Authors Note
This story has been adopted from the wonderful Forever Gypsy.
All characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.
Sorry for the long wait ... I broke my laptop and had to save up for another one. ...
Chapter
V
... Multifaceted ...
It stunk, it stunk like something she'd never smelt before, she glared at the two porcelain jars in front of her, not understanding how modern medicine could have come from these stinking formula.
Looking around the storage room filled with similar jars stuffed with herbs and tea mixtures she couldn't believe that the teahouse owners hadn't used her herbs to make the salves smell any better. She glared harder at the jars, how the hell was she to even know how to use those anyhow? Nobody trained in ancient medicine anymore, she wasn't sure if she was even allergic to whatever was in those little jars.
God how pathetic, no chakra and she didn't know how to care for herself. Bending down all the way she placed her head on the table and groaned, her wrist really hurt and she knew that when she removed the bandages that it wasn't going to be pretty. Groaning she banged her head on the table. Why hadn't she just left, she should have just left.
She knew why, and it was dangerous, he was dangerous and he was ... so handsome. A perfect example of the Uchiha's accomplished selective breeding. Perfectly aristocratic in facial looks with the brutal sharp curves of a warrior.
Sasuke was handsome, the entire village had believed that and being he was nearly a dead-ringer for Izuna, that meant admitting that he was handsome as well, and supposedly Itachi had been considered even better looking than his younger brother at thirteen. The reality of it though was that neither came close to the true beauty that was Uchiha Madara.
Indra's chakra had really done itself up in it's packaging it would seem. One would think she would have been prepared for this, considering that Sasuke had been attractive as well ... Sasuke though did not even touch the surface of how attractive Madara was.
Uhhh! She closed her eyes and banged her head against the table. A deep voice rippled into the room. "So this is where they keep all their herbs". She lifted her head and looked over at the doorway. Madara stood there in all his glory.
... And the devil shall come knocking.
"Can I help you?" He shrugged his shoulders as he moved into the room, pulling out the stool across from her and sitting down. "You've been gone a good while, just making sure you weren't making any escape plans with the help of the civilians here". She scoffed. "Yeah because a civilian teahouse owner is going to be able to help me with getting this stupid thing off" She took a deep breath trying to calm down her boiling anger. "Ever think I just needed some time to myself especially considering I have to deal with you and that thick-headed pig". Madara smirked reaching over and looked at the jars of salve. "Hashirama isn't as bad as you'd think, your judgment is clouded by your anger towards him".
Madara's nose scrunched when he put a jar up to his nose, her own scrunching in disgust at the remembrance of the smell. He placed it down and smelt the next one, his nose in a permanent scrunch as he frowned. "Surprising that they didn't bother using their collection to make these smell better". His took off his gloves then and his hand beckoned for hers, she handed him her good wrist.
His hand was warm as hers slid into his, it was that warm feeling you got when you sat in front of a fireplace on a dark snowy night. She held her breath when she saw him frown.
She looked away from him then. "Your skin is incredibly cold". She nodded refusing to look over at him. "I get cold very easily". She knew she didn't need to see his face to know he didn't believe her.
Instead he began unwrapping her wrist. "You didn't clean this yet?" How was she supposed to tell him that she wasn't sure how to care for her wounds without her chakra. "I was going to, I just wanted to catch my breath". His fingers dipped into the salve then rubbed the mixture between his fingers before he smoothed it onto her skin.
With her skin in an extremely sensitive state, she instinctually tried to pull her wrist away with a hiss. Madara smirked. "Sensitive" She breathed in hard as he continued rubbing the mixture in. "It's healing nicely, I gather it's because you had healed yourself in-between sealings, repeated burns don't usually look as nice as yours". She would bet he would know. "I suppose you have much experience in the matter to know what it should look like". He dipped his hand in the next jar as he looked up at her.
"You're rather quick to judge" He smoothed the next ointment onto her skin then. "The Senju have experience in sealings, that's rather obvious in how quick they were about the situation, but Izuna and myself have never sealed a woman, my experience in burns comes from the fact that we Uchiha have an affinity towards Kenton Jutsu's, and when training one does tend to get burned quiet a bit, so I think my experience has taught me somethings about caring for burns".
She shrugged her shoulders. "I think I'm allowed to make my judgments". He placed her hand down then. "Making judgements from the shadows isn't very wise"
He placed her hand down and picked up the bandages and continued. "You know, it doesn't hurt to let people in". There was a pull towards him, an invisible string that connected to him and Hashirama, other humans that she ignored, she couldn't let them in no matter what, it was too dangerous. Dangerous for her, dangerous for them.
"I like my solitude" Madara scoffed. "Liar". She breathed hard and exhaled harshly as he finished and put her hand down. Beckoning her to give him her other wrist.
Slowly she moved her wrist towards him. Her heart beating in her chest, watching as he began to unwrap the blood stained bandages from her wrist. His Sharingan was activated, he would see the fracture she'd made in the seal and he would no doubt have Hashirama redo it.
"Fuck!" He slid out of the chair then and left the storage room, she looked down at her wrist and cursed herself. The branding was infected, she knew that there was consequences for calling upon her chakra with a seal, the seal was designed to cause more burning to the skin as punishment towards the one attempting to use their chakra.
She banged her head on the table then, Hashirama was going to tell Tobirama about this and Tobirama would definitely convince Hashirama to keep the seals on her.
Gods she was so stupid! She shouldn't have passed out and allowed Izuna or Tobirama to see her face, she should have waited for Batsuma to make a move on Hashirama and then strike, she wouldn't have hit her head, wouldn't have gotten caught and she would still have her goddamned chakra.
'She what!' That would be Madara telling Hashirama about her seal no doubt.
Madara walked back in then, in his hands he held a bowl with a teapot sitting inside it, towels laid on his broad shoulders. Hashirama followed him. A long sigh escaping him as he looked at her wrist. "It shouldn't be this bad". Hashirama looked down at her and she placed her head back onto the table. Madara sat back down and began cleaning her wrist off with the rags. Revealing her seal to his red eyes, those magic eyes moving up towards her green ones.
