The Fail-Safe

by Athe-spirit

Story Adopted: "In that small amount of time that he'd been here with us he put the puzzle pieces together and devised a a fail-safe, safety-net if you will inside of the girl" A Time-Travel Jutsu was their last resort to save the world. Sakura would need to make sure that changing Madara's life around would change the outcome of the war they had lost in her reality.

10. Chapter X : To Subjugate Kings

Authors Note

This story has been adopted from the wonderful Forever Gypsy.

All characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.

... This is a long chapter...

... The next one won't be so long...

---

Chapter

X

To Subjugate Kings

---

The forest was dark, darker than anything she could have ever imagined. She couldn't see anything, only feel the dirt path beneath her feet as she ran, could barely smell the dirt she ran upon, the rotted trees that surrounded her, only, the scents of nature were overpowered by the metallic scent of blood.

Like the darkness the blood was everywhere in her sense, warm liquid slick against her body, the metallic tang on the tip of her tongue, plunged into her nostrils. There was no escape from the blood just as there was no escape from the darkness. Like a beacon of hope though, a light shined far into the darkness, she could feel her heart beating hard beneath her chest as she pushed herself to run faster, her legs screaming for her to stop, pleading with her to give in to the exhaustion, to the darkness.

The light was like a firefly though, the farther she ran the farther it seemed to get. It was so close she could reach out and just grab it, yet no matter what she couldn't touch it.

She gave in, she conceded defeat and suddenly the ground opened beneath her.

Suddenly she was falling, falling even further into the darkness and she could feel herself struggling to grasp onto anything, screaming for someone to help her. The further down into the darkness she fell, the more of her control upon her body, her mind she lost.

White noise screeched into her ears, deafening her. 'Please help me!'

The falling ceased, just as suddenly as she found her footing the coldness swept through her, freezing her into place and she couldn't move, her senses screamed at her to run, she couldn't do anything though.

The walls of her mind began to close upon her then, her senses becoming numb and she felt like the walls of the world around her were beginning to close all around her.

'Let go' Once more she conceded to defeat, she was too utterly terrified to continue.

The coldness within her began to turn into a fire in her body, burning every inch of her as if it was a liquid fire that sunk into every crevice in her body.

Her scream pierced the air.

That little butterfly of hope was there again, that little light that was so far away was suddenly in the palm of her hands. So terrified of the darkness taking it from her again she swallowed it hole to keep it safe from the darkness.

Colors began to swim around her then, the ground, the trees, the gate.

It was all wrong though, all so wrong. Blood-red vines covered in blood twisted about the trees that surrounded her roped themselves over the gate.

The world was covered in blood and shadows now, her precious home destroyed furthermore.

Pushing open the gates, the blood from the vines covering her hands, everything in Konoha was covered in shadows and those horrible bloodied vines, the stench of blood and rot and death filled her senses and she held in her stomach as it cramped painfully at the unnaturalness of it all. It was deathly quiet and she could hear her own heart as loud as her steps.

The wind picked up around her then and she held in her breath at the stench of death that fluttered about with it.

It began to push her back then, back outside the village and she fought against it but it was so much stronger than her. The gates closed on her then she banged at them trying to get them to open.

The darkness was coming back again.

Pushing, hitting, kicking, screaming, the gates would not open no matter how much she tried to open them. She couldn't allow the darkness to consume her.

'Sakura', 'Sakura-chan', 'Sakura', 'Girl'.

Their voices rang like sweet caresses in her ears and she banged harder on the door. She needed to get back to them. 'Let me in!'

The door creaked open then and the whispers started to become gibberish, all the voices screaming at her all at once not making any sense to her. The darkness was so close that she couldn't hold on anymore. Running through she stopped as she saw him.

His sunshine hair now matted with dirt and grime and blood, his beautiful sun-kissed skin, grey and rotted, and those sapphire eyes that once were as hot as fire with power and hope and love were dead, dead and black, black and yellow and so, so wrong.

She screamed as the darkness engulfed her.

---

"Sakura-sama!", "Sakura-sama wake-up!", "Sakura-sama!"

Someone's hands were on her, grabbing her, holding her shoulders, shaking her. All she could focus on was the scream that tore through her throat, shaking her body.

Bright white light blinded her and she could feel herself jolt awake, eyes sensitive to the glaring light, she reached for the light then hoping to all that it was real.

Blearily she found the servant from the last time she was there, looking back at her.

Kind, concerned, worried, she looked away as she tried to focus on what was happening around her, a relieved sigh from the young servant that let go of her arms.

"Forgive me Sakura-sama, I know it is a rule not to touch but I needed to wake you from your nightmare, are you alright?"

Eyes focusing, mind coming back together she realized this was the same servant that had been cleaning the room she'd been locked inside the first time.

... Madara's room ...

She calmed herself as she realized what had happened. "It's fine, no worries, I've already told you I'm not a noble, you can look at me and speak with me with no worries" The girl shook her head as she stood from her spot. "Forgive me Sakura-sama I cannot, Madara-sama and Izuna-donno have been adamant that we give you the utmost respect that we give them, you are an honorary guest within the Uchiha walls and I will not disrespect my Chief and his kindness".

Sighing she scratched at her scalp, her hair felt disgusting and she ran a hand through it, "I think I preferred you calling me Miss to Sakura-sama" The girl smiled wistfully as she turned away from her. "Perhaps I can adjust to your wishes, I'll prepare your bath for you Miss before I inform Madara-sama that you've awoken".

"Madara's awake?" The servant nodded her head as she opened another screen to reveal a private bathing room. 'Thank god, imagine having to use a public bath here, all the stares we'd receive' She scoffed. 'At least it's a real bath and not the river, I'm happier about that'.

Running her hand through her hair once more she took note that it had grown past her shoulders and was back to its natural pink for everyone to see. Most of all it was dirty and greasy and stunk with sweat. 'Yuck'.

"Madara-sama awoke last night, he's been very busy though, he may not be able to receive you until he's available".

She really didn't need to. "Miss, what scents do you care for? I wasn't sure so I just picked the ones that are the most popular with the wives in the main family" She didn't really care about any of that. "Whatever you think is a good scent is fine with me, do you know what happened to the henna I had made?". Another nod. "Of course Miss, Kanaye-sama had it brought here once you were settled in, I'll grab it from the chest for you".

Looking around the room then she found she was not in Madara's room this time, it was still a rather nice room, spacious with a nice platform tatami bed, silk sheets, and large screened windows that allowed diffused light to shine through the bedroom.

The servant turned to her then as she held a jar in her hands. "Here you are miss". Taking it from the girl she stopped as she realized she didn't even know her name. "I'm sorry I've been rude, what is your name?"

"They call me Emiyo Miss".

She nodded her head then. "Emiyo, that's a fine name, would you mind helping me with this?" Emiyo nodded her head. "Of course Miss, though if I may speak boldly with you?"

Oh, had she not been bold the first time they'd met? "You may". The girl smiled prettily. "I believe this color matches you much better than the last one did"

... Everyone had an opinion didn't they...

---

A scream tore through the entire house and he saw Izuna flinch before he stood up. "That's Sakura-san!" Obviously, he hadn't expected her to recover so quickly, from what he'd been told by the physicians she wouldn't have woken for another two to three days.

Izuna slid open the screen then and he knew he had to keep his younger brother from playing hero, best not let the two of them catch feelings for one another. It would be too much on his younger brother when the realization that he couldn't keep her came crashing down upon him.

"Leave her be we have servants for that and if it's serious we have physicians as well". Izuna sighed then as he slid the screen shut and walked back over to his spot.

"I hope she's okay, she looked awful when she'd finally collapsed". He looked away from his scroll then to look over his younger brother, it was clear that he was deeply concerned. "It was probably just a nightmare, it's bound to happen, stop fretting about her so much, besides if she wasn't okay I doubt her body would have recovered so quickly"

Izuna sighed dejectedly, 'So it would seem he's become attached so quickly ... Such an innocent.'

"You didn't show me, how'd she do ... out there?" Looking back over to the scrolls he sighed, his hand was already beginning to ache from all the writing he'd been doing since last night. "She did fine, I don't believe she's a spy for anyone ... Tell me when you were with her the first time had she ever mentioned her family?"

Izuna scoffed then. "She evaded all questions about herself, why did she tell you something?" Nodding his head he put down the scroll then and looked over at his brother. "She claims her village was destroyed" Izuna's brows scrunched in thought. "Destroyed as in?" "As in destroyed, family, friends, strangers in passing all dead, destroyed by what she claims was a monster".

Izuna looked thoughtful, "We could always request information from the Daimyo's about recent villages that were suddenly condemned, surely there can't be that many, especially with people with Sakura's specific coloring"

'Ahh, yes, the picture' Looking over at the scroll that laid innocently at the bottom of the stack of scrolls. If Sakura was an attractive girl even underfed and uncared for, it was unsurprising to see a painting of her looking somewhat healthy and even more attractive. Still, that woman, what was it with her and coloring her hair? Even in the picture, she'd had it colored an odd pink. Truly he couldn't wait to figure out the secret she was hiding with her hoods and dies.

"Madara-sama" Looking away from the scroll he was reading over his eyes went over Izuna's turned shoulder and noted the old man was waiting on him patiently. Looking back to Izuna he settled the conversation. "Well, continue this later" Izuna nodded his head in agreement.

The old man, he was wondering when he was going to start coming around, he often did that when he was interested in something. "Kanaye come sit". Izuna looked over at him skeptically.

Kneeling next between him and Izuna the old man waited on them, a small smirk on his face as he did so. "I understand that you got to work with Sakura, tell me about what you witnessed".

"She's an interesting girl isn't she?" The old man directed the conversation now with his ramblings. "She's smart, her work on the seals were good, of course, that Senju's was much better than hers but her work on them was still very good, I doubt that Senju would have been capable of completing the seals without her work to help him through it though. Beyond that I can't speak for much so far, her chakra has been sealed, although she does seem to be ... there's a word for people like that ... Ah! Neurotic! Yes, yes she seems a tad bit neurotic. I understand that the situation was stressful but her response to the stressful stimuli was rather interesting if I must say".

Izuna looked over to him then, a curious look, almost pitying him about something. Ignoring it he took in the information, the more he could gather on her the better it would be. "I understand that you have refused to leave the branch house, why is that, I've relieved Yukio from his position in my court permanently and thought you would have liked to move into the main house, your family would no doubt enjoy the privileges".

"I'm sure my family would like the privileges of the main house but I just don't want the responsibilities there's already so many with becoming Chief Physician, I'm sure you're aware I'm rather comfortable in the branch family".

He would be as well considering the branch family didn't have as many responsibilities as the main family. "I can't have my Chief of Physicians so far away from the main house, you're responsibilities are now primarily with us". Kanye's eyes sparkled then as he leaned forward. "Madara-sama if you will I'm sure you didn't call me over here to reprimand me for not taking up the responsibilities that come with the main house, why have you called me?"

Izuna was hot as fire as he responded tersely. "Do not forget yourself Kanaye, you are not to question Madara-sama", Kanaye placed up a finger then, his eyes sparkled with that Uchiha fire. "Do not forget yourself boy, if it wasn't for me you and yours wouldn't even exist, I may be a branch member but that does not change who I am and I have all right to question as I wish".

Izuna looked back over to him, there was no need for all of this. "There's no need for hostilities, but you are right I do want something". Though this was the old man, he could outright refuse and no one would dare to force him.

"I need you to watch Sakura, I want to know everything about her, what she says what she does, what she asks, every little thing she does I want to know about it".

Kanaye relaxed then. "You want me to spy on Sakura-chan? Hmm ... I don't know Madara-sama, I do find her rather entertaining it would be a shame if she ever found out about it ... Why not you or even Izuna-donno, or even better why not Kita-sama Hmmm?"

The old fool just loved to taste their patience. "Kita has many responsibilities, she cares for all the matriarchal duties on top of any other's responsibilities I've given her as a member of the main house"

Kanaye shrugged his shoulders. "Kita has no family to care for and I just don't want to be the one to hurt the poor girl should she come to find out, she's such a refreshing young thing, no I'd rather not chance it".

The old fool, taking in a deep breath he calmed himself, his old man was known for playing games with the main house. "Let's make it more interesting than, you like the way your life is with the branch house then, how about you keep the title as Chief of Physician and take a house within the main family, but I'll give your grandson the responsibilities that would come with being part of the main house, did he not just have a child recently? I would think you'd want them to be more comfortable now, in the main house they would be given more privileges than they have right now and your grandson would be moved away from the front lines like all the main house members are".

Kanaye tilted his head, a smirk on his face. "You're a manipulative little shit aren't you Madara-sama, why don't one of you do it". Sakura would see through him and he was too worried about Izuna getting too close to Sakura. If his brother had feelings for her then it would break the younger man when he found out he couldn't be with her, not like he would want to be.

"Ah I get it, she is a pretty little thing and it makes one curious to know what she hides under those robes of hers ... Her healing abilities seem magnificent too, it would be a shame to lose those abilities because you couldn't help but play with your food, very well then, since you've given me no ability to refuse I suppose I must take your offer, but do know that your responsible for cleaning up any mess should she find out".

"Don't speak to him like that" Kayane looked over at Izuna as he stood from his kneeling. "I'll speak to the lot of you however I wish".

The shoji screen cracked open then and he looked over to the servant that waited on him. "What is it?" "The Senju's and Uzumaki have arrived".

Of course, they would come hours before they were told too, no doubt that Tobirama's doing attempting to catch him off guard.

"Show them this way", "Of course Madara-sama". Looking back over to Kanaye he took in a deep breath. "Because of who you are I have high expectations that Sakura should not come to find out about you, understand me". Kanaye didn't say anything, with the knowledge that he had no issue about picking and plucking those from the main-house if they disappointed him Kanaye wouldn't push him, not when he was making sure that his grandson's survival had just increased dramatically.

