blueorangatan - Why thank you! I love overprotective Madara too! :D
treavellergirl - You, my friend, have a weird sense of imagination. :p But I'm glad I could make you laugh. n.n
SilverIcy - Misery and chaos are such nice companies to have, don't you think? :p Why thank you! I'm glad to see you too, honestly! ^.^
r1ncewind1 - That will be all cleared out in this chapter.
GaleSynch - For now, It will keep going- I have many ideas going in my head. So, rest assured, it won't stop anytime soon...at least for now. As for your question; yes, a few of them will die of old age but I'm not telling which one. Unlike Tobirama, I'm more for surprises. ;) Ah, no worries there, I'm glad my story inspired you, it makes me feel happy. I'll make sure to check it out and drop a review- we as authors got to stick together. Thank for the nice review, I appreciate it!
Sylencia - Lemon for Miss Sylencia will come up shortly. ;D
The Ice Sorceress - Yeah, I thought it would be time to publish a new chapter- very thoughtful of me, of course. Yes, I'm not letting Tobirama die for now, I still need him for something. :) As for the rest, why don't you predict it?
So here are the ages for the ones that are confused, for this chapter only:
Uchiha Madara/Senju Hashirama=30 years to 31 years old
Uchiha Izuna/Senju Tobirama/Uzumaki Mito/Sarutobi Sasuke=28 years to 29 years old
Uchiha Shisui=25 years to 26 years old
Senju-Uzumaki Akhiko=5 years to 6 years old
Era of the Warring States
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By Angelbloodlover
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~ "Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all."
―
Emily Dickinson
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Chapter 35: For Konoha!
Loud blood-gurgling cries.
"Say it and the pain will vanish in a blink of an eye."
Blood spatters on the cold, hard ground- No, more like a river of blood flowing beneath their feet.
"...I r-refuse," Coughing and wheezing out blood, the prisoner continued, "I will...not let...m-my p-p-pride...be trampled on by the l-likes of you." He spit right into the face of his torturer.
Red, demonic eyes twinkled in the darkness as he cleansed his face- "Then let your shouts for mercy be my muse."
"Lady Shisui!"
Said person turned around and her eyes widened when she saw who was calling out her name. This could only mean one thing- Finally, after rain we get to see some sunshine. "Is this what I think it is?" She tried so hard to keep the hopeful sound in her voice to a minimum but it was so damn hard.
The person had only time to nod before he was teleported.
Hands turning into fists, ear-shattering screams echoing throughout the room.
And in the midst of all was a figure looming over a crippled person. The torturer didn't care that his hands were stained with blood, he didn't care about the life of this filthy peasant. "Here in my hands I'm holding your miserable life, you piece of scum."
Between all the blood stains- dry and fresh ones- were two jade green eyes piercing through him. He could clearly see how his defenses were breaking one by one.
Once again, his hands turned into fists and the melody of pain resonated inside the room.
...and once again those red-demonic eyes were watching everything emotionlessly.
It was all a matter of time before he had crushed his entire soul and mind.
Worried, black eyes watched the bedridden man, "Sempai, I'm not sure if he did even move, I cou-" "Shh. Setsu-kun, don't talk and let me do the rest." Shisui interrupted her subordinate as she assessed her comatose patient. Carefully, she let her warm, green chakra flow inside of her patient's body, checking every tiny cell thoroughly. It was time to try out her jutsu she was working on for days...
Sweat was already pouring down- this technique was very straining for her chakra system because the human body had millions and millions of cells, and even for her it was impossible to check everything. Biting on her lip, she sped up her treatment and divided her chakra in tiny tentacles. This would make her work take less time but the negative side effect would be the fact that it would consume even more chakra than normal.
"...sempai?" Setsu asked worriedly, his brows furrowed as he looked at her with his Sharingan activated.
She ignored him and continued on- almost finished...
Her hands were starting to shake; time, she needed more time, damnit! Chakra flickered once, twice and then back to its normal flow.
Tick. Tock.
Setsu could see how her teacher's chakra was dwindling down fastly. Biting on his nails he wondered what he should do, if Shisui kept her jutsu active who knew what the damage would be.
catastrophic.
So, with a deep breath, he spoke up, "Sempai, I really think you should stop this jutsu..." Damnit, why did he sound so uncertain?
Again- ignored, like always.
Dizziness was overtaking her but she could finish this, she could almost see what the problem with him was. Just a bit more and victory would be achieved.
"Sempai! I brought you here because I thought he had moved but it seems I was wrong! Stop this madness!" Louder and terrified, "Please!"