He saw it. "Hashirama". She begged him with her eyes, please don't tell him. If only he could read her mind. "Can you stop standing there and get me more towels and clean water".
Hashirama ran out of there quickly. Madara sighed. "You are possibly the most intelligent person I've met in a long time Sakura-san, I don't think even Tobirama would have been able to break a seal without obtaining any blood". She breathed out carefully finally. "Are you going to tell him?" He continued to clean her wound. " No, you won't have any time to try to continue to break the seal, so there's no reason to tell him, even if you find time to try though I think it would be best not to try, it's rather obvious that you can't call on even a small portion of your chakra even with this fracture you've created and the consequences are to severe".
Hashirama walked back in then with more towels and another bowel and teapot. Shaking his head at her as he grumbled to himself. Madara's words captured her attention quickly though. "This infection is far, we may have to get rid of this wrist". She immediately pulled her hand away. "No!"
Madara raised a brow at her. "You do understand that if we don't get rid of it now, the infection will spread and it will seep into the rest of your body". She counted the beats of her heart and breathed carefully as she came to the realization that he was right. She looked over at Hashirama whom was glaring at the floor with his arms crossed over her chest. He wasn't going to unseal, Tobirama would have urged him not too and Hashirama seemed to lean on Tobirama for logical thinking.
There was only one thing left to do. The chance of it working was a fifty-fifty, but considering that she could lose her wrist the more painful way she saw that it was still a fifty-fifty chance of keeping her wrist.
"I can teach you how to heal it" She looked between the two of them then. Hashirama's hands dropped to his sides then. "It takes years to master healing, you don't have years". She shook her head though.
"Traditional healing yes, but what I do isn't exactly traditional". Not in this era at least. "Burns are relatively simple to heal, infections are easy to clean, all of what I do is rather easy so long as you know the human anatomy as well as have good chakra control, especially good chakra control, if you don't have that then it run the risk of damaging the body worse than before".
They were both watching her and she knew that they were debating what she was suggesting. "Hashirama" Madara started and she looked over to him as he continued to clean up wrist with the water. "I believe you should take this opportunity to learn what she's willing to teach". His red eyes flashed brightly then and she rolled her eyes. Of course he'd suggest Hashirama learn. Madara had the Sharingan, it recorded all jutsu's save for Kekki Genkai of course.
Hashirama gulped loudly then as he nodded his head. "Okay then". She looked back over to Madara, Hashirama didn't seem so confident about this.
Hashirama looked around then before he found a stool to sit on, he faced her then and wrung his wrist.
Oh Gods! She completely forgot Naruto was not good at learning things like this. "Perhaps the Uchiha should do this?" She looked over to Madara whom only smirked at her, knowing that she'd realized Hashirama's biggest flaw.
Hashirama shook his head though. "I can do this". So very much like Naruto, not refusing to give in. She nodded her head then. "Okay then, since your going to be healing the burn this should be rather simple since it's your chakra inside the seal and your chakra that activated the seals" Hashirama wrung his hands again.
So, so very the same. ...She reached out with her good hand then and placed it on top of his shaking ones. "Calm down and breathe, close your eyes and follow my voice" He did as she said and she let go of his hand then. "Good now clear your head of all thoughts, now breathe in and then out". She took a breath as well.
Naruto probably would have been a half decent student if Iruka or Kakashi had realized sooner that Naruto's mind was constantly spinning rapidly. It was why Jiraiya had been able to teach him so easily compared to the other two, he understood immediately what was going on in Naruto's head.
"Breathe in and out Hashirama, listen closely to my voice, now realize that healing is like any other jutsu one can learn and the foundations are all the same" His brow quirked.
"What's the foundation of a Jutsu?" Good lord, this was the man that went on to train the Sandaime. Madara scoffed and she shushed him quickly. "The foundation of all Jutsu's is intent, the second most important part of a jutsu is chakra release". Madara crossed his arms and leaned forward then. "To heal someone means to save someone's life, and right now the intent you need to focus on is to heal the burn, undo the damage the burn has done, and you need to release you chakra and force it into the burn and surrounding skin with as little chakra as you can, now I'm going to place my hand on the table and you can open your eyes". Hashirama breathed in deep then and she continued. "Place your hands above my wrist by four inches now" Now was the moment she told him to do something that, that she'd never suggest to any shinobi. "Now close your eyes and call up on your chakra and force it into me, but slowly and remember the intent, you need to force your intent into your chakra as well, you intent needs to be stronger than your force of chakra". He nodded his head and she breathed sharply as she felt his chakra enter her system.
Just like Naruto, Hashirama's chakra felt like bathing in sunshine. It would make sense considering it was Asura's chakra that both carried. ... She looked over to Madara then a tilt of her head. She wondered what his chakra felt like. ... What did Indra's chakra feel like? Was it as dark and decomposed as Zetsu's. Sasuke had never let her near him enough to feel his chakra so intimately even during the war.
Madara's eyes moved over to her and she looked down at her wrist again. ... She wondered what her chakra felt like.
Hashirama made a small squeak then and she knew she needed to get back to what needed to be done. "That's amazing". Good he could see where his chakra was. "Good now imagine the skin repairing itself, you need to keep forcing your intent into your chakra and making sure that your chakra release is slow and steady ... how water travels distances to get to the ocean". She felt it, his chakra beginning to slowly force her skin to speed up it's healing process, not as fast as what she could do, but it was better than nothing.
"Keep that thought, your doing good". She turned her head around "I need two bowls, one with water and one without water and the same herbs that Yumi-san used in her ointment, steeped in the water, can you get that for me?"
Madara nodded his head then and left the room quietly. She wasn't sure what herbs she had in this storage room, and she wasn't in a position to check to see which was what so the best chance was to have Yumi give them the ointment ingredients.
Madara came back quickly with Yumi and the tools she requested, He placed them on the table and sat down, his eyes glowing bright as he looked at the progress of her wrist. "Is your healing Jutsu truly that simple?" She looked back down at her wrist as well. "It's only easy if you are capable of controlling your chakra flow, if not, you will inflict more damage then there originally was, or you could end up killing someone, the two of you are renown for your chakra control so learning this would be simple for you".