"I'll show myself out then". He couldn't agree more to that. "Yes, I suppose you should". Izuna stopped him then. "Kanaye ... How is Jiro-san?" Kanaye turned to them then.

"He's fine Izuna-donno, his chakra has finally been replenished completely, from what I can tell he's not exhibiting any symptoms so I must assume that he's made a full recovery".

Izuna sighed. "That is good, Jiro-san is a good fighter and a great guard, it would have been a serious loss to us if something had happened to him" Kanaye nodded his head. "Thank you Izuna-donno, it is good to hear praise from you, now I must be going, need to start getting the family up to speed on the new changes".

The old man left then and he turned to his brother. "I don't know why you're so concerned about what happened, it was chakra exhaustion plain and simple". Izuna turned to him then with wide surprised eyes.

"Sakura sucked the chakra straight from his body, that's not chakra exhaustion! You weren't there, you didn't see what I saw", "I was there, you showed me remember".

Izuna shook his head though, clearly still spoked about the situation, not that it wasn't concerning but it was better to shrug it off if the man hadn't died from it. "Madara she stole his chakra!" That was possibly the most interesting thing about it too.

First the cracks in her seal, then the hidden razor, the pills that siphoned chakra from the body fat supply, and now he finds out she had the ability to literally steal the chakra from another person.

Seeing it through Izuna's eyes had been a sight he never thought he'd ever had the pleasure of seeing, it had been too hard to believe though. Izuna's stumbling over what had happened when he'd first woken up had been too confusing to make head or tails. The good thing about having the Sharingan was the ability to look inside the mind of the other. Normally, it would have an effect of some sort, tiredness, or headache's but if done with another Sharingan user the effects of the Sharingan didn't happen.

So seeing Sakura take someone's chakra out of their body and into her's was a very, very engrossing event. "Doesn't matter, what matters is that nobody speaks a word about this to the Senju, that Tobirama wanted her sealed from the very beginning. If he were to find out about this particular event there's no telling what he'll do, he could very well go to the Daimyo and demand that she be executed for it ... We need her healing abilities and I will not allow something that hadn't harmed anyone to be the thing that gets her taken away from us".

Izuna sighed, very well then. "Madara-sama" Looking back at the screen he saw the servant waiting on him. Before he could say anything though he watched as long pale fingers pushed open the screen and in walked the tall white-haired Senju heir.

His face was a complete mask devoid of emotion, but his eyes said everything that he needed to know, the red-eyed Senju was angry. "Where is she!"

A sigh from Izuna and he watched as his brother discreetly rolled his eyes.

It was too early for this. Hashirama and the Uzumaki chief walked in then, the brown-haired man glaring at his own heir as sat down. "Tobi-chan did we not just talk about your manners".

Because talking about having manners was going to change the fact that the younger Senju brother clearly did not care about how he came off to them.

"I don't care that witch-" The Uzumaki got in-between the two brothers then, a cheerful expression on his face, he could feel his brows furrow. Interestingly, he had not known that they were so familiar with the Daimyo.

"Now, now children, I do believe there's no reason to fight, besides we are in another man's home". Tobirama glared as he turned to him once more. "Where is she?"

This time it was him that did the sighing, better not let the younger Senju aggravate the healer, it was too early to have to deal with that, he'd learned that Hashirama and Sakura could fight like cats and dogs he didn't need to see how Sakura and Tobirama got along, they'd just renovated Izuna's chambers, he didn't want one of his guest rooms destroyed so soon. "Sakura-san has yet to wake up, when she does I'll make sure to inform her that you've been asking for her".

That glare did not leave. "It's been three days, surely by now she would have woken up". Well, she was awake, last he'd heard with her and whatever had happened when she'd woken up, but the thought of having to pay out for more renovations didn't bode well with him.

Izuna did not like how the Senju spoke though, he could hear it in his tone, not giving up the healer. "Sakura-san has had her chakra sealed, used medicine that weakened her body and was also poisoned, her body needs to recuperate".

He was curious though, from what Izuna had shown him so far about the past few days while he was recovering himself he had to wonder what Sakura had done to rile up the younger Senju.

"What did Sakura-san do to you? I understand that she went to you to get access to your garden as we did not carry some of the items that she required, so I don't understand what she could have done to anger you so much".

Hashirama sighed then as he took a seat across from him, crossing his arms as he looked up at his brother, clearly exasperated about something. "You may as well tell them, they are experts in this area". 'Oh' Now he was really interested.

Tobirama did not sit and he did not speak as he continued to glare at the floor, Hashirama threw his arms up then in a dramatic effect. "Oh alright then I'll tell them! Tobi-chan here thinks that Sakura-san placed a genjutsu on him". 'Oh'. ... Now that is interesting.

Izuna looked over at him then, his eyes telling him he had a clue how she had done that. They wouldn't give it up though, Sakura's healing abilities were too good to take such a chance on.

He was curious as to know why Sakura would cast a genjutsu upon the younger Senju if she had in fact done so.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you of all people how to break a genjutsu, though I don't see why you could even believe that Sakura would have the ability to do it, she's had her chakra sealed since before we left for the border, and if I'm not mistaken, her seals were still in place before she succumbed to her ailment last I was told, as well, I'm told that was after she'd gone to speak with you".

Hashirama looked up at his younger brother as the Uzumaki decided to sit down with them as well.

To say he was surprised at the sight of the Uzumaki would be a misrepresentation of his intelligence. It was in fact a rather expected move no doubt made by Tobirama. Even though at the teahouse Hashirama had outright lied to him and Sakura about the Uzumaki coming after the peace treaty was made. He held no ill will towards Hashirama on the lie, he was after all keeping pertinent information about Sakura from him now.

The Uchiha hadn't survived this long against the Senju simply because of their numbers, they were just as strong, him and Izuna more so than anyone else.

If Izuna had died that day on the battlefield there was no doubt in any person's mind that he would have retaliated and done everything to get his hands on the white-haired Senju brother. Tobirama had calculated that after he'd struck the blow that nearly took Izuna from him. Considering that the Uzumaki was there right then and would have been there the day he had gathered all his men to strike back at the Senju, the day Izuna came back to him, Senju Tobirama must have requested the Uzumaki to be their reinforcements the moment they got back to their compound after that last battle.

If Izuna hadn't shown up when he had there was no doubt that he and the rest of the Uchiha would have been exterminated that night. Even he knew that there was no possible way to win a battle against the Senju and the Uzumaki, they were two forces that were unstoppable when they came together.

"Tobirama-san please sit", the Senju looked over at the Uzumaki with a glare then. "Now". The Uzumaki had a smile on his face, something he noted when he'd seen him through Izuna's memories.

The younger Senju glared as he sat down, nobody could truly refuse the Uzumaki, he was after all a Daimyo.

The Uzumaki turned to him though that smile still on his face. "Madara-sama what an honor it is to officially meet you. I was disappointed to hear that you refused the marriage proposal that we'd extended to you".

For once Senju Tobirama actually looked surprised at the news, even sounded it as well. "You sent them a proposal? Our enemies". The Uzumaki rolled his eyes. "From what I hear it is former enemies and yes, yes I did initiate a marriage proposal, three times now" His dark violet eyes looked over to Izuna then.

"Perhaps I'll try for a fourth".

Izuna's cheeks stained red and he looked down then, the Uzumaki laughed. "Oh what a joy you two are!"

Yes because they were obviously entertainment for him. "What did you come for exactly? If you didn't realize there is much I have to do, I do have a clan to run".

Hashirama smiled his bright smile. "We understand, Tobi-chan here is under the impression that Sakura-san did something to him, cast a genjutsu of some sort, I don't know why he thinks that but I couldn't stop him, it was a better decision to come with him than allow him to come on his own".

"I'm not a child Hashirama!" Hashirama rolled his eyes. "And Sakura-san didn't place a genjutsu on you it would be impossible with her chakra sealed away as it is".

Maybe not with her chakra, but if she had stolen chakra from the guard as she had it may have been possible, the seals that were used on women blocked nearly all of their chakra keeping them from using their own. Chakra had a signature just like blood, no one person's chakra was the same as the next person. If Sakura was capable of stealing chakra as he'd now found out she was also able to, then it was possible that she could harness the chakra as if it was her own. It would be tricky, many shinobi as it was already had a problem controlling their own chakra, it took years before some even got a good grasp at understanding how their chakra really worked. Sakura would have to have been in that small percent that had excellent chakra control if she had cast a genjutsu on Tobirama with another person's chakra.

From what he'd seen of her genjutsu work it wasn't a surprise, she was obviously a genjutsu type shinobi, a rare treat considering he was an Uchiha, and genjutsu had been mastered by their clan centuries ago.

Even more curious was that Sakura hadn't just stolen an Uchiha's chakra, she'd stolen Uchiha Jiro's chakra, being able to control that chakra would be a massive feat considering his lineage and her lack of one.

"Why don't we have our best healer look you over if in fact there is a genjutsu, they'll be able to find it", Tobirama looked over at him then, "Why don't you just do it now instead of waiting on a healer?" His brows scrunched together, wasn't it obvious. "Because I don't want to touch you and I don't have to either".

The glare he was given from the younger shinobi was more than amusing to him.

"Nyoko-san call for Kanaye to come here immediately" The servant at the screen responded carefully. "Hai Madara-sama".

"How are the Kaguya children doing?" He looked back over to Hashirama then. "The eldest has broken his fever, some symptoms seem to have receded he's still not woken yet, but considering it was the Ricia I don't expect to see him make a full recovery till a week, the other two boys seem fine though, though the youngest has been giving the nurses and healers quite the headache with his demands to see Sakura".

The Uzumaki was thrilled about this conversation. "I cannot believe that the girl had been hiding away three Kaguya children, the entire world believes this clan has ended but here these three boys are. Did she happen to explain how she came upon them?"

Hashirama spoke up then. "From her account and the youngest child's she bought them from the mother who had managed to escape the massacre".

The Uzumaki's brows furrowed then. "The clan is from Mizu no Kuni yes? Is that where the girl is from?"

To be honest the question threw him completely off because while Sakura had explained to them that her home had been destroyed in a war she had not given them any indication as to which country she hailed from.

From Izuna's memories and what she'd told Hashirama and himself she'd traveled the entire five nations, but never once had she claimed which one was her home.

Izuna's memories had him wondering hard on the possibilities though, they'd been trying to track down her origins since Izuna had come back to them and so far the only one's that had responded to Kita's missives were the Ninso of Shimo no Kuni, even they had claimed that she had come to them from Kaminari no Kuni, but then the teahouse hostess had said that Sakura had been coming back and forth to Hi no Kuni for the past year. Sakura had even admitted to traveling to Uzushiogakure and Mizu no Kuni.

... Where did Sakura come from?

Based on what he could gather from what he'd learned so far, the girl was knowledgeable in all sorts of areas from healing, politics to ninjutsu to even literature the girl had her hand in a large pot of knowledge.

Sakura's origins were something that had him pulling at strings, he couldn't understand how a village that had someone like Sakura get destroyed. The girl was powerful in her own right, not only was she able to heal people even from fatal wounds, her own body was able to heal by its self due to her chakra, but what's more her ability in genjutsu was beautiful. Earlier he had questioned himself on her reasons for staring straight into his Sharingan but he had to wonder was his Sharingan even able to cast upon her? That trap she'd set up for her safehouse told him a lot about her particular ability, perhaps she was a healer predominantly but with a genjutsu like that it was obvious that her strongest ability laid in genjutsu.

From what it would seem she was very good with genjutsu if Senju Tobirama hadn't been able to break this supposed genjutsu himself.

"Why the curiosity about Sakura-san, Ashina-sama?" He looked over at Izuna then, thankful that his brother had gotten him out of his musings before he got lost in them.

"Well, it's not every day that one meets a female healer ... Maybe I'll make her my next wife, rarities should be cared for and I could certainly do that". A laugh and he felt Izuna stiffen at the words.

What's more, a slightly barely noticeable frown made its way to Senju Tobirama's normally composed facade. Feeling eyes on him he looked straight into Hashirama's dark and knowing stare. The room stilled then and Ashina grinned.

"Oh, what's this? Why Hashirama it would seem that the other's here seem to have other opinions about this". Hashirama cleared his throat then. "Well, I do believe I have an opinion and that would be not to consider her as future bedmate ... Less you'd want your throat slit in your sleep".

Ashina laughed then clearly amused. "Well now, this girl is a wild one, I shall enjoy chasing her!"

What disturbed him was the image that ran through his head at that. The knowledge that Uzumkai Ashina was old enough to be their grandfather where Sakura was considerably younger was more than disturbing enough, more so was the fact that this Daimyo had just married a girl nearly a year ago that was even younger than Sakura and was still attempting to have a son.

"Aww, None of you are any fun, I was joking, I have enough wives as it is, don't need another one demanding things of me".

He felt Kanaye's chakra then as his shadow crossed the screen. "Kanaye-san come in". The elderly healer slid the screen open then as he stepped in. "You called for me Madara-sama?"

"Senju Tobirama is claiming that someone has cast a genjutsu on him, check to see if there's any truth to this". Kanaye nodded as he stepped up to the younger Senju.

"Of course Madara-sama". A slight twitch from the white-haired shinobi as the elderly healer placed his hands upon his shoulders.

"Now has anyone come up with an idea on how we're going to help the Kaguya clan?" He looked back towards the Uzumaki then.

Tobirama was the first to respond "Rebuild the clan immediately.", "Hush Senju-sama, you need to keep your mind clear while I do this". Kanaye continued his search for the genjutsu.

The Uzumaki lifted a brow. "Yes, that would be a good idea but they are still very young from what I can gather, I was speaking about the here and now".

Hashirama looked contemplative. "They need to be taught first and foremost how to run a clan, each of them, it's unsure still how pure their blood is. We need to also begin training them in Ninjutsu, besides the youngest one the other two boys should have been old enough to fight with their clans, but considering no one knows how the clan worked when training and sending the boys to fight we should start from the very beginning and reteach them. As far as rebuilding the clan, I don't believe that we should rush into that, first and foremost because of their kekki Genkai, if don't proceed with caution we run the risk of losing their kekki Genkai".