A loud cough erupted and with it came a river of blood- freshhotblood. "N-n-no..."
"You're starting to test my patience, worthless peasant." He executed a set of seals and watched with glee in his eyes as the prisoner's veins were boiling from the inside out. "...and testing my patience is a very bad thing to do."
Blood-gurgling screamed choked the silence but the red demonic eyes didn't care. In fact they were ominously satisfied...almost.
Connection was gone and Shisui could only gasp for breath, her entire body ached, her lungs seemed to work on overdrive and her heart was beating so inhumanly fast- everything hurt. "I-I...I a-almost did i-it..." Stumbling Shisui focused her blurry eyes on her comatose patient and smiled intoxicated at him. "J-just o-o-one more t-time..."
Her hands shook wildly as she took out a chakra-boosting pill. The loud crunch made Setsu jump up and fear for the worst.
...maybe it was time to do something instead of nothing.
Evil consuming darkness, that was what he was in, that was what he saw.
And those eyes; dear Kami, those eyes. Whenever he saw something red, his entire body shook uncontrollably. He couldn't help it- his body automatically connected red with pain, immense pain.
Surrounded by a monster, he was sure that he was in Hell-a human made Hell.
"Today you got a visitor," He received a harsh kick to his abdomen, which sent him into another cough fit. "It's polite to greet someone, don't you think?" It was a rhetorical question but nonetheless, he answered it with a nice, "How about yo-" But before he could even finish his sentence, his chin was grabbed roughly and he stared into different demonic eyes.
"Today you'll face pain beyond your imagination. Meet your worst enemy, Uchiha Madara." With a dark hiss, he added, "Tsukiyomi."
Black danced within the red, and,
Choruses of choked screams continued.
Another day passed where Setsu watched his dear teacher work herself to the bone. How much could he stand watching her like this?
It hurt.
Noticing his distressed face, Shisui calmed him down, "Setsu-kun, don't worry, I feel perfect." Oh Kami, those eyes of hers were shining full of life and once again he didn't dare to stop her...
...for he feared that the light within her eyes would vanish.
He could feel those eyes on his back, he could feel them watching his every move. Everyone was watching him- everything was watching him. His fingers twitched when he heard the quiet sound of footsteps coming his way.
Not again, he wouldn't be able to survive this round-insanity was waiting for him, ready to welcome him with open arms.
Another day, another treatment.
Shisui could feel that she was getting close to treating him, she was missing one major case but what?
There was Setsu, helping her teacher out with a cloaked weariness. "Sempai, how much longer can you keep this up?"
And again, he remained unheard.
Two lips smirked darkly.
Finally after all the torture sessions, they have won- they broke his mind and soul, shattered it in millions of pieces.
"What's your name?" One of the mind-raper asked him quietly.
Two unfocused eyes looked at his torturer, "Kakuzu from Takigakure."
The other mind-raper couldn't suppress his cruel laughter and creeped closer but this didn't seem to affect the prisoner in the slightest he didn't even know why he was here in the first place only that he had to get the hell out of here...
"Kakuzu from Takigakure, tell us everything you know about your S-rank mission."
And he did- he obeyed their every command for he became a man with a shattered mind and a broken soul.
With holding breaths, she could only wait as her final chakra seeped inside his veins.
"C'me on," she spoke softly, wringing her hands tightly nervously. She had checked everything, healed everything, did everything she could to utmost perfection.
Seconds passed by,
Minutes passed by,
Hours ticked by,
...and nothing happened. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing.
Disappointment assaulted every fibre of her body and it was with a crushed heart that she went to sleep the next day.
Hashirama and Izuna were discussing new matters about their plan when suddenly- "Hashirama, we've got some bad news," came Madara's loud statement, followed by Tobirama.
"What do you mean, aniki?"
The white-haired Senju replied, "We retrieved every single information from Kakuzu and what he told us..." He pinched his nose, annoyance and rage clouding his mind, "...was bad."
"To put it shortly; Konoha is in deep trouble." Madara continued, "Kumo, Iwa and Taki formed an alliance to overthrow Konoha."
Hashirama's eyes widened when he heard those words, even Izuna looked worriedly at his brother. "T-This is bad, very bad..."
What could Madara reply to that? "I wholeheartedly agree to that." But then a smirk lit up his face, "Which is why we have to speed up our plan because that'll be our only salvation."
Shisui was scanning Akhiko's traumatized mind carefully and scribbling notes on her notepad. She still didn't know what she did wrong but maybe if she compared the difference between their minds then she could find a loophole.