She stopped and realized what she had said and took a breath, she just gave away something she shouldn't have and there was no doubt in her mind that Madara knew it. She wouldn't look back to him as her mind began to race and she kept her eyes on Hashirama.
"Interesting, I didn't know people could gage one's chakra control by fighting them". Finally she looked up at him. "Of course you can, you Jutsu's are powerful and anyone that gets near the two of you can tell that you have an abundance of very powerful chakra, it doesn't take a genius to realize that you'd have to be able to have excellent chakra control in order to pull off the Jutsu's you do".
Danger averted, Madara was content with her answer.
Yumi then placed the herbs on the table as she bowed before before straightening up once more. "Will you need anything more then Sakura-san?" She shook her head and Yumi left the room.
"Place the herbs in the bowl and steep them with warm water, after you fill the bowl, beginning adding chakra to it, this will allow maximum absorption".
Madara nodded his head as he did as she said then she turned her attention back to her wrist and saw that Hashirama was beginning to sweat. "Stop stressing, you can't allow yourself to think about anything other than your healing".
Of course they were in a safe-zone for the moment, but the truth of the matter was Hashirama would be a horrible combat medic, he was too stressed out about the situation and too distracted by his own thoughts.
His healing ability was good though, nothing close to herself, Tsunade and Shizune, but it was good, obviously Tsunade had learned from Hashirama about healing and mastered it where as Hashirama was a scholar, he could take lessons but he wasn't in it to be a healer, it was just another tool in his weapons pouch.
"What's the point of the herbs? Would it not be easier to use the ointment?" She had hoped he would understand what she was doing, but it would seem not.
"The human body is made up of of sixty percent water, at that the heart is made up of seventy-three percent water and the skin is made up of sixty-four percent water, an oil based ointment is only good if the skin is of fair condition, anything less and you'll need to be able to force as much of the antidote as possible into the body and considering that the body and it's organs are all made up of large amounts of water it makes the herbs easier to absorb if your pushing water into water, where as water and oil do not mix".
He nodded his head. She hadn't been too sure if she had explained it well, but it would seem she had. She looked down at her wrist, noticing that it was looking vey good then. "Just because the burns are gone does not mean the infection is, as soon as you've finished with healing the burn, you'll need to begin cleaning out the infection".
Just a little more and her burns would be healed, thankfully Hashirama was unable to see the seals because she knew for a fact that he would have redone them.
"Sakura-san". She looked over to Hashirama. "Yes?" He didn't look away from her wrist. "What happened to your family?"
She could feel Madara's eyes on her at that moment. "They're dead". Hashirama nodded his head. "I thought as much ... How did it happen?" She shrugged her shoulders. "How it always happens, a monster killed them". She didn't feel the need to elaborate.
Her burn was completely healed then. "You can stop and take a breath now". Hashirama leaned back and slouched into the chair then as he breathed out hard. "That is very taxing".
"Your bodies not used to releasing small amounts of chakra like this so it would be hard on you in the beginning, but after a while you don't feel it". He nodded his head and she turned her attention towards the bowl on the table. "Now you only need to clean out the infection before it spreads into the body". She didn't need to see that Hashirama did not look pleased that there was more.
He whined then. "Can't Madara do it? The bowl is right in front of him!" She rolled her eyes and looked to see that Madara had an annoyed look on his face as well as what appeared to be a vein throbbing in the corner of his forehead. He growled "Idiot get over here and finish this!"
Hashirama straightened up. "Don't call me idiot, you idiot!" Oh gods she knew exactly where this was going, she took in a deep breath. 'The apple really doesn't fall far'.
Madara straightened out ready to strike back and she held up her good wrist. "Stop, just stop" She turned her attention back to Hashirama. "Madara can't do the healing because it's your chakra in the seal and if his chakra and since I'm not familiar with how this seal works completely with outside chakra's I can't take a chance on his chakra clashing against the seal and undoing everything you just healed".
Hashirama leaned back into his chakra. "But didn't he just put his chakra into the water?" She smacked her good hand onto her forehead. "Elements absorb chakra and turn and mix it into it's own chakra until it's all the same chakra".
He looked really shy then as he scratched the back of his head. "Huh I didn't know that about chakra". She took in a deep breath, gods he was dumb. She looked over to Madara who'd forehead vein looked ready to pop then. Shaking her head she turned back to the Senju. "Just get over here so I can instruct you on how to do this next part". He sighed as he moved his chair closer to hers then.
"Now for this part, you're going to need to focus everything on your chakra. You need to place your hand in the bowl and create a bubble of water, you need to keep that bubble and force it into my skin and picking up the infection and dropping it into the empty bowl next you then you're going to repeat the process until all of the infection has been cleaned out, do you understand?"
He nodded his head and she wasn't sure if she should worry now, because he seemed to be very confident considering this was his first time doing this.
Madara distracted her then. "Would this be a good way to clean out poisons?" He really was the intelligent one between the two. She nodded her head then. "Actually this is the process to flush out poisons from the body, the only difference is that you would use an antidote in replace for the herbs though, but only if you knew the poison that you were working with. This Jutsu was created by my Shisho specifically for infections though and then later she used it for poison removal and treatment".
"Hmm" Hashirama looked up at her then. "Your Shisho was a woman?" Fuck, She hadn't caught that, well might as well roll with it. She nodded her head then. "Yes, it's not unusual where I'm from for women to practice and teach Jutsu's to other's". Madara was watching her very closely and she made sure not to twitch under his stare.
Hashirama only tilted his head and blinked at her before he turned back towards her wrist. "Why a woman though? Could you not have requested a male teacher? Surely male shinobi were stronger than the females where your from".
She had the oddest feeling that he had wanted to say something extremely sexist just then but she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. "I had two male Sensei's before I met my Shisho, the first one had taught me the basics, most of which I mastered quickly, the other ... well he didn't really teach me anything actually, although he did have his handful with his other students, they were ... very special. When I realized that he hadn't the time or the ability to teach me I moved on and ... Petitioned my Shisho to take me as an apprentice, unfortunately she was only able to teach me, Iryo Ninjutsu and Chakra control, beyond that I'm rather a lame shinobi if I must say so myself".
