Sasuke scowled at his eldest family member.

"Why didn't you tell me you were allies with a Senju?! You bastard!"

"Because I knew you would react in precicely this way. I had told her to wait until you were ready before revealing herself. But it is just like Hikari to act on her own. I had planned to take advantage of her remorse and hatred of the village as your partner. Her strength and experience would have made her a powerful ally-" Sasuke slammed the door behind him.

"You're a liar! What she did was despicable. You of all people should have gotten rid of her the moment you knew who she was! "

Madara pounded his fist on the table at the incompetent boy.

"You're more arrogant than your elder brother was when I brought him in. What a fool you were to allow her to confront you by yourself!" Sasuke's expression remained unchanged at the lecturing of the eldest Uchiha.

"I was able to take down Deidara even before I had my mangyekyo. It's not like I had any reason to believe a medic and sensory nin like Karin would have been any trouble."

"Your naivety put you in more trouble than you realize," the masked man turned to the teen. "Hikari is not like your medical ninja. She could fight at nearly the same caliber as your elder brother. If she became involved in the war against us, it could potentially turn the tide of battle."

"She won't do that. Hikari told me she would stay out of your war—on the condition you don't take her out. She said it would be a waste of your time. But still… you're going to just let her run away?! If she is as strong as you say she is, then why don't you come with me and we'll kill her together?" The masked man took a moment to think, scratching his chin.

"Do you hear yourself? Have you completely forgotten about Danzo? This is your only chance to take your revenge on the man who manipulated the both of them! Letting her roam free is a large risk, but Hikari has always kept her word to me and tracking a wood style user would take enough time to put me at a significant disadvantage. For the Infinite Tsukuyomi, timing is of the essence. Hikari played her cards well. I have waited too long for this. I cannot afford to look for her now….. Zetsu." The plantlike member of the Akatsuki rose from underneath the ground. "Have three of your clones track down Hikari Senju. Make sure that wherever she has decided to find refuge, she does not leave. If she does, then have one alert me at once. Oh and Zetsu… make sure you stay out of her sensory range."

As Hikari slept, visions floated through her mind.

Age 18. Sitting atop the second tallest tower in the Rain village, Hikari and Konan looked out at the run down buildings as the skies wept mercilessly on them.

"When I look at my home from up above, I sometimes remember what it was like to walk these same streets when I was young. It's been seventeen years since I first took up the mantle of Akatsuki. Just a year younger than you are now. And after all this time, I do not regret a single minute of it. Each day I continue to lead the people of this village, I feel as if I can give to the children here everything my friends and I lacked." Hikari looked at her blue haired friend, smiling out at the village that would not stop weeping. It was true, Konan was twice her age. But it was nice to have a friend who understood how it felt to be viewed as a love interest instead of a strong and capable comrade. Her blue hair was comforting, as if her late best friend Mitsui lived on in this woman who also stood by her side.

"One day, for your sake more than mine, I hope that your dreams are realized. I truly hope that in time, people will grow to empathize with one another and corruption will cease. Perhaps then, this village will stop crying." Konan looked at her friend suspiciously, but smiled.

"You don't mean to say you regret coming to the Akatsuki for your sake, right Hikari?" Hikari shook her head confidently.

"No. I just mean that you've suffered in this world plagued by corruption longer than I have. And that you more than me deserve that justice." Konan's eyes went from suspicious to concerned.

"Hikari…. you deserted a life of comfort to fight alongside us. You deserve to see that day too." A lump caught in the younger woman's throat. Konan's words had drawn out the memory that most plagued her heart. Her darkest hour. She opened her mouth, but couldn't speak…..

Age 16, one and a half years before.

Hikari screamed as loudly as she could in the confines of her not-so-modestly sized house. She slammed her fists down on the wooden floorboards over and over, splinters piercing her skin. Tears of anguish streamed down her face as opened her eyes and looked at her hands, now bleeding. Her head ached and ears rung from the intake of new information, a vision that had turned her whole life upside down. A moment of perfect clarity that sent her tumbling into confusion.

