I'll take him." As he turns to leave she adds, "She has social anxiety, she's never been outside in the village before. She'll be scared and panic you need to be careful with her and keep her calm. "

The man nods his head before leaving. He flares his chakra, sensing several Shinbo in the village and guarding the walls. He couldn't pick up any foreign chakra in the area, what he did notice that the massive increase in chakra coming from the east of the village, it was building rapidly and had a familiar feel to it.

"Kurama." He muttered to himself picking up his speed as he flew towards the increasing chakra. He found the girl and her captor on the rooftop of a building, the girl was free. Tsubaki was sitting formally on the rooftop, kneeling on her legs and her hands resting in her lap. Her head was slanted slightly to the right and seemed to watch the man on the ground five feet ahead of her.

The leader was on his back, his clothes were singed and burned, where his hair had been were large scorch marks in a circular shape. He had second-degree burns on his skull and face, the visible parts of his torso could be seen where blisters were bubbling and popping open to gushing out disgusting puss, other parts of his body had the skin and muscle worn away. In places, the damage was deeper in the structures such as tendons, joints, and bone.

Sasuke cleared the distances between them and came up behind the pair. He had the strongest urge to grab his blade as he saw the dark red chakra coming from the child in thick waves.

"Kurama?" He was expecting to hear the demon's voice loudly within his head, so was lost when the girl didn't move an inch. "Tsubaki." Her head twisted just a little to give him her ear, besides that she remained practically motionless. The man wanted to get closer, however, there were eight balls hovering circling around the intruder and the last stationed just behind the girl. He could feel the heat coming off them from where he stood, it was almost as intense and overwhelming as Amaterasu's black flames.

"You're a damned soul, causing endless pain and harm to others. Perhaps it is time to die?" Tsubaki's words were delivered in a detached and cold-blooded voice. Sasuke watched as the girl simply smiled while raising a hand and waving good bye. He watched as the orbs of fire descended like ravenous wolves, morphing into the man's body.

He watched as the man combusted into flames upon contact, his screams silent as the white-blue fire in his body took away his oxygen, his flesh, even his bones. He was a pile of ashes in under a minute. The Uchiha did nothing but watch this unfold with a blank expression. One by one the orbs slipped out of the pile of ashes and returned to the child. They slipped into her body, fusing with the demonic chakra already circulating through her paths. It was only after all nine orbs were back in place did the demon withdraw his chakra from her body, making the girl shudder in protest.

"Tsubaki." This time she turned to look at him, her eyes were rimmed red and puffy as tears continued falling down her cheeks. She looked as broken as she did the night she saw her mother die. He noted that her irises seemed a little lighter than any of the other members of her clan, there was something wrong with her eyes. He decided not to dwell on it nor what had just happened.

Hanabi was supposed to report everything that went on with this girl to him, a part of their terms of keeping her. He quickly noticed the incoming shinobi most likely coming to check that source of demonic chakra. Sasuke returned his attention to Tsubaki as the child stumbled her way over to him, she had her hands nervously pulling on the long strains of her white hair. He could hear her breaths come out in gasps and sensed Kurama's chakra surging through her body again.

He can't tell what is wrong with her; when it came to problems like this he always had Hinata around to deal with them. She stops a foot or two in front of him and crouches on the ground, hands leaving her hair to cover her ears with her eyes shut tightly.

The balls are back, they slip out of her body smaller than before but still no less threatening.

"Sasuke!" He barely glances in Sakura's direction as the Kunoichi shows up on the rooftop. She brings their former sensei with her along with the Nara. He can't pay too much attention to them right now, all nine of the balls are flying around the rooftop in different directions. They grow frantic as Tsubaki begins rocking back and forth and letting out loud sobs.

She's taking. Talking like she doesn't have enough time to say what she needs to. Her words are crowded together and some are missing. Her sentences are fragmented and her thoughts seem to jump from one thing to another. All her fears are tumbling out unchecked by her brain, she's in some kind of mental freefall, unable to center her mind. The worst she becomes the more violent the balls acts. It gets hot, their fire scorching the air.

The three shinobi had to swiftly evade them as they streamed around them. Sakura threw four shurikens at one and watched as the throwing stars went through the flames, coming out the other side in a melted mess of metal still red from the flames. He ignored the other they, they were jonin level shinobi they should be able to handle some balls of fire.

Sasuke stepped towards the trembling girl who was trying to make herself as small as possible. He remembers Hanabi's words about Tsubaki's problem. He's met a lot of people in his messed up life, but never one with social anxiety nor so young. He decided that the best way to get all of this to stop before she burned down the entire village is to shut her mind.

He closed the distances between them and, perhaps a little too roughly, he grabbed the child's chin and pushed her up to get her eyes on him. His Sharingan should have put her asleep as soon as her eyes met his, but that wasn't the case. She remained awake and aware, all he accomplished was scaring her worse.

He felt pain surge in his left arm, it ebbed as soon as he put more distance between them with a leap backward. The orb hanging near his arm left him alone once he was no longer directly in front of the girl. He had a first-degree burn where it grazed him yet clearly had no intention of doing any serious harm. It could have hurt him as badly as it had the man who was now a pile of ashes, so why didn't it?

He took a second to map out the direction of the path of every orb with his crimson eye, analyzing them as if he had all the time in the world. The more he watched the more he learned. The orbs weren't trying to hurt them, just keep them on their toes and away from the young heiress. They stayed within the boundary of the of the rooftop, never straying to touch other homes or buildings.

They'd move towards them, slightly angled to avoid colliding or touching their body, occasionally singing clothing or hair, but never trying to internally cause harm. It had Sasuke thinking and staring in Tsubaki's direction.

He replaced the girl with one of his daughters and what he would do if they were in this situation. Those thoughts brought him to his night terrors, waking up in a panic, the loss of breath and fear. He reminisced on how Hinata managed to calm him. This was the only plan he had right now, so it was better than nothing. He charged forwards, maneuvering around the balls to reach Tsubaki.

He hunched down low in front of her and grasped one of her shaking hands, pressing it against his chest right over his heart. "Tsubaki, I need you to concentrate. Block everything else out and focus only on me. Slow your breathing and match mine." He spoke softly to her like one would a spooked animal. It felt like an eternity before the little girl was no longer hyperventilating and the erratic heartbeat composed itself.

The fireballs stopped flying around hectically and all began to come back to Tsubaki. They flew in a few circles until the sobs quieted down to sniffles, finally returning to their demonic source.

With the threat of being cooked gone, Sasuke stood up pulling the child into his arms. She clung to him as if he were a lifeline, her little hands gripped at his shirt so tightly her knuckles appeared even whiter. She was asleep by the time Sakura, Kakashi, and Shikamaru stepped up.

"So she's the one you sealed the tailed beast in?" Shikamaru sounded as bored and lazy as ever. The way his eyes stared at the child gave away his interest in her. Sasuke didn't bother answering the question it was obvious wasn't it. Shikamaru was one of the select few who knew that Naruto did not hold the tail beast inside him anymore.

He and four others plus the Council knew what had had to be done two years ago. The rest of the villagers and Shinobi had no idea that there was a new vessel for the Bijuu. Sasuke would like to keep it that way for as long as possible.

"Who's blood is that?" Sakura asked, spotting the dark maroon stains on Tsubaki's kimono.

"It's not hers," Sasuke confirmed yet didn't bother elaborating on who's it belonged to.

"Your Sharingan does not work on her?" Kakashi had been debating on asking the question. Seeing as Sasuke was in a 'talkative' mood he found it was better to ask now rather than wait to later when his former student wasn't as distract. Trying to get information out of Sasuke when he didn't feel like talking was impossible.

"My Kekki Genkai is fine." He growled a little defensively. They've been worrying about his eyes since his Rinnegan was no longer in use. It wasn't the fact that there was anything wrong with it and more the fact that he couldn't remember for the life of him how to use the eye properly. "It doesn't work if I don't have eye contact, being blind would also hinder it." Sasuke was slowly finding the others presents just a little suffocating.

He was also worried about Ryuu and Hinata, although liked to act strong, was probably breaking down internally. The woman lived and breathed for her family theses days. "I need to take her back home. I need to see you three in the Office at the first light tomorrow. We need to discuss Hanabi Hyūga." He tossed the words over his back as he reached an edge of the rooftop.

He let out a heavy sigh as he cleared the gap between the rooftop and the next one, unfortunately, Hanabi had been filing false reports about the girl to him. She had broken their agreement and because of that Tsubaki's life in this village was going to have to be uprooted. It was time to call on the Kazekage for a favor.


These chapter's are becoming a lot longer then I thought they'd be, but I am not complain when my muse runs away with my story. I put a little bit of Tsubaki's history in this one, she's got a bigger backstory which I'll build on later.

Anyway, Hanabi may seem a somewhat OOC in this and Sasuke as well, yet due to the events that have gone on in their lives in this story they've both changed as people.

HinaSasuChoAsu: SasuHina, I'm not going to lie, is my OTP for Naruto, behind them is NaruSaku. I agree with you about Hinata balancing Sasuke out. The little's girl's memory is completely intact, although she acts carefree she's suffering from some serious trauma, as this chapter should answer. Thanks for the review I liked reading it.

So I read up on the abilities Tailed Beasts give their Jinchūriki, I liked Kurama's but added an additional ability to better protect his young host with the little balls of fire. They kind of function like Gaara's sand does when he's a child, on their own and without consent from the host. They'll be around a lot in this story and will possibly be getting names and mild personalities.

Tsubaki calls her beast, Kurama, Ramen, for whatever reason she believes his name is Kuramen thus springing the nickname.

Random Question: Is there an exam for the Jonin Rank or is that just appointed by the Kage or a Superior?

Thanks to everyone for any reviews, favorites, or follows.