Uchiha Sasuke exited the ruins of Nakano Shrine, followed by Hozuki Suigetsu, Juugo, Orochimaru, and the previous four Hokage. He stopped short, almost causing Suigetsu to bump into him, when he noticed a woman standing near the shrine's dilapidated torii gate and staring up at the full moon, her long, dark hair partially concealed by the shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, the Uchiha called out to the woman, "Who are you?"

She turned toward him, not seeming startled in the slightest, her black eyes shining in the moonlight. "It's been a long time, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes further in suspicion, "How do you know my name?"

She tilted her head slightly, seeming amused, "You came to my village once about five years ago on a mission to rescue me from bandits... only when you and your teammates arrived..."

"You had already used genjutsu to rescue yourself." Sasuke finished, realization dawning in his eyes, "Aiko."

From behind Sasuke, the Third Hokage's eyes widened at the young woman before him, "Aiko?! What are you doing here in Konoha?"

Aiko blinked in surprise at him, "Lord Third!" She exclaimed before smiling wanly, "A friend from my village, who is a merchant, brought me here with him. He thinks I've become a shut-in lately and that a change of scenery might do me some good."

"That doesn't answer the question of what you're doing here though." Sasuke remarked, "Why have you come to Nakano Shrine? How long have you been here?"

Aiko sighed softly, "Since before you got here, actually. I had just arrived when I sensed your approach, so I hid in the trees and suppressed my chakra to conceal my presence. I'm good at not being noticed when I don't want to be. I have your older brother to thank for that."

Sasuke's eyes widened into saucers, "Itachi...? But how do you—"

"I've known your brother since I was a small child." Aiko answered him, "He was the person who saved me on the night of my father's death, ten years ago, and one of the few who knew about my mother's mission. After what happened with the clan... he sought my mother and I out and visited us every once in a while. Eventually he became my teacher. He said that it grounded him, having allies from Konoha who knew his secret. It helped him to avoid completely losing himself in his mission, to remember his reason for all of it. And he said that teaching me was a means for him to pass on the Will of Fire." She smiled sadly at Sasuke, "It was never my desire to keep all of this from you. The truth is, I didn't know the full story behind the Uchiha Clan's destruction myself until a few months ago. Back then, Okaasan just told me not to mention Itachi-niichan to you, because he had been on his espionage mission for so long that bringing him up would upset you." The teenaged girl looked back at the full moon above them, "That said, although my friend did insist on my coming to Konoha with him, I can't say that I was adverse to his suggestion. The truth is that I made a promise to your brother, that I would come here tonight. He said that the Akatsuki's plan would come to fruition tonight, and wanted me to take shelter in the underground chamber until the worst was over."

"He told you about that?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"Yes, but what does it matter?" Aiko asked him, "The Uchiha tablet cannot be read without the Sharingan, right? It's not as if I'll learn something I shouldn't by going down there."

"But, Aiko—" Hiruzen began.

"It's fine, Lord Third." Aiko told him, "I'm not in danger anymore." She smiled weakly at Sasuke again, "I have you, Sasuke-san, to thank for that."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, and Aiko's gaze drifted toward her feet.

"I haven't grown up here in Konoha, so I don't feel that I have a right to judge you for the choices you've made recently. Nor am I angry with you about Itachi-niichan's death. I can't be, when I know that he only lived as long as he did for the sake of dying by your hand. Besides, I promised both him and my mother that I would never allow hate to consume me. That being said, when you killed Shimura Danzou, you saved me from a lifetime of terror, Sasuke-san, because he was the one who sought to take my life." At this, Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, and Aiko looked up at him, "That's why I chose to reveal myself to you, instead of waiting until you left to enter the shrine. I wanted to thank you. As I said, I don't have the right to judge you for your actions, but... I can't say I don't believe that the world is better off without that man's existence. He pushed the Uchiha to their destruction, murdered my father, and sought to kill me. I can't say that there aren't people who will be better off, now that he is gone. You may not have had the right reasons for killing him, but you did what needed to be done, and what nobody else was willing to do."