Well, trying wouldn't hurt a bit.
After drawing patterns of Akhiko's mind, she collected everything and flickered to her other patient. Clouded with various solutions running inside her mind, she placed her stuff on the table and set to work.
"...maybe if I changed this and added a tiny bit of electricity to my chakra?" She thought out loud, ticking the pencil against her under lip. "But what if it leaves more side-effects than benefits?" No, she couldn't take risks like that...
For the next hour, she kept thinking about her idea, about the pro's, about the cons.
Finally, having made up her mind, she decided to try it out. But with less minimal side-effects as possible. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on her amount of chakra, combining it with her lightning affinity. The moment she let her medical chakra mix with lightning, she felt different.
...she felt weird.
As long as she kept precautions, like in her case to tame the lightning with her healing chakra, then nothing bad would happen.
...she hoped.
Another deep inhale and then her chakra seeped inside his body- at first, she noticed the slight shock of the body and then nothing more.
A smile blossomed on her tired face when she noticed the smallest twitch of his fingers. Maybe this meant something good?
Her eyes widened when she saw the moving of his lips, moving closer to his lips, she placed her hands on his torso, only to be send flying against the wall. She groaned from the pain and clutched her head tightly but then she yelped in pain when she noticed her badly swollen fingers.
As if things couldn't get any worse than this, she heard the loud beeping of his heart and cursed loudly. Immediately activating her green hands, she started to take out the electricity inside of him, constantly biting on her lip from the pain caused by her fingers. She didn't dare to heal her fingers for fear of messing up. She would withstand this pain if it meant helping her dear friend.
Finally, after finishing it up, she healed her damaged finger tops and frowned in annoyance when she could still feel the phantom pain from her wounds. That was something that not even the best medics in the world could heal away.
Another day filled with pure disappointments When would they stop?
"What are you going to do with Kakuzu?" Izuna asked nonchalantly, legs crossed as he drunk from his tea.
Tobirama stepped forward, "Leave him to me." Continuing, "As Konoha's ANBU-Commander it's my duty to deal with spies till the end."
Everyone understood the meaning behind those words, no one objected to it until Madara spoke, "Tobirama, I've got a different idea, a much better one." His lips curled up, showing off his white teeth, "Let's keep him for later use."
Izuna chuckled softly, already having an inkling of what his brother was thinking about.
"I see my otouto knows what I'm thinking of." The elder Uchiha smirked in amusement, crossing his arms as he leaned against his new oak desk.
But Hashirama and Tobirama were frowning in confusion, wondering what the two Uchiha brothers were thinking of. "Care to explain?" Hashirama asked in slight annoyance, feeling left out.
Madara closed his eyes and when they opened up it was bleeding red. Speaking in a cold, hateful manner, "How about we send Taki a reminder that you don't fuck with Konoha."
Tobirama smirked in amusement; only the Uchiha brothers were capable of thinking like that. Although he wasn't objecting to that idea either. It sounded quite appealing.
"I'm not really in favour for such cruel things but I'm not going to stop you. Either way, whether you kill him or send his body to Taki, they will find out eventually..." He shrugged his shoulders and turned around, looking down on Konoha, "All I care about is protecting Konoha from any danger." His voice ended in a soft whisper as his eyes gazed down at his dream.
The co-Hokage straightened his back, "I'll take that as a 'yes, Madara, you can do what you want.'"
Another day fruitless day passed and Shisui was studying her stack of notes, scribbling some ideas, crossing some things out. Sighing in irritation, she stood up, stretching her limbs until she heard the satisfying pop from her bones.
"Time to check up on them." For the past month she had checked up on Sasuke and Akhiko, trying to find a therapy to get them out of unconsciousness. Next to that, she started to train the Medical Corps, pushing them to their limits since she still had a job as the Head of the Hospital. To her relief, the hospital didn't slack on their difficult recruiting program. Becoming a nurse in the hospital was hard, only the best of the best were welcomed with open arms.
There were two sections of nurses; the one who utilized chakra and the civilians. The hardest procedure was for the ninja's- they had to have perfect or semi-perfect chakra control and average chakra capacity. As for the civilians, they were only accepted if they finished 'The Art of Healing'. This was a school specialized in anatomy, herbology and so on.
Shortly said; to become a nurse (with or without chakra) was a difficult task but one that came with honour for the graduated.
Flickering towards Sasuke, she stiffened when she came eye to eye with his only son, "...Hiruzen." She noticed his tense body and walking towards him, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'll make sure your father will be healed."
