Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto or any of the Uchihas or any other of these lovely people, except for the originals.

Warnings - Violence, language, possible mature content in future chapters

Reviews, as always, much appreciated :)

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The next day, she made her preparations. She let the other medics know that she would most likely be away for the majority of the evening. She borrowed a necklace of shark-tooth steel that had proven useful in a number of previous instances where she had to deal with ninja patients throwing off chakra. It was rumored to be made of the same metal as the as the legendary sword Samehada. It certainly had good chakra-absorbing qualities when worn against her skin. Her body naturally absorbed the strange energy – as it did most anything used against her that might prove useful – but she still had no idea how to process it properly. Left unchecked, the effects were vaguely unpredictable.

At the end of the day, she sat in her tent, listening to the chittering of an angry squirrel. Or rather, not listening – she had heard it all before, and had already made up her mind. She was stubborn that way. Of course, her cousin was almost as persistent as Kaimi was stubborn, which was why when Madara entered her tent he was greeted with the unusual sight of his seemingly indestructible healer yelping and clutching her finger that was bleeding from a freshly-inflicted squirrel bite. The glare Kaimi sent to the small animal finally gained some peace and quiet, and she stormed out of her tent, followed by a vaguely nonplussed Uchiha.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked her, staring as she sucked on her injured finger.

She glanced at him, surprised to see an actual look of concern on the Uchiha's face. "Yes," she said, inspecting her finger to ensure it showed no trace of the bite. She shrugged. "That before, was…"

"Hn."

They gathered in his tent, along with Izuna and the rest of the elite squad that would be performing the attempt at assassination. The plan was simple. Izuna would engage Hashirama on the battlefield, while Madara and the others would sneak through the lines trying to remain undetected. In the middle of his battle, Izuna would appear to fall – and Kaimi would rush out towards him as though to protect his life. Their hope was that the illusion of Izuna's fallen form would be convincing enough that Hashirama would be drawn towards the real prize – the chance at the Water's finest healer, undefended and alone.

Izuna was resistant to the idea at first, even in the face of his brother's insistence. She finally silenced him by reminding him that all of them had made sacrifices, a statement that would come to haunt her later, however true it was.

And so, that evening, they went to battle. She warned Madara to take extra precautions, as she was not certain how well she could enforce her protection of him while engaged in battle herself. She did not want to underestimate the Senju warrior, who was reputed to be the best ninja in all of the lands – or, perhaps, second best. That distinction had yet to be cast in stone. Still, a human who could control the bijuu and the elements of both earth and water was no one to be trifled with.

Kaimi felt nervous excitement as she watched the battle from her spot of concealment. It had been a long time since she'd fought. The incident with the bijuu had been closer than anything. The last time she'd been in a serious fight, she'd lost. Granted, her aunt was the best warrior she knew of, and she'd had good reasons to track her niece down – but those very reasons made that same niece even more on edge, as the scent of blood drifted over the battlefield.

Suddenly, she spotted their prey. Hashirama was flitting around the battlefield like he was looking for something. Madara probably, they seemed to battle every night for hours without a definite winner. She didn't know why there was never a winner in the fight – it just seemed like they would reach a certain point and be drawn off into other side battles. Maybe it was when they got so tired out they were close to the level of the others, maybe neither one was quite ready to give up their best opponent. She knew better than to ask Madara. He probably didn't even know himself.

The Senju warrior was disappointed in his search, however, for the Uchiha leader was nowhere to be found. Instead, he was confronted by the leader's younger brother, whose boisterous exterior belied the wicked killing intent that lay inside. She could feel his heart racing faster than Madara's, but his face was the cool mocking expression of an Uchiha warrior. This battle might be for show, but she knew he was planning on treating it as if it were real. She knew he was still dissatisfied with the overall plan. He might even be hoping he would be able to beat the other man. His motives in that were two-fold – one, there was his over-protectiveness of her, and two, there was his lifelong rivalry with his brother. If he could beat Hashirama, his brother's toughest opponent, it would step up that rivalry to a new level.