Sasuke said nothing, not that he had a chance, because the Third Hokage voiced his own thoughts first. "Aiko, where is your mother?!" Hiruzen demanded, wondering just what Megumi would say if she heard the words spilling from her daughter's mouth. Aiko's eyes immediately became downcast again, and she turned away from the group slightly to hide her expression.

"She's gone, Lord Third. She died on the same day as Danzou..." Sasuke noticed the girl's fist trembling slightly in the darkness, "...Because of my stupidity."

"What do you mean?" Hiruzen asked, looking utterly confused.

Aiko sighed, attempting to release the tension in her shoulders. "When I heard that Sasuke-san was after Danzou, I wanted to know why. My mother had kept everything hidden from me... and even in those circumstances, refused to answer me, so I set out on my own to find Sasuke-san and ask why. Okaasan chased after me of course, and caught up to me as I was being attacked on the road. I fought them, but held back because... I was worried about revealing what kind of ninjutsu that I, a supposedly simple country girl, knew. When Okaasan arrived, she fought them, but was struck by a poisoned blade... It was in that moment that I learned an important lesson: Dead men tell no tales."

"You killed the bandits using ninjutsu that Itachi taught you." Sasuke said. It wasn't really a question, but Aiko shook her head anyway.

"No. Not something that I learned from him. In fact, Itachi-niichan was always adamant about not teaching me ninjutsu, especially those from the Uchiha. He said it would attract too much attention. It was one that I learned... from somebody else... But it did the trick. After that, I... I tried to seek help from Konoha, but... Lady Tsunade was unconscious, her first apprentice, Shizune-san, was running the village at that time, and her second apprentice, Sakura-san, was apparently somewhere else."

"Chasing after me, actually." Sasuke remarked, "With a rather stupid plan in her head, I might add."

"I... won't ask about that. It isn't any of my business." Aiko replied awkwardly, "Besides, what Sakura-san was doing is irrelevant. If I had just stayed put like I should've, Okaasan would still be..."

Sasuke was quiet for a moment, but then he walked forward and placed a hand on Aiko's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault." He told her, "I killed my own brother in cold blood, only to immediately regret it. That was 100% my fault. You simply wanted answers, and from what you've said regarding your father, you had a right to them. It's not as if getting your mother killed was your intention. She should've just told you the truth. You were old enough to know."

Aiko looked surprised, but she sniffled, smiling weakly as she wiped a tear from her eye before taking Sasuke's hand from her shoulder, holding it with her own hand. "Thank you, Sasuke-san." She let go of his hand and breathed out, managing to regain her composure. "At any rate, I won't keep you any longer. You're heading to the battlefield, right? I don't want to cause more trouble for people by delaying you." She looked over at the Fourth Hokage and smiled as cheerfully as she could manage, "I believe that Naruto-kun is over there. It's been several years since I last saw him, but, I've heard that he's become the pride of Konoha."

The Fourth Hokage's eyes widened, "You know my son?"

Aiko nodded, "I guess you could say that he is my oldest friend. Okaasan always said that it was ironic, that I, of all people, would be friends with..." She smiled, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Never mind. I'm only delaying things further." Suddenly her eyes opened wide and she looked back at Sasuke, "Before that, Sasuke-san, do you remember my mother's warning to you and your team, five years ago?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, thinking back, before answering, "'Beware the Juugoya of sorrow' or something like that..."

"That's right." Aiko said with a firm nod, before looking back at the full moon, "Based on what Itachi-niichan told me, the curse of the full moon will be stronger tonight than any other night, and those who have descended from the Senju, Uzumaki, Hyuuga, and Uchiha will probably get the worst of it. For that reason, take care on the battlefield tonight. If you let your guard down for even a second..."

"Yeah, I got it." Sasuke said, as if there was no need to remind him before turning to leave, "Watch your back too, all right? I know you'll be hiding in the shrine like you promised Itachi, but you seem to attract that supposed curse too for some reason."