"...if that was the case then wouldn't he be healed by now?" His accusing, narrowed eyes stared at her. She could clearly see that he was losing hope day by day. She flinched at his cold tone but he continued before she would reply, "Aren't you the Uchiha Shisui who is the best medical ninja of the entire Shinobi Nations?!" At the end of his speech, he raised his voice.
...and all Shisui could do was accept his words because he was right, because she was at fault.
And she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she wouldn't help him-no, help them both out.
"It smells like shit down here." A playful voice spoke loudly, pinching his nose from disgust.
The other shinobi walking next to him deadpanned, "I'll be sure to place some flowery fragrances in our prison."
Chuckling, the first one spoke up, "Now, now, no need to be so grumpy."
"Sometimes you can be so weird, Izuna."
Said person chuckled in amusement. "I'd rather be weird than to have a stick-up-my-ass like aniki and you."
Tobirama frowned in annoyance, "I would prefer it if you didn't call me like that."
But Izuna continued on, a wicked glint in his eyes, "I wonder how imouto can stand all your up-tightness."
That was final drop that overflowed the bucket, and it was with pure rage that Tobirama chased after Izuna with a kunai in his hand, ready to kill his soon-to-be-brother-in-law.
Smiling softly at Toka, she nodded, "Now, start letting them in." It was time to re-evaluate everyone with her self-made tests and if needed, she would send them back to school so they could be tutored in the subject they had failed in.
"Ahn, Uchiha Setsu, I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors." Her smile widened slightly when she noticed the rosy tint on his cheeks. She handed him a thick bundle, "Take a seat." When he left, Shisui handed the other bundles to the rest.
She raised her voice and looked at her subordinates, "You will get exactly two hours and a half to finish your test. Afterwards we'll be moving on to the more practical lessons. Good luck to you all." Shisui turned the hourglass upside down and watched the sand glide down slowly.
Tobirama looked with clear distaste in his eyes at Kakuzu. Once a mighty shinobi and now he was nothing more than a broken man. Taking out his kunai, he twirled it around his finger, "Begone, you filth."
Kakuzu stared at him with glazed, green eyes- it was time to bid this world farewell. Before he could close his eyes, the kunai came down with deadly precision. His head rolled down on the floor and the two figures standing watched impassively as the light vanished from his eyes.
She yawned, her eyes drooping from the tiredness. An entire stack of corrected test were placed neatly in a box while she was busy correcting the last one in her office. To her amazement, there were only two nurses- a man and a woman who had failed their theory. They would have to re-take their tests again and if they failed they would have to return to school. She didn't appreciate the ones who failed their theory. Before you would start meddling inside the human body, you were obliged to understand it. This was a risk she wouldn't take. Even she re-took the tests and of course with her experience and Sharingan she was able to memorize everything perfectly.
Some could consider this cheating but in the ninja world nothing was fair. Ninja's were no samurai who did everything honourably. Ninja's were created for lies and deception. And Shisui made sure to use everything in her arsenal to achieve her goals, even if it meant cheating or finding a loophole.
Taking a cup of coffee, Shisui flickered towards room 117, which was placed under heavy protection. Nodding at the ANBU, she walked inside the room. Sadness crept up inside her heart as she watched the unmoving man. She placed her cup on the nightstand and sighed tiredly, her green hands assessing the bedridden man.
She was starting to get desperate, trying out everything, which seemed to have zero success. Shaking her head, she concentrated on him, her chakra snaking its way through his body. "What am I going to do with you?" was her quiet whisper as she finished checking him up.
She had a feeling that he was slipping from her fingers.
This crushing thought made her heart clench and twist painfully.
"I'll send one of my best hawks to send the head and the letter." Madara spoke, caressing the hawk on his arm. Breeding hawks was a favourite hobby of his and no one was better in cultivating hawks like he did, not even Izuna or Shisui.
The hawk flapped his wings, regarding Hashirama with narrowed eyes to which the Hokage smiled nervously, "Madara, I think your hawk dislikes me."
"So it seems," was his reply as he smirked in delight at his childhood friend. The hawk screeched loudly and shook his claws, eyes still focused on the wood user. "I'll be going to the tower now." Turning his back to his friend, the elder Uchiha walked away, whispering words to the hawk. Sometimes he had a feeling that Madara loved those hawks more than him.
Hashirama shivered when the hawk turned to look at him. Those beasts of him were scary as hell. "Somehow I have a feeling that Madara is teaching them to hate me." Musing over that fact, the Senju turned around and walked in his office.