She could tell from the moment the battle commenced that the younger man was not quite a match for their enemy. Still, he held his own quite well. She was drawn into the sequence of the battle, watching the terrible speed at which the two warriors joined in conflict. For a while, it was just weapons thrown back and forth faster than a normal eye could process. Then she caught sight of hands flashing in a series of complex movements. She didn't really understand how their fighting style worked – why waste energy moving your hands in the middle of battle? – but she could understand the result. Humans, she concluded, just had funny ways of fighting. Whatever worked, though.

Izuna was the first to break out their strange chakra jutsus. He rolled out off the way one of Hashirama's attacks and blew on his fingers, sending a massive ball of fire across the battlefield towards the enemy. The Senju jumped straight up, making a series of complicated movements, and then blew down at the fireball. A wave of water burst from his fingertips, washing over the fireball and crashing over the spot where Izuna stood. She drew in a quick breath – then blinked, wondering if her senses were playing tricks on her. Because even if she could see his body, she knew Izuna wasn't there anymore. He was – behind the Senju warrior. She saw him, barely, hugging the ground to be un-noticed. Hashirama landed in the water and frowned, looking at the place where Izuna had been. Now, there was only a log. He widened his eyes again, and jumped up just as a crackle of electricity surged through the water at his feet. Turning mid-air, he saw Izuna coming straight for him, fists covered in crackling blue electricity. He made a series of hand movements and suddenly there was a wall of earth between the two of them, trapping one of Izuna's hands. The Uchiha widened his eyes, and tried pulling his hand out of the earth – but then Hashirama punched the wall of earth. The power of his punch was transmitted through the earth. It shuddered, protruding forcefully right in front of Izuna's chest, knocking him back.

She gasped, watching the younger Uchiha flip bonelessly on the ground. She felt his heart flutter in his chest. She knew he was badly injured, more injured than he could have been if he'd been paying more attention. An odd thought flitted across her mind, however, that the final attack could have been much more deadly. The force, while crushing, had been blunted. She didn't have time to think about what that might mean however. She had a part of her own to play.

She rushed out from her place of concealment, not having to fake her worry. She had barely a moment to look over his wounds before she felt the enemy coming closer. For a moment, their eyes locked, his wide with seeming disbelief, hers wide trying to fake a sense of fear. When his look of surprise started morphing into a predatory grin, she opened her eyes wider, and then looked between him and Izuna, before bounding up and taking off at a run. She hoped her performance had been convincing. The princess had dragged her off to a low-class play, once, when things were peaceful, and then tried to talk her into helping stage a play in the palace. The results had been less than spectacular, but she remembered a few of the pointers.

Glancing back, she saw the long-haired warrior speeding after her, and the unconscious body of the Uchiha behind him. So far, so good.

The Senju flicked a few weapons at her as she ran – not the usual knives, these were balls with wire strung between them. His intent, it seemed, was to capture and not kill. She dodged the weapons easily and picked up the pace, running to the side and slightly towards the enemy lines. She planned to duck around the forces into hills neither side paid much attention to. For a while, all she could do was focus on the path ahead, jumping up to avoid brush and weaving around obstacles as they presented themselves. She could barely hear the warrior behind her. He was very good in the woods – but Madara had warned her about that. She wasn't worried. She just wanted to make sure he could keep up.

She surprised a pack of running deer, glancing over to see them rolling their eyes in fear before breaking away from her. It was odd, the feeling of being the pursued and not the pursuer. She danced over the surface of a large lake, glancing up into the sky at the moon. It was beautiful. She could feel her false heart beat in her chest, struggling to keep up with the exertion she demanded from her body. She could feel the chemicals in her bloodstream, the rush of the chase. She loved it, even if she was the one being hunted.

A little while into the next stretch of the woods, she frowned to herself, cocking her head to try and locate her pursuer. It seemed like he had fallen behind. She glanced back, and then heard a great ripping sound in front of her. Turning around, she saw that the ground in front of her had been thrust up to form a large cliff face, roots of trees showering dirt down to the ground from high above.

Interesting. But not really a great obstacle. She reached out and pulled, clambering up the side of the tall cliff. Suddenly, she felt something shoot up at her. Looking down, she saw what looked like a dogs head atop a long neck of wood, snapping at her foot. She was just a bit quicker than it was, though. She grinned, tapping it on the nose with her foot to gain more momentum as she continued her climb. More and more of the things shot up at her. She appreciated the effort, using their failed attacks like stepping stones to help her up the cliff. When she reached the top, she walked into a clearing with a small pool fed by a waterfall atop a larger hill. She stood on a stone in the middle of the pool, turning and gauging their distance from the two armies. Probably far enough away not to cause any major fuss. Good. She was tired of running.