Aiko smiled wryly at him and nodded and then thought of something. "Oh, wait! There was one ninjutsu that your brother taught to me." She bit her thumb, wove a few signs, and placed her palm on the ground, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" In a small puff of smoke, a single raven appeared. Aiko held out her forearm and the raven jumped onto it with a caw. She stood up and smiled at Sasuke, "You can follow this raven to the battlefield. It can lead you to where you need to go." Sasuke nodded and Aiko jerked her forearm upward as a signal for the raven to fly, "Go! Lead Sasuke-san to Naruto-kun and then return to your home!" The raven took flight with another cry and Sasuke quickly followed after it with the other shinobi following after him as Aiko watched.

愛の恵み

"I don't get it." Namikaze Minato mused as he ran alongside the other three Hokage "Why would it be ironic for that girl to be friends with my son?"

"Do you remember two shinobi, by the names of Nichi and Megumi, who spontaneously eloped on their way back to Konoha during the Third War?" Hiruzen asked him.

Minato smiled slightly, "Of course! It caused a major uproar!"

"Aiko is the child of those two." Hiruzen explained.

"I'm guessing that Sasuke-kun doesn't know about that part of her identity." Orochimaru remarked with mild amusement. The aforementioned teenager was running a short distance ahead of them and was not within earshot of this conversation, partially because the Hokage were making a point to speak quietly, and Orochimaru was humoring their need for secrecy.

"Aiko and her mother renounced their surname and left Konoha when Aiko was six, about a year before the tragedy." Hiruzen explained, "If he ever encountered her before that, Sasuke has likely forgotten. It's unlikely that they did though. Aiko had a tendency to leave the compound at every given opportunity."

"Still, I'm amazed that they weren't stopped from leaving." Minato remarked, "Megumi-san had joined the Police Force after the war, didn't she?"

"Megumi acted on the grounds that Aiko had not displayed any of the traits of her father's bloodline, and so there was nothing to tie her there." Hiruzen remarked.

"But I'm guessing that must've changed, if Uchiha Itachi decided to take her under his wing." Orochimaru remarked.

"Not necessarily." Hiruzen said, not wanting his former student to get any ideas about the young girl, "Given the way things were with Sasuke, for Itachi, Aiko was the last link he had to the people that he loved. That alone would've been reason enough for him to spend time with her when he was able. I'm certain that he needed that sense of connection."

"She really lives up to her name, doesn't she?" The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama remarked.

"So it seems. The question is whether she will be able to continue to do so. I wonder if she will be able to keep her promise to Sasuke's brother?" The Second Hokage and Hashirama's younger brother, Senju Tobirama remarked.

"I believe that she will." Hiruzen said, a certain confidence in his voice, "The very birth of that child was a product of the Will of Fire. Both her parents believed very strongly in it until the day they died, and having had Itachi as her teacher, I'm certain that it is something Aiko herself has learned to hold dear, perhaps above everything else."

愛の恵み

Meanwhile, a young man was looking around Konoha in confusion. "Where did she go...?"

"Are you all right? You look a little lost." A voice said. The boy turned to see another boy with dark blue hair, a couple of years older than him, standing nearby with a young woman and her parents.

"Yes, I'm all right. I'm just looking for my friend. We need to find a place to spend the night, but... she's disappeared." The boy replied.

"I see." The other boy said with a nod, "What is her name? Perhaps we can help you look for her."

"Oh, uh, her name is Aiko. She was originally born in this village, so she may know her way around. She mentioned something about visiting her childhood home, but... I don't know where that is."

"Aiko?" The older boy seemed thoughtful, and then smiled, "I think I can help you find her. Follow me. Oh by the way, I'm Mayonaka Shinjiro. This is my mentor, Mako-sensei, his wife, Miyu-han, and their daughter, Oyu-chan."

"My name is Koujirou." As he followed Shinjiro and his teacher's family through the village, Koujiirou couldn't help but note the ease with which the older boy navigated the streets of Konoha. "You seem to know this place well. Are you guys from here?"

"Actually, this is my first time being here." Shinjiro answered, "We came here from Yugakure for a... short visit. But I'm a sensory type, so I'm just following the signal of your friend's chakra."

