Chapter 29 | The Slumbering Beast II


"I want him removed."

Ayuka sat next to a fire as Yayoi mended the burns on her arms. She listened to Enki's repetitive complaints about Madara's brother for the past five hours. The impudent boy had been delivered to his quarters within the portion of the castle he had not destroyed and had been given the same royalties as Takuei. Izuna had thanked them for their hospitality, gathered the Ito clan and had gone to have a meeting, one even her spies were unable to eavesdrop on.

Enki halted, glaring at his daughter. "Are you finished, girl?" he demanded. Yayoi quickly cut the gauze with a pair of short scissors and tucked it under the wrappings. She gathered her things and vacated the room. He kicked over one of the small golden statues decorating the room. "Damn him! I want him killed!"

The Fate Sphere guardian grimaced, her arms throbbing as she tried extending them. The bandages were a little too tight as she unfurled her giant scroll. She peered into its white surface after infusing it with chakra, pulling from its vast knowledge the whole of Madara's bloodline. In the web of Madara's pathways, she took a pick from the very core to isolate the Uchiha blood in him, the same that ran through his insolent brother's veins and began delving further into his many futures.

"His fate has already been sealed, you need not do anything," Ayuka said after a time. "He is fortunate to be alive, the pesky fool, and he will not last long from here onward."

"Then we must hasten his death!" Enki urged.

"Doing so would prove problematic," Ayuka replied, running her finger along the course of one of Izuna's shortest pathway. The shorter they ended, the more disastrous his death. However, all was not as she told Enki. When death appeared in a pathway and it was determined, written in fate that the individual would die, it would persist and with the petulant child, he only met his demise in few. Enki's rage needed to subside, she would, otherwise, be unable to leave to return to Mikazuki Gouki's side. "Madara is needed in this island and he is only here because I have convinced him Mio would bring about his brother's death."

"It will not matter if that brat is left here. Mio will not listen!" Enki complained, acting like a child without his precious toy. "She will not come here and obey! She will not become my bride!"

Ayuka bristled. "I do not understand your obsession with giving that girl a title! She is a girl! A young, stupid girl that will undoubtedly come here to be manipulated into giving us the key to obtaining the Kuronuma's spheres!" She sucked in a breath, calming herself into speaking softly in a musical voice. She lost herself a moment and the moment was gone. "Gouki is handling things concerning the girl. He is pushing her into a corner. She will come in two years with nine of ten artifacts."

Enki reveled in her promise, but he quickly shifted to anger, turning to her. "Even so, something must be done about that boy."

"Let Madara handle his brother."

"No, no, I want him to suffer."

"You need not worry about that," she said smiling. "You will be the envy of the world when you take Mio as your whore."

Izuna's affections for the Shugosha-to-be were like the first snow of winter, pure as it fell from the clouds in beautiful, intricate snowflakes, but it was new and inexperienced and when it hit the ground, it would be filthy mixing into the mud. Emotions changed and he was young. If he lived his life as he should, he would live a long one and he would come to understand that Mio didn't understand love.

Enki raised an eyebrow, perplexed.

"He loves her."

"Loves her?"

"Yes, he does."

At her confirmation, a sly grin curved his lips and his mood changed. "You must call upon your son, Hag. Call him here immediately. I have a proposition for him."

Ayuka rose from her seat, moving to him. She bore down on him, eyes darkening. "He does not work under you," she said, "and you will remember to never make a mention of him."

"Of course, he is your biggest kept secret, yours and that Nishiki-sama from the Earth Country."

She took him by the mouth, forcing his lips into a fat pucker. "Say his name again and I will cut off your tongue. I may need you alive now, but I won't for long if you continue acting this way and speaking things that should not be spoken of." She shoved his face away, watching him rub his face. "Understand, Enki?"

"I am the one that lifted your ban in this country, I allowed you back into the temple…and this, this is how you repay me?" he spat.

"Anger me further and I will ensure the Kuronuma artifacts become another's prize and not yours."

Ayuka exited the temple's hall, her skirts dancing in a whirl behind her.


Izuna stared at Kaname blankly. "You saw an Uchiha leaving the Sun Country?"

The Ito shinobi nodded.

"And he was not one you recognized?"

"It was not," Kaname said, and at Izuna's insistence to elaborate on what he knew, he did. "He is of fame. I recall him from word of mouth. His grandfather was a powerful man and they say he is the first to be called if one needs information."

Izuna frowned. "An Uchiha leaving the Sun Country? A powerful grandfather?" he repeated, coming to a proper response to the man's description. "Did he, perhaps, look like a rat?"

Kaname arched an eyebrow, not catching the meaning to his question. "No, he did not," Kaname said, perplexed. "He looked very pleased on his way out of the witch's home."

The witch, Ayuka, opening her home to that rat, Taiga, got a terrible rise out of him. "If he comes again, kill him," Izuna ordered.

