War-torn

A/N: So someone made me realize that my story could be better told if I had given more weight to the decisions and more sense in the events. Upon reviewing the story, the events now appear to me as solely based on sheer luck–much like the events in this chapter, shocking. Anyway, I've made it a point to rewrite this story (so early on!) and make things more grounded. I think I've finally figured out my "writing style" and how to best utilize it.

Take this as the last update for now. I know I tend to "abandon" stories, but I'm getting back. I think I really just need to read more stories set in this dynamic era.

Anyway, feedback is always appreciated. I wouldn't be able to write this story better otherwise.


The hermit told her he could bring her back fifteen years into the past. The hermit actually brings her back fifty-five.

All she wanted was to find a sword.


She learned from an early age that war was nothing to be proud of, that war was something people were forced into. No one really wants to start a war, not really. Titles and positions mean nothing against the bite of the blade, anyway. But everybody fights to end it. That's what all the fighting is about, anyway. To end the war.

She wasn't supposed to be a soldier. Far from it, in fact. She was raised to be a leader, a diplomat, the head of her clan in less than two decades' time.

"Defiant child. You will know the error of your ways."

When she was nine years old, her mother bore a son and she took it as a ticket to freedom. At fourteen years old, a war broke out and she fought through steel and through storms just to have her name listed on the roster.

"No one was ever proud of winning a war."

Her grandfather died before the war ended.

Now, more than a decade later, she finds herself a soldier on someone else's battlefield. It's almost reminiscent of the very same journey she took to get to the island. Perhaps the gods really are toying with her. Perhaps Inari no Sato was just a mere town caught up in the aftermath. But the thought makes this all the more terrifying. If she had not before heard of an Inari no Sato, if this place had not been mentioned in any of the historical texts she has read, wouldn't this be a futile gamble? Even if they emerge victorious once, what then?

She doesn't talk about any of those things, not in the presence of anyone from the village, not when she's about to fight. But she does have to say it at some point, right?

She banishes the thought to her stomach.

"Oh, how self-righteous you are."

The voice chimes in, but she doesn't listen.

Instead, she looks to her guide. Hers, as if she had a claim. Hers, as if she was no older than her dreamy younger self. Hers, as if he was something to be owned, to be coveted. She thinks maybe she should refer to him by a name, whether it is his own or his family's. Maybe she should tell him to refer to her in the same way.

But not now. Not for a while. He does not yet trust her.

And so she looks at him, asking for an answer. What should she do? Where should she go? Who should she follow?

"Do what you must."

And guide her, he does.


With a hand on Kunishige's hilt, she prepares to make the blade sing.

They're closer now.

Her grip tightens.

And then she sees the flash of red–

It happens fast, faster than the sound of a bell ringing, faster than the motion of a swinging blade. Like lightning against the midnight darkness, it happens too fast to fathom yet too clearly to be ignored.

She falls to the ground.

"You're nothing special. You're just like everyone else."

The voice echoes in her head. It rings as clear as the sound of the bell. And she can hear it now, louder than ever before. It rings and it continues. It doesn't stop. It doesn't end. It keeps on.

"You've kept me waiting."

Why won't it stop?

"A promise is a fragile thing."

Why won't it end?

"You're nothing special."

Please–

"You are the only one..."

Quiet.

"...I would allow by my side."

Silence!

Darkness seeps into her vision, but the voice remains.

"The only one..."

It rings in her head.


It surprises her, the way she wakes up without a sudden jolt or an ache in her bones.

It's even more surprising than the fact that she does wake up. The thatched ceiling greets her along with the twilight sun. She is in a bare room. She hears hushed whispers and distant crying beyond the four walls. She breathes slowly in fear of having a broken rib or a tender bruise, but feels nothing. It's as if she had just been sleeping–

No. That's impossible.

She still remembers things clearly. She was there. She was standing, ready to unsheathe Kunishige. She couldn't possibly...

She sits upright, slow to mind any torn muscle or fractured bone, but feels nothing but the soreness from sleeping on hard ground. She moves her fingers slowly, curls her toes gently. She moves her body slowly, trying to gauge for pain or any other sensation, but feels... nothing. The idea is inappropriate, almost vile. Nothing has happened to her?

Could it be...

She fancies the idea that she is in her own time, in some hut in the woods, that everything that had just transpired was a fever dream.

And she wishes it were so, because the person she sees is an injured Tatsumaki. His right arm is in a sling. There is a bandage around his chest. A purple bruise is forming on his temple. And she could swear he had a bit of trouble walking in.