"Oh." Koujirou replied. He didn't know enough about Ninja and sensory abilities to think of asking how Shinjirou knew for sure that he was following Aiko's chakra. Nonetheless, it wasn't long before they arrived at the torii gate of Nakano shrine, where Aiko was still staring up at the moon.

"Aiko-san, there you are!" Koujirou said as he jogged over to her.

Aiko startled slightly and looked over at him. "Oh, Koujirou-kun. How did you... find... me..." Her voice trailed off as she noticed Shinjirou and his companions following her friend.

"Oh, this is Mayonaka Shinjiro-san." Koujirou explained, "He's a sensory type, so he helped me to find you." The poor civilian boy had no concept of how alarming that explanation might have been, but contrary to the normal reaction, Aiko seemed to relax.

"Mayonaka? Are you the same Mayonaka Shinjiro who tended to my shishou, prior to his death?" Aiko asked.

"That's right." Shinjiro said with a nod. "I'm a bit surprised, Aiko-han. Based on what he told me, it's rare for you not to notice when somebody approaches you, especially if they aren't even trying to conceal their presence."

Aiko blinked, and then sighed softly, "You're right. I got caught up in my thoughts and let my guard down. If he were still here, he'd surely reprimand me for that and remind me that dropping one's guard is the reason my father died. He always told me never to do it, even when I think I am safe."

"That certainly sounds like him." Shinjiro said with a wry smile.

"Wait, I'm confused. You two know each other?" Koujirou asked, looking between the two.

"Only by way of a mutual..." Aiko stopped, furrowing her brow, "I'm not sure what the right word is. He was much more than an acquaintance, but... our relationships with him were very different. For Shinjiro-san, he was a friend and a patient, but for me..."

"You called him your 'shishou'." Koujirou said, seeming further confused, "But I didn't even know that you had a mentor."

"There was a reason for that, but I would rather not..." Aiko trailed off again as the moon caught her gaze and her eyes widened, "Oh no. Everyone, inside the shrine, now!"

"What? Why?" Koujirou asked as Shinjiro and his teacher's family ran past him to the aforementioned building.

"Never mind that, hurry!" Aiko said, grabbing her friend by the wrist and pulling him into the shrine with her. When they stepped through the door, they found that Shinjiro had already pried up the seventh tatami mat on the far right and was helping Oyu to climb down into the room below. "Quick! Get down there!" Aiko commanded Koujirou, pushing him toward the hidden entrance, where Shinjiro was already ready to help him.

"Aiko-san, what's going on?" Koujirou asked again.

"There's no time for questions!" Aiko said sharply. Koujirou was not given another chance to question her as Shinjiro hurriedly helped him through the trap door with Mako waiting on the other side to ensure he didn't hurt himself. Receiving a nod from Aiko, the older boy lowered himself through the entrance as well before Aiko quickly followed.

"How are we going to close the entrance?" Oyu asked nervously.

"I got it." Aiko replied, quickly turning her back to Koujirou. "Susano'o!" Pink chakra swirled up around her as a skeletal arm appeared out of nowhere, reaching up through the hole and pulling the tatami mat back in place. As the chakra disappeared as suddenly as it had come, Aiko wove signs that only she could see. "Hikari naku no jutsu!" She turned back around, and seeing Shinjiro's confusion, quickly explained, "Light shouldn't be able to enter this room to begin, but that was just an extra precaution. Add yours in case we need to avoid detection by the enemy."

Shinjiro nodded and quickly wove his own signs, "Oto naku no jutsu!" He sighed as he stood up from pressing his palm on the ground and looked toward Aiko. "Now what? We've ensured light can't enter from outside and have prevented sound from leaving this room, but now we can't see a thing."

"I can." Aiko assured him, "Give me a moment and I'll light the torches." As she headed over to the torches in the room, Koujirou seemed to notice Aiko's eyes shining in the dark, and he gasped, his breath catching in his throat. Aiko heard him, but said nothing as she blew a small fireball from her mouth to the first torch, and then moved over to the second to do the same.