Kaname blinked, taken aback by the request. "Would it not be prudent to interrogate him? Takuei-sama sent you here to keep him informed of what goes on in the island, if we could understand why that Uchiha came into this island, we could—"

"Kill him," Izuna repeated. Taiga would not submit to torture or to pretty words. He would not trade for information unless you were willing to give up anything and only if that anything included something he wanted. Izuna was not interested in discussing any alliances with him, even though it meant he might see Mio again, and he did not have anything that he would be willing to give to loosen that man's tongue.

"If Ayuka is meeting him, she must want something from him. He might possess information she desires."

"What can she possibly give him in return?"

Kaname dropped to one knee to level his gaze with his. "Takuei-sama asked me to relay this information to you as soon as you were settled and he asks that you do not make a mention of it again. In fact, if you discover anything, you must feign ignorance."

"Speak," he commanded, curious.

"Ayuka is one of ten Kuronuma guardians."

Izuna listened carefully to Kaname's explanation of the Kuronuma's secret artifacts, each possessing a different ability—some stronger than others—which Takuei suspected the Motou clan wanted more than anything, but he had not discovered what Ayuka and Enki were planning to do in order to acquire them. He had uncovered the remaining nine artifacts were distributed between three Kuronumas. Izuna had asked for clarification when he needed it, but following the end of the story, he had asked about Ayuka.

"What does her artifact do? And what does my brother have to do with any of this?"

"She reads pathways in dirt and blood," Kaname explained. "She can see a person's life unfold from the minute of their birth to the day of their death and all the decisions that open new possibilities for them." He paused, surveying the shadowed room. "Takuei-sama believes Madara is important in bringing those artifacts to this place."

"They intend to use my brother?" asked Izuna. "For what? To start a war with the Kuronuma clan?"

"It is the most probable deduction."

Guardians and artifacts with unique abilities, he supposed if there was a modicum of truth to those ideas that the Kuronuma clan had done well in remaining hidden in the snowy mountains of Kurata playing at being ritualistic cannibals.

Mio was with the Kuronuma clan. They were her family now. He wondered if she knew anything about the artifacts and what they did and how important they were if Ayuka and Enki wanted to bring them to the Sun Country. The thought of her bitter smile filled his mind, accompanied by an echo of her rejection.

"I followed him. I will always follow him," she had said in an earnest voice. "Taiga is…he is…the one I love."

He paused, the dull ache in his chest returning.

"How do they propose to gather them here?" asked Izuna, opting for a distraction. Kaname's silence was telling. "Find out."

"Yes, Izuna-sama."

Kaname stepped out; leaving Izuna alone with his inquisitive thoughts, when a peculiar idea struck and he left his lodgings. He walked across the hall in the long building and searched room after room until he found his brother's things. As expected, Madara failed to unpacked and kept the large room undisturbed—making it easy to gather his things and leave whenever he wanted. Izuna took a seat at the table and waited.

Madara would be searching for him after news of that tower he destroyed reached him. Izuna expected an angry response, so he planned to make it easier for Madara by waiting in his room.

It took hours before his older brother entered, the irritation radiated off him in waves and laying eyes on him served to exacerbate the frustration.

"Is that why you came?" Madara seethed. "Did you come here to make an enemy of the Motou clan after Ito Tomoji sent me here to make peace?"

"No," Izuna said. "I went to greet the king as you asked me to do."

"Greet the king?" he repeated, outraged. "Is that what you call greeting the king? The king wants you assassinated! You not only made an enemy of him, but of the clan's witch!"

"The witch would not let me pass, I invited myself in and she ordered the attack," Izuna answered simply. "I wanted to greet the king."

Madara huffed. The exasperation in his face read in his tone. "I can do nothing for you in this country if those two are against you," he said warningly, pacing towards him, ideas forming in his head. He stopped, his eyebrows knit together. "You need to go. Get off this island before any more of your reckless actions have you killed."

Izuna leaned forward, arm propped up on the table surface and his chin rested in his hand. His body was slack and he was bored with his brother's reprimands. Nothing said was new. He jeopardized his position. He understood that from the moment he decided to push his way up the castle's tower earlier. It had been with good reason, though, after Kaname told him everything Takuei had uncovered about the Sun Country and what they wanted with Madara. He felt no guilt over his actions now, but he admitted he might have worsened his brother's position.

"Have you met Taiga?" Izuna asked, searching for a change of pace. His brother would find reason to reprimand him for something different later.

Madara blinked, the name itself shocked him. "No," he said. "Why are you asking after Taiga?"

"Because Kaname saw him leaving the island," Izuna replied. "He was visiting the witch's home."

"Why did he keep quiet until now?" Madara demanded.

Judging by his reaction, he had no prior knowledge to Taiga entering the Sun Country in the first place.

"Kaname may be loyal to you, but he answers to me."

Madara sat down at the table. The wounds Izuna remembered seeing on him had been tended to and wrapped in gauze and with the release of the tension in his body, Izuna noted how exhausted his brother looked.

"Why would Taiga reach out to Ayuka?" Madara wondered aloud.

"Taiga does not ask for favors," Izuna replied, "He is the one people seek out for favors."

Izuna watched his brother's face drain of color, the revelation dawning in his mind.

"What is it?" asked Izuna.