Of course she wasn't going to let them know everything she could do, better give them half-truths that way they wouldn't call her out in a lie.
Madara though was a curious one. "What exactly are the basics?" He leaned forward on his elbows and she decided then that it was not a good sign, he was trying to pick her brain. "I was taught how to fight, learning how to use my chakra, hand-seals, weaponry" Genjutsu ... Ninjutsu ... Half-truths, Half-truths.
"And you mastered these?" She shook her head. "No I mastered most of them I said, obviously I excelled at chakra control and hand seals along with my written teachings".
"I see" Of course he did.
She turned her attention back to Hashirama. "Sakura-san". "Yes". "Where are you from?" "In a land far-far away". ... And now in a separate dimension. Hashirama placed her hand down then. "I think it's finished ... It feels ... clean ... I don't know how to explain it". She nodded her head.
Unfortunately she didn't have her own chakra to inspect his work, she'd have to take his word for it. "Grab the ointment, I can't check to see if it's been cleaned enough, but just in case the ointment will be an extra layer of protection". He nodded his head and went to grab the ointments only to stop and she lifted her brow in question.
She didn't understand why he look so confused just then and Madara looked way to amused for it to be good. "Is there something wrong?" Hashirama smiled sheepishly at her as he scratched at the back of his head.
"Sorry Sakura-san I'm just not sure which is the ointment I'm supposed to use ... Normally the healers have it labeled for me to know which is which". She sighed and so smirked.
"It's fine Hashirama, I'll finish this up, go grab yourself a cup of tea, you've worked hard for it". Hashirama nodded his head as he stood up and left the room. "I really have". She really wanted to slap her face because he had not worked hard at all. Was this truly the Hashirama? The God of Shinobi? Somewhere along the lines, someone really talked him up in order to cover up how much of a spoilt idiot he was.
"Let me see it". She reached her hand out to him again. Madara dipped his hand into one of the jars again then. "Tell me, did your Shisho or your Sensei's before ever teach you anything about Genjutsu?" The ointment was warm when he placed it onto her skin, nearly melting into her at contact.
"Of course you'd ask that". He rubbed the ointment into a knotted muscle and she bit back a moan, he smirked. "Well it's just a wonder". She glared. "You want to know if I can break a Genjutsu that you've placed". He shook his head though and she scrunched her brows together in confusion, why else would he want to know that.
"I'm sure you can break a basic Genjutsu ... but no I'm trying to figure out how you know anything about the Sharingan". She tried to pull her wrist away then and he held it tightly. "Maybe when these seals are removed I'll let you in on that little secret". He didn't let go of her though. "Not maybe, you will tell me". She breathed in deep, oh how she hated when Uchiha's demanded, she'd had plenty enough of that three years ago.
"We don't even know if I'll be alive long enough after I've returned the two of you along with my gift"
Madara released his hold on her wrist then and blinked at her. "You truly believe that we'd kill you even after you helped us?" She looked away. "Tobirama has made it clear that I'm a threat, I'm sure he's back in the Senju compound attempting to find a way to convince Hashirama to do the deed, possibly even attempting to get your brother behind it as well".
"Izuna would never kill an innocent". "I'm not an innocent though". She leaned forward then, lowering her voice. "You know better than I do, who do you think has been truly running the Senju clan since Senju Batsuma's ... demise". Leaning back she looked straight into his ruby colored eyes.
"You're losing your sight Uchiha, not your wits".
This woman was intelligent, there was no doubt about that. Not only had she saved his brothers life by healing a wound that everyone else had deemed fatal, she had created a crack in the seal that Hashirama had done to block her chakra. He didn't know anyone- hadn't ever heard of anyone being able to do what she'd done with a seal like hers.
Then the most incredible part of her intelligence was her hidden knowledge about the Sharingan, somehow he'd figure it out, there was no way that an outsider just simply had figured out how to heal an Uchiha's eyes. He wouldn't have judged her if she had said that she'd killed an Uchiha and studied them, he'd seen it many times before, shinobi clans all attempting to get the Sharingan from the Uchiha's body. It was this reason why the Uchiha clan was so closed off to the rest of the world, to many people, too many outsiders were threats to them. Sakura though, she didn't seem like the type of person to kill someone to gain more power, so he doubted she'd killed his kinsmen for their Kekki Genkai. He'd figure it out though, or he'd get her to tell him.
The most interesting thing is that she'd made an educated deduction about the Senju clan and the person that truly ran it. One would have to be around the clan longer than a few months in order to figure out that Tobirama was the brains behind the entire operations. Sakura though had figured it out within twenty-four hours of being around them. Then she figured out what Tobirama was no doubt planning to do with her even if she turned out to be innocent.
Sakura has even considered the fact that Tobirama would put down his beliefs and attempt to sway Izuna into his idea, while he was positive his younger brother wouldn't even consider Tobirama idea of killing Sakura only because he saw her as a threat to himself, he was unable to say the same for the rest of the Uchiha clan.
Most of the elders were still around out of sheer luck that someone else had been killed on the battlefield in their stead, because of this there haughtiness was unpredictable. What wasn't unpredictable was the fact that many of them believed that women were of the lesser sex and that a woman like Sakura, a woman that had learned the inner working of the Sharingan, he wouldn't be able to guarantee that the elders of the clan would out-vote him and Izuna if Tobirama demanded her death.
Sakura knew this too, she understood the innerworkings of clans another thing that would get her killed if she stepped on the wrong toes.
And it would seem that Sakura was not scared of stepping on people to get to what she wanted, or whom she wanted, it was obvious that whatever she was planning involved the peace treaty between the Senju and the Uchiha, and she was very interested about the Village they were planning on creating. While he understood how desperate she was at having her seal undone, he couldn't believe that she'd pay them out how much she was claiming to have, that sort of money, she could by more than just her seals off.
His mind was racing, she'd dropped a lot of interesting things on them. Especially his sight, he didn't know how but somehow she knew about him. Nobody knew about his eyesight.
She continued to stare him straight in the eyes and he leaned forward then, it was possible she was trying to figure something out and was merely guessing. "Sakura-san".
