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I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ITS SUCCESSORS IN ANY SHAPE OR CAPACITY. I ONLY OWN MY FICTITIOUS OC'S.

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Upload Schedule:

Flaming Saga: Sundays

Silence Left Behind: Wednesdays

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Glossary: Scene changes will be noted with a line of X's

"Speech"

'Flashback speech (very seldom)'

Flashback story (very seldom)

Jutsus shall be rendered in Japanese, I will also try to incorporate the usual suffixes attached to names, -chan, -kun, senpai, -shishou, etc.

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Shizune had been crying all night and Itama couldn't take it anymore. She was his best friend, his sister in all but blood, and she was in pain. Itama stood and opened his door, he padded softly down the hallway to Shizunes room and slid the door open. He saw her thrashing around beneath her cover and he became worried, he rushed into the room and kneeled next to her. She was coated in sweat and she was whining and thrashing he needed to stop it. HE grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.

"Shizu-chan."

She didn't respond just thrashed around more, Itama shook her harder enough to forcefully move her. Shizune's eyes shot open and she screamed and was looking around frantically.

"Shizu-chan!"

Shizune saw him and latched onto him bawling her eyes out. Hearing her door fly open and Butsuma entered the room with a kunai she freaked out and scrambled away to the corner. She was having a panic attack, she knew it, but she couldn't stop it. Everything in her mind told her she was fine but seeing Butsuma run in with a kunai reminded her of the man with the kunai pointed at her. It terrified her.

"What in the name of the ancestors is happening in here!"

HAna stormed into the room and saw what was going on, she placed a hand on her husbands and forced him to lower the knife. She made her way past Itama and kneeled in front of Shizune.

"Shizu-chan, come to kaa-san."

Shizune saw Hana and she slowly crawled over to her and hugged her as tight as possible and cried into her chest. Shizune felt safe, not that Itama didnt make her feel safe, but HAna brought a different type of safe. She buried her face into Hanas chest and cried quietly. Hana stood and held Shizune close as she walked out of the room and past her husband.

"She will be sleeping with me for the next few nights."

"I understand Hana. Both you and Shizune-chan get some sleep."

"Haha, will Shizu-chan be ok?"

"Yes, she will musuko, just go back to bed."

Itama stood and watched his mother enter her room holding Shizune like a young child. His heart ached, he wanted to be there for his best friend, but he can't, this is a mothers problem not his. He sighed and began walking back to his room but his fathers hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Itama."

"Yes Chichi?"

"She will be alright, Shizune-chan is a tough girl. It might take a while, but she will be alright."

"I hope you're right Chichi."

Itama walked into his room and slid the door closed exhausted and worried he had no dreams that night, only nightmares.

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Hashirama sighed crouched down at the river, his personal thinking spot, and the place his best friend would come and visit. He was so conflicted, he wanted peace so badly like his friend, but after what the Uchiha did to his sister, he didn't know if he wanted that peace any longer. He needed to talk to Madara, only he would be able to tell him the right thing to do. Speak of the devil, with the sound of rustling bushes his best friend stepped out of the bushes.

"Madara!"

"Oh, Hashirama, you're early."

"I needed to think, something terrible happened a couple days ago and, I just need to talk."

Madara walked across the stream and sat down next to his friend.

"What happened?"

"Uchihas attacked my family."

"What."

"Three men with the Sharingan broke into my home, kidnapped my younger brother and sister. They beat my little brother, and nearly raped my litle sister. She's not even out of her childhood years! They were going to defile her, if it wasn't for kaa-san they would have."

"What'd they look like?"

"They're dead now, kaa-san doesn't let anyone hurt my imouto. My otouto Itama, he is very protective of Shizu-chan, but kaa-san nearly fought Otou-sama over her. Now she is having nightmares and she is hurting and I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?"

"I want peace, more than anything in the world! After what the Uchiha did to my imouto and otouto, I don't know if I can forgive them anymore. I can forgive killings, stealing, all of that, but torture and rape? Only monsters do that, but I want to believe that they were the only ones. I want to still find peace!"

"Then you need to move forward Hashirama, what happened to your imouto and otouto is unforgiveable, but if you truly want peace, you need to let go."

"How?"

"By forgiving yourself first."

"What do you mean?"

Madara stood and stretched his back, he picked up a stone and eyes the river.

"The same thing happened to me when my Aneki was raped and murdered by Inuzuka. I figured out, I was mad at them yes, but I was mad at myself."

Hashirama's eyes widened as Madara chunked the rock and it skipped across the surface but fell short of the other side.

"What do you mean?"

"I cursed my inability to stop it. She was my Aneki, my only sister, and I was powerless to protect her. So I made a vow, to become strong enough that I would never let my otouto die. I would become so strong everyone would flee from my very presence and there would be no fighting when I arrived. That no one would touch my otouto as long as they knew who he was brothers with. The first step to making sure your imouto and otouto are never hurt again, forgive yourself for not being strong enough to protect them and make yourself strong enough."

Hashirama nodded to Madara, and that was where one dream died and another began, a dream that would lead the two to even greater heights than the legends of old. This was the birth of Hashirama Senju, and Madara Uchiha.

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Shizune was sitting in Hana's room playing with Momoshi. She had a new toy that Butsuma had made in one hand and the other was cradling Momo. She smiled softly when she heard Momo giggle at the toy, reaching out to grab at it with her tiny hands. Shizune looked over to the bed and smiled to Hana who was sitting up and was reading a scroll. Hana patted the space beside her and Shizune stood, Shizune and Momo walked across the room and laid down next to Hana.

"What're you reading haha?"

"It's a manuscript about plants both poisonous and beneficial. I read this so that when I want to find a partcular root or herb that could help I can know exactly where to get it."