Madara shook his head. "It has nothing to do with you," he said, reluctantly avoiding his eyes. "I will have my men looking out for him. He will be captured."

Izuna eyed him suspiciously; the sudden change in attitude unnerved him. It made him consider the worst. "What do you know?" he asked, and his brother gave him a reluctant look. "You can't keep it from me, I will find the answers."

The two exchanged glares, and for a moment, Izuna felt as though they had gone back to the countryside where they grew up and they were in the middle of another argument over nothing of great importance. The moment didn't last. It was fleeting. The dangers were real here, as tangible as a stab wound in the middle of war. Izuna felt if Madara did not trust him with whatever knowledge he had, another war would erupt, and it would be between them.

"Tell me," Izuna said firmly. "I will not betray you."

"This is not about betrayal!" Madara shouted, slamming his fist on the table. "Don't concern yourself with this. It will be to your benefit."

Madara's eyes were wild, the anger shedding from him like a second skin. The room was engulfed in his vexation.

Izuna was left without a choice and stood. "Stay silent, brother," he told him. "And let your secret knowledge be worth my trouble."

His older brother remained resolute. However, as Izuna exited his room, he thought he saw a hint of hesitation in his brother, but he ignored it. Madara chose not to speak and he would not do so.

Leaving Madara's lodgings, Izuna started to walk back towards his own. He heard the rustle of clothes and quick footsteps, followed by a loud voice calling out to him.

"Izuna!"

He turned and soon as he had, he felt the impact of a sharp slap across his cheek. He stared blankly at the priestess, pretty in her gold dress robes with her black hair curling past her shoulders. He remembered her from the time they met earlier that year and with the memory came the realization that he almost killed her father earlier.

Izuna opened his mouth, ready to protest, but not to excuse his actions, but Motou Yayoi spoke first.

"Who do you think you are?" she snapped, her face pale and hazel eyes expressive with her discontent. "Coming into another person's country and doing as you pleased—it's unacceptable!"

Once more, he made an attempt to dissuade the situation, but Yayoi continued, leaving no room for his excuses.

"I can forgive your attempts against my pig of a father, but you wounded my mistress," she yelled, her voice so loud it cracked. "Ayuka-sama is a saint! She is a wonderful person and she has done everything in her power to keep the people of this country safe! And you, you are cruel even though she has helped you as well! She is helping your brother, she is helping your clan come together, she is doing so much for every one of you and you have repaid her cruelly!"

The sting of his cheek intensified. Every one of her words sank in like a needle into his flesh, each twisting his ideas into a web of doubts. Above all, he was growing exasperated.

"My brother is being held prisoner in this country—"

"By my father, not Ayuka-sama!" Yayoi protested. She raised her hands as though she might throw herself at him and smack him around until he truly listened to what she was saying, but somehow, she held herself back. "Ayuka-sama is helping him save you! He is still here because of you!"

Izuna tried to talk again, but Yayoi had prepared to interrupt him.

"You are so ungrateful—"

Madara stepped out into the hallway noisily. "Yayoi."

Yayoi bit back the rest of her words and turned, allowing Madara to stop in front of her. "You have said enough. Return to the temple and take care of your mistress."

"He needs to know what Ayuka-sama has done for him!" Yayoi complained. "He shouldn't even be alive!"

"Yayoi," he said firmly.

She let out a frustrated growl, gathered her flowing skirts and pushed past him.

"Yayoi is insane," Madara said stiffly. "She hears things. She doesn't know what she's saying."

Izuna took a step forward. "The woman that reads pathways told you I was going to die and she has kept you prisoner with the prospect of finding a way to avoid my destiny," he said, seeing his brother's face darken. "People are born and people die. I am going to die, Madara, and I might do it soon. Shinobi don't live long. You can't decide any of that, nor can that witch. You can't save me from something that is bound to happen—"

"You should not have made an enemy of Ayuka."

"Did you know she is trying to start a war with the Kuronuma clan?" Izuna asked. "Mio is a part of that clan. If she starts a war with her family, she is starting a war with her. That witch is usingyou to start a war against Mio's family."

"Mio is not our ally anymore," Madara argued. "When will you understand that? She is not our ally and she is not our friend. She is on Taiga's side and if Ayuka sought him out for something, it is to bring war to the Kuronuma clan—Mio would be helping him do that by being the connection inside of the clan."

"Mio would not betray her family, she's neutral like them," Izuna said. He spoke those words endlessly before and they rung empty. Today, they spoke the truth. Mio might have pursued a rat out of love, but she would not betray her family…not without a good reason. He always believed that, deep down inside. Perhaps, the notion grew from a seedling of hope until it blossomed into something he could confidently admit to being the truth. There was more to Mio's betrayal, more than she revealed, more than either one of them knew.

"She betrayed us!" Madara retorted. "We were her family until she left to follow Taiga because she loved him! How confident are you that she would not dare betray her own flesh and blood if Taiga asked it of her?"

"Because I believe in Mio, even if you won't."

Izuna started to leave, knowing that if he elongated the argument, he might develop an impulse to attack his brother if he dared to say another ill comment about Mio.