Well at least he understood that repopulating the clan needed to come last, it was too soon and they knew nothing of their clan's physiology or of their kekki Genkai. He was sure after a few years they would have figured it out, until then they needed to protect those children and teach them how to survive.

"Madara-sama" He looked over to Kanaye who's brow was furrowed as he concentrated on a spot on Tobirama's head. 'Oh'..."So Sakura did place a genjutsu on him them?"

Hashirama looked confused then. "That's not possible her chakra is bound, she can't use chakra". Kanaye shook his head. "It's not that, there's a knot of some sort, almost the same when someone uses a genjutsu on another, but it's not Sakura's chakra, it's your own chakra Senju-sama".

'Oh, now that is interesting' Standing up he walked over to the white-haired Senju, a scowl on his face. "What do you mean a knot of my own chakra?"

Hashirama sounded just as confused then as he scratched at a spot on his neck. "So Sakura-san didn't cast a genjutsu on him?"

That was a good question, wasn't it? Placing his hand on the Senju's head he smirked when Tobirama pulled away from him. "I don't want you touching me!"

"Quiet, I'm trying to work". Focusing his chakra he pushed into the younger Senju, his eyes opening once he found the knot.

'Now that is interesting'.

It wasn't a knot it wasn't by itself, he'd seen this beehive pattern once before and it had definitely been Sakura's doing the last time. Part of him wanted to undo the knot, but it had taken a long while to undo all of Sakura's traps the last time even with his Sharingan, there was also the fact that Sakura had in fact placed a genjutsu on Senju Tobirama. He knew she had, Sakura's hands were all over this knot, that must have been the limit to that chakra absorption ability, genjutsu was already tricky itself with one's own chakra, using another's was possibly even more complicated thus the reason he'd figured out what she'd done. Tobirama's chakra was attempting to unknot itself letting bits and pieces fall through, but at the same time, Sakura's genjutsu was tricking it to also believe it needed to keep up the genjutsu.

It was tempting to reach deeper and see what exactly Sakura had done but he rather liked watching the youngest Senju go insane thinking he knew what was going on without having the whole picture.

A chuckle escaped him and Tobirama twitched beneath his hands clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "What is it?" He looked over at Izuna then, knowing his brother would know better than to say anything.

"Unless you and Sakura have the same chakra signature then yes I'd say that she has done something to you, but as it were I've felt her chakra when she healed me and it feels nothing like this, looks like you were working on a genjutsu yourself and it went wrong".

Pulling his chakra out of Tobirama's body he looked over to Kanaye, knowing that the old man would know not to say anything.

Sakura's chakra control abilities weren't just impressive they were outstanding, he'd never known someone who could not only control another's chakra but use it as if it were their own with their own jutsu's, a genjutsu at that. Sakura's chakra control was most definitely superior to every one of theirs.

Walking back over to his spot next to Izuna he smirked over at the younger Senju, Hashirama crossed his arms a haughty look on his face as he stared down at Tobirama. "See I told you it was simply impossible, she has her seals on, you're just being paranoid!"

Tobirama snapped at his brother, stopping midway with wide eyes. "Then why do I know what her li-" The white-haired shinobi crossed his arms, clearly realizing he'd given away too much.

'Oh ... This is too good to be true.' It was the Uzumaki that was the one to voice their curiosities. "Know what Tobirama-san? Hmm ... Her lips? Which ones? I didn't know the two of you were so very close, yet she's staying here with the Uchiha ..."

Which lips? Tobirama looked clearly exasperated. "Doesn't matter, I know she used a genjutsu on" He looked down then his shoulders slumping just a bit that only his Sharingan was able to see it. "I just don't know how". Hashirama placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You know maybe it's not a genjutsu ... I mean she is a cute one and she's pretty smart".

Tobirama's eyes looked over at his brother then, small and deadly with barely a slit of red to be seen. "I am not attracted to her!"

He really hoped that the Senju wasn't, it was one thing for Izuna to like want the girl, but to have the youngest Senju attracted to her as well, it could only blow up in all of their faces. The Uzumaki once again decided to poke the elephant in the room. "No? Are you sure? The Uchiha's here seem to have an attraction towards her ... It's no use in lying about it we're all men here"

Tobirama growled then in an attempt to warn off the Uzumaki who only laughed. "Oh my boy, you're so easily riled!"

'... Perhaps because you're purposefully antagonizing him ...' "Tobirama-san, take a page from the Uchiha's book and just write off everything I say" Now he was just attempting to make the Senju react. 'How cruel, but this is so entertaining, their own ally as well.'

There was a commotion outside then and he looked over at his servant who had moved from her spot next to the screen. Standing up he walked over to the screen only for it to open, one of the guards looked as if he hadn't wanted to be there.

"What is it?" The guard wouldn't meet his eyes and he knew something was wrong. "The healer, she's disappeared".

He calmed his raging emotions as he looked over the guard's shoulder to see the servant girl Emiyo crying and his own servant Nyoko was attempting to calm her down. Motioning for the guard to move he calmed himself before speaking. "What happened girl?"

The servant in question looked down, begging for his forgiveness as she bowed low with her head touching the wood of the engawa. "I'm sorry Madara-sama, one moment she was there and the next she was gone".

How was that possible? She didn't have her chakra she couldn't have just walked out the front door without someone seeing her. "You did your job girl, go clean yourself up". She nodded her head as she ran from them.

There was no way she could get far without her chakra, but she was capable of taking someone else's, he turned back towards the guard. "Lockdown the compound and search for her now, and sweep the perimeters as well". "Hai Madara-sama".

Izuna's voice filtered through his anger then. "What happened?" Turning back towards the other occupants in the room, he eyed Hashirama knowing that the man would figure it out eventually.

---

The water was hot, hot and turning her skin an angry red as she continued to soak in the tub, the servant girl has gone from her presence finally, allowing her to finally breathe.

'Do you feel it?' She sighed as the voice rang in her mind, she didn't need any of that right then, too tired and her dopamine levels were too low for any of that.

The hot water felt good against her aching muscles, soothing away the last couple of weeks' work. She sighed as she dipped lower into the tub, she was so tired of feeling tired, she couldn't keep up with any of it.

She'd overestimated everything, it seemed all easy in her head as she had planned everything out, but numbers on a piece of paper were just that. Seeing the reality of the situation was a blow to her ego. 'We can't let them take us for fools again', 'They won't' She wished she had her confidence.

How could she have been so stupid? So naive? She knew what she was up against and still, she fell headfirst into the traps they'd let out. They had sealed her chakra! Just took it from her and she basically allowed them to play her like some fool!

'We won't let them this time.' Her brows scrunched together ... 'What are you talking about?' She could almost feel the smirk her inner was giving her. 'Have you noticed? Someone undid the seal'

Raising her wrist up from the scalding water she smirked at herself. 'Would you look at that'. No, this time she wouldn't let them take her chakra and play her like some green genin straight from the academy. Looking down at her wrist she wondered. 'Who undid the seal? Hashirama wouldn't have been able to, he was unconscious ... and Tobirama wouldn't want to undo her seals, his promise of undoing them in return for abandoning the Uchiha and Hagoromo clans had been all bullshit, he wasn't ever going to unseal us'

'What about the Uzumaki'. She slid further down the tub. 'It's possible they are masters of seals ... still though how would he have known about her or her seals, and what's more how would have even gotten past all the Uchiha's? And why would he even unseal us? He doesn't know us'.

'Matters not, what matters is that we have our chakra back'.

Sliding all the way into the water she closed her eyes as the heat burned like fire against her skin.

What was going on now? Had the Kaguya children been healed? She'd left them everything in order for them to heal the children. 'How long were we asleep for?'

'Do we really need to think about any of that? We should be running as far away from here', 'We can't run, there's too much to take care of', 'What more? We did what was the most important, we saved Izuna, we stopped Madara going insane, we've given them gold, we've given them the Kaguya children, should we continue to hold their hands?'

... There was the issue with Tobirama, that couldn't be ignored, that needed to be handled. 'We did we sent for a mediator', 'We have to do more than send for a mediator, he's too smart, he'll figure a way to take control of the village again and spread his propaganda and then we'll be back at square one'

'We need to see the peace treaty' Was it even finished though? She knew Izuna had said the elderly were celebrating because it was almost done, but would it have been completed by now? 'Doesn't matter, we need to see it before the Uchiha sign it, Tobirama's smart, he'll have worded everything perfectly so that nobody would question it and Hashirama is charming, he'll talk and laugh his way around it'

Those two really did balance each other out, it was no wonder Madara from her reality had been so easily taken for a fool as he had. Not only were the elders in the clan greedy old men wanting to control the situation once the troubled younger brother was out of the way, but they'd also probably been trying to figure out how to get rid of Madara and place a better golden puppet at the head of the clan. Madara was a good leader she supposed, better for wartime than for during a time of peace that's for sure.

Then there was Hashirama and Tobirama, the two Senju's, Hashirama no doubt needed Izuna out of the way, she wouldn't be surprised if he had been the one to give Tobirama the orders not to hold back, Izuna was cursed there was no doubt, but Izuna was an obstacle to Madara, with Izuna there to keep Madara from falling into the madness. With the two Uchiha Brothers, they'd be able to fight back against the Senju's tyranny, and with both brothers to speak against the Senju's the rest of the Uchiha wouldn't be so fooled by the charming personality of Hashirama.

She'd seen Hashirama and Madara fight at that last battle when Izuna had nearly died, the two hadn't been moving as if they'd choreographed the entire thing and even figured a way to evade hurting the other, Tobirama and Izuna on the other hand ... She was sure of it, Hashirama had to have been behind it, with Izuna out of the picture he'd be able to use Madara's depression and convince the Uchiha Chief to take the Uchiha clan in the direction he and Tobirama wanted it.

Madara was smart though, he'd figured it out in her reality what was going on, and it was already too late, the moment Izuna had died he'd lost everything.

Not that the Uchiha's were the best people, after all, they were all killers, but what the Senju brothers had done was unbelievable, they'd basically castrated the Uchiha's. ... With Tobirama holding the knife and Hashirama enticing them into the slaughter with his kindness and smile.

"How dare you try to turn people against me!"

Yes, that's right, that's what he'd said when he'd sealed her the final time. Hashirama knew what he was doing, knew what he was planning to do, or at the very least what needed to be done.

'We need to see that peace treaty'

Focusing on concealing her chakra, she looked it over, everything was just as perfect as it had been before it had been sealed. She'd have to use the Kage bunshin jutsu, there was so much that needed to be done and she couldn't do it all in one day on her own.

Creating three henged clones she forced gave them their orders, each one needed to do something while she kept up the appearance for the moment. Closing her eyes she focused her mind on the clone that she'd sent to look in on Madara.

Making sure her clone's chakra was concealed, it wasn't hard to find the chief, his chakra made a clear line for her to follow and she found a servant girl sitting at the screen he was behind, two guards stationed not far from her.

Carefully she moved past one, kneeling down next to the servant girl as she whispered. "They need your help with the kitchens, I'll stay here until you've returned". The servant girl nodded her head then before as they smoothly switched places, the door was cracked just enough to let her listen in on Madara.

He trusted this servant girl, she must have been special in some way, he wouldn't just trust any servant to listen in on him. Maybe he was sleeping with her, a connection like that would guarantee the girl remained loyal, but at the same time ... If Madara got tired of her like she'd seen men in these times do it could backfire on him if she chose to reveal the information she learned and turned against him.

"Ah! Neurotic! Yes, yes she seems a tad bit neurotic. I understand that the situation was stressful but her response to the stressful stimuli was rather interesting if I must say".

She recognized that voice as that Uchiha healer Kanaye, that was interesting, he was a branch member, wasn't he?

"Madara-sama if you will I'm sure you didn't call me over here to reprimand me for not taking up the responsibilities that come with the main house, why have you called me?"

So they had removed the original head physician permanently. It would make sense, if he had refused his heirs orders like that then there was no reason to keep him happy if he could do the same for them.

"Do not forget yourself Kanaye, you are not to question Madara-sama", "Do not forget yourself boy, if it wasn't for me you and yours wouldn't even exist, I may be a branch member but that does not change who I am and I have all right to question as I wish".

'What was that? Uchiha Kanaye who are you?' Packing away that thought she continued to focus on what was being said between the three.

"You want me to spy on Sakura-chan? Hmm ... I don't know Madara-sama, I do find her rather entertaining it would be a shame if she ever found out about it ... Why not you or even Izuna-donno, or even better why not Kita-sama Hmmm?"

She rolled her eyes, still, they didn't trust her, how anticlimactic was that information. .. What was more so was who was Kita? Someone of serious importance obviously if they thought them a better option to spy on her.

"Let's make it more interesting than, you like the way your life is with the branch house then, how about you keep the title as Chief of Physician and take a house within the main family, but I'll give your grandson the responsibilities that would come with being part of the main house, did he not just have a child recently? I would think you'd want them to be more comfortable now, in the main house they would be given more privileges than they have right now and your grandson would be moved away from the front lines like all the main house members are".

"You're a manipulative little shit aren't you Madara-sama, why don't one of you do it". Not only did Madara just threaten the elder man but Kanaye hadn't taken it laying down, the old man had even disrespected Madara, his own Chief, in front of the heir-apparent no less! 'Uchiha Kanaye who are you?'

"Ah I get it, she is a pretty little thing and it makes one curious to know what she hides under those robes of hers ... Her healing abilities seem magnificent too, it would be a shame to lose those abilities because you couldn't help but play with your food, very well then, since you've given me no ability to refuse I suppose I must take your offer, but do know that your responsible for cleaning up any mess should she find out".

"Don't speak to him like that", "I'll speak to the lot of you however I wish".