"Yes Uchiha-san". He smirked, what an interesting woman. "How can you tell abut my eyesight?" Her eyesight didn't waver one bit as she stared straight into his eyes.
Perhaps that was truly why she was so attractive to him, she wasn't fearful of the Sharingan.
"You use your Sharingan when it's completely unnecessary, you're not in battle, and your not reading any scrolls, or learning new Jutsu's, therefor I must make an educated guess that your eyesight has deteriorated to at least seventy or even eighty percent and your relying on your Sharingan to get through your day to day routines without anyone noticing. Also I've saw the damage that the Sharingan had inflicted upon Izuna and gathering that your the older of the two, I've assumed that you awakened your Sharingan years before him. Which would conclude my theory that your deterioration started around sometime around the time Izuna awakened his own".
He held in his surprise. She gathered all of that just by observing and looking at Izuna's Sharingan. "How could you possibly guess that my eyesight went bad around the time Izuna got his?"
"Let me ask you this Uchiha-san, how many sets of brothers can claim that both have their eyesight ... or at the very least are both still alive?"
His eyes narrowed, she'd been watching the Uchiha clan, there was no other explanation to it, she couldn't have known anything unless someone had given her information and no Uchiha would ever give up the secrets of there clan, even the ones that had deserted them.
To give up the information of the Sharingan meant destroying the Uchiha clan altogether.
"How long were you watching the Uchiha clan?" Either she was a really good liar or she was really that good about observing and making educated deductions from the observations.
"I didn't need to stalk your clan to figure any of this out, when I had begun healing Izuna's Sharingan I had placed up a barrier in order to keep anyone from being able to enter, my barrier was also able to contain both Izuna's chakra and my own from being sensed. This is why you probably felt Izuna's chakra disappear when you had given chase to us through the forest. Although, the barrier does not keep me from being able to sense chakra's outside of it. The timeframe I had to heal Izuna's most fatal wound was small. I could sense you were near and knew that if you had found us it wouldn't have taken long before you broke down the barrier, during this small timeframe I was able to sense that while Izuna was dying, your chakra was becoming stronger. After healing your brother's wounds and healing his eyes and Sharingan and getting him back to the Uchiha compound I could sense you on the other side of the gates and your chakra signature was not as strong as when Izuna had been dying, which could only mean that the the Uchiha clan's chakra are shared like a bloodline and with siblings this is more obvious to the point when Izuna was dying and you were becoming stronger".
Gods this girl was smart and now he couldn't help but wonder if her getting caught was in her plan all along.
He'd always had a suspicion about the Uchiha clans chakra but now that someone else had been able to observe it up close, who could explain what was happening it made him feel more sane.
At the same time though his gut twisted in a horrible fashion, if the others in the clan ever figured this out, families would get torn apart. "Be assured Uchiha-san that because I value the living more than the dead, this information will not be allowed to be revealed to anyone else, the only reason I'm telling you though is because your love for brother far surpasses your love for anything else".
Was he that easy to read. He decided he was to uncomfortable with that knowledge that he needed to change the subject. He focused his attention on wrapping up her wrist only to notice that her skin was still cold. Such an odd thing, he'd never felt someone so cold before, he was even sure that her body temperature had to be under the normal.
"Still cold?" She looked down at there hands and she nodded. "I get cold easily". That was a bold faced lie and they both knew it.
Finishing the wrapping, he placed her hand down. "Have you considered Izuna's offer?" "There no need to consider it, after once you and Hashirama are back with your clans and my seals are undone I'll be on my way".
"Sakura-san ... I can tell your very accustomed to doing things on your own but you need to realize that your still a female". She glared at him and he knew he needed to say this carefully. "Your also highly intelligent and strong and have amazing chakra abilities, but your still a female and because of that you're still a target, even if nobody has seen you yet it doesn't guarantee that you won't be found out and when that does happen and it will they will seal your chakra away just like the Senju's did and we both know they won't be as kind and you will be raped and then burned alive, and that is why you need to consider your position, even if not with the Uchiha, Hashirama would be willing to protect you from that".
He leaned away from her then. "Allow me to personally extend the offer, my word is law amongst the Uchiha, after that is Izuna, if you come to stay with us I can promise you protection from the outside world, hot meals, and a warm bed in exchange you share your knowledge with the healers of this village that Hashirama and I are building, and any aid you can extend to us in the internal structure of the village".
Her knowledge of village structure as well as politics was possible just as fascinating as her knowledge in healing, both of which would be very useful to his and Hashirama's goals.
Her brows furrowed in deep thought. "Izuna said the peace treaty wouldn't allow me to be bound to any clan". He smirked. "I'm not binding you to the Uchiha, I'm bartering with you. A home amongst the Uchiha's in exchange for your knowledge".
While he couldn't ask her to heal his eyes like she had with Izuna, they had never mentioned anything about her teaching the healers how to heal him. "Of course if Hashirama extends this same offer and you feel more comfortable with him I do advise you to take it".
"You seem so sure Hashirama would even considering taking me in, Izuna doesn't think so though". He shrugged his shoulders, Izuna didn't know Hashirama as well as he did though. "Hashirama is soft when it comes to a beautiful woman".
Madara had walked away after there conversation and she stayed back trying desperately to hang onto her sanity.
Growing up she'd always had a belief that the Senju had been the good guys and that the Uchiha Clan had been the bad guys. Now everything was painted grey.
It was blatantly obvious that the Senju had basically rewritten history in their favor, specifically Senju Tobirama had written it to with his biased views in order to force the Uchiha to the outskirts of the village. If people didn't fear them, then Hashirama wouldn't have been chosen as the Hokage.
Now that she was actually having to deal with him as a living being as well as before the village was built, it was so painfully obvious that Hashirama should have never been allowed to be in any sort of leadership position. The man nearly bankrupted his own clan by gambling the clans treasury and giving it away to prostitutes! Why would anyone want him as a Hokage?
Then again, none of the Hokage should have been allowed to lead save for two, and between those two, one was still extremely questionable.
Counting to ten she took in a deep breath and released slowly, she needed to clear her mind. There was no way that she would be able to keep going if her mind wasn't focused.