"Mio will get you killed!"

Izuna froze mid-step.

"Mio is a curse. Everyone she loves dies. Everyone that loves her dies." Madara continued in a blunt voice. "She is no good for you. And you need to stay away from her. If you don't, I will kill her."

"Mio is not the enemy," Izuna said, facing his brother one last time. "Even if you speak of her this way, I know she is not your enemy. You could have killed her in the Iron Country like she could have killed me, but she saved me and you saved her. Call me a liar, but I saw how you protected her as you fell down the cliff and I don't believe any of your insults towards her are true."

It had happened instantly. At one point, a Mikazuki shinobi had been trying to drag him down, but Mio had appeared and thrown Izuna back, away from the man's extended arm. Izuna had scrapped his arm along the rocky road, feeling a burning pain as the rough surface cut into his flesh, but he had fought past it, watching in the blink of an eye, Madara reaching Mio's side and taking her by the back of the shirt. He had seen his brother lurch forward, unable to keep his feet firm on the ground.

Izuna had scrambled to the edge as Mio and Madara disappeared over it. He had caught a glimpse of the two before their backs had hit the steeped ground, had seen Madara extend his free arm to get a better grip of her to draw her into him. He had planned to protect her, but he had failed to grab her firmly and even when he had hit the slope first, his body hurled into the sea of slanted trees, he had not let her go.

Madara bristled, but said nothing. The conversation ended for him instantly and he left Izuna there knowing he was right. Mio wasn't the enemy.


There was a secret war raging in the Sun Country—a battle between its population and disease, between the Sun Temple and the black sea of the forest, of a dead king's loyal followers and the Uchiha clan. As the northern kingdom flourished, news from the mainland painted the devastating effects of a world post-war—or rather the calm before a storm.

The Lord of Kurata castle had brokered a secret treaty with the Mikazuki clan after having lived years against the Kuronuma clan's rules concerning the mountain. Meanwhile, Uchiha Tajima and Uchiha Hikaku continued their power struggle, one that had been predicted to end catastrophically, but further information concerning Hikaku's secret employer spilled into light—word describing the man to be an old acquaintance of Motou Ayuka and one she had been aiding in the shadows for decades. Uchiha Sachiyo lived in perpetual peace with Saori and Hibari, Tomoji's daughters, in the Fire Country recovering from illness while they continued to mourn the death of their father. Ito Takuei successfully relocated his clan, leaving the old Ito village to serve as a base for the Uchiha clan and went on ahead to uncover strange things about Mikazuki Gouki, none of which he dared relay through correspondence—coded or not. Uchiha Taiga, accompanied by Uchiha Jouji, continued to be seen at any place of importance. The former surprised Sachiyo with a visit and even suggested a treaty she outright refused.

To that point, the Kuronuma clan remained silent with the exception of Shinya of the Black Sphere, Mio's grandfather, who had been seen traveling plenty in the last month. His actions resembled Motou Ayuka, who had abandoned her post as Enki Heika's First Commander to return to the Water Country, even though rumor of her travels reaching as far as the Earth Country sparked a bit of dissent within the Ito clan under Izuna's command.

The Senju clan was solving a problem in Whirlpool Country with their longtime allies, the Uzumaki clan, but word of a new alliance between the Senju clan and another shinobi clan was said to have drawn Senju Tobirama and his following to a private meeting. However, Izuna refused to believe all information Taiga had unearthed, despite him being the most accurate source of all shinobi secrets, he was still prone to alter the truth to his benefit.

Uchiha Izuna remained the Motou clan's enemy, but continued to work for Takuei's benefit and had given him invaluable information concerning Enki and Ayuka's plans. He learned little due to his position, but what he did not uncover himself, he talked it out of one of Madara's men. Whatever plan they had to gather the Kuronuma artifacts, Ayuka had set it in motion long before the Motou and Uchiha wars brought the first Kuronuma out of Kurata. Apart from that, he overheard that Kikumi, her freckled apprentice, had journeyed to the Earth Country to meet Hikaku's lord to marry one of his sons.

While Madara returned to a dangerous battlefield against the remaining opposition of Enki's rule and rarely appeared at the castle, Izuna had been tasked with the safety of the king (as his brother believed it might put them in each other's good graces). Enki's castle underwent necessary renovations, which have since restored the damaged to all buildings in the inner castle and work had started on a new tower to replace the one Izuna had destroyed. Enki had ordered the castle tower to be larger than the first and for another building to be erected inside the inner castle for lodgings he had described would be fit for a queen.

That day, Enki ordered Izuna to the construction site at dawn, but he left the king waiting. Izuna knew Enki planned to goad about his future bride, a young girl from a shinobi clan he had been blabbing on and on about for weeks now, as if he cared what he did with his life. Instead, Izuna opted to hunt Yayoi down. She had been avoiding him after having slapped him and blabbed about all the goodness Motou Ayuka had brought into his life, but she had developed an annoying tendency of accompanying his brother out into the battlefield. She had been using the same excuse forever, one that nobody believed as practicing her medical ninjutsu was the last thing she was interested in doing and improvement on it was a foreign word to her. The last time someone was seriously injured, she had been tasked to heal them and she had nearly finished him off—would have if the overseeing medical specialists hadn't been paying attention to her actions.