'Wholly fuck!' Uchiha Kanaye was a brave old man, and she was so, so curious about him now.

A guard leaned down next to her then and whispered quietly in her ear. Now she knew she couldn't just leave her post so quickly, cracking the screen a little more open she heard him acknowledge her.

"What is it?", She took a deep breath as she carefully covered her voice. "The Senju's and Uzumaki have arrived".

It was quiet for a moment and she wondered if she had given herself away, she waited patiently though. "Show them this way" She smiled to herself as she slid the screen to a mere crack as it had been before. "Of course Madara-sama". Looking back towards the guards, she nodded her head at them and watched as they went to get the Senju brothers and Uzumaki.

The screen opened then and she realized she missed the last of the conversation, the elderly Uchiha walked slowly out of the meeting room, his walk effortless and commanding, floating past her without a care in the world.

She wondered what he'd been like a younger man.

"Sakura sucked the chakra straight from his body, that's not chakra exhaustion! You weren't there, you didn't see what I saw", "I was there, you showed me remember". So Izuna and Madara used the Sharingan in order to replay memories, they were that close that they hid nothing from each other.

The fact that Madara knew about her doing such things was interesting to know though, she wondered how soon it would be till he told Hashirama about it.

"Doesn't matter, what matters is that nobody speaks a word about this to the Senju-" That chakra flared hotly and she looked from her spot to see that Senju Tobirama was walking furiously down the engawa. A man on a mission.

Sliding the screen a bit she called out to him. "Madara-sama" Senju Tobirama was there, standing tall then and moving the screen open his red eyes on fire as he looked down at her in disgust as he flared his chakra out.

Thank goodness she was able to suppress her own, the Senju would have a hard time finding her for a while, she just hoped she could keep it up.

"Miss" Opening her eyes she looked up at the servant girl Emiyo waiting on her patiently.

Lifting herself from the water a bit she apologized. "Forgive me Emiyo-san I didn't catch that". The girl smiled softly at her. "No worries Miss, I was letting you know that I've set your clothes out for you, did you need help getting out?" She shook her head then.

"No, you've been plenty helpful Emiyo-san", "Thank you, I'll leave the robe here then". The servant placed a dark robe on the edge of her tub, the red and blue uchiwa fun boldly displayed. She scoffed.

Madara was already trying to put a claim on her as if she was cattle. 'We're leaving after immediately' With no response she knew everyone was on board, they had serious business to conduct and they couldn't do it with Madara watching her every move.

Once the servant girl left she stood from the tub, the water cold by then, glaring at the robe she reluctantly grabbed it and wrapped herself in it.

The material was of fine silk, cool against her skin, and smelled of frankincense and myrrh. Grabbing the collar of the robe she pulled it up to her nose and sniffed. 'Smells like him' Looking down at the robe as she smoothed it down she noted that indeed it was rather big for her.

Of course, the chief would have the finest garments he was after all in charge. The fact that he allowed her, a complete stranger, to wear something of his, especially something as fine as the robe she had on was interesting.

'He needs you, don't forget that.'

Walking back into the bedroom she noted stopped at the sight of the white coat that hung gracefully on the stand. "Where did you find that?" Emiyo stopped what she was doing and looked over at the coat.

"Oh! Madara-sama and Izuna-donno found that in your belongings when you were first brought here. When they charged me with caring for you, I thought it would be good to clean it up, though forgive me Miss but I couldn't salvage all of it".

Walking up to the coat she held a piece in her hands. The white coat was slim and form-fitting, no longer a robe as it had been cut down the middle with red and gold trimming, it was long and floor-length with the inner lining maroon-colored instead of the purple that she had remembered it having, now it had a high collar and maroon-colored cuffs. "You dyed it?" "Hai Sakura-sama, I felt the purple didn't match your skin tone, are you angry about it?" She shook her head as she felt the heavy lining of the material. "No, it's fine". 'Not like hers'.

The coat was embroidered with the same maroon-colored magatama-tomeo designs running down the sides of the sleeves and as she walked around it she saw that there were eight more of the same designs down the middle of the back.

'Not like hers at all.' The girl had done wonderful work.

"If I may be so bold miss?" She looked over to Emiyo then. "Of course" The girl stopped in her work then. "I've never seen these markings on anyone other than the Uchiha clan, Madara-sama has a weapon that has these painted on them I hear they are what one sees when they look into an Uchiha man's eyes, are you familiar with the Uchiha clan in some way?" She shook her head.

She was reaching, attempting to figure her out, if Madara was already telling an old man to watch her then she was sure that Madara or even Izuna had asked her servant to watch and dig.

"No, but I've heard of two other clans that bear the same markings", "Are you familiar with those clans miss?" She turned away from the servant then. "No, I'm not".

"Sorry Miss I was just curious, your very different looking, I supposed it was a clan trait". Looking back at the coat she sighed. "Do you know where the magatama first appeared?" The servant girl shook her head. "No miss".

"Susanoo, the god of the sea and storms, received five hundred magatamas from the jewel-making god, he then went back to heaven and presented them to his sister, the sun goddess, Amaterasu, who bit off successive parts of the magatama, and blew them away to create other deities. ... Later on, in the story Ama-no-Koyane-no-Mikoto hung magatama in order to lure out Amaterasu, who had shut herself in a cave ... Since then Magatama has always been used throughout history, clans using them as their own because of the godly relevance"

"I envy you, you're very educated". She looked back down at the servant then. "I suppose one could say I am".

Looking around the room she wondered. "Emiyo-san? Where are my clothes?" The servant pointed towards a dark blue kimono that was hung up in the corner then. "I picked the finest kimono there was before the others could grab it for their mistresses".

It was a kind gesture no doubt this girl wanted to please her, Madara would hopefully reward the girl for her great service, unfortunately, kimono were too restrictive for her. "No, I meant my clothes the ones I came with"

Emiyo frowned. "Sorry miss, Izuna-donno took them, he deemed it inappropriate for a woman of your stature to be wearing such revealing clothing and I must agree as well, though I took your cloak to get washed, it looked rather worn again".

Taking in a deep breath she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, it was just another way to keep her from running away, no doubt they believed that she would not run without her clothes, if only they knew.

"Very well Emiyo-san, if you will now I'd like to get dressed" The girl stood then and grabbed the Kimono. "Emiyo-san" The girl stopped what she was doing then and looked over at her. "Yes Miss?", "I can dress on my own", the younger girl's eyes widened then. "Are you sure Miss? I can help you dress it won't be a problem".

Shaking her head she walked over to the younger girl and grabbed the kimono from her. "Not necessary, I'm just as capable of dressing myself". Emiyo looked away dejectedly. "Very well Miss, I'll wait outside".

The door shut all the way then, they would shut it all the way, she was a woman and she needed her modesty to stay safe. Placing the kimono back onto the rack she looked around the room and quietly opened the window. The wind was cold on her skin in the autumn morning and she sighed as she looked back at the coat.

Grabbing it from the rack she held it in her arms. 'It's heavy', 'Your mission is heavy'.

Wearing the coat, would she turn into her? Would it make them closer? 'You are not her'.

Slipping it over the black robe she walked back over to the window, there was only one other place she could go to without fear of being sealed again. She sighed as she looked back over to the screen, hopefully, the girl wouldn't get into trouble because she had gotten out.

Once she got to safety she'd have to check in on the other two clones.

---

Tobirama looked positively pissed, he'd seen the younger man's anger came out on the battlefield, seeing it outside in what should have been a peaceful setting made the rest of the room uncomfortable.

Looking over to Kanaye he saw that the old man looked very entertained at everything, something he found interesting, just as much as Sakura escaping the compound without anyone seeing her.

The white-haired Senju seethed then. "How did she escape! We're your people not watching over her!" He rolled his eyes at the temperamental Senju.

"Surprisingly I placed two sentries on her room, if she had gotten by them then that is not their fault if you hadn't noticed she's not exactly normal".

"You should have chained her to her bed!" This time Hashirama actually sounded outraged at that idea. "Tobirama! She's still a woman, doing such a thing is cruel! Besides stop blaming Madara and the Uchiha, there's no way they could have known she'd find a way to get out with her chakra sealed".

No, he hadn't thought she'd run, especially since she'd nearly killed herself over getting the Kaguya children healed.

The Kaguya children! Standing up he ignored the others in the room as they watched him walk out, hearing Izuna's voice as he settled them down. Hopefully, he'd keep them settled long enough.

Moving along the engawa he ignored the guards that attempted to stop him and continued on the way to the nursery they'd set up for the two youngest Kaguya boys. Though if he was being honest he was sure that the middle boy was just as innocent as he had been at that age.

As he came upon the room he heard the hushed whispers of the little one, Kiyoshi, speaking happily in his childlike language. Sliding the screen open quietly he looked in to see that sure enough there was a cloaked figure sitting with their backs to him, the child hidden behind the person.

They wore the dark blue cloak that nearly all the servant girls wore in order to keep the men of the main house and branch family from sexualizing them, not that it worked but it was a tradition some old Matrairach had created and they kept.

He watched on as the figure held Kiyosho by the arms and whispered carefully to the happy child. "Okay Kiyoshi-kun, you understand we have to be very, very quiet, quiet like a mouse" He saw a bob of white hair then before he heard the whisper. "O-k Sakua-chama! Kiyoshi-kun will be vey, vey quiet!"

Folding his arms he leaned against the frame waiting for her to notice him, she turned then and he noticed that in fact, it was not Sakura's face but Nyoko, his personal servant girl.

She knew how to use a henge... Now that was something he hadn't expected, but it begs the question if he had just left Nyoko sitting outside his meeting room then which was the real girl? He decided then that if she was here then his servant girl was still in fact with Izuna.

Her eyes were wide then and he smirked, she must have known that she wasn't going to be able to just walk out now that he'd found her. "Really if you wanted to see the children you could have just said so Sakura-san".

Kiyoshi moved behind her then as Sakura spoke carefully, dropping her henge and revealing her face, once more the cloak covered her entirely. "You should deactivate your Sharingan Uchiha-san, eventually you won't be able to see even with it, best take care of them while you can".

A part of him was excited at the fact that she knew what she was talking about, the other part of him was annoyed, he didn't need someone to tell him something he didn't know already know. "What are you doing Sakura-san? Scaring the poor servant girl like that, that's cruel of you". She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly refusing to move.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the others walk over to him. "I was hoping she wouldn't notice so soon, but it would seem that didn't work in my favor".

"No it didn't ... So are you planning to leave somewhere?" She smiled impishly at him then. "Wouldn't you like to know?" "Oh, I very much would, especially since your taking the Kaguya boy with you, if I remember correctly you gifted them to us".

"Oh yes, but you see Kiyoshi-kun just wouldn't let me leave without him". He wouldn't doubt it, the small child seemed very content with the girl, even now clinging to her robes almost as if it were his own security blanket.

Looking over to his brother and the other he spoke calmly. "Where is that you'll be leaving Sakura-san?" Izuna slid open the screen of the next room then and allowed the others to enter it. If they were smart they'd take the opportunity to surround her, she'd be unable to actually run if she was cornered.

"Oh you know with the summer coming I was thinking maybe somewhere a little cooler", she wouldn't give him a truthful answer of course. He wanted to ask her whose chakra she had stolen but with the Senju right there and listening he knew it wouldn't be wise, he wouldn't give the youngest Senju the satisfaction to take her to the Daimyo.

"You know I can't allow that right". She tilted her head then, her green eyes bright under the darkness of the cloak. "Well of course not, I wouldn't expect it, you have your clan and your peace treaty that you must care for". She walked closer to him then, so close all he had to do was reach out and pull her into him.

At this range he saw even more of her, her face had its fat back in it ... she was still thin, but not as bad as after taking those pills. She got closer to him then and reached out with her pale hand, her nails long and black, beckoning him like an evil sorceress from the fairy tales his mother had read to him when he was still an innocent.

She waited on him and he was unsure what she wanted, but she held her hand out patiently and he grabbed it, his skin breaking out in goosebumps immediately at her cold hands.

She always seemed to be so cold.

She pulled him then into her, her lips so close to him, just a breath away from his own as he looked down at her, he realized then what she was trying to do and he realized then exactly what Tobirama was trying to remember.

Leaning down further he grabbed her arms securing her. "So this is how you did it, you enticed him with your feminine wiles" She rolled her eyes at him then as she leads his body around by wrapping her arm around his waist. "Don't worry Uchiha-san you're in no danger, I just needed to get you away from the door".

Realizing what she had just said he noticed then that indeed she had distracted him enough that he hadn't realized what she had been doing.

Tobirama was behind her then, and she seemed oblivious to him, his chakra must have been concealed, looking down at her robes he noted then that Kiyoshi was not standing behind her but on the side of her, his small hands gripping onto her robes.

He was a smart kid, staying quiet and making people forget he was there, the good survival instinct in the child would do him good in the future.

Unraveling himself from the healer he stepped back from her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Very well then Sakura-san, go ahead and go, but we're going to keep the child".

Tobirama was quick as he grabbed the Kaguya child from her, his childish scream ringing loud in their ears as he cried. "No!"

Sakura grabbed onto the child's hand then and pulled, the child screaming for the girl as Tobirama turned away from her. "Sakua-chama!" Izuna and Hashirama slid the screens on both sides of the room open then as Sakura lunged for the child. Grabbing her by the waist he attempted to pull her away. "Sakua-chama!"

"Let go of me!" Sakura hit his shoulder then as she reached for the child as Hashirama attempted to help him pull her away from the child's grasp. His crying ringing in their ears.

He couldn't believe how strong Sakura was when she really wanted to be, if both of him and Hashirama couldn't pull her away from the child then they'd have to use pressure points on her. Looking over to Izuna he knew he would know what to do.

"Haha!" The room stilled then, even Sakura went lax in his arms at the child's scream. The hand that had been holding onto the boy dropped onto his shoulder then, he chanced a look at the healer then and saw the shock, the fear, and the sadness that flitted across her eyes. The child behind him crying as he reached out for her.