She sighed quietly and looked at everyone, "Look around you and tell me what you see."
"A friend."
Another one, "A lover."
"Comrade."
"Best friend."
And the list went on.
Shisui lifted her hand, "That's right, we all have someone important that we cherish closely in our hearts."
Madara, Izuna, Hashirama, Mito, Akhiko, Kagami, Torifu, Danzo, Noriko, ...
...and Tobirama.
"What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room. If you disobey my order, I'll personally deal with you, am I understood?" She threatened coolly, her chakra spiking violently.
The message was clear; fuck with Shisui and you were a goner.
Confident nods were her reply, "Hai, Shisui-sempai!"
"Good." Killing intent dwindled down and she continued, satisfied with their replies. "The fact that I'm evaluating you all under these strict rules is because of Konoha." All her subordinates who were seated narrowed their eyes, various thought running in their minds and none of them seemed appealing. "I'll make it short since you all have worked yourself to the bones. Kumo, Iwa and Taki are planning to overthrow us-" Shock was clear in their eyes but she hushed them with one look, "-but under no circumstances will Konoha fail. We have something that those villages don't have and will never have...," Everyone held in their breaths upon hearing that but Shisui wasn't finished. "The Will of Fire."
Many eyes widened, "We will fight with all we have and destroy our enemies. We will make sure that nothing will touch our precious hometown. We will crush everyone and everything with our bare hands. We will make them feel pain beyond their imagination. And happen, it will."
Louder and filled with pride, "It's time to show them what the Village Hidden in the Leaves is made of!"
That small speech inspired them, she could see it shine in their eyes as they shouted in unison, "For Konoha!"
Izuna whirled around when someone placed a hand on his shoulder and a happy smile appeared on his face when it was his little sister, "Imouto!"
Said woman smiled softly, "Izuna-nii, I came here to help you with the evacuation and I've brought some little helpers with me." She took a step aside and behind her were none other than Konoha's Special Chunin Squad, consisting of Team Tobirama, Team Izuna and Team Shisui.
"Izuna-sensei!" His female student greeted him loudly, hugging him tightly. It was obvious that she had missed her dear teacher.
Izuna smiled gently and patted her head, "Good to see you again Noriko-chan." He averted his attention on his male students and smirked, "Well if it isn't Kata-chan and Sato-chan."
The two glared at their sensei, eye brows twitching in annoyance, "Sensei." They spoke in unison, arms crossed.
Shisui clapped her hands loudly to get their attention, "Everyone, listen carefully. From today on you'll be sent towards Konoha's Emergency Evacuation Transport Facility, each and one of you will be transported to our hidden sheltered mansion, which is equipped with family rooms and comfortable furnished rooms. Next to that, we've placed many seals which will provide the shelter with security, food, water, fresh clothes and so on. Before you'll all be transported you will have to come in this tent where the medics will run up a thorough check-up. The ones who are sick will be sent to the hospital where they will be healed efficiently and when the medics are certain that the patient is completely healed up, he or she will have to come here again with an official document where your permission is written in it. Each document must have my signature in it otherwise it won't have any value." Inhaling deeply, she continued, "Now we'll start, please line up and wait until you're allowed to come in." Shisui turned around and walked inside the giant building, which they had built for these occasions.
The fact that they wanted to check up on everyone was because the medics would have to stay in the hospital, taking care of the wounded shinobi and kunoichi. Of course, a few of her medics will go with Konoha's population but the majority will stay with her. So, it was better to patch up everyone instead of letting them infect each other.
Better to be safe than sorry, was her motto.
Hashirama looked at Madara, "How is the evacuation going?"
"Smoothly. I've sent Izuna to keep the crowd under control and Shisui is doing her job as the captain of the evacuation program." He leaned against his comfy chair, "As for Tobirama, he went with a small group to locate the Tailed Beasts."
The Senju's eyes widened, "You did what?!"
Already knowing that the worried brother would act like that, he put his hands in the air, effectively stopping him, "Relax. I'm not stupid enough to send him out without back-up, I'm with him." Madara smirked and looked with amused eyes at the confused Hashirama until his eyes lit up in understanding.
"Aa," The brown-haired Hokage started, "Let me guess. A clone?"
"You guessed correctly."
His childhood friend chuckled, "How could I ever doubt in your efficient leader skills."
"That, my friend, is a mistake you shouldn't make twice." He replied with a mighty air around him, his deep baritone voice confident.
Somewhere in a dark room two brown, confused eyes fluttered open...