Madara refused to take Yayoi with him after that incident and she had gone into hiding within the castle. She had gone to the one place she would be safe away from him: the Northern Temple, which had a suspicious ban on all shinobi access unless you were Enki.

Izuna walked into the temple through the back entrance that led into the kitchens. Compared to the scarce population within the castle walls, the occasional servant fluttering about or the Motou shinobi taking turns patrolling the area, the temple's kitchens were buzzing. The kitchens were a long hall of pots boiling over freshly stocked fires, long tables overflowing with the produce being diced by the many cooking priests and priestesses, and the apprenticed children rushed back and forth between their superiors and teachers offering their help. The walls were lined with torches that set the room aglow and it was heavily scented with spices.

Everyone worked so faithfully towards accomplishing their task that Izuna managed to slip past the bustling room to the entrance on the other end. He entered a narrow corridor that led him into the inner temple, which was lit by thousands of pale candles set in rows before the golden monuments of the frightening looking deities worshiped by the temple. Before it sat the front of the temple, the doors opened slightly to reveal the castle courtyard that divided it from the rest of the property, off to his right on elevated ground was a staircase that led to the priest's apartments where Yayoi had been taking refuge from his curiosities.

Although, she had let her guard down today as he spotted her alone and seated on the gold-trimmed cushion in a meditative state before her gods. She wore pale robes, plain but expensively tailored, and her dark hair plaited over her shoulder.

Izuna approached her without a sound, sensing a strange convergence of chakra drifting from underground that confused his senses, but he kept his sights on the task on hand. Outside noise drifted in, her father, the useless king, shouted his irritation to the world and ordered his men around to search for Izuna, who had failed to meet him, but Yayoi remained undisturbed. She sat perfectly still, legs folded under her body, back straight, and her hands held together before her inclined head, clutching jade beads between them that wrapped around her left wrist.

"I hope you are willing to speak now."

Yayoi gave a frightened howl, turning swiftly when his voice reached her ears. She scrambled off the cushion, the jade beads scrapping along the wooden floorboards as she came to a quick realization that she had not been about to become a target, but that she would be interrogated. It took a moment for the fear to subside and for her to realize she only had a moment before to hide the intruder before others noticed his presence.

She rushed him, dragging him up the narrow staircase and into a room that provided little moving room. It had a single bed, a trunk overflowing in precious cloths and jewels, and a shelf on the wall toppled with a box. Yayoi's anger flared, her face flushed with emotion.

"Shinobi are not permitted on sacred ground!"

Izuna remained silent, his eyes taken by the sight of a box facing outward atop the shelve above her bed toppled in blank scrolls but bearing the unmistakable Kuronuma insignia, the rising wisp of smoke curved like a snake with three dots aligned the arch on the top.

Yayoi noticed and blurted, "That was a gift from my father."

He didn't believe that. The box looked out of place among the rest of her compact luxuries. It was dusty and worn, the dark wood was chipping and in the corner, expertly hidden from view he read the first character of a name he knew too well.

Izuna reached for it as Yayoi yanked it off the shelf, the scrolls tumbling between them. She raised it, planning to hold it protectively to her chest, but its contents spilled onto the bed, landed with a dull sound at their feet, or fluttered gracefully to the floor. Bottles of red paint, a clay doll, colorful beaded bracelets, and a silver hairpin sat among other trinkets on the bed having been luckier than the cup that smashed into shards on the ground.

Yayoi froze in her panic as Izuna crouched down and picked up the first scrap of paper. He turned it. The sloppy almost unreadable writing drew his face into a scowl. The coded message was easily discernable to him, as he had helped create the method when he was much younger with two reluctant participants, and in it, he could see her loyalty seeping through her carefully chosen words. No other name appeared in his mind. Only Mio's.

He tasted bile—the betrayal. Madara's behavior toward Mio had been a tad more severe than usual since her supposed treachery. It made sense now.

Izuna felt he should have known better. Madara was a stupid liar and the proof had been present all along. How hard he tried to make Mio out to be a terrible person. It was painful to hear, hard to accept because Izuna knew Mio had become as important to him as she had to his brother, only Madara was less reluctant to accept that as fact. Mio had been the enemy for a long time after Hiryuu manipulative spiel started making sense to Madara. After Hiryuu was sent away and the rat had replaced him, Madara had lessened his criticisms of her.

He picked up one note after another, distinguished the ones written by Mio's sloppy hand from those left behind by her deceased parents, slowly starting to understand as Yayoi sank into a seat in shock.

It would make perfect sense that Madara would have convinced her to become his spy to protect him. Madara lived to protect him. Honor bound, Mio would have agreed to do the same. He was her friend. If Madara offered her a good deal there would be no reason for her to say no.

He sat down after going through all the information she had shared from the Iron Country, to Kurata, to details surrounding her living situations and her personal hardships that left him wondering what insincere things his brother must have answered. "How is she?" he asked, lifting his eyes to Yayoi.