Letting go of Sakura's lower half then and she pulled herself out of his grip as the child continued to cry for her. Green eyes looked away from them him then. "I'm sorry Kiyoshi-kun" She ran then. The child screaming for her as she did. "No! Come back!"

Looking back at Izuna he nodded to him. "Go after her" Izuna ran then, following Sakura's trail as he did so, turning back around he watched as Hashirama attempted to soothe the youngest Kaguya child as he took him from the white-haired shinobi's arms.

"She seemed very invested in taking him out of all of them". He looked over at Tobirama then. "Yes, he's very attached to her" Hashirama then questioned them once more, the child now unconscious in his arms. "Are you sure she didn't lie to us about not being a Kaguya, about being their mother?"

Looking back at the child he couldn't help but wonder himself, it was possible that the child was hers, the other two he doubted they were too old if Sakura was telling the truth about her age that would have put her at eight years old when the middle child was born. The child though ... Sakura would have been fourteen at the time of his birth, only a year away from being of marriageable age, he'd heard of some clans marrying the girls off as young as twelve, especially with clans that had kekki Genkai's. "The two oldest no, this one though, it's not impossible, but then why lie about it? If she is in fact a Kaguya then it would be safer to speak that, being the last female of her clan she'd have her pick of clans to marry into, she'd be safer marrying into a clan than being out there on her own."

Hashirama looked contemplative then as he looked down at the child. "What if she isn't a Kaguya but she's still his mother?"

Ah... A Bastard child, if Sakura wasn't part of the Kaguya clan and she had somehow crossed paths with the barbaric clan at a young age it wouldn't surprise him much if she hadn't come out of such an encounter as an innocent girl. Some clans, especially the old clans that still practiced raiding other villages and many clans didn't care about age limits, a girl that bled was old enough to have in their eyes.

Yet Sakura's chakra told him differently, he'd felt it when he'd reached for her chakra in the old shack on the border. No, she couldn't have been innocent and be the child's mother. "I don't think it's anything like that, I think because of his age he attached himself more than the other two, did you see her face when he called out to her like that? She was terrified".

From what he'd seen in his own clan, the infants and younger children who lost their parents at young ages were usually taken by other women out of maternal instinct, even creating a bond between each other as if they really were mother and child. If Sakura had bought him from his mother at the ripe age of three and she'd had him for a year the boy could form the same attachment to her as he had with his mother, though Sakura seemed to be terrified at the child's proclamation, meaning it was a one-sided affection or Sakura realized she'd gotten to close even though she was planning on giving them up.

Izuna returned then and he narrowed his eyes. "I thought I told you to find her". Izuna held up the servant's cloak Sakura had been wearing. "I did, but it seems she disappeared". Disappeared? "What do you mean?"

Izuna sighed. "I trailed her to the front of the house and then nothing, her trail vanishes, just nothing".

This time it was him who sighed, he should have been feeling out who's chakra she had stolen when he'd had her in his grasp. Knowing now though how she was able to not only steal Tobirama's chakra but also cast a genjutsu on him with his own chakra told him that she knew exactly what she was doing and how exactly she had to do it.

"Her chakra is sealed! I don't understand how she's able to just get away as she had!" He looked over to Hashirama and watched as he placed the child back onto the futon that had been laid out for him.

Tobirama though seemed to have figured it out. "Chakra absorption". Looking over at Izuna they both decided not to say anymore, it would be unwise to allow the Senju to know they had known about it.

Hashirama sounded confused. "Chakra absorption? I don't think she's capable of that, she would have to be extremely skilled in order to not only absorb someone's chakra as well as use it for her own purposes, I don't think she's that smart or she would have used it on me and Madara while on the way to the border". Tobirama shook his head. "Perhaps there was no reason to risk it, she's intelligent enough to understand that her chakra is sealed and she needs you to unseal it, but if she came to the conclusion that we weren't going to unseal her chakra then she may have decided to take matters into her own hands"

Hashirama seemed to understand that. "But chakra absorption, a human body can only handle so much chakra inside of them, she could burn herself up if she didn't know how to control her intake". Tobirama nodded his head. "It has to be it, there's no other explanation, the witch used a genjutsu on me and if she was able to somehow get close enough to steal mine and use it on me she'd not only have to be trained, she'd have to be not only skilled in chakra control she'd have to be exceptional in order to be able to control my chakra".

The fact that Sakura had gotten so close to Tobirama the same way she had with him didn't sit well with him, the man was nothing but a soon-to-be branch member, a disposable heir. He couldn't understand why she would need to steal his chakra of all people, if she was so desperate then she could have taken any guard's chakra, that would have been much easier than taking Tobirama's. Unless Sakura took his chakra because it had presented itself to her, if Tobirama had come onto Sakura and she didn't reciprocate like she when it happened with him and she was desperate to take control of the situation it would make sense then to take the opportunity.

Though, unlike the guard she had stolen chakra from Tobirama didn't seem to exert any symptoms of chakra loss if anything his chakra reserves seemed perfectly normal.

"Exceptional ... Like how exceptional?" He looked back over at Hashirama who had stood up by then and looked very worried about the prospect of Sakura being a risk.

Tobirama didn't seem as worried as much as he looked angry. "Exceptional as in she's that zero point zero one percent of humans that actually has a natural ability to use chakra as if she were a master at it without being properly trained and if she is trained she could do serious damage, and as we've learned someone trained her I can count the number of shinobi that know about chakra absorption all on one hand and we're all in here.".

Well hadn't he figured it out, not much of a surprise really, Tobirama was the brother with the brains after all, he continued with a glare at Hashirama. "I give her two weeks before she breaks the seals on her chakra, I told you Hashirama we should have dealt with her the moment we found out she had chakra, just like these Uchiha though you had to have a soft spot for the girl".

He wasn't sure what it was, the way he was talking to Hashirama or the fact that he was speaking down on them in their own home or if it was the fact that he was acting as though Sakura was a menace or if it was a culmination of all three but it angered him. "Stop talking Tobirama, you act as though you're the one allowed to make decisions here, besides even if you had wanted to kill her she was my responsibility and this is my home if I wanted I could have you removed immediately just for acting like a spoilt brat".

Tobirama crossed his arms then and stood up straight the taller man towering over him as he looked down at his nose at him. "I'd like to see you do that Madara, I'm faster than you and I'm just as strong as you, I could take you right here right now if I wanted to". Now that made him want to laugh.

"There's no doubt that your faster boy, but the only reason I haven't killed you is because of your brother, keep testing me and he won't be able to protect you".

A voice was cleared then and all turned their attention towards the front of the room where Ashina was standing.

They'd completely forgot that he was there. "Has anyone wondered exactly where she might have gone, perhaps the child knows?" Looking back over to the unconscious Kaguya child he sighed.

There was no way he was about to wake the boy up after the girl had broken his heart the way she did. "I don't believe she would have told him anything about that, it would be too much of a risk". Ashina crossed his arms then a contemplative look on his face. "She's taken so many already though".

"Madara-sama!" It was Nyoko then out of breath as she stopped at the threshold of the door bowing quickly. "What is it?" She stood straight and focused her eyes on the middle of his chest.

"It's the Kaguya boy, he's awoken!"

Already! There was no way, it wasn't possible even if he had been healed he shouldn't have woken so soon, his body had been too weak to even be conscious, let alone heal itself properly.

"She healed him?" He looked over at Hashirama then nodding his head. That could have been the only explanation, but how was that possible? She couldn't have healed the boy and been with the youngest child at the same time.

Tobirama seemed to figure it out though, he would of course have figured it out. "She knows a clone jutsu" She knew more than a clone jutsu, she'd changed her face right in front of him, yet her chakra was at a minimum of nothing more than a civilians, she shouldn't have been able to do that, he would have seen if she had extra chakra in her system, it would have shown. The Sharingan saw chakra, it would have seen if she was using someone else's.

... Unless she was using her own and suppressed her chakra down to a mere inch if that was true Sakura's chakra control was off the charts, she had to have been a master at controlling her chakra, especially in front of the Sharingan.

On top of that, he knew she'd already cracked her seal, Tobirama was correct that she would break it, now he had to question if she hadn't broken it within these last couple of days, it would be the only explanation on why he didn't sense any other person's chakra inside her, why he only saw her chakra.

If she had in fact broken it then he needed to find her immediately.

Turning around he left the room then, Izuna following him as he did and Hashirama calling out to him. "Where are you going?", "To speak to the boy, perhaps he'll have some insight about the girl".

---

Looking up at the large gates she allowed the long-haired brunette man to manhandle her as he did, she hadn't expected any less of course knowing who she was going to be it at it may though she had no other choice in the matter until the mediator was able to get to Hi no Kuni she was not safe with either the Uchiha or Senju.

The ground was rough against her bare feet and she'd wished now that she'd at least had taken some socks and sandals before she'd hightailed it out of the Uchiha compound.

A pressure in her head notified her that one of her last Kage bunshin had terminated itself, a rush of memories hitting her like a tsunami. Feeling the telltale signs of tears in her eyes she shook her head.

'It had to be done', 'You cannot love him, you'll only hurt him', 'He was so heartbroken', 'He's a child, broken hearts come with that'.

His voice was smooth and deep like warm velvet as he spoke. "Ah, I see you've been busy". Looking up then, she watched as the Hyuga in his white cloak stared down at her from his spot on the engawa, he was young, most probably around Izuna and Tobirama's age, his long chestnut hair pulled back into a neat and high ponytail, his skin a pale pearl and porcelain matching his pearl-colored eyes his lips full, his nose straight and thin, if one didn't know any better he could have passed for an Uchiha with his aristocratic looks, the eyes and hair color though told one exactly who he was. Considering this man was the Chief of this clan and she understood he was strong, especially since his father had not died in order for him to take the seat as the head of his clan, but stepped down because he was the strongest in his can.

She needed to do this right, one wrong word to him and he'd kill her, he may not believe in the clan wars but he was still a shinobi.

"Hyuga-sama forgive me for rudeness, I did not wish to intrude upon on your sacred clan as I have". He smirked at her carefully as he teased her. "Yet you have... What did you come here, witch?"

Shaking off the guard that had been holding her shoulder she lowered herself to the ground then, bowing till her head met the hard dirt and reached her hands out all the way. "I beg you Hyuga-sama for sanctuary". A scoff and she forced herself not to look up. "Sanctuary you say? Why would I give sanctuary to a witch hmm? Are you not the same witch that sent a threat to me and my kinsmen using an Uchiha, I should kill you here and now for such an act".

It was going to happen, she should have known that it was going to bite her in the ass once she had sent that note in order to get the Hyuga to back off of the Uchiha lands.

"The Uchiha and Senju are at a standstill, they've begun the process of a treaty". She didn't need to tell him what that meant for the rest of the clans in Hi no Kuni.

"You lie! The Uchiha and Senju have been fighting for over a millennia and will continue to fight for the millennials to come!" "I do not lie Hyuga-sama! You know it to be true why else would you have gathered your men in front of the Uchiha gates". It was silent then and she knew that he didn't want to admit that he was scared at the implications.

He spoke through his teeth then, his voice coming out as a hiss more than the normal timbre. "What's your proof of this union?" She looked up at him from her spot on the floor then, meeting his hard pearl eyes.

"If I give you proof will you grant me sanctuary?" His smirk was back in its place then. "It's ironic no? Usually one begs for protection from a witch, not the other way around ... If your proof is real and it's worthy I'll give you the protection you so desire".

Standing then, she reached into her coat and pulled out the scroll one of her clones had stolen. Holding it out for the Hyuga leader to take.

The man stepped down gracefully then and reached out to take the scroll she held onto it though and he glared at her. "You swear it upon her clan that I'll be given sanctuary for this?" A perfect brunette brow lifted gently on his forehead as he smirked down at her. "Of course I swear it, I don't believe it would be wise to attempt a foolery on a witch". She smirked then. "Good to know". Letting go she watched as he unrolled the scroll and read through it.

He looked back down at her then. "How did you come upon this?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Why I stole it of course". He nodded her head as he looked back at his elders.

"Seems we'll need to take action, we cannot allow this union to destroy us". Oh no, they couldn't do that. "Actually I was thinking you should join them".

Those pearl eyes turned hotly towards her then. "Join them? These idiots? These commoners! We are the great Hyuga clan-" She stopped him as she took the scroll out of his hands. "Yeah I know descendants of the great Ōtsutsuki Hamura, protectors of the Gedō Mazō and watchers of mankind, yeah I get it".

Pearl eyes looked her up and down then. "What do you know witch?" placing the scroll in the safety of her coat she straightened herself out. "What you don't know about the Senju and Uchiha, they're the direct descendants of Ōtsutsuki Hagaromo, your ancestor's brother".

"Your tea leaves tell you this witch?" She smirked at him. "No, not my tea leaves Hyuga-sama, I am surprised though, what with you being the all-knowing clan that you didn't realize". A glare. "Realize what?" "Ōtsutsuki Hagaromo is the Rikudō no Shinsen".

He folded his arms then behind his back as he leaned towards her and looked down at her with his pearl eyes focused hard on her. "Let's say that I believe your words witch, who says that this union will last? As I've stated the Uchiha's and Senju have been fighting for over millennia, a union such as this would be filled with much tension and reluctance, what guarantee could you give me that this union will take and will not be the downfall of the Hyuga".

Because it had to take this time. "Worry not Hyuga-sama, I have a plan and I'm sure you'll rather enjoy what I have planned out". He smirked then at her, a knowing grin that told her he understood exactly what she was saying.

---

The autumn air was chilly against his warm skin as he walked through the dense forest alongside his younger brother.

It had been three weeks since Sakura escaped from the Uchiha compound without a trace to be found, everything after that seemed to fall apart as well.

The Uchiha and the Senju were fighting once more, this time it was over the gold and the Kaguya children.