There was a crash outside then and she breathed in deep before standing up as she heard the arguing. She was going to kill him, there was no doubt whatever the ruckus was Hashirama was behind it.
Moving out of the storage room she barely managed to slid the shoji screen open when she got a look at the cause of commotion.
There in the front of the teahouse were three men. Dirty and thin with swords, she could clearly tell they were low level shinobi, most likely minimal chakra to use and not taught how to use weapons.
They were harassing Yumi-san demanding money from her, Hashirama looked clearly ready to fight them and Madara was keeping him contained. It wasn't their fight, even if they could handle the situation, there was no need to alert anyone that an Uchiha and Senju were traveling through Hi no Kuni. There names were big money makers and she needed them alive to continue on her mission.
She slipped her cloak on and fixed her hood, Hashirama and Madara couldn't be found out. It was going to hurt, but she was going to have to crack the seal enough to allow her a small portion of chakra usage.
Pulling out the hair she'd kept in her pocket she force her chakra up, now that she knew how to do it, it was easier to understand what she needed to do to crack it.
Breathing in she held in her cry as the seal burned more, she'd thrown herself onto a blade, been poisoned hundreds of times and beaten and nothing compared to this pain.
This pain was meant for women only, women had a high pain threshold, women who'd given birth had an even higher pain threshold and the person that had created this seal had figured that out. This pain from the seal was worse than even that.
She fell to the floor as quietly as she could and through the gap she could see that Hashirama and Madara could hear her. She felt it then, the crack, the flare and she closed her eyes as she forced the little bit of chakra through her body. This wouldn't take long at all.
Quietly opening the screen enough for her to crawl through she forced her chakra into her hair, it was the quickest solution she had. The chakra forced into her scalp and hair follicles caused a quick lengthening and quickening and she watched as it slithered like snakes behind the three men.
There wasn't enough chakra to heal herself and bring her hair back to it's natural state. ... She'd have to chop it before anyone took notice ... She couldn't let them see her hair.
There was only one family with pink colored hair and she couldn't be associated with them. It was too risky.
Through the chakra connection she could feel her hair begin to wrap around their necks and squeeze tightly. She could feel their hearts slowing down and she reached into her cloak looking for the razors she'd sown into the pocket.
Slower, they were still too conscious for her liking. 'Found it!' Ripping it out, she began to chop at the quick strands, keeping the connection as long as possible until she'd chopped off the hair completely.
Feeling as though she was about to pass out she leaned herself on the threshold of the shoji screen and focused all her energy on her healing her wrist with the little bit of chakra she had left.
'Unseal me' She shook her head, as she reached her good hand up to her forehead. Sure enough her Hyakugou Seal was back and slowly fading away again. 'Use me' She ignored the dark voice, nothing good would come from releasing her seal.
'Let me save you' She breathed in deep then out. 'Quiet'.
Her hands were shaking as she finished healing her wrist. and she reached back into her robs for her bandana. Hashirama and Madara's heads popped into the corridor then and Hashirama looked rather shaken just then.
Surprisingly it was Hashirama that rushed towards her, his eyes with stars and hearts exploding out of them and a gay smile upon his face as he started yelling. "That was so cool Sakura-chan!"
He attempted to help her up but she pushed him away afraid her hood would fall and reveal her hair. "No, I can get up by myself thank you". She and Madara had for sure thought he'd be very angry that she'd cracked the seal. "Hashirama". She looked over to where Madara was standing at the main entrance, his arms crossed over his chest.
"We need to decide how we need to dispose of them". Hashirama frowned then as he rubbed his neck, turning towards Madara as he did so. "Fine, fine, fine". He turned back towards her then, extending his hand.
There didn't seem to be any ulterior motive so she took his hand and allowed him to help her off the ground. "Seriously, you're gonna have to teach me how you did that". He laughed as he let her go then and she leaned against the threshold of the door watching as he walked back towards Madara.
"Well least now I know that I'm getting paid for more than just my tea and food". She turned around to see Yumi watching her and she rolled her eyes. "You're soba could be better for the money I give".
Yumi shrugged then. "I consider it a generous tip". Yumi walked over to her then. "Speaking of a tip, here's one for you, you natural hair is showing, I have some henna if you need it". Her elderly eyes roved her form then. "Perhaps some ginseng as well, you look ready to fall on the floor, quiet happily". She turned away then.
Why did everyone have to have an opinion?
"I'm rather surprised". He watched as Hashirama continued to dig. Hashirama stuck his head out of the hole just then. "Huh? What are you talking about". He shook his head then. "You need to refill the hole with more dirt, nobody is as tall as you Senju's" Hashirama groaned then and he smirked wondering when the Senju would notice that he was the only digging.
"What were you saying a minute ago?" Oh yet. "You're not angry that she found a way to break the seal?" Hashirama came back up with a groan as he threw the shovel at him. Catching the shovel he smirked.
"Tobirama's not here, I don't see a big deal, she didn't break it anyways, I would have felt that, but she clearly looked as if using up the little bit of chakra she got access to had taken everything out of her, she's hardly a threat".
Did they not see the same thing? "She just choked three men with her hair". Hashirama nodded his head. "Yes, yes she did, but she didn't kill them, so I'd say that she's got a good conscious, and anyone like that she'd be given a second chance".
"Then why not undo the seals completely". Hashirama dropped a body into the pit and looked back at him. "I'm not stupid". Considering that he was doing all the work and hadn't noticed about it yet, that statement was clearly in correct.
"Pity I was really hoping to see her in action". This time the sigh that came from Hashirama's mouth was a happy one. "I know right". There were stars and hearts in his eyes and saliva dripping from his mouth as he clapped his hands in front of him happily. "Did you see what she did! Oh wasn't that just so amazing!" Clearly Hashirama had a crush. He could already imagine Tobirama's reaction when he found out about this.
"You worry me". Hashirama shrugged as he started standing up the thugs in the pit. "Ne how do you suppose they'll stay up while I fill the whole" A part of him really wanted to offer to help, but watching Hashirama do all the work and not realize anything was so much better. "Ah I know! Tobirama just taught me a cool Jutsu!"