A vision of a boy her age, Itachi Uchiha, garbed in a black and red cloak, walking down the streets of the Leaf, confronted by hateful eyes of three jonin. It had been only one month ago that the troubled man had infiltrated the village, she knew of it from stories. A vision of his younger brother, only thirteen, heart plagued by vengeance for the clan that he had lost, hell bent on killing his only living relative. A vision of his family, oppressed for generations under the regime she had risked her life time and time again to support.

Over the course of only minutes, did the girl come to realize that every year, a story had been slowly fed to her. And with every mission under Danzo, her hands had been unjustly stained with the blood of an oppressed people. Finally, through the blood of the lives she had taken, one word became seared into her mind, over the image of the boy who had first crossed her mind:

Hero.

It made sense as the picture became clearer. It was this boy, the eldest son of Fugaku Uchiha, that had been Danzo's target all along. With a coup de tat coming ever closer, it was he who would seal his own clan's fate, preventing further conflict and closing their story in the history books as an innocent clan, dignified and uncorrupted. It was this boy, then, who would be branded as a horrendous criminal, sociopathic and selfish.

Everything she had been taught, everything everyone around her hand been taught, was all wrong. And she had accepted every word she was spoon fed without question. Hikari struggled to her feet, gasping for breath as tears continued streaming down her face. How is it that for so many years, even with my foresight… I did not see it? Her head reeled, she shook, but using the wall as support for her tingling body, she struggled her way to the bathroom mirror. How long ago Danzo, did you decide to teach us this rhetoric of hate? Hikari looked at herself, eyes red and face showing surprise just as much as the guilt and despair that began to flow through her veins. Blood dripped into the sink, but unlike the missions she had embarked on years ago, this blood was justly spilt…..

"I'm a villain…"

"Is this all you have? You'll have to do more than that if you hope to avenge your brother by taking down the entire Leaf Village!" Sasuke panted lightly as the imagined figure of Danzo faded into the masked face of Madara. Susanoo rapidly fading, the boy sheathed his sword, unwilling to show the elder Uchiha how much his eyes ached.

"I'm done training. Danzo should be reaching the summit in the next few days. We should get going."

"No. Do you really think that it will be so easy to take the likes of him down? He is one of the three elders, and he was elected Hokage. We have not yet seen the extent of his abilities."

"If taking him down is such a risk, then I should conserve the use of these eyes of mine. Let's go, Madara. I'm getting impatient," the boy turned in the direction of his teammates, and commanded them to follow.

"You go no ahead of me," the masked man chuckled. "I have one other task I must attend to beforehand. I'll catch up with you later."

Hikari woke staring blackly at her new ceiling. Across her field of vision, a familiar presence floated from one side of the room to the other.

"Sasuke should be heading out to take care of Danzo soon. Why aren't you with him?"

"I just was. It's morning. You have a lot of work to do." The woman yawned and rose from her sleeping pack.

"I know. I'm on it."

In the second room, Hikari dropped her large pack on the table, removing all of the contents: a dozen scrolls, several large books, weapons, several leftover herbs, and numerous packs of seeds. After setting the scrolls and books on the book shelf, she removed the last item- the purple orb from Madara's study. If Hikari was to remove herself from the war physically, she certainly would be involved mentally. This was not Sasuke's war, but if he decided to take part, Hikari would do everything she could to protect him from afar, and her jutsu would require a lot of chakra. Stealing Madara's all seeing eye was just as practical as it was risky.

Placing the orb back inside the bag, Hikari headed outside with the bags of seeds. Standing outside the house, she visualized her garden to be, in her mind's eye. An earth release jutsu caused the dirt underground to become loosened, forming several beds for planting. And there in the garden she waited, planting vegetables and grains. Half an hour in, she turned her head to the Southeast, as a familiar presence rose out from the branch of a tree.

"It's about time. I've been waiting for you. Come out…. White Zetsu." The plant like clone gave an evil grin and chuckled.

"How did you sense me? I stayed out of your sensory range to avoid being spotted." Hikari continued to dig, using a wooden shovel.