The Senju were withholding the gold, claiming it all belonged to them, and the Uchiha elders had responded by refusing to allow them near the Kaguya boys, the Senju didn't like that at all. Before the armistice had been burned two of the older Kaguya boys had been kidnapped, the youngest would have been as well but he'd been clinging to him and Izuna since he'd woken up from his forced sleep after Sakura had left him.

The young child had taken to dragging his futon all the way from the nursery to placing it right in front of Izuna's room, a blessing in disguise as he wouldn't have been able to handle the child crying through the night on top of the lack of sleep.

He was sure Tobirama had been behind it, there was no doubt that it was Tobirama, it had his smell all over it.

After the kidnapping of the older boys he'd been forced to make a difficult decision, they'd attempt to take the child once more, it was a given. It was the youngest they really wanted, he was gold. Still very young to teach and train and mold into what they wanted were the other two were older, already having fought for their clan, already were learning the ways of their clan. Kiyoshi had been too young still, too small still. A perfectly clean canvas.

"It's weird isn't it?" He looked over to his brother then. "What is?" Izuna looked over his shoulder for a moment. "The Hyuga, they suddenly appear not even twenty-four hours after we get Sakura and sign the armistice, and now just like Sakura we haven't seen hide nor hair of them ... You don't think she ran to them do you?"

That was an interesting observation. The Hyuga clan though was a very closed-off clan, they didn't even fight with other clans unless they were forced to choosing to stay out of most clan fighting and refusing any sort of alliance with other clans if it was in order to overpower another clan.

They did though understand what it meant when the Uchiha and Senju had been about to come to a truce. He'd never seen a clan react so swiftly before as the Hyuga had and then Sakura had been able to most of them off the Uchiha lands with a single message and after she disappeared all the Hyuga had left their gates without a single issue.

It was rather interesting now that Izuna had pointed out the blaring coincidence.

Sakura had said that she'd crossed paths with the elusive clan once before, could it be possible that there was more to the story that she had spoken about?

Could she have found sanctuary with the Hyuga clan? If they knew about her healing abilities he was sure they would make the smart decision to keep her around as he had been planning to, unless they were in the same mind frame as Senju Tobirama and had wanted to turn her into the Daimyo. He doubted it though, they Hyuga's were an intelligent bunch if they had figured out a way to keep out of the fighting this long, they'd no doubt see the advantage to keeping her to themselves.

On the flip side of that coin though, the Hyuga clan wasn't known for allowing outsiders into their clan, especially if Sakura had used any sort of threats in order to get the clan to back off from his lands. This would be the only way he could think of for the Hyuga's to have such a quick reaction after Sakura's note. h wouldn't doubt that after a stunt like that the Hyuga would have wanted her head more than anything else and unless Sakura had a very good reason to convince them otherwise he doubted they'd allow her safe haven amongst their people.

"I doubt it, the Hyuga clan isn't known for the hospitality". Izuna sighed and he knew this his younger brother was worried about the younger girl.

Looking back over his shoulder at the forest he stopped then when he felt the whispers of the genjutsu he'd placed up coming upon them. Walking across the pathway he'd made for them they crossed the threshold of the protection barrier and came upon the small teahouse he and Hashirama and been at with Sakura.

Izuna whispered carefully then as they approached the teahouse"Are you sure we should have trusted this civilian? You know how they are, we aren't even sure if she didn't just take the money and run".

"I wouldn't doubt that with other civilians, but this one never gave up Sakura, so yes I trust her". Sliding open the screen to the teahouse they stepped in carefully.

"Izuna-chama!" The onslaught of a small body jumping into Izuna's body barely registered in his mind as he watched his brother brace for the impact of the small child colliding with his body. "Yumi-Obaasan twas Izuna-chama!" The elderly hostess appeared around the corner then her face looking exhausted as she smiled softly at the young Kaguya child.

She bowed carefully to them as she noticed. "Madara-san, Izuna-san, it is good to see you again". Izuna lifted the moon-haired child into his arms then. "Sorry to intrude Yumi-san, we just wanted to make sure this little guy was doing alright".

Yumi nodded her head then. "It's not a problem at all Izuna-san". He looked over at his brother then who looked uncomfortable in the small space. "If you will Yumi-san we'd like to speak with you". She gave a nod then before she directed them to the back of the teahouse where her personal home was attached. "Come with me then".

"Izuna-chama where are you?" Kiyoshi questioned as he wrapped his arms around his younger brother's neck.

Izuna was clearly the more likable between the two of them, more so with children as the young Kaguya child had attached himself to Izuna as he had with Sakura. It was clear the boy had no boundaries when it came to creating attachments.

"We've been very busy trying to get your brothers back Kiyoshi-kun". The young child looked back towards him then, a small frown on his face. "Kiyoshi will talk to brothers!". Izuna smiled down at him. "If it were only that easy". The Kaguya looked back at him once more. "Please Mada-chama! Kiyoshi can do it!"

There was no doubt that the child would find a way to convince his brothers to follow him, the kid had a sort of charm to him that was hard to ignore and refuse. The problem was that the Senju had the brothers and there was no way he was going to lose the youngest child to them as he had the gold and the other Kaguya boys.

"When we find them safe and sound I'll let you speak to them". "See Kiyoshi twas right, Mada-chama is nice!" Izuna chuckled as he looked back towards him.

They stopped then as they came upon a screen, Yumi slid it open then and they all entered the small kitchen. Izuna placed the small child on the ground then he took a seat on one of the cushions, Kiyoshi quickly taking a seat in Izuna's lap with a happy smile on his face as Izuna occupied his attention.

"He looks better than the last time I saw him". Yumi smiled softly then as she looked over at the child. "Yes, it took a few days but he finally came around, Sakura-sans abandonment seems to have done serious damage on him ... Poor child".

"Has he spoken about her at all with you?" She shook her head. "I've tried as you requested, every time I try he completely shuts down me, not even sweets will get him to speak about her".

That wasn't helpful at all, trying to figure out where Sakura went was complicated enough with the Senju attempting to do the same. All of them knew that whoever got to the healer first held power over the other clan with Sakura's abilities being able to double the manpower by healing them. Unfortunately, the girl was a ghost, she'd burned down her safehouse behind the teahouse and the teahouse she'd used as a place to heal Izuna and her tracks in the compound were nonexistent. Kiyoshi was their last chance and everyone knew the kid knew where she would have gone, but even in his heartbreak he still protected her

Pulling out the pouch in his robes he handed it over to her. "If this is not enough, let us know immediately ... Has he been any trouble?"

"None Madara-san, Kiyoshi is well behaved and happy, I've yet to have to reprimand him for anything", "Would you consider taking him on for a longer timeframe than originally discussed then? I'd like to have him with us in the compound where we could protect him better, but with what happened to his brothers I don't feel it quite as safe to be anywhere near our clan until things have settled down".

"Oh it wouldn't be a problem, it's rather nice having a child in the house once more, it's been so long ... Besides rather he is here than with Sakura, the poor child doesn't realize it yet but her leaving him as she did was the smartest thing she's done, if he'd gone with her I have no doubt he'd eventually get hurt".

Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if the child was Sakura's, she'd been so willing to chance getting caught just to get him, and once he'd had time to think about those emotions that had flitted across her eyes he had been able to see that she too had been saddened when she let go of him. He'd even set up traps just to alert him if Sakura would pop up anywhere at the compound of here at the teahouse to get the child once more. Nothing ever came up though, not in the weeks that had passed since.

"Thank you Yumi-san, we appreciate all that you've done, the Uchiha clan can't be more thankful to you and your husband". She waved him off. "It's fine Madara-san like I said Kiyoshi is a good child and I couldn't have turned away a child that needed me anyway, though if he is in danger I do think that maybe he should have his chakra be sealed away until the danger has passed".

Seal his chakra? "Madara we can't!" It seemed so hard to think about, especially because he was a boy, never in his life had he been told to seal a boy, it seemed almost cruel. The thought itself also reminded him how biased he was being about it. While he and Izuna had never sealed a girl's chakra themselves, before Sakura they would have never second-guessed it, a boy though just didn't seem right.

Izuna seemed to agree with him about it too. "It's a death sentence! He needs his chakra, and if something were to happen ... He'll be more likely to survive with his chakra".

"Sakura-chama wanted to steal my chakra too". The room went quiet then as they eyed the child in Izuna's lap. Izuna looked down at the boy. "What do you mean Kiyoshi-kun? Steal like without you letting her take it or did she want to seal it like closing a door?"

The child looked confused then as if the question was now the complete opposite of what he'd said. "Steal steal" Izuna sighed as he smiled at the young child. "It's alright Kiyoshi-kun". The child crossed his arms then and turned his head away, his nose seeming to point up haughtily. "Izuna-chama and Madara-chama are dumb-dumbs".

He wondered. "Kiyoshi-kun, when did Sakura say this?" The moon-haired child looked down then, unfolding his arms and wrapping his arms around Izuna while shielding himself. "No!"

There he went again, it was perfectly fine if the child brought up Sakura but the moment they started questioning him about anything that had to do with her he'd cut them off just as suddenly. His patience was beginning to wear thin, the boy while seemingly well-mannered was a complete brat on the opposite scale.

Izuna tried, Izuna always tried. "Kiyoshi-kun", "No!" "Kiyoshi-kun you were the one that brought her up, why can't we ask you about it?", "I don n't wanna talk about this no more", "Kiyoshi-kun, please".

The boy was crying now, tears falling down his face, sniffling his nose against his brother's good clothes as he attempted to melt into his brother the same way e attempted to melt into Sakura.

A child's heartbreak was one of the harshest things a person could watch, no child should have to feel so broken.

"She promised". Izuna sighed then, "Kiyoshi-kun". The young boy rubbed at his nose and eyes than before he looked up with large wet eyes at Izuna. "Will Sakura-chama come back if I help you get Akira-nee and Hoshi-nee back?"

Izuna was done with that, he knew his brother well enough to know that there was only so much that he would put up with. Yumi was the one that decided that she'd had enough. "Kiyoshi-kun I think it's time for bed, it's late and I'm sure Izuna-san and Madara-san are tired as well".

The child pouted as he looked over at Yumi then. "Kiyoshi-kun say goodnight", "But Yumi-Obaasan", "Now". His large green eyes looked down defeated then and he sighed. "Goodnight Mada-chama, Goodnight Izuna-chama" He reached up and kissed Izuna on the cheek then before Yumi grabbed him out of Izuna's arms.

"If you will it is late, and we like to be up early here". He nodded his head as he stood up, Izuna following his lead as they bid their way out. The civilian woman soothing the young child as he cried about them leaving.

---

The air seemed to shift around him as he looked over the scrolls he'd been reading through, it was the scent though that caught his attention. Soft, clean, and sweet, a woman. Looking up he found himself face to face with large green eyes. A black cloak shrowded the rest of her features all but those glowing green eyes.

He understood now why Madara and Tobirama were attracted to her, she had some of the prettiest green eyes he'd ever seen. Smiling he dropped the scroll back onto his desk, his hand cradling his face he acknowledged her. "Sakura-chan so good to finally meet you, and finally good to see you awake and well".

The girl sat there on the chair across his desk, moving her hood from her head revealing long soft amethyst colored hair as she did so, petal-colored just like the color previous. What interested him more was the matching colored diamond seal that graced her forehead.

She bowed her head carefully. For a girl that wasn't from a clan, he was rather surprised that she addressed him properly. "Daimyo Ashina-sama".

Leaning back in his chair he took in the young girl, the witch that had the Senju and Uchiha fighting once more. Her skin was pale ivory with dark bruises beneath those bewitching green eyes of hers. With soft female aristocratic features, a small pointed nose and plump rose-colored lips, high cheekbones, and a soft heart-shaped face. Even with the sunken features though he could tell she was young, younger than Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Izuna, there was nothing specific about her features though that one could say belonged to any clan.

That seal though ...

"I take it you're not here on a social call though" She smiled softly at him. "Perhaps another time Ashina-sama", "So tell me then Sakura-chan how did you know where I was?" She shrugged and he watched her mouth as she spoke, her teeth perfectly straight and white, and real. "I just thought like Senju Tobirama for a moment and realized that he'd not want me to have easy access to you as well as not be far from you himself".

He could feel his smile stretch further. "Accurate assumption", "So it would seem", "So it would seem ... So Sakura-chan what brings you to my neck of the woods? ... Pun intended".

She smiled, her features looking very young then, somewhere close to his newest wife's age. "I'm surprised Ashina-sama, you're taking my presence rather simply, I expected you to treat a witch with more ... bias" Leaning forward he leaned his chin onto his hand. "I see no witch, just a pretty young girl, unless of course my eyes have been deceived ... Tell me are you really an old and wrinkled hag demon woman with horns and a snake-like tongue". She laughed and he smiled at the sound, such youth she had indeed.

"So Sakura-chan where have you been hiding about?", "Oh you no around". Her hand lifted revealing long black nails that she spun lazily for effect. "Let's cut the chit-chat if you will Ashina-sama, I've come with a proposition for you".

"Oh, A proposition you say? Well then please", Sakura smiled. "Tell me Ashina-sama what's the agreement between you and Senju? There must be something more than a blood alliance between you, I understand that you all share a common ancestor, but the ancestor died long enough ago to not truly matter so why the strong allegiance towards them?"

"The Senju and Uzumaki have always had a strong allegiance towards one another, we've married into each others clans many times for us to solidify this allegiance", "What did Senju Tobirama promise you Ashina-sama? Besides to have one of your daughters marry the chief?"

He leaned back in his chair once more. "Remember Sakura-chan I am a Daimyo", "I know with whom I am speaking too". Well, at least she understood well enough. "The newest agreement with the Senju is rather simple, the chief marries one of my daughters and I get land here on the mainland".

"Land here on the mainland?" She looked confused then, "Where exactly is this supposed land that you've agreed to?" She was a curious one wasn't she?" Reaching for a scroll he opened the map he and the Senju's had been going over recently. Pointing towards the land that they had agreed would be there's.