"Oh, what are you looking for?"

"An herb that is frequently needed here, and I use to treat my illness. It is called Butterbur."

"I could go look for some for you."

"I couldn't ask you to do that musume."

"I want to haha, I want to help you."

"Ok, well, take this scroll, it has a description of the butterbur, and remember, we need the flower, root, and bulb of the plant so take a kunai or a small shovel to help."

"Yes haha."

Shizune smiled and kissed Hana's cheek before laying Momoshi next to Hana on the bed. She hurried to her room and changed into a yukata that was made of tougher material and tucked the scroll into her obi. She pulled her hair back int a high ponytail and twisted the length of hair into a sort of bun, sticking her pencil through it she nodded in confidence that her hair would stay up. She ran out of her room and slipped her shoes on by the door. She rushed towards the forest wall and removed the scroll. She read over it and read the description over and over again.

"Large heart shaped leaves, long flower with a ton of blooms, and the bulb is like a knot. Got it."

Shizune sped off into the woods and began her search for the Butterbur for Hana.

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Hashirama laughed loudly as Madara had fallen into the rive next to the bank yet again.

"Thirty two minutes, still got you beat Madara!"

"Laugh it up, wait, Hashirama, someones coming up from behind you!"

Hashirama spun around and was about to attack until a white haired girl with silver eyes dressed in a dark blue yukata with a black obi came from the woods.

"Oh, nii-san! I need some help!"

"Shizu-chan, what's the matter?"

"Haha needs Butterbur, but I can't find any. Do you know where some is?"

"I know."

Shizune turned and looked at the boy who was soaked across the river. She smiled and nodded.

"Anything would be helpful."

"On this side of the river and down about a kilometer there is a large group of butterbur, my family uses them for allergies but if you need them you can take some."

"Oh! Thank you!"

"Madara, call me Madara."

"Oh, well thank you Madara-kun! Nii-san, we need to get those for haha."

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming. Sorry Madara, I gotta go. Shizu-chan may have a conniption if I don't follow her."

"That is Shizune?"

"Mhm, she's so cute isn't she! She's my first sister, though my mother just had another daughter."

"I see, well, I will head home, just make sure you do what I told you about."

"Yeah, thanks for the advice Madara, it helped a lot."

"Yeah, just go with your imouto, and remember what I said. Forgiveness starts with you."

Hashirama nodded and watched as Madara vanished into the brush. Hashirama turned to Shizune and smiled to her widely.

"Who was that nii-san?"

"Oh, that was my friend Madara."

"Who exactly is Madara?"

Hashirama turned and there stood Itama, Hashirama swallowed. He could pull the wool over Shizunes eyes, but not Itamas. Itama was too insightful, enough that it even frightened Tobirama.

"I met him here, he is a ninja but not from a clan."

"Are you sure? He looks a hell of a lot like a"

"Dont finish that sentence Itama."

"Or what Aniki?"

"Stop it, nii-san, Ita-kun, no fighting. We need to get the Butterbur to haha."

Itama sighed, Shizune was intelligent, far beyond Tobirama, Hashirama, and even himself but she had not been out there. For what she had in intelligence, she had little common sense.

"Nii-san, be careful around that guy. Something is telling me he is dangerous, like when Chichi is angry bad."

Maybe Itama had spoke too soon.

"It's ok imouto, he's not dangerous, I can beat him in a fight. We spar a lot, it's kind of fun."

"Oh? Could you teach me nii-san? To fight?"

"Aniki can't do that Shizune, you know chichi's rules. Shizu-chan and Momo-chan can't become kunoichi."

"Why not? I want to be able to defend myself."

"It's not that simple Shizu-chan."

"Why not?"

"Aneki, tell her!"

Hashirama sighed, he lifted Shizune into his arms and leapt clean across the river with Itama running a top the water behind them.

"There they are!"

Shizune ran to the bundle of plants that stood easily as tall as Butsuma. The tell tale stalk the flowers were on, the huge elephant ear leaves, this was the butterbur!

"This isn't over Aniki."

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After three weeks Shizune had learned to cope with what happened to her better than before. She frequently went back to walking the village and helping around the whole house. Though it was what happened in the clinic that threw Butsuma for a loop.

Butsuma got called to the medical tent and the clan member said it was about Shizune. So knowing it was about one of his girls Butsuma booked it. He ran as fast as he could across the two kilometer clearing to the healing room. He threw the door open and there stood Hachi and Shizune, and one look at Hachi meant there was going to be a big conversation.

'Shizune-chan, go home and assist Hana with whatever she needs.'

'Yes Butsuma-sama.'

Butsuma waited for the sound of the front door closing and he faces Hachi.

'Why was I called here?'

'Shizune has been healing the clan members.'

'What?'

'Exactly as I said, she is not even discriminating between the civilians and shinobi. She is healing everyone. I want to take her on in the clinic, let her work here instead of being a shinobi.'

'I will talk to her about it.'

'That is all I ask Butsuma-sama.'

As Butsuma suspected Shizune turned the offer down, but she still stepped around and healed everyone she could. She was loyal to Hana and would do anything she said and the woman needed help. He was proud of the small white haired girl, she had grown quickly and he was proud of it. She was his daughter, and he planned to make it a formal announcement with Hana.

"Tou-sama!"

Butsuma turned and saw a teary eyed Itama running towards him.

"What is it musuko?"

"It's, it's haha, she fell, and she went unconscious!"

"Butsuma vanished into thin air, he needed to get there quickly.

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I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, a little more character development, and the next chapter will be a two year time skip. Just warning you beforehand. Till next time,

~ Ardent Chronicler