Hashirama focused hard as he did it, his chakra flaring as he tried to focus it, his hands signs slow. 'Interesting ... A doppleganger Jutsu, Tobirama you clever man' Hashirama's doppleganger did not have as much chakra inside it, but it was physically the same as him, if not better as it didn't seem to have a mouth on it.
Hashirama squeaked as he looked over at his double. "Oh no I'm missing my perfect lips!" He rolled his eyes he really thought he was Gods gift to man. "So does this mean that you don't want me to use my Sharingan on her".
Hashirama shook his head as he began filling the pit with his double holding up the three thugs. "Oh of course, I'm even more curious about her than I was before".
"About her, or what she looks like without clothes?" Hashirama smiled perversely at him. "Well both of course". He smirked. "Careful there, she doesn't seem like the type that would be so happy to hear that".
Another shrug and Hashirama finished filling in the whole, a frown on his face. "You know I have no idea how to undo this Jutsu". He sighed, of course Hashirama would use an incomplete Jutsu. He threw a kunai at the double.
The moment the tip hit the double it turned into smoke. "Seems I figured it out for you". Hashirama's jaw dropped as he turned back to him with a look of shock.
"You just threw a kunai at me!" He nodded his head. "That I did, it felt good to". Hashirama looked between him and where his double had been. "You threw a knife at my head" He waved him off. "Calm down Hashirama, it wasn't like it was actually you, now come on, let's make sure that she's still inside"
Hashirama did not follow him and the tips of his hair stood up, he turned around to watch as Hashirama pulled out a kunai and threw it at him. Catching it in-between his fingers he glared at the Senju. "You idiot!"
"See it doesn't feel good does it!" He growled as he threw the kunai back at Hashirama. "I'm a real person you dimwit!" Hashirama growled. "Don't call me a dimwit you spaz!"
He could feel his annoyance and anger boiling under his skin as he fought back the urge to kill the Senju. "Fine stay out here!"
Sliding open the teahouse he looked around the hallway, he could hear the elderly couple in the back arguing but there was nobody else back there. He moved through the hall and pushed open the shoji where they had been first shown to.
Sakura was on the floor leaning against the screen, her head covered by her hood, he could see even with the heavy cloak the up and down motion of her chest.
Crouching in front of her he noticed that she was asleep, he shook his head. Of course she was, cracking the seal within twenty-four hours must have been exhausting.
His eyes went to her hood and he wondered ...
She had used her hair to choke those three back there. Surely her natural hair was back. He lifted his hand up to her hood them.
Sakura slapped it away. "Touch the hood and the moment I get my chakra back I'll rearrange your organs in a very painful way and then break your hand".
"Hmm". He smirked down at her. He decided to throw her off. "Why do you color it? Your hair?" Throw her off in deed and he watched as she reached up and into her hood pulling at a bandana.
... Now she was covering her hair entirely. She turned her head in a haughty way. "Hmph ... How dare you ask that, don't you know it's rude to ask a lady questions about her appearance!"
Well at least she didn't attempt another lie. "It's for camouflage right?" She scrunched her nose in anger as she wrapped her robes tighter to her body. "It's none of your business". He shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, fine, but know that eventually I'll find out". She looked away from him then. "Sure when I'm dead".
He stood up then and held his hand out for her and she stared at it before she took it and he pulled her up, her large green eyes meeting his Sharingan, she swayed as she stood and he noticed that she was putting all her weight into holding onto him. "You don't look that far off".
She nodded her head. "It's not enough, I need more chakra, more rest". He nodded his head. "Alright let's go then". He went to pick her up to carry her, but she pushed him away. "I can walk on my own". She stumbled as she started towards the shoji screen.
"Obviously" He sighed as he followed her out, making sure to watch her carefully, she looked ready to fall. "You know it's okay to ask for help" She leaned against the threshold to the outside and glared at him.
"I said I can walk on my own". Such would a woman ... "The safe-house isn't far off, come on, I need your eyes to disengage the traps". He stopped at her words then as he realized what she had said.
She needed his Sharingan to undo her traps, that could only mean that it was a Genjutsu of some sort. ...So she was taught ...
He followed her and saw that Hashirama had been sitting in front of the teahouse this entire time, sipping away at a cup of tea no less. "Come on you idiot, she needs to rest".
Hashirama nodded his head as he placed the cup down. "So how much further is it Sakura-chan?" He could almost taste the annoyance that rolled off of the green-eyed woman.
She took a turn behind the teashop and stopped as she looked up and pointed. "There". He looked up his eyes widening at the sight.
Dozens in not more Genjutsu traps surrounded a treehouse at the very top of the trees, so close to the tops he could barely see it beyond all the traps. "This is your work".
Sakura leaned against a tree then, clearly only able to handle standing for so long. "Yes".
This was impressive, he knew of three other clans that were half-way decent enough at Genjutsu, but looking at Sakura's work ... She could give even him a run for his money, and he had the Sharingan.
"If you don't start now, we'll be out here till past the sundown". He nodded his head as he walked up the tree and towards the traps.
Piece by piece he dismantled each one, a part of him wanted to know how powerful her Genjutsu was, if it would affect him if he didn't use his Sharingan. The more he dismantled, the more he saw how she interweaved each one into the other, like a spiders web, but so much more the more he dismantled he saw that she twined it like a beehive, each one working to strengthen the other.
Gods her Genjutsu was beautifully done and terrifying at the same time, someone outside the Uchiha clan should not have been able to do this.
The sun was beginning to dwindle by the time he had finished undoing all her traps and when he came down from the trees he saw that both Sakura and Hashirama were asleep against the tree.
He could almost feel the vein in his forehead wanting to break out of his skin as he stared at the Senju. Sakura he could understand, the seal was already draining what little chakra inside of her she had left and breaking the seal probably took a lot out of her as well, but Hashirama.
The man snored loudly then and he'd had enough. "Idiot!" He kicked the Senju hard smirking as he scrambled to get to his feet, Sakura didn't seem to have been woken from that. She really must have been tired.
"Let's go". Hashirama nodded his head as he looked down at Sakura. "I really don't want to, she's so nice like this". He shook his head. Of course she was nice, she was asleep.