Sakura's eyes were like books and he saw something click together. "I see, and were you aware of what the peace treaty between the Senju and Uchiha was to be? The end results?".

End result. ... would she know about that? "You're speaking about the village they had wished to build?" She nodded her head then. "Yes, but were you informed on where that village was going to be?" She pointed high up on the map then, and he leaned back into his chair.

That Tobirama was planning to cut them out. "I wouldn't doubt Hashirama's sincerity, I'm sure he thought the same as you, but Tobirama on the other hand, he's a different story, he already views the Uchiha and Hagoromo Clans as threats and untrustworthy, planning their eventual demise as they planned a peace treaty, on the other hand, the Uzumaki are a threat in another way, your powerful and because you are a Daimyo you have more power than any normal shinobi clan does. The Senju has been known throughout the five nations as the most powerful even topping the Uchiha and Hyuga clan, If they were to bring the Uzumaki clan, the royal clan of Uzushiogakure to the mainland, that claim would be challenged no doubt. Hashirama is the strongest shinobi in the last century, but he's limited by his bindings to the Daimyo of the lands, the Uzumaki are not, if you were to agree to the Senju's terms of the agreement, I don't doubt that the Senju will prosper heavily, the Uzumaki no doubt will too, but you won't be part of the village they plan to build, I'm sure they'll show their allegiance to the Uzumaki in some way or another, but because of your location there's no guarantee that the Senju will uphold any agreement in the event it demands having to send men to the island ... It is rather far after all".

"What makes you think they won't?" "Just a guess, for one they've already decided to push you out of the village they were going to build, why would they do that? Tobirama is a smart man, eventually, the people you send from your home will be killed and will die out. The royal clan is already at risk of dying out, you're women are giving birth to more women, dangerous for a clan, especially the Uzumaki. You will eventually lose your royal title and will disappear into the cracks of history, before that happens though I can foresee that once the peace treaty comes to completion the other countries will step in and attempt to rip Hi no Kuni apart, wars will happen and nobody will be safe not even the islands, Uzushiogakure is even more so in danger, if Kaminari and Nami were to find out that the whirlpools that protect your clan are no more than a simple jutsu that you have your people constantly working at they will use your country as a port to get to Hi no Kuni, your lands will be torn apart along with your people, the Senju won't uphold their promise to help you, why would they? The country is too far from their village and if war were to break out amongst so many countries they wouldn't chance it losing their men for a country that won't help them because it's too far away".

Beauty and Brains sat before him ... "My child, I'm old, and I'm tired, if you're attempting to break the allegiance between the Senju and the Uzumaki then I'd like you to leave, I've had enough of this conversation". She looked down then. "Make no mistake Ashina-sama I am not attempting to do such a thing, merely I wish to propose something different, keep your allegiance with the Senju if you must, but I wish to ask for your to stand by my side, the Uchiha and Senju are fighting once more with no end in sight ... I plan to bind them to me that way the fighting will stop permanently"

Binding them was not something he'd expected to hear from the girl. Now his interest was definitely piqued. "Binding them? That's an old jutsu, even I can't remember the last time anyone bound a clan to themselves, you understand that if you're successful one of the clans if not both will attempt to kill you".

A small smile, this one didn't reach her eyes though. "I wouldn't doubt it, thus the reason why I believe it would be beneficial if you and I come to an agreement ourselves".

"What sort of agreement?" "Senju Tobirama hates me and the Uchiha elders will no doubt no like the fact that their clan will be bound once more with that knowledge I'll need protection until we can guarantee that my head will not be chopped off".

"What would be in it for me? The Senju have promised me a marriage to their chief and the Uchiha ... I'm sure I can break down Madara into marrying Izuna to one of my daughters, you though have nothing to give in return".

Her green eyes blazed hot green fire then. "I can assure you that you will have land in the village they're going to build, an unbreakable allegiance between both clans and I will make sure that both Senju and Uchiha shinobi are sent to the island on constant rotation in order to help protect your nation from outside threats as a show of peace between the two villages".

"That's sounds all well, but even with a binding on both clans you seem to forget that there are limitations and you cannot make such promises". A glare as she leaned forward. "I have no limitations such as you and the others, but if you want something better then I suppose ... How about I give you a son".

He hadn't taken her for that sort of woman, but one could never assume, everyone in this world was trying to survive especially the women. "I understand that you've been married several times and with each wife, you only ever been given daughters". "That would be correct my child, but forgive me but I am not a man who breaks his marriage vows". She smirked. "To which wife are you actually loyal to?" She leaned back then. "You misunderstand Ashina-sama, I am not promising you a son from my body, I'm promising you that I can assure that the next time your wife, whichever one you chose, will give you a son".

"The witches in the stories must have been created as a smokescreen because my child that is not possible, only the gods can bless me with a son" Sakura tilted her head then. "I'm closer to god than one can actually imagine and if you want a son I will give you one but only on the condition that you back me".

This would be his only chance to for sure know that he'd have a son, none of his wives had been able to do so on their own, perhaps with a little bit of this girl's magic he'd finally get what he wanted.

"Very well, but I'll be having this written out, I would feel much better knowing that this was more than just words". She nodded her head then. "Do what you must, but be ready to meet me tomorrow where I showed you, we'll be getting the Senju and Uchiha to finalize the peace treaty and stop their idiocy".

He did note the words 'we' she had used and wondered whom else she had gotten to help her. She would be better off if she made an agreement with other clans as well to ensure that no one betrayed her.

She stood then from the chair, her hood going up to cover her lilac-colored hair and he looked over at the diamond seal once more. "I must ask you who taught you about that seal?" While she didn't have the coloring of a Uzumaki it was possible that she was a bastard child, many men had looked outside Uzushiogakure, the women in the clan certainly were not the best looking and this young girl was much prettier than any Uzumaki woman he'd ever crossed. If she had the seal then surely she had to have been part of the clan in some way.

She touched the seal and smiled that sad smile of hers "My Shisho taught me it, she'd been taught by her grandmother long ago". A female shisho? He wondered. ... "Do you know what that seal is?" She nodded her head. "Of course Ashina-sama it's the Byakugō no In, a jutsu created by the Rikudō no Shinsen"

So she didn't actually know what it was, either her own Shishou didn't know what it was either or had been lied to about it as well. "The Byakugō no In ... That's a cute name, but no that's not what it's called". He pointed his hand at her seal. "That my dear is the symbol of the Jinchūriki, yes it was created by the Rikudō no Shinsen but it is not what they Uzumaki use it for, the women in the Uzumaki do not have their chakra sealed away like other women. The seal is taught to girls as young as five in order for them to begin storing up their chakra. In the event that something were to happen to the men in the clan the Uzumaki women are to sacrifice their lives, their chakra in order to save the men of the clan".

Her green eyes widened then. "Do you understand the side effect of the seal? That if they were to use it they'd be cutting their lifespan in half each time" How sweet she actually knew something about it. "As you can see Sakura-chan the Uzumaki don't need more women, I've got them spilling out of me ... literally".

Something about this conversation seemed to cause those large green eyes of hers to turn into green flames before him and she stormed out of the tent quickly.

What an interesting young girl indeed.

---

Focusing on his chakra he forced it to swim through him, swimming smoothly through him as it did.

The damned witch, 'When will be my next opportunity to have you truly alone?' That pretty smirk on her face as her large green eyes refused to back down and submit to him. 'You could always just ask to see me' Such a witty little thing indeed.

How dare she! She shouldn't have been able to catch him with a genjutsu! With his own chakra at that! The witch! He'd have her head by the fortnight!

Anger swam through his system as he took controlling breaths. It had taken weeks, weeks to undo the knot she'd created with his own chakra, the genjutsu continuing to enforce itself the entire time and it pissed him off when he'd broken it. She wasn't supposed to be able to seduce him like that!

A creek of the floorboards and he opened his eyes as he watched the shoji screen open and Hashirama's happy face appeared. "Ah, Tobi-chan there you are!"

The stench of sake rolled off him in waves and he knew that his brother had been attempting to drink himself silly once more, no doubt if the screen was opened further he'd see a whore hanging off his brother's body. "Yes, you find me in my room, what a great sensor you are". He rolled his eyes.

"Well I'd thought I'd inform you that I won't be able to make it to tomorrow morning's meeting ... I'll be a bit occupied throughout the night". Gods his brother was so predictable. "It's fine just go". He really didn't have the patience to dill with his brother and his antics today.

'So how am I going to clean up this mess you've made?', 'Perhaps the same way you clean up after your brother'

"Tobi-chan ... are you okay?" Another deep breath in, another out. "I'm fine, you can go now". Hashirama frowned before he decided to end it there and walked off with a pretty woman being dragged behind him.

... "You could have at least closed my door". Standing up he went over and shut the door, a shiver running through him as a familiar presence filled the room. Turning around he held himself back as he took in the sight of her on his bed.

Those green eyes sparkled mischievously back at him as she smirked, dimples deep and obvious. Her cloak was nowhere to be seen, she wore black leather bindings that left nothing to the imagination and black shinobi pants, the Sakura-colored hair now replaced by a lilac-colored tone, the long thick tresses messy and loose. Her skinny belly was taut and prepared for him to attack betraying the confidence she attempted to present. Letting his chakra imbed into the room he found that she still only carried a minimum amount of chakra and looked over at her wrist, unable to see the seals that should still be in place. The golden bracelet shinned even in the moonlight though.

Bracing himself against the door he wondered what could have possibly brought her out of hiding. "Hello, my dear". That smirk widened into a full-out smile then. "So you undid the genjutsu ... I figured you would have eventually".

Sakura stood then, walking over to him, all bravado and witchery ready to strike at him at any moment. "Twice now I've come to your home and twice you've already gotten prepared for me". She stopped in front of him then, her eyes challenging him as she smoothed her small hand over his naked shoulder.

She wanted to play that game again, did she? The moment his arm wrapped around her waist he felt it though, the missing chakra that should have been there holding her own back from being used.

Her seals were gone and she was suppressing her chakra down to the smallest fraction in order to deceive him. This time the game was going to be very interesting. "You should have brought the cloak, something about unwrapping my winnings is incredibly satisfying".

She pushed him then, against the screen as she smirked at him and pulled herself out of his embrace. "Me a trophy? Why ever my dear?" He pushed himself off the screen then and grabbed her hips, leaning over her as he pushed her towards his bed, he'd make sure that the seals were unbreakable this time. "Aren't you though? Why else have you come to me if not but to agree to my request?"

She switched their positions quickly before he could push her onto the bed and had him stumbling onto the mattress with her crawling over him. The powerplay between them would have been great if she had just excepted his first offer. Pity he'd have to kill her.

She settled her thighs over his waist then and he griped at her locks bringing her down to him. Her green eyes were hot with wildfire and he griped her jaw again. There was no way he'd let her get away from him this time.

"Remind me again what's in it for me". The curiosity of what she was up to was eating at his nerves and he steadied himself as he leaned upward, running his lips across her cool neck, keeping up with the new game. "Your chakra will be unsealed, you'll never have a need or want that won't go unfulfilled and you'll have me". He could feel her smirk as she grasped at his hair ripping him from her neck as she pulled at his hair and forced him to face her. "You? ... What good would that do me? You're only the second son Tobirama".

If he were a lesser man that would have wounded his pride. "The Senju my dear are different, the son who gives the clan an heir takes the name of the chief, Hashirama will be marrying a Uzumaki woman soon enough and Uzumaki women have more Uzumaki women, Hashirama is just keeping my seat warm till I'm ready to give the clan an heir"

A brow arched. "Is that so?" Letting her think she had the upper hand was much too fun. "That is so", "So I have to cut off all communications with the Uchiha and the Hagoromo and leave them to hang, as well as give you an heir, that's a lot for me to have to do".

He wanted to snap her neck, it would be so easy to do it right then, but playing her game was so good at the same time. "I have no doubt you can take it".

Removing his hand from her thick hair he moved it towards her neck making sure not to put too much pressure on her as to not kill her too soon. Swiftly he swapped their positions, her body hitting the bed with a soft bounce and groan.

Before he decided to snap her neck though he needed to see her skin ruined with his branding. The Uchiha would hate knowing that she had decided to choose the Senju over them.

Calling upon his chakra, he watched as she began to struggle against him, his hand tightening just a little more with her green eyes wide. Her scream resonated within his room as he smelled the stench of burning flesh. She scratched at his forearms then, her legs wrapping about his waist as she used what little strength she had left to squeeze.

Leaning back he moved his hands down from her throat to her heaving chest looking happily down at his branding. She laughed then and he frowned.

"Something funny my dear?" She nodded her head then as she looked up at him. "You're so predictable my dear". The brandings on her neck seemed to melt into her skin then and disappear before his eyes. Her thighs tightened on his waist and she flipped them over with her back on top.

"Sorry my dear, but that doesn't work anymore" She hit him then and everything faded to black in the most excruciating way possible.

---

Everyone was running, running as fast as possible as bloodied vines jumped out of the dirt and grasped onto people pulling them under the ground. It all felt like the worst genjutsu anyone had ever created but the more he attempted to break the genjutsu the more people seemed to get caught. A vine came up and wrapped itself around him then, pulling him under.

Opening his eyes he looked up and into bright green wide eye. "Well now, this is unexpected" As the realization dawned on him he grabbed her by the hair and flipped them over.

"Sakura-san if you were interested in warming my bed you should have let me know". Her nose scrunched then as she kneed him in the groan, the sharp pain was enough to allow her to push him off and he hit the ground. "Gods you're disgusting".

Pulling himself up from the ground he stood up and looked over to her. "I'm not the one that snuck into someone else's bed" She sat up from the bed then "Uchiha-san", "You may call me Madara". She frowned then.

"Uchiha-san, don't make this harder than it has to be". He cracked his neck then. "What is the plan here Sakura-san? Were you planning to steal my chakra? Cast a genjutsu on me with my own chakra and steal my eyes?" She scoffed then.

