Flying into mainland Lenore in her bird form the young woman swooped and swerved through the sky, her ebony eyes shining in the sunlight as she watched for predators in the air between keeping an eye on the ground below her, if it were one thing she had learned it was that hawks were easily convinced she was food and not something that might set them on fire if they got too close. Sweeping over the village she had met that boy in as well the young woman found herself staggering in shock, her eyes widening as the ruins reflected in her eyes. What had taken place in the two years she had been gone?
Narrowing her gaze Lenore continued on in pursuit of her destination, the Rice Country. Taking a shortcut through the land which kept the hidden waterfall village the young woman dared not stray too close and eventually found herself finally just over the boarder into the Rice Country itself. From here on out Lenore kept a far greater eye on her surroundings as this was where danger really could lurk around any corner, and the last thing she needed was trouble.
Drifting over the rice fields and rolling hills the Uchiha again found herself staggering mid-flight when she spotted a huge hole in the ground just a few miles from where she was certain Orochimaru's base was. Frowning Lenore swooped down towards the hole and landed on the jagged edge, her head tilting to look down into the crater. There appeared to be the remains of stone slabs and pillars on the floor of the pit, but what took her interest more was an entrance way on the other side of where she had landed. Curious she decided to fly down the tunnel, her wings lowering and lifting as her body would tilt to either the left or right to allow her to swerve down the tunnel in search of any living person.
Landing awkwardly on a slanting pole Lenore stopped once she had entered a much larger chamber, of which was just as demolished and abandoned as everything else she had flown past. Whatever had happened here was recent at any rate from the look of things. Taking her human form Lenore slowly wandered the tunnel systems, her hand carefully pushing open any doors that were not locked to peer inside. So far every apparent bedroom was empty with clear signs of panic everywhere she looked, whoever had been living in these rooms had scattered their things everywhere in a rush and left everything they did not need on the floor.
Shutting yet another empty room's door Lenore stood there for a moment, just staring down the lengthy, dark corridor. Everything was silent, it was uncomfortably unnatural that she could not even sense the smallest of chakra presences anywhere in the area. At least it gave her peace of mind to know she was alone in this eerie, forgotten place. Taking a deep breath Lenore continued to search the den, her only luck so far being that she had not come across any corpses. That, however, changed when she stumbled upon a master room, her confused expression turning to shock when she opened the door and looked upon the massive decaying corpse of what could only be described as a dragon.
"Holy..." she murmured, letting the door open all the way of its own accord. Was this what made everyone evacuate? Examining it Lenore furrowed her features when she realised it had Orochimaru's face, if vaguely. Perhaps he had been fighting off an intruder until everyone could escape, but died in the process?
Uncertain of what to really make of this Lenore left the room, maybe she could find more clues as to what happened here elsewhere. Finding the laboratory the young Uchiha entered the room and looked around, her curious expression flattening when she found everything was technology far beyond anything she could comprehend. She had barely came to terms with microwaves, cameras and televisions without this being thrown at her. Taking an educated guess Lenore began pushing buttons on the keyboard, hoping to turn the machines on.
"Useless." she sighed, a comment directed more at herself than the computers themselves.
Pressing another button the young woman stilled when she heard heavy scraping, her head turning sharply to look at a stone door which was opening to reveal a hidden passageway.
"That was lucky." she admitted, going over to the door to look inside. Activating her Sharingan Lenore used it to light her way, her feet scraping off of the stone floor as she headed descended the stairs to the bottom. Within this massive chamber was yet more computers and confusing devices, however what did take her interest was a series of massive tubes which stood like towers around the room.
Trying to look inside the ones that were not smashed open Lenore could vaguely make out the tiniest of objects inside, what it was she was uncertain of however. Lolling her head from left to right the young Uchiha eventually spotted posters on the walls, and upon closer inspection she figured out they were in fact diagrams.
"There were people in those tubes?" she quietly questioned, going back to look into the tube she had been previous had her face up against. Was that a baby then? Pulling her head away again Lenore frowned, was Orochimaru growing people? Was that even possible?
"The future is a scary place." she sighed, deciding to leave the tube alone completely now to look at more of the paperwork left behind.
Skimming the various confusing research studies Lenore came across something that took her interest, Orochimaru, or Kabuto namely, had been studying the genetics of Uchiha to see if they could possibly grow their own. One such name that took her eye most of all was Lenore's name, but what confused her more was a small note at the bottom suggesting their tests had been 'successful.' Trying to find more information on what they meant by that the young woman came across better information, of which suggested that they had grown and developed a fully functioning copy of her.
"Inevitably successful subject escaped." she murmured, glancing at herself in the reflection of a computer monitor. They did not mean her, did that? Was there maybe another Lenore running around besides herself?
Confused she kept looking for better details into what had gone into making a copy of her.
"Using DNA generously donated to us... Hidden grave in the abandoned estate of Uchiha Madara... Unknown origins of female... Possible handmaiden..." she murmured, scanning the documents in great detail. Lowering said papers away from her face Lenore gave the tubes around her a very uncomfortable look. Had someone robbed her grave? But then that made for an even bigger question, when had she died? Putting the papers down Lenore rubbed her face and tried to clear her thoughts with a few deep breaths, if any of this were true the only thing she could do was go to where the grave was and see what she could find there.
Taking any paperwork that would aid her on this new quest Lenore put it into her satchel and made her way back out of the hideout, her lungs glad to finally had access to fresh air. So Sasuke was no longer here, Orochimaru was dead and she may just be a clone. A lot had happened to her in the space of three hours, so much so that she found herself rushing towards the Uchiha village which had been abandoned for several years now. Flying for several hours Lenore eventually found herself having to stop and rest for the night, her feet landing just outside an empty cave. This would have to do until morning she supposed.