"The tailed beasts have a name for you, you know."

She turned and watched her enemy walk out of the woods. He stopped, gazing at her. She cocked her head at him. This was an interesting development.

The plan was that she would be able to lure him out because of her importance to the Uchihas, her position as a healer. But if the demons had been talking, it opened up a whole new range of possibilities as to why he'd given chase. Desire was an interesting thing. Desire took on many forms. But desire, she knew, was a weakness. Against it, temptation was a fearsome weapon. But to best use temptation, it was all about understanding the prey's true desire. She stilled on the rock, feeling the edges of her robe begin to unravel and sink into the surrounding pool.

"I'm sure they have many names for me," she replied, dropping the pretense of fleeing victim. "Stories they tell their children, and whatnot. I'm surprised they would talk to a human, though."

He shrugged. "I have ways of persuading them to talk."

She narrowed her eyes. Even if she wasn't terribly fond of the beasts, that didn't mean she approved of the way this man treated them.

"I'm curious, though, as to how you got the name Katagi no Tsu-nagori."

She blinked. That was actually relatively mild. She'd heard they had much worse names for her, and tales that shocked even her hazy memory. It had been a while since she saw them, though. Maybe it was their attempt to bind her to a more peaceful nature.

She shrugged. "It's a long story. They didn't tell you?"

He narrowed his eyes, as if in the memory of some frustration.

"They didn't, did they? All they gave you was a name?"

"A name," he said, "and a bit more."

She had no doubt what at least part of that 'a bit more' had been, if he was following her so intently. For a moment, she wondered at what his methods of persuasion had been, and then frowned when she found herself empathizing with a tailed beast. Empathy for former victims was something she could accept relatively easily with when it came to humans, but it was mildly annoying when it came to demons. Still, it was who she was.

"You shouldn't cage them like that," she said quietly. "They're wild things; they should be allowed to be free."

He gave a short laugh, and then sighed. "They're dangerous. And powerful. We need more power. It's the way of the world, healer," he said, saying her chosen profession an almost mocking tone. "We ninja collect powerful things. The Uchiha are no better, are they? After all, Madara has collected you."

She said nothing, not denying the truth of his last statement. If he'd been trying to shock her, he failed.

She knew the Uchiha better than he thought.

Finally she answered. "And now you want to take that power away from him."

He shrugged and made a slight movement with one of his hands, not breaking eye contact. She felt the water around her move as if disturbed, and looked around. Twelve spouts of water were slowly rising from the surface. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering at what this human was playing at. She opened her mouth to speak, when a rain of pebbles rushed at her at a terrible speed, slamming into her so forcefully that her body automatically let them pass through. Gasping, she wondered what he'd hoped to accomplish with that move – and then turned when she heard the sound of metal shattering against the rock face behind her. She reached her hand up to her neck, only to find that her necklace was gone. Eyes widening, she wondered if the Senju had a spy in the Uchiha medical tent. She wondered what all the demons had told him. Whatever it was, his information was sorely lacking.

She felt the energy from the chakra web that was slowly rising around her, pushing up the thin pillars of water that curved up around the rock she stood on. Suddenly, the sheer arrogance of the human in front of her overwhelmed her. "Fool," she said. She opened her mouth to complete that sentence, when her breath was stopped by the feeling of something ripping within her chest. She fell to the surface of the rock, gasping against the pain. Looking up, she saw the flash of surprise on the Senju warrior's face. The agony in her chest was so great that she couldn't even manage a grin at his worry that it was his jutsu causing the pain.

It was done, then.

She breathed harshly, trying to get a handle on the brokenness inside her. So this was what it was like to feel pain. For a moment she cursed the Uchiha for his painful choice of killing methods – then realized it was probably one of the easier ways, a straight stab to the heart. She just wasn't used to it. No way around it, empathy was a bitch.

After a minute, she was able to get some sort of handle on the pain. She pushed herself up, noticing that the water around her had stopped rising. She glanced into the face of one very confused Senju warrior, and managed a tightlipped smile.

"Checkmate."