"Aiko-san, your eyes..." Koujirou managed.

Aiko looked down, seeming troubled. "It seems I will have to move back to Konoha sooner than I thought... There's no way I can return Yamasato now..."

"Huh?" Koujirou asked in confusion, "Why?"

"Koujirou-kun, think about it." Aiko said bluntly, "I possess a rare bloodline trait that only three other individuals currently alive have, and two of the three are currently considered S-rank international criminals. How exactly do you think the others would react to that?"

"Oh, I... guess that's true..." Koujirou said awkwardly.

"Besides, even without the current notoriety of my clansmen, I know well enough the dangers associated with having a Kekkei Genkai." Aiko continued, "Entire clans have been forced into hiding because people feared their powers, and the Sharingan is the most feared of all. That's part of why... there are only three of us left..."

Koujirou was quiet for a moment, before he suddenly stride toward Aiko. "If that's the problem, then I won't tell anyone. I'll carry your secret to my grave if I have to."

Aiko smiled sadly at him as she deactivated her Sharingan, "I appreciate that, but... I'll need to return to Konoha eventually anyway. I promised my mother that I would pass the Will of Fire on to her grandchildren, and I can't very well do that if I don't have children. For that, I will need a husband, and it will have to be someone who can either be entrusted with my secret, or—"

"Then marry me." Koujirou interrupted.

"Wh... what?" Aiko asked, a faint blush tainting her cheeks. Koujirou apparently ignored this as he took Aiko's hands into his own.

"Aiko-san, I've liked you for the longest time. You're different from the other girls in our village, and not because you're really an Uchiha or because you come from Konoha, but because you are daring and adventurous, never afraid of anything. I can't bear the thought of you being alone anymore, so please, marry me."

"K-Koujirou-kun..." Aiko said in a slight daze before looking down, "But... we're only sixteen."

"Then we'll just have a long engagement and wait until we are both twenty, if that's what you want." Koujirou promised her. Tears flowed down Aiko's cheeks before she smiled softly and nodded. Koujirou wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into his embrace.

Shinjiro and his companions watched this quietly for a moment before the dark-haired boy cleared his throat to remind them both that they were still there. "Itachi-han never told me that you also possessed the Mangekyou Sharingan." He stated in an attempt to change the subject slightly.

"Itachi?!" Koujirou exclaimed in slight alarm.

"That's because I didn't have it yet when he passed." Aiko replied before turning to Koujirou, "Uchiha Itachi was not the criminal that everybody thought he was. He was actually a spy for Konoha." That was the simplest explanation she could give, and it was leaving out a lot of detail, but Koujirou seemed to accept.

"I see..." He looked up at the ceiling of the underground room, "At any rate, what's going on? Why did we have to hide down here all of a sudden?"

"Itachi-niichan warned us that the terrorists known as Akatsuki would enact their final plan tonight, and that the world would be engulfed in a powerful genjutsu known as the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the light of which could pierce all shadows." Aiko explained to him.

Koujirou looked confused, "But wouldn't that mean it was impossible to hide from it?"

Aiko smirked lightly in response, "A shadow, by definition, is a place where light has been partially blocked, but can still reach nonetheless. A place where light does not reach is not in the shadows, it's completely dark. Therefore, the only safe places are underground chambers like this one, or deep within caves. The only reason we have light in here at all is because of the torches."

"Itachi-han knew this about the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and so he warned us that we should come and hide here, in the room beneath Nakano Shrine, and asked us to meet up with Aiko-han." Shinjiro added.

"So that's why you were so willing to come with me to Konoha tonight." Koujirou realized, "I had expected that I would need to persuade you to come with me."

"Yes." Aiko said with a nod, "I had already promised Itachi-niichan that I would come here tonight. When you told me you were planning to come here, I was eager to accompany you, not only because we were going to the same place, but so that I could ensure your safety."

"My safety?"

"You might've encountered bandits between our village and Konoha. I may not be a full-fledged ninja, but I could still deal with that type."

