Prologue

"What?" The Yondaime Tsuchikage had abruptly stood from her desk and stared at the papers she was holding as if they contained the most destructive kinjtutsu. Her obsidian eyes, once always collected and observant, were now widening in shock.

And quite rapidly, rage and, despite considering herself immune to such thoughts as there was always a risk, betrayal so violent the female leader felt nausea building in her stomach.

"Tsuchikage-sama!" The door to her office opened, and an intimidating figure slammed the door shut. An Iwagakure forehead protector was no longer hiding his forehead, and a beard had transformed when previously there had only been a wisp. For a brief moment, Kurotsuchi saw her childhood friend Akatsuchi as he had been before the Fourth Shinobi World War: a young, naïve but capable shinobi and consultant to her grandfather. It always seemed that the young man was always by her side. It had been sixteen years since the Fourth Shinobi War had ended. Tonight marked the last day of the war, when the Infinite Tsukuyomi had been dispelled and Uchiha Madara had died.

Daga… Kurotsuchi felt the ripe fury burning anger burning inside of her bones. It was almost as if her kekkei genkai was physically forming inside herself, turning her organs and viscera into pure molten lava. How could Konohagakure had deceived them for so long? Hatake Kakashi's and Uzumaki Naruto's faces appeared in her mind. The heroes of the war, and deceivers as well.

Kurotsuchi had always been wary of Konohagakure. Even though the land far east had prided itself on peace and tolerance, the roots that nourished the green leaves were of decay and blood, built on the blood of traitors. When the dark-haired woman had demanded information on Konohagakure secrets in late September, she had not expected Nara Shikamaru, the advisor to the Hokage, to obey her request.

Nor so quickly, although it made sense politically.

The Chuunin Exams had been cancelled due to the attacks of Momoshiki, and the appearance of the new Ninja Technology that Konohagakure had secretly made under their noses made Kurotsuchi and the other Kage of the Five Great Shinobi Countries uneasy. Was Konoha amassing strength and preparing to invade, as it had done in the Second Shinobi War? Kurotsuchi knew that something was occurring in Konohagakure, but she had no idea what. Due to the formation of the Shinobi Union, nations were forbidden to spy on one another.

Although…there was one small figure, mysterious enough only to be identified by his strange red eyes. Perhaps he had born with those eyes. It was no wonder that the child was an Uchiha.

The younger Uchiha…now almost a man.

"Uchiha Sasuke..." Kurotsuchi hissed, her eyes narrowing as she remembered declaring the former international criminal who had attacked the Five Kage Summit and started the Fourth Shinobi World War a spy. Who knew what he was hiding now, going from place to place, around the world? Had he actually been searching for dangerous enemies that Kaguya had prepared an ancient White Zetsu Army for? Or had he been faking his entire "redemption journey," secretly allying with the gods he slayed to destroy the hard-won peace that the Five Shinobi Countries had sacrificed so much to realize?

And his son too…the eerie look-a-like, Uchiha Itsuku. Supposedly he was born three years after the war. Kurotsuchi still remembered his Chuunin Exams two years ago. She had been ecstatic at the prospect of a younger genin joining the Chuunin Exams, but was very disappointed when the ten year shinobi, looking too much like his father, had simply dodged his opponents attacks and collapsed the other genin through his…ability to see anyone's fears, insecurities, and exploited them.

Kurotsuchi had paled when she had heard that Uchiha Itsuku, and his team were apparently exploring uncharted territory after the three creepy ten-year-olds had become Chuunin.

There had been a boy who had used chakra scalpel to limbs and seemed very interested in dissection. All with a creepy smile on his face and talking about fairies, of all things.

Then there was a taller ten-year-old with amber-gold eyes that looked peaceful but ended up destroying the entire arena with his bare strength.

Apparently that boy and Uchiha Itsuku loved to argue and fight all the time, knowing the worried and exasperated sighs and mutterings of the Konoha villagers. However, upon mentioning Itsuku's parents, no one seemed to provide a good explanation of why the oldest child of Uchiha Sasuke was never punished for fighting with Shimizu Shizuki.

"At least the daughter is well behaved. She has her mother's looks, and never strays from social morality."

What is Itsuku wasn't Uchiha Sasuke's son?

What is he was some other Uchiha bent on destruction, like Uchiha Madara?