"You're awake!" He says giddily as if his own injuries didn't matter.

She feels undeserving of such a greeting.

"We were so worried, samurai-san!" He approaches her, and it confirms her suspicions. His left leg is injured. "Can you stand?"

She supposes she can, so she does.

"I'm sorry."

Once upright, her response was automatic, almost monotonous.

"I wasn't of any help, I don't know–" She stops herself. She knows full well that there is no excuse for her inaction.

Yet she wonders what really happened to her.

"It could have happened to anyone." Tatsumaki says comfortingly.

But why me?

"It's not your fault."

She knows better than to accept his kindness.


Kindness.

He thinks he might have been too kind on this journey. The day is coming to an end and he isn't any closer to figuring out who the hell this samurai is. No, perhaps he's already found a clue. Perhaps what happened is already a clear indication. When she fell to the ground...

He thinks this is part of the plan. She led him here, she and that woman both, in order to eliminate what might be the Uchiha's only obstacle to gaining power. Tatsumaki is dispensable. This entire village is dispensable. The very presence of an Uchiha in the group is altogether suspicious. Uchiha would never work with anyone besides their own.

But the war has ended. Perhaps he had been disgraced. Perhaps he is a vagabond now. Perhaps there are more of them.

And the thought of more Uchihas terrorizing villages even after the war seems even more likely than the idea of her working under their orders.

If she was, she would have betrayed them earlier.

Or perhaps she is just biding her time.

He doesn't know what to think anymore.

"Tobirama-sama!"

Tatsumaki's voice breaks him from his reverie.

"What is it?"

"She is awake."

And he has brought the samurai with him. She looks nothing but dazed and embarrassed, keeping her hands together and her head low. He glances at her direction disdainfully. She is no samurai, she has done nothing to prove that she is. She is a mumbling coward.

"I..."

"Silence."

He rises quickly, ignoring the sharp pain. He had been injured earlier, a shallow cut rips across his back. He had been caught off-guard, as furious as he is to admit it, by her sudden withdrawal from battle.

Tatsumaki stands awkwardly beside her.

"I shall take my leave for now."

He knows better than to witness Tobirama's wrath.

"You are a coward."

She stiffens.

"A liar."

She doesn't dare meet his eyes.

"Nothing at all like a samurai."

He approaches, treading through the dirt floor. It's difficult for him not to rush forward and strike her for her incompetence.

"Who are you?"

It's a harsh whisper, a hissing insult, an angry question.

"I heard a voice."

And he strikes her then, a tight fist against her shoulder.

"Do not lie."

She steps back, but only slightly, as if she expected it. And she returns to her position like a practiced shoulder, quickly and obediently.

"I do not."

She meets his eyes.

"I was paralyzed, forced down, tormented in my own head."

He knows the feeling.

"I have not encountered the Sharingan before, hence my inexperience."

She does not apologize.

"It shall not happen again."

He understands what she means by her statement and doesn't wonder why she has said such a thing.

"Words mean little when action is called for."

"Then we will pursue them."

She stiffens, ready to correct herself.

"If that is your decision..." He says quietly, "then so be it."

She decided for them to come to this village, then it is her decision as to how they will leave it. If her decision, no matter how rash, was to pursue the enemy and put an end to his once and for all–or perhaps to lure him to the Uchiha–at least it wouldn't involve this village.

"We're going after them?"

Tatsumaki hadn't left, apparently.


Pursuing the enemy was never a samurai's first choice. Protecting their charges had always come first. In this case, protecting the village was the primary concern. But she can't stay here any longer, she doesn't know how much time she had been given. Pursuing the enemy eliminates the threat and minimizes the time, so of course, it's the obvious choice.

The times she had pursued the enemy were few and far between.

"Follow them."

She had no right to suggest such a thing, much less when she had done nothing hours before.

"Follow them for me."

But if she dares to follow them alone, she might not survive. She had not expected there to be an Uchiha in their ranks. If they were just a group of ragtag bandits, it would have been easier to pursue them alone.

"Eliminate them."

She stops herself when the words have already come out of her mouth, expecting him to chide her for being so rash and unthinking.

But he does nothing of the sort.

Instead, he might actually agree with her.

So they will pursue the enemy and eliminate them.

But Inari no Sato had been destroyed...

She leaves that thought in the recesses of her mind.

"We're going after them?"

Because what occupies her mind now is the fact that Tastumaki had likely heard everything.


A/N: So maybe the next time you see an update, this story will be going by a different title and a different summary. In any case, I hope you continue reading!