He shook his head. "You're an idiot". They walked up the massive tree and stopped when the got to the shack that may have at one time been nice. It was obvious that it hadn't been used in a while.
It was small, the three of them barely had enough walking room., there was a small cot in the corner of the room and he watched as Hashirama placed Sakura on it.
He looked around the small shack, there room was barren save for a few rocks on the window shield. "Madara look at this". He looked over to where Hashirama was still standing at the small cot, his neck bent as he looked up at the roof. There in fact were tally marks drawn, counting, there were hundreds of them covering the roof. "I wonder if she was counting forward or counting down to something".
He wondered too.
There, behind the bed was more chalk. carefully he moved the bed so as not to wake Sakura and he realized, they were names. Hundreds of names written in repeat.
One stood out though, constantly written over as if making sure she remembered him. ... Naruto
The shack had nothing to it, just like Sakura, she kept nothing on her person besides her bracelet that would give away whom she was, that made her a real person besides her flesh and blood.
Whatever happened to her, she'd been running and hiding from it to the point that she discarded everything about herself, beyond these names. Whether they were victims or loved ones, it was obvious it was important to her.
Hashirama sighed besides him. "So many secrets for one so young". He looked over at him and he looked back at Sakura once more. "Madara, I believe now would be the only chance you'd have at getting inside".
He nodded his head. "Mold your chakra to mine and close your eyes, this may sting for a second". Hashirama nodded his head as he pushed out his chakra towards his own and closed his eyes.
The feeling of falling entered into his mind and he watched as they dropped into a dark place. Slowly like an ember coming back to life rows of torches began to lite themselves all around them they went and more and more they saw what stood in front of them.
A row of statues lined a wall, as large as a cliffside white marble statues stood, all holding swords in front of them, with cloaks just like Sakura's. Each statue was unique in it own way, one was a large breasted woman with the same seal on her forehead as Sakura, another girl closer to Sakura's age with long hair on one side and bangs covering the opposite, another male statue had a mask covering nearly the entirety of his face and another with a weird smile.
There were two though that stood out the most, the only two that were facing each other. The boy with the spicy hair and facial features that reminded him a lot of Izuna extended his index and pinky finger, while the boy with the shaggy hair and scratches on his cheeks extended his thumb and pinky.
...Wind and Lightening...
As the got closer to the statues they all began to turn towards them, he repressed the shiver that ran through his spine. "Madara". Hashirama's harsh whisper let him know he didn't appreciate the feeling either. "I have a feeling this isn't normal". He nodded his head. "No, normally a defense mechanism isn't so ... personalized"
"I don't like that word Madara". He didn't like being here, there was a feeling in the air, a dark aura that was hanging in the air.
Suddenly they heard a cry and the closer they got to the statues they saw the double doors appear and the cries only grew louder. He pressed his ear against the door and heard it more clearly.
Suddenly like a heartbeat the door jumped and he stepped back. Looking over to Hashirama who looked clearly interested on what was behind the door.
"We need to leave Hashirama, we got to the wrong place". Hashirama opened the door then. ... 'The Fool!'
Hashirama walked in then. Looking back to the statues he noted that they hadn't moved since the doors had opened. He took a deep breath and walked into the room.
He felt the harsh ice hit his skin and he shook himself. No longer were they in a dark room, now they were surrounded by nothing but snow and ice, it was so cold to the touch it almost burned.
The crying got louder the further in they went, but there was nothing, no matter how many hills they walked up or how far across the frozen desert they seemed to cross they neve came near anything. He turned to Hashirama then. "I think I understand it now, she broke up her defense mechanism into parts, I think this is the second and last layer".
Hashirama nodded his head as he shivered. "Oh yeah then what's that you idiot!" Hashirama pointed towards what looked to be two frozen mirrors that had suddenly appeared before them.
... And the cries were now louder. ...
A screeching began 'Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!' It was a horrible sound like two stones scraping against one another. 'My chakra! I want my chakra you retched child!'
Deep down he knew they shouldn't be there. He turned towards Hashirama. "We really need to get out of here, the farther we go the harder it will be for us to find our way back and we risk taking with us a part of her mind". Hashirama nodded his head. Finally on board with him.
As they turned away from the mirrors a screech sounded and the both turned to see the mirror doors open, the snow and ice next to the opening beginning to melt immediately. That was a very bad sign.
"Perhaps we should just go check to see what's in there!" Before he could reject that idea Hashirama was already running towards the opened mirrors nearly slipping as he did so. He screamed then before he slipped back and crawled away from the opening.
He walked over to where Hashirama was frozen in fear and stopped in his tracks, the heat was stronger than anything he'd ever imagine and he felt as if everything was on fire. The sight though was worse.
There before him was a doorway to another realm of Sakura's brain and it was filled with nothing but lava for as long as the eye could see.
Layer upon layer upon layer, Sakura had made sure her mind was protected from intruders. There was no way they'd ever see into her mind with a defense mechanism like this.
A scream pierced their ears then and before they knew it a figure all in white was rushing towards them, her skin, her eyes, her hair everything was painted white.
Everything except for the chains wrapped around her wrist, ankles and neck. 'My chakra! Give me back my chakra!'
... Holy fuck.
As suddenly as the demon appeared, they were thrown back through the doors that had gotten them there and they landed right back to where they started.
The statues all moved, their swords pulled out in front of the and the two facing each other covered the doors with their swords and a figure in all black suddenly appeared before them.
Only it was not ... It was like a drawing of a being almost, with an outline of white. It's face was hidden, as they pulled out two swords from behind them.
He forced them out before anything else could happen.
He forced himself back into the reality of the world and stared straight into wide green eyes. 'She knew' He could see it in her eyes, those big green eyes told him everything he didn't want to see.
She was angry. He didn't stop the punch that came to him, or the kick that had him hitting the other side of the shack. "Bastard". Her voice shook with with a vulnerable rage that he didn't think he'd get from her so soon.
She attempted to lift herself from the bed but barely managed to do that. "I swear first chance I get I'm going to rip out every organ in your body and feed them to you!"
He sighed then. "I deserved that". She opened her mouth to spew out more at him and she then turned her head towards Hashirama who was cowering in a corner. "Get over here you idiot!"