"My sensory range has been heightened a great deal. I've been preparing food pills for the last two months in hiding." The creature chucked once more, at a loss. "I take it you've come here to make sure I keep my promise, is that right?" She continued.

"That's right. If you kill me, Madara will know immediately. You'll be killed before the war even starts." The woman rose up from her knees to dig a deep hole.

"I'm not going to kill you. I have no intention of taking part in this war. Come down from that tree, will you?" The white creature did as she asked, approaching the wire hidden in between two trees. Hikari held out her hand.

"Want to help me with this garden? Hop over the wire and take a shovel."

As Sasuke ran, teammates following behind, visions of his repressed past now came to the forefront of his mind.

…. Sasuke sat on the back porch of his old house, glancing at Itachi nervously. He had recently overheard their parents talking about his report card. While his heart yearned for acknowledgement from his father, it was his mother's reaction that had most surprised him.

"Sasuke gets top marks in all of his classes. He's excelling just like his brother," his mother had said, followed by agreement of his father. "But that's all the more reason I am concerned about him. He should be making friends with other people. Shisui is too old to treat Sasuke the same way as Itachi. What bonds will Sasuke have with his comrades when he becomes a ninja?" It had hurt. He had anticipated dissatisfaction from his father, but never from his mother. In addition, the question had confused Sasuke. Was comradeship really so important in becoming a ninja? If Sasuke could do his job well serving the Leaf Police Force, what did it matter what he did in his spare time? His brother had excelled in school and now had a chance to serve in the ANBU black-ops. Had Shisui been a large factor in his success? And if not, what was the reason for their bond?

"Itachi?" the boy finally blurted out.

"Yeah?" Nervousness crept in, as Sasuke mentally prepared to try to get beyond the veil of mystery that was his elder brother.

"Mother says I need to make more friends at school. But you never made friends at school, did you?" Itachi thought for a moment.

"What about the boy with the blonde hair who starts fights with you?" Itachi avoided taking about his own short life at the Academy. The sidestep was frustrating, but I was even more surprising that for how little he knew about his elder brother, his elder brother knew everything about him. As much as he avoided contact, he was always watching.

"Oh… Naruto," he had said, feeling a sting in his heart somehow. "He only does that because he's a fool. He wants people to acknowledge him, but all he does is act out. He even fails all of his exams. He'll never make a good ninja. What would I gain by being friends with a guy like him?" Itachi had smiled at that statement, but Sasuke had not seen why.

"You should talk to him. You might find that letting him in will help you grow in a way you didn't realize was important." Itachi looked up at the sky, probably thinking something amazing in the brilliant mind of his that his father loved so much.

"What do you mean by that? In what way?" Sasuke scowled.

"I can't explain it to you. Sometimes growing with a friend can't be measured in battles or test scores or even with words. A ninja's strongest bond is something that can only be felt in the heart. And only once one embraces that bond, do they become a full fledged ninja." …

Sasuke had thought at that point that is brother had been opening up about his friendship with Shisui. He had felt so proud to be considered worthy by his brother of even a small piece of his heart. Now, only after his brother's death, did he know it had all been about him. He had been his brother's strongest bond. Out of the pit of nothingness that had become his heart, a tear came, threatening to spill out of tired eyes. He locked the memory away in his mind, leading the way with an expression of stone.

"You know I don't need to eat. Gardening is Black Zetsu's pastime," the eery man chided, as he dug alongside the kunoichi. She shot him an accusing look.

"No, people watching is more of your hobby, is it not? Just as you watched Itachi and I fight all those times. And now your assignment is to watch me, so watch away," waved her hand over her head, voice laced with sarcasm and mild annoyance.

"I enjoy observing abilities that are interesting. Now that you've abandoned the Akatsuki and the war, you could say that you've lost your appeal. I don't have to help you plant food. Madara wouldn't like it. But if I'm to stand here for days, then I suppose even you are less boring than nothing at all." Hikari smiled at that.