"I don't know," Yayoi said slowly. "He does not like to speak of her."

Is it guilt? "Why?"

She averted her eyes, uncomfortable saying anything at all. "I don't know." Slowly, she sank to the ground, setting the wooden box to her lap and reaching for the broken cup. "He cannot know of this."

"Why?" asked Izuna, holding all of her correspondences. "Are you afraid he might get angry?"

"He'll never trust me again," she admitted, indignant. "He thinks I'm enough of a nuisance now, this—hiding this was the only thing I have been able to do for him in this country."

Izuna said nothing, arching a curious eyebrow.

"I know my father intends to use him and that is the only reason he is not being kept in chains in the mountain," she said, the frustration seeping into her tone. She sounded more angry at her own actions than his prying, growing more furious after cutting her forefinger on one of the shards of the broken cup. She tossed it into the box with an angry growl and he noticed her hazel eyes watering. "He's such a stupid person."

He smiled faintly, understanding her sentiments. Madara was an idiot. A secret idiot. In his own way, a fool. He didn't even know it.

"I saw what you've done, he doesn't need to be sacrificing anything to protect you," Yayoi went on, a tear rolling down her face. She wiped it away quickly, hoping he hadn't seen the emotion pouring from her eyes. "He's so stupid." Furiously, she tossed one of the paints into the box and it cracked, the red oil bursting from it in all directions. She took the full brunt of its spill as it splattered across her face and sank into her white robes, but some reached him, a long line of red fell drawn across his cheek. "She's not worth this trouble! She isn't."

He words drew his full attention. She cursed as she stared at the red blotch staining her gown, whining about how it was ruined forever.

"Mio?" he asked, drawing watering hazel eyes to meet his. "Is this about Mio?"

"It wasn't," she said, tossing the box aside in her frustration. She started to dab at her clothes with a white rag she scavenged out of the overflowing trunk of items. "It wasn't until Ayuka-sama said something to him. Even she speaks so highly of that Mio, but I've seen her. She's not even pretty."

He normally would have come to Mio's defense on that front, but he had no time arguing about the reasons why Mio was prettier than Yayoi when she looked about ready to burst with all the secret information entrusted to her. "Why does she know about Mio? What has she said?"

"Mio needs to stay with the Kuronuma, stay there and not think of ever leaving. She is a curse—bringer of war and death," the priestess blurted, letting out a devastated cry because she couldn't get the paint out of her robes. "Ayuka-sama says Mio is everything—that she can do everything."

"What?"

"You don't understand!"

"Explain it to me," he urged.

She simply looked relieved to be speaking, of spilling the secrets she'd been burdened with. He sensed the impatience in her. She couldn't handle being the person everyone dumped their secrets onto, where she'd be trapped under them unable to speak even if the world around them was collapsing into itself and she knew the reason why. She was exhausted. She didn't have the capacity for these burdens and Izuna felt like the first person listening to her in a long time.

"Ayuka-sama said that she's seen Mio become a being of power and that's she trying to stop it from happening," Yayoi said quickly, twisting the useless rag in between her hands. "She's dangerous, Izuna. She's going to bring war and ruin into this world. Ayuka-sama is preventing it all from happening—she's been weakening her for so long, trying to force her off the path, but she's rising. She's starting to gain power again and soon she will have all of the Kuronuma artifacts and she'll be matriarch of their clan and she'll come here to kill Ayuka-sama!"

"Are you saying Mio is the enemy?" Izuna asked, flabbergasted.

"Ayuka-sama is trying to spare your life, Izuna. If you stay by Mio's side, you will inevitably die. That's what she told Madara and the reason he decided to listen to my father—he's trying to stop it. He's trying to protect you, but he's protecting her too. She was his spy."

"She isn't any more?"

"She can't communicate from Kurata, so they stopped talking a long time ago," she answered. "You two need to leave her to her fate. She will get what she deserves. You don't need to die for her, neither of you."

Izuna moved closer to her, his sandaled feet crunching over the broken shards. "Mio was nine when she came to our house," he began. "Mikazuki Gouki killed her parents and he would have killed her if our grandmother hadn't gotten to her house when she did. She didn't have anyone but us. We had six years to grow together before we were all separated. She's survived this far, through the Mikazuki clan hunting her down, she has lived—I know that he won't admit it, but Madara, as much as myself, want Mio to continue surviving. If your country is trying to bring her harm, you will not only have the Kuronuma clan to call enemies, but the Ito and Uchiha under our command as well."

Yayoi's lips trembled. "She doesn't deserve you." She rubbed her eyes. "She doesn't deserve you or your brother. She hurt you and he's stupid."

Izuna knew she was referring to the Taiga business, but the accusatory tone about his brother left him feeling strange.

The priestess wept in her frustration for what felt like hours. Izuna stayed behind to help her gather her things, but he kept all the letters she wrote to his brother, sure to bring them to him after he returned from an exhausting day hunting what remained of the Sone clan. Izuna dropped the whole stack of them in front of him and his brother lifted his eyes in shock.