The five Kage and the Hokage's son, Boruto, had attacked Momoshiki together. Kurotsuchi remembered the self-disgust that had mellowed her good mood for weeks on end. She was supposed to be a Kage, and she had lost to an enemy that a mere genin had defeated! It didn't matter that the other Kages had been knocked out as well. The allies had parted on good terms, and Kurotsuchi had been looking forward to beating Konohagakure ass in the next Chuunin Exams. But then, a month after the failed Chuunin Exams, unrest had been building in Iwagakure.

Kurotsuchi knew that she wasn't the shinobis or civilian first choice at being the Yondaime Hokage. She had not lost anyone in the war, and her family remained intact. Although the war had lasted only three days, ending on the early sunset hours on October 11, the death toll was unusually high. 76% of shinobi in the Allied Shinobi Forces above chuunin rank had died. Although only on the second day, the toll remained 50%, the attacks by Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito had been a massacre on the alliance.

To this day, there were over 2,000 shinobi and kunoichi missing. One them, Kurotscuchi knew, was the Kazekage's student. Kurotsuchi had been surprised that the Kazeakage would have allowed two genin to experience war, but she said nothing to inner voice that said no wonder to why they died. The friend inside of Kurotsuchi knew that her fellow Kage was grieving and didn't know how to give up even after all these years. Back then, her grandfather had simply sighed every time he sensed the Kazekage's chakra by the border of the Land of Lightning. Every year it seemed, the red-haired former jinchuukiri would search the area where his student had been last seen.

Sixteen years, Kurotsuchi mused, melancholy draining her energy. That's a long time to be grieving for anyone.

The death had affected Iwagakure in a multitude of ways. Genin had to grow faster than they should have, taking on more dangerous missions because the qualified shinobi had died. Unrest grew, ten years after the war, when Kurotsuchi had been named the Yondaime Tsuchikage. Not only had her ancestors had been in the line of leaders since Iwagakure's conception, but she had not lost any family members in the war that took so many lives. The masses had been pacified two years later, eight years ago now, when Kurotsuchi had married the Land of Earth daimyo's youngest son. She always remembered her grandfather's words. "Marriage is a part of shinobi life as is alliances, Kurotsuchi."

Still, the arranged marriage had been hard to swallow. Kurotsuchi supposed that her grandfather had been happy to see that his granddaughter had given birth to a child seven years ago, but so far, the old man hadn't even met his great-grandson.

Kurotsuchi sighed and thought about Sekiei. Small and studious for his age, the boy had little interest in politics or shinobi life. Kurotsuchi had almost despaired at the sight of her child wailing at accidently nicking himself with a kunai when he had actively been trying to begin his career as a shinobi. Her husband had suggested, when their son was asleep, that he should study and maybe become a scholar of some kind since the child was always reading. Kurotsuchi had almost slapped him from his ignorance and divorced him.

Despite not wanting to become a shinobi, Sekiei loved his mother above all else and wanted to please her. He was currently enrolled in the Ninja Academy, and at the top of his class. He was easily visible due to the wavy dark brown hair he had inherited from his father complete with his obsidian eyes. The child's shy and formal way of speaking often threw children off, as he was the member of a long line of Tsuchikages, and likely the next Tsuchikage himself.

Kurotsuchi almost snorted at the imagination.

Now Kurotsuchi was poised to create a world in which her son feared, that her husband hated as he had lost his mother during the war and could possibly sacrifice everything of the sixteen years past due to the documents she held in her hands.

The official classified documents of Konoha's secrets since the First Shinobi World War. Shikamaru hadn't realized that her people were very good at spying too, and found out information that she wanted, and more.

She hadn't realized that that so many incidents had happened in Konohagakure after the war. Her hands trembled at the thought of the violet girl with a beast to drain chakra. Uchiha Shin…and Orochimaru's son, out of all things! The transparency that Uzumaki Naruto touted was nothing but a sham. Kurotsuchi wanted to spit in his face.

The Yondaime Tsuchikage steeled herself. She had to keep her people safe. She had to keep her son, wholly beloved to her no matter what her foolish child was thinking, safe from the harm that Konohagakure was harboring.

"Go now, Akatsuchi," the woman said softly to her childhood friend. "Operation Sakura is ago."

We start by gathering information. Until their guard is down…when the cherry blossoms are in bloom and April arrives, then we begin the end of all things.