Laying down the young woman sighed, when she had returned from her tiny island to come here she had hoped to see Sasuke well and happy, not find out that everything was even worse off than when she had left. Resting on her back the young woman rubbed her face, hopefully what she found in the Uchiha village was the remains of a servant. She was not entirely sure how she would take finding out she was a reincarnation and not the real thing, however that would explain a few things. Entering the spirit realm and meeting the Sage of the Six Paths, managing to live for over one-hundred years, it all made sense now.
Staring up at the cave ceiling Lenore's expression furrowed, her body turning over so that she could face the cave entrance. Right now, with no real proof, there was nothing she could do but exaggerate the situation, or not think about it at all. Both of which were hard not to do. Having finally fallen asleep, if for a few hours, Lenore had continued on her journey to the Uchiha estate, her ebony eyes casting down upon the dilapidated ruins of a place she once called home. It had been many, many years since she had been here and the very sight of it brought a series of mixed emotions.
Sadness to see what was once a beautiful building crumbling and rotting at the foundations, fear to think that someone she knew might still be here, waiting for her. Joy to see the place she grew up had stood the test of time for the most part and still brought back many of her childhood memories, and anger. Anger to see that after what both Madara and Itachi had done had brought this place to ruin and its destruction. Nobody wanted to live here any more, nobody wanted to allow the memories of the Uchiha to continue.
Landing on top of a broken wall Lenore stared down into the depths of the overgrown garden, anything she had planted had not stood the test of time that was for sure. Gulping she found a place to land inside the estate and took to her true form, her hand touching her stomach as she peered around the area, where did she begin? Deciding to start outside and make her way around to the back Lenore traversed the massive estate, her journey pausing from time to time to take a moment to remember everything she had done here.
From tying Madara to a tree for harassing her to rolling around on the fresh cut lawn when it had snowed during winter. Smiling softly Lenore continued on, her mind still set on keeping an eye out for danger as she tried to find a way in that had not either been caved in or set on fire. Whoever had last been here had certainly taken their anger out on the walls of the building.
Finding a way in Lenore entered the estate, which by now smelt of cinder, mould and wet soil. It used to smell of various flowers and fruits, but that day had long since past. Finding their old bedroom the young woman stared at the bed, she was quite surprised the frame was still here, if completely rotted through and missing a leg. Stepping very carefully across the floorboards Lenore peered out the window, her mind casting back to when she would stand there staring out across the forest, waiting until Madara would come home from a mission or meeting with his father.
Deciding not to stay here much longer Lenore proceeded out towards the graves where all the Uchiha noble had been buried, however there appeared to be no disturbances here from what she could tell. Uncertain as to where the hidden grave might have been Lenore decided to go to the graveyard where her own family had been buried, however none of the stones were left. Apparently they had taken every bit of care to eradicate any indication of the Uchiha's existence from this place, the hatred for their kind seemed to run deep.
Taking an educated guess as to where her family had been buried Lenore paused when she spotted a hole in the ground near to where her mother most likely lay, a frown slowly creeping up her face as she proceeded towards it and took a look into the hole. Empty it seemed. Kneeling Lenore brushed away the dirt when something sparkled in the light, her fingers pinching and pulling out a long, elegant hairpin thereafter. Staring at it the young Uchiha rolled it in her fingers, it had rusted far beyond recognition at this point but she was still able to make out the vague initials on the end, 'L.U.'
Gulping Lenore placed it onto a rock beside her and continued to check the grave for more evidence, for all she knew they could have buried a 'memory' of her, a common thing to do after battle when the bodies of the dead could not be recovered. After a bit of digging Lenore stilled when she found a hand, her brow lowering as she brushed away the hard soil surrounding it and stilled when she spotted a bracelet around the wrist.
"An engagement bracelet..." she acknowledged, shaking her head quickly. That could be anyone's engagement bracelet! Tajima had had a list of women a mile long prepared for when Madara grew tired of his commoner fiancée.
Feeling her brow darken the young woman spotted her initials on the bracelet, the same ones as on the hairpin. Defeated Lenore took the bracelet off of the wrist bone and stared at it for a good minute, so if these were her remains then how had she died in the first place? Genuinely confused by the situation Lenore dug about further into the grave, looking for any kind of indication as to how she died, surely there was some explanation here. Checking the bones that had been left here the young woman paused upon spotting something very strange, her ribs had been cracked, but it did not look like it had been the consequences of her grave being robbed, the damage looked just as old as the remains themselves.
Sat there, staring at the damage Lenore's lips began to flatten, had Kakuzu killed her? The rupture certainly looked like it was just about in the right place for where her heart would have been, but then that did not explain the fact that she had then managed to wander around various countries for several years before even finding that tree which sent her to see Hagoromo in the first place.
Stumped Lenore got to her feet and picked up her hairpin and bracelet, placing them into her satchel she then began to question who even donated her remains in the first place. Surely if all these graves were unmarked Uchiha graves more of them would h have been robbed, it sounded more like someone wanted to bring her back from the dead specifically, but then who? Thinking over every possible scenario in her head Lenore placed some flowers onto her father and mother's graves, something she had not been able to do since she ran from the village. If she had indeed died then it made her sad to know that she did not get to see her family again on the other side. The big question, however, was... What did she do now?
Sasuke was questionably missing but presumed alive, she could not go back to the leaf village and the Akatsuki were still an unknown, incredibly dangerous entity that could be anywhere right now. Hearing her stomach rumble Lenore glanced down at her stomach, one thing for sure however was that she needed a much deserved dinner.