"Mio the Traitor, was it?"

Madara sighed heavily. "We only wanted to protect you."

"By sending her to be with Taiga?" he snapped. "Have you seen the way he looks at her? That man's a rat and you let her go with him! He could be taking advantage of her as we speak!"

"Taiga knows too much about the Uchiha clan that we don't—Eijiro entrusted the Uchiha tablet to him as well and he's hidden it—"

"What use do we have for his secrets and a chunk of old rock that nobody can read?" Izuna interrupted. "Grandmother hates her so much it made her sick! I knew you were up to something! I knew it! And for what? To protect me! I can protect myself!"

"You're my only brother, I can't—"

"I'm going to die eventually! We discussed this!"

"Yes, but not because of her—"

"Does she even love Taiga?" asked Izuna, his heart pounding in trepidation.

Madara lowered his gaze shamefully. His actions spoke volumes.

"She doesn't," Izuna said, more to himself. "I knew it."

"It might be true…"

Izuna glared at his brother, feeling offended for Mio. "You are stupid. Mio would not love a man like Taiga."

"And you think she would love you?"

Izuna scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Why? Can no one defeat the Great Madara in matters of the heart? She wouldn't even look at you that way if you begged."

Madara bristled. "Mio is no prize!"

"You are blind, brother," he said grimly, "although, you seemed to have considered it for a time."

"How could I avoid it? Grandmother spent half our lives shoving Mio down my throat!" Madara snapped. "Do you think we deserved half the punishments she gave us? She wanted us together!"

"You have always been cruel to Mio! Why would grandmother ever consider putting you together with that intent?"

"That old hag is insane! She wanted us married to good women and she knew all along that Mio was a Kuronuma!" Madara argued. "Do you know what an alliance with the Kuronuma clan might have brought the Uchiha clan? Doing so would serve us better than having them as enemies when our Sharingan doesn't work against them!"

Izuna frowned, hating that his brother made a good assessment of the situation. It would make perfect sense that his grandmother did the things she had to gain an alliance with the Kuronuma clan. However, he didn't understand why she had chosen Madara over himself. He would have married Mio without issue. Mio was always at Madara's throat and his brother had spent more times making her cry.

Sachiyo was doing the same with him and the Ito girls. He was supposed to pick either Saori or Hibari to marry, but he had been avoiding the subject and had hoped that with Takuei rising as the Ito clan's new leader it would not come up again…until it had. Even Takuei wanted a solid contract with the Uchiha clan and he wanted him, not his brother, and deep down, he accepted it was his duty to come to a decision. However, if Izuna had the chance to marry Mio, he would be doing what his grandmother wanted all along. He could easily give Madara to the Ito clan. Hibari would have no qualms marrying him after having spent her time stalking and ogling at him when Madara was still in the Ito village.

Izuna's shoulders slumped, his frown deepening. Nothing could be done about Mio when she was in Kurata where he felt she was safest, but at least he knew that she had been in league with his brother and lying through her teeth in every exchange they had since her betrayal. He would leave the situation alone to focus on his brother's. "How do you plan to overcome your situation?"

"I am staying here," said Madara. "You need to return to the Fire Country or go assist our father in the Wind Country, but I need to stay here."

"For what reason?"

Madara's expression darkened. "I have a duty here, to Enki and Ayuka."

"You are letting them use you."

"The Motou clan is planning something sinister and they have allied themselves to the Mikazuki clan," his brother divulged. "He has come in this island to speak to Ayuka."

"Who?"

"The man that brought Mio to our home."

Izuna leaned forward. "You've seen him too?"

"I saw him rip a man's head off his shoulders with his bare hands." Madara stared at the floor, pensive. "The man is a monster. He has the strength of a Kuronuma."

Madara beheld the secret abilities of the Kuronuma, the black water that nearly scorched the flesh from his bones in his first encounter with them. But the Kuronuma clan were known for being exceptionally strong, physically capable of moving a mountain without the use of chakra—and of ripping the limbs off a person as easily as tearing a piece of paper. The darker legends kept them safe in their mountain and undisturbed, but they kept their secrets—and there were clans like the Motou rising to stake their claim on them.

Izuna believed his brother when he said the man had the strength of a Kuronuma. He had encountered him once before, a large man that was hunting for female spies that matched Mio's description. Dark haired, dark eyed, and with a lithe build. He had seen one die before his eyes and had recalled the way the man had not looked the least bit unfazed by his actions as he had surveyed his surroundings to ensure Mio had not been hiding.

That man was dangerous.

"He is a follower of their religion. The Motou priests won't let anyone walk into the temple, but I saw Ayuka lead him in. He stayed for hours. Days. And then he was gone." Madara paused. "He has a camp in the Fire Country, he has not moved since rumors of Kurata Castle's started to spread."

"Is he trying to kill her still?" Izuna asked, many questions springing into his head at once.

"The only ones actively trying against her life are Konoe and Hiryuu, but Mikazuki Gouki and Ayuka plan to keep her alive."

"He has been hunting her for years? Is that not the reason things have become so chaotic?"