"Uchiha-san", "Madara", She rolled her eyes, "Your eyesight is deteriorating and eventually you'll lose your Sharingan as well, if someone were to steal your eyes at this point they'd be burned up at the attempt of being used. Take this as an insult if you must but your eyes are actually worthless".

He would have been insulted if he hadn't been excited about the secret she knew about him, a secret he hadn't revealed and she figured out just by watching him. The idea that someone could steal them and ruin them was an interesting one, especially since she had perfect chakra control. "Unless you were to take them for yourself and heal them, you do after all have perfect chakra control". She smiled brightly at him then, dimples deep as she excepted the compliment he swung her way. "I do, don't I? But no I don't want your eyes ... I rather like my own much better".

Even in the dark, her green eyes glowed brightly. "I prefer them too, they are after all marvelously exquisite". if not for his Sharingan he would have not been able to see the blush that spread upon her cheeks.

With that blush on her face and those large green eyes and deep dimples he couldn't comprehend how no one had claimed her, she was a rare shell in a sea filled with black and brown.

"So Sakura-san what was your plan?", "Oh you know kidnap the Uchiha heir and chief". He smirked as he walked closer to her, she took a step away from the bed.

"The last time you were only able to get Izuna was because I was in a different mindset". He was quick as he reached for her and grabbed her hand, pulling them down to the mattress and sitting her atop him with her back against his chest and he tugged at her hair pulling her back and forcing her neck to turn towards him. "This time won't be the same".

She smirked at him then. "How about we up the ante than with some ground rules?" Moving her lilac-colored hair out of his way he reached up and ran his nose against the cool skin of her neck and shoulder. "Ground rules hmm?", She nodded her head as she pushed back against him, turning swiftly as pushing him onto the mattress with a single hand. She smirked down at him as she spread her legs over his waist. The material cool against his naked skin.

"No genjutsu and no ninjutsu, simple enough". Her black nails tapped his pectorals gently as she waited for him.

She wanted to take him on with nothing more than brute strength and weapons? The arrogance of her to think she could take him on like that. He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him.

"That's cute, but I'll concede to it" He highly doubted she was going to play fair though, there was no way she could take him on just brute strength alone. "Good", "Let's dance then". She smiled down at him, "Yes let's".

Sakura slid down his body then, her nails scratching down his torso mimicking her sensual movement. "Where are you going?" He placed a hand behind his head then with an arched brow and she smiled that impish smile of his. Those dimples were quite possibly his favorite part of her smile and then those green eyes of hers.

Any children produced between the two of them would certainly be pretty and well worth the chase he'd give her. "Well now, considering you have the Sharingan, I think it's a bit of uneven ground to begin with so I think I'm allowed a head start, "Well then by all means".

That smirk of hers never left her and he watched as she slid down his body all the way disappearing beyond his sight. When he heard now sound he sat up with a smirk. How predictable she did indeed just break her own rules. Standing up he opened the screen and stepped into the dark hallway.

Due to the fact that the Senju and Uchiha were once again fighting and that both Hashirama and Tobirama had been inside the Uchiha compound the elders of the clan had thought it a wise decision to move to their old lands. The old Barnhouse that he'd grown up in still strong as ever despite the fact that the Uchiha clan had decided to move locations after his father had passed away and left it unattended. He was surprised that everything was still intact and no one had decided to take up residence but then again the elders had no doubt sealed the lands from trespassers without discussing it with him.

Stopping at Izuna's door he slid the screen open to reveal an empty room. "Oh you know kidnap the Uchiha heir".

... Fuck! How had she gotten to Izuna so easily? How had he not noticed sooner? Fuck! Running down the stairs he began to release his chakra searching for Izuna's familiar chakra, stretching it further out when he couldn't locate it anywhere in the house. When his hand reached the door he stopped in his tracks and turned back around at the feel of her chakra.

"Let's make a deal Sakura-san if you catch me well then you catch me, but if I catch you ... Well I'm positive you'll enjoy all the pleasures of me catching you".

She wasn't going to respond, he knew she wouldn't, but the thought of her agreeing sent a tingle down a spine.

It was amazing that he'd even crossed it at all, Sakura had concealed her chakra so well that even now he wondered if he had actually felt it at all.

About to cross into the kitchen he stopped as he felt it stronger this time, nearly groaning at the feel of Sakura's chakra. It felt like a heart beating beneath a chest, so natural, so pure, it danced and thrummed against his own so delicately, caressing and twining about his. It was different than her healing chakra, that chakra had felt like a breath of fresh clean air, pure and innocent, this chakra was like a heart, strong and powerful.

Sakura was upstairs it would seem. Not wanting the chase to end too soon, he turned to go back towards the front door.

There was a whizzing sound then, he hissed as the arrow embedded into his hand and pinned him to the wall across from the stairs. Sakura appeared then, sitting there on the stairs, familiar bow at the ready. "What happened to no ninjutsu?" Sakura smiled then and he reached up to remove the arrow only for Sakura to pin his other hand with another arrow he hissed. "That's so you can't use any ninjutsu".

"You've only left me with one other option for foreplay now". She rolled her green eyes then, the next arrow that was shot at him hit him just above his navel. "That's so you can't use any Kenton Jutsu's either".

Feeling the blood begin to pool in his mouth, he licked at his lips, the taste of his own blood getting him even more excited. "I take it you'd like to skip the foreplay altogether then". She shot him in the hand again. "That one is just for being a pig". "You keep surprising me Sakura-san, I don't think I've crossed anyone who knows archery". She shrugged her shoulders. "I had a friend long ago that knew how to use every weapon known to man, they taught me a thing or two about the bow". She placed it down onto a chest then. "They taught you well it seemed, that is an ancient Uchiha artifact passed down from children to children, more for decoration now though ... Perhaps when I catch you I'll let you keep it".

She scoffed then as she crossed her arms, her long black nails tapping against her bicep. "So Uchiha-san", "Madara" She smiled up at him as she placed her hand on the arrow that that was embedded in his stomach. "Would you like it fast or slow?" He smirked down at her. "I had planned a long slow night of carnal pleasures with you, but considering my wounds, I may have to take you more brutishly". Sakura ripped the arrow quickly from his stomach then and he hissed.

Sakura threw his words back at him with a sadistic smile on her face as she threw the arrow behind her. "Fast and brutish just like you asked then".

Leaning his head against the wall he smirked down at her. "You know the moment you release me I'll catch you".

She grabbed at the arrows then and placed her weight on them, digging them in deeper. "That's a rather ironic thing to say since I've already caught you". She ripped out the arrows at an agonizing pace. "Didn't you say you wanted it long and slow?" She threw another arrow behind her and he smirked down as he leaned forward then, his eyes taking in her every detail. "I think I like this color more than the green". This time she ripped the arrow out quickly. "Sorry".

"So to what pleasure do I have of being kidnapped by you?", "You'll see soon enough". She ripped the last one out and held him steady. "Don't worry I'll heal you soon enough, I need you to be a little weak though before that".

Her entire body tensed then and he smirked as she let go of him letting him fall to the floor, his body disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Reappearing behind her he watched her react, her body tense and straight. "Fuck", she took three steps back and he struck, grabbing her arms quickly behind her back with one hand and pulling her into his body, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Caught you". Her hair smelled familiar, like a flower, camelia perhaps. She shuddered as he moved her hair to one side, rubbing his nose against her cool skin, inhaling the soft smooth skin of her shoulder.

Lotus flower ... That's was an expensive oil, he wondered ... Perhaps she hadn't been too far from the compound, there was after all only a small number of clans that could afford such a lavish item.

"You cheated" This time it was him that scoffed. "You started it", "You're the one with the Sharingan, I have all right to do what I must to win". With that said she stabbed his thigh with a kunai and he hissed, gripping her small wrist harder as he pulled her down further into him while simultaneously pulling out the kunai. Bringing it up to her neck. "If you want it rough all you needed was to say". Her skin tore as she turned her head up to look over her shoulder at him and the blood that dripped down her neck smelled like sweet copper.

Their lips were so close and he could feel her hot breath mingling with his own. "Whoever said you caught me?" She banged her head against his then and he groaned, she kicked up and hit the wall with her feet, using it as leverage to flip herself over him. He grabbed her arm quickly and threw her back into the wall. The wall groaned under her as it cracked and she hissed, she grabbed a vase from one of the cabinets and threw it at him.

He barely missed it and he felt the small cut on his neck hit the air causing a stinging sensation. She attempted to hit him and he grabbed her wrist once more using her body weight to throw her down to the floor. Even with her hands pinned down, she didn't give up the fight as she wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed.

The air was knocked out of him at her strength then and he struggled to remove her thighs off him. Using the grip on her hands he pulled her up just a bit before slamming her head back down onto the ground, she hissed and he was able to remove her legs and pinned them under him.

Sakura's chest was moving rapidly then, her breast struggling against the leather bindings and the cusp of her breast spilling out looking like sweet cream in the moonlight and he smirked. "Don't tire out on me too soon, we've got a long night". She laughed then. "Gods your a pig", "I'm not, I'm rather a picky eater".

Her green eyes glowed with impish delight and her dimples deepened as she looked up at him. "So you've caught me" She leaned up as far as he allowed her. "Tell me Uchiha-san do all these enjoyable pleasures you spoke of begin with a kiss?"

His eyes looked down at her lips then, soft and smooth and oh so deceptively innocuous, so inviting and tempting. He knew better though, he'd seen what she could do with those lips of hers. Leaning further down he whispered into her ear. "I'm not foolish enough". Sakura ripped a hand from his hold then and before he could do anything she had grabbed his jaw and turned it towards her. "No, I mean a real kiss".

She bent her knee up and pushed him down further towards her and then her lips were on his with electricity sparking along his body and fire spreading down his spine he ripped himself away from her lips. Her green eyes hazy with raw lust and his Sharingan caught his own reflection in his eyes, bright red with the tomoes spinning rapidly. With those pretty eyes and those dimples and her smart mouth he knew he was a goner if he didn't pull away now. Looking into those emerald depths though, letting them bewitch him he decided he didn't really care.

Letting go of her wrist he moved his hands to her hair and neck and pulled her back to his lips. That fire lovingly licking its way back down his spine and filling his belly as he moved his lips against her cool ones.

Something about kissing her was completely different than any other woman he'd been with, kissing Sakura had his mind spinning and his body on fire and he could feel the electricity that sparked between them. He groaned as she pulled at his hair her nails scratching against his scalp and he bit her plush lower lip forcing her to admit defeat as she let loose that sweet feminine moan. She gripped hard at his hair and pulled down, his eyes shut at the feel of her nipping and kissing and sucking at his jaw and the moment her cold lips dragged down his neck in the most sensual caress he'd ever had he knew he was completely enslaved and he couldn't find any problem with it.

Taking her lips with his own again he easily lifted her by the waist and pulled her legs through his, wrapping them around his waist once more. "Gods, what do you weigh six stones?" She smiled against his lips as she twisted his hair around her hand caressing her lips against his own as she smoothed a hand down his bicep. "Not all of us can have eleven stones of bulk muscle".

Her thighs tightened around him again and he pulled back from her as he gripped harder at her strong thigh. "Don't ruin the moment". She smiled impishly then. "Don't worry I wasn't" With that she used his weight against him and flipped them over, his head hitting the wall with a groan, he pulled her back to him tightly by the back of her neck then, grinding their pelvis together and she smirked against his lips. "I was thinking we should make it more enjoyable". He nodded his head in agreement then as he took her lips against his once more. Refusing to separate himself from her he used the wall as leverage and pushed himself to stand to his full height with her wrapped around him. "Bedroom, now." Her eyes rolled up then and he kissed her neck. "Seems rather far though". Turning his head to the side there was only one option left because indeed the bedroom was too far at this point.

Spinning around he deposited Sakura onto the cabinet and she hissed. "Cold!" Lifting her back up she slid the silver tray out from underneath her then. "You didn't want the bed". She pulled him back to her then wrapping her legs around him with a devilish smirk on her face. "Still too far".

She pulled him down to her then and he groaned as she gyrated her hips, her pelvis rubbing sensual against his, and he ground back into her, her moan giving him the opportunity to twine his tongue against hers. She bit his tongue and the moment the blood landed on his taste buds he lost himself in her lips.

Sakura placed a hand between them then, her breath labored as she looked up at him. "What about Izuna?"

...Izuna? ... That was right she kidnapped him again ... He knew he shouldn't have looked back down, but he did. Sakura's pretty green eyes were now almost pure black and hazy with lust swimming in them and her pillowy lips were bruised and swollen and her chest heaved with breath, nipples hard and noticeable as they strained against the tight bindings.

Sakura's body oozed sexuality right then like nothing he'd ever seen or felt before and the natural chemistry between them was dangerous all on its own. The way the kisses and touches came to them instinctively just as breathing air did had him unable to stop despite what he knew she was holding against him.

Despite her cooler body, every kiss and touch branded him like hot iron, even her chakra thrummed and writhed against his own and he was quickly realizing how addictive she was.

Sakura was a drug, she was opium and he was quickly becoming her fiend.

"You'll tell me after I've fucked you senseless". He kissed her again as she wrapped his hair around her hand once more, he pulled at the bottom lip eliciting a soft moan before he moved down to her jaw and neck, the was her neck moved as she spoke had him nipping at her delicate skin. "You know I'm rather thankful that you decided to stay down here". He slowed in his movements and caressed her strong thighs through the thick material of her pants, were they thin enough to feel the coldness of the tray? A soft whine escaped her when massaged a particular spot on her thighs and he smirked as he looked down at her "Why is that?" Her lips went back to his neck her lips cold and soft against his heated skin as she spoke. "It would have been so bothersome having to drag your unconscious body down the stairs".

He stopped what he was doing then and before he could do anything Sakura pulled hard and smashed her palm against his face, something cracked and he knew it was the sound of his nose breaking. Just as swiftly as she had sucker-