"After avoiding me for four years, I certainly can't say talking to you in this way is boring… let us not forget, you tried to poison me less than a year ago."

"And succeeded," Zetsu corrected. "Who would have thought that the medic of the Akatsuki could be taken down with nightshade poison?" he mused.

"Who would have thought that Zetsu, skilled in a hundred types of assassination would try something as un-origional as nightshade in the first place? I never build complete immunity because it's almost too overdone to even be attempted anymore. How did the mysterious Zetsu become so unoriginal?" The woman lifted an eyebrow.

"Madara needed you immobilized but conscious enough to speak. It was the perfect way to let him tell you the truth without causing a scene." Hikari turned away sternly, concentrating on her task.

"Whatever. It wouldn't hurt you to say you're sorry." Zetsu threw his arms up.

"What for? Orders are orders. I simply do Madara's bidding. It's nothing personal." Hikari sighed, and for a while they planted seeds and dug holes in silence. Finally she voiced an idea that had long since nagged at her mind.

"Itachi told me a couple years back that you're DNA is the same as Hashirama's. Does that mean we're…"

"Genetically related? You could say so!" The white figure shot the astonished girl a thumbs up.

"I admit, it's hard to feel a family resemblance in your chakra… I used to think that the reason it was hard to sense you was that your chakra signature closely matched my own… but now, actually talking with you, it seems like your chakra comes directly from the Earth, directly from a more primal source."

"Your sensory skills make you very perceptive. But it seems you don't understand what the root of wood style chakra is!"

"Spare your word games, will you?"

"Fine, then I won't tell you. You'll never hear another word about it out of my mouth." Hikari shot Zetsu a frustrated look, but he simply crossed his arms, refusing to budge on the issue.

"Fine." Hikari dropped her shovel and wiped her brow of sweat. She wove several hand signs, and out from the ground emerged multiple vines nearest to the two of them, standing four feet off the ground. Hikari reached out at one of the vines, grabbing a ripe red tomato.

"I'm heading in for the night. Stay outside or report back to Madara if you want. If you dare come in and try to kill me, I'll snap your neck and keep running. Even a hundred white Zetsu couldn't take me down." With that, she took a bite, a splash of red liquid running down her cheek and hand.

It was dark, and Sasuke was forced to allow Juugo to guide him through the trees. He had decided to travel in the dead of night out of caution- if they were going to be infiltrating the Hidden Cloud, it wouldn't hurt to conserve chakra by avoiding detection until the time of the summit.

"We've been walking for four hours. We should stop and eat. The sun will be rising soon." His three partners stopped and followed his instructions.

"Man, I am exhausted! Sasuke, you've been working us like horses. Can't we take it a little easier? I mean we're almost there already." Suigetsu stretched his arms.

"Yeah Sasuke, we should totally ditch these two and scope out the summit alone," Karin proposed, giving him an expression that if he could feel anything at all, would fill him with pure disgust.

"We need to infiltrate the village before the sun rises, then analyze the base and refine our strategy. Now hurry up and eat, all of you." Karin's head sunk abruptly, advances having been ignored once again. Suigetsu chuckled.

"You're infatuation with Sasuke is really too much. You'd do anything just to get some alone time with him." Karins eyes became daggers as she attempted to defend herself, flustered.

"What?! NO! I only meant that I have the best chances of sensing the numbers of soldiers stationed to hurt Sasuke, I mean us! ARG! So shut up! And how can you even say you're tired when you're made out of water, you freak!" It was the pattern of bickering between them as he was always forced to endure, and Sasuke was getting beyond tired of it. He knew since the day he reached Itachi that when her usefulness came to an end, he would get rid of her.

"Enough, Karin. And Suigetsu, stop provoking her," Sasuke turned away to eat on his own with little more than a glance at his comrades. It was the first time he had verbally addressed their bickering, preferring not to sink down to the level of something so trivial. Tomorrow, he would exact his revenge on Danzo. And after the war, when the village was weakened, he would strike.

That's it for now! Next week the Uchiha will get one small piece of justice. Stay tuned!