Madara shrugged. "She might be the bait for something bigger." His brother stood. "I can stay here to find out, but you are an enemy to the king and you are not welcomed here. It is best you go to our father's side."

"Our father will need both our assistance," Izuna said, staring up at him. "You and all the Uchiha will have to follow. What does the witch think of this battle? I have heard she sent her assistant to be wed to a future lord."

"Kikumi is there to ensure our father wins the battle against Hikaku," Madara informed.

Madara excused himself, saying he needed to rest before returning to the hunt. Izuna stopped him.

"You have not attempted Yayoi, have you?"

His brother glowered. "What are you implying?"

"She seemed very attached to you when I spoke with her," Izuna clarified.

"I have not considered it, nor would I," Madara replied, sounding insulted that he even had to be asked. "Yayoi is in love with Katsura."

"Katsura is married."

"And she is determined to become his mistress." Madara rolled his eyes. "She also plans to become Mio's grandmother."

"What?"

"You witnessed her fawning over the man, did you not?"

Izuna had seen Yayoi's hazel eyes lit with delight when she saw Mio's Kuronuma grandfather from afar and she had done plenty of incessant blubbering on their way home. He had even thought he had heard her ask Mio to introduce them as she healed her, to which Mio had responded with a blank stare that left Yayoi in low spirits.

The shoji slapped into the end of the threshold noisily. Yayoi stood out in the hallway, sniveling into a handkerchief. "Is this where you have your joys?" she cried. "I considered you friends, but you are fiends—villains that speak so lowly of a young maiden's heart!"

"I am not your friend."

"I am not your friend."

Madara and Izuna were surprised the two had said the same phrase in unison.

"I hope you feel the burn of rejection when Mio tells you both she sincerely chose to be with that beautiful Uchiha man you both seem to hate!" she cursed. "Do not think to come crying to me when it occurs! I will not hear your woes, I will laugh behind your backs! I hope Ayuka-sama is right and you both end up killing each other like the pig king and Jikai for a stupid woman, no less!"

"I will take care of her," Madara grated, moving forward.

"Stay away from me!" she shouted and ran off.

Madara heaved a sigh, staying in place.

"Do you think she meant what she said?" asked Izuna.

The dark look that molded his brother's features could have stunned him into silence. "We are not Enki and Jikai. We are brothers and we will not fight over women."

Izuna patted his brother's shoulder. "Good, I worried there would be no way around hurling you into the river of black water in Kurata," he said in a joking matter.

Madara's expression changed. "What?"

"If you won't unify the Uchiha and Kuronuma clan, I will," Izuna stated, watching his brother prepare to protest. "You cannot object, brother, it is what grandmother wanted. Perhaps, you should think of wedding one of the Ito girls. Hibari still asks after you."

Madara frowned.

Izuna was about to step out of the room, but he turned back. "I was in the temple today." He earned a grimace, but Izuna continued, "I sensed a strange concentration of chakra emanating from underground. Is there a specific reason as to why the Motou priests restrict the entrance of shinobi?"

"You sensed chakra?"

"Yes, I planned to ask Yayoi about it until I found out about your letters from Mio. Takuei is sure the Motou clan is hiding something. What better place to put it than in the temple no shinobi can enter?"

Madara's eyebrows knit. "You will not attempt to—"

"I will be apologizing to Yayoi-san," Izuna said, stepping out with a smile. "I hope she will invite me back into the temple for tea."

Izuna left his brother, but in a matter of seconds, Madara was walking quickly to catch up to his stride. The two, in silent determination, were heading towards the temple…for vastly different reasons, but enough of a reason to do it together.

"You are going to get us both killed," Madara growled.

"At least it won't be Mio."


xl: This chapter makes me want Yayoi to hit it off with Izuna...and then Madara can be with Mio...and then we can all get a happy ending. Regardless, I am still rooting for Izuna. I will root for him until the end! Anyone with me?

I am going to post a oneshot companion to this series in my journal, it's part of the whole compiling things that didn't make it into the story in a Journal Only series. It's interesting if you want to know why Taiga was in the Sun Country, but you can live without reading it because I'll eventually mention it. But go read it in my journal! It might not be up immediately (because of coding and the fact that I'm making party bags for my little sister's birthday), but it will be up for sure tomorrow. You will find it under the title "Jigsaw."

Thank you to the reviewers: Loteva, CeliaSingsSongs, HushedFable, Johan, and Aries01xD! You made my day and my butt work harder to finish this.

One more chapter to go in the "Slumbering Beast Arc" and then we go back to Mio...because I miss her. However, be prepared to feel her pain. She is going to go through so much in under 7k words and it just gets worse.

I am going to write that discussion after the next chapter because I want to explain who knows what and what is true and who is in the inner circle and the outer. It's a lot, but yeah, I will guide you through it all. Especially because Izuna knows more about the artifacts while Madara has no idea there is more than one artifacts (at this point).

I will also try to start that Winter vs Redesign history later today. And a preview will be posted as soon as I get that Jigsaw chapter posted!

Thank you for reading!