"What now though?" Oyu suddenly asked. "If we're the only ones who haven't been caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi... is there anything that can be done?"

"Let me check on the situation." Aiko replied, activating her Sharingan once more and allowing the Mangekyou to form.

"What do you mean?" Mako asked in confusion.

"My Mangekyou Sharingan allows me to see things through the eyes of others." She explained, "With my left eye, I can cast the same Tsukuyomi as my shishou, and with my right, see through the eyes of people or animals that I've marked."

"How does that helped us?" Koujirou asked.

Aiko smirked lightly, "He doesn't know it, but I came into contact with Uchiha Sasuke earlier tonight and was able to place my mark upon him."

"You did what?!" Koujirou cried in alarm.

"Relax." Aiko said with a slight eye roll, "Sasuke-san and I have known each other for a long time, and besides, I doubt that he would ever harm his brother's adorable apprentice. Besides, he made contact with me first, so it's not as if I touched him without permission. There was no danger."

"You were Itachi's apprentice...?" Koujirou managed.

"I was born into one of the strongest of all Shinobi clans. There's a lot that I've done without anyone noticing." Aiko replied before focusing her power.

"Naruto! Don't do it right now!" Sasuke reached forward and grabbed his best friend's shoulder, stopping the brightly glowing shinobi before he could just take off. "Don't go outside right now. Without this Susano'o that my eye made, you'd get bound up in his genjutsu as well! Also, his shadows are outside as well. If you and I fall, it's all over! We need to bide our time."

Aiko blinked, ending the connection, and allowed her eyes to return to normal. "It's all right. There are still people able to fight. Sasuke-san, Naruto-kun, Haruno Sakura, and Hatake Kakashi are all being shielded from the genjutsu by Sasuke-san's own Susano'o."

"The Susano'o can do that?!" Shinjiro asked incredulously.

"Ordinarily, no." Aiko replied, "But my mark on his hand allows me to sense Sasuke-san's chakra to a degree, even from this distance. Something about it changed a while back. I noticed it, but didn't have time to think about it. Whatever it is, it seems to have enhanced his doujutsu to the point that he is able to block the light of the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

"Hey, Aiko-san, what are these?" Oyu asked from a nearby bookcase. She was a holding a couple of scrolls in her hands. "I can't read them, but they're all labeled on the outside with the kanji for either fire or lightning."

"Let me see." Aiko said, walking over and taking one of the scrolls from Oyu. "It's no wonder you can't read them. They're encoded so that only those with the Sharingan can read them."

"Oyu!" Miyu scolded as Aiko activated her Sharingan to read the scroll, "You shouldn't have been snooping around to begin with. If nobody else, the things in this place belong to Aiko-chan!"

"Sorry Okaasama. I was just curious about why there were all these scrolls down here." Oyu apologized.

"Don't worry about it." Aiko told her, "The Uchiha were a very secretive clan to begin with, so it's not as if you were going to learn something you shouldn't." She continued scanning the scroll, and then her eyes widened, "These are... instructions for performing the generational fire and lightning jutsu belonging to my clan!"

"You don't already know those?" Koujirou asked, and Aiko shook her head.

"I never learned them because knowing them could put me in danger..." She explained as tears began to spill down her cheeks, "Itachi-niichan... he gave me a way to learn our clan's techniques... That's why he told me to hide here instead of in a cave closer to home. Oyu-san, please do me a favor. I'm going to memorize every one of these with my Sharingan, so that I can practice them later. When I hand you a scroll, please roll it back up and retie it."

Yeesh. This Shippuden part is taking way longer than I intended. Oh well. Hoping the next chapter will be the last of that part of Aiko's life.

Also, Hikaru Naku no Jutsu and Oto Naku no Jutsu mean "Technique of No Light" and "Technique of No Sound", respectively. They are both sealing jutsu that prevent light or sound from entering or leaving a completely enclosed space.

The reason why Shinjiro uses "han" instead of "san" to address people is because he speaks using Kanzai dialect. Oyu and her family do not speak this way because Shinjiro is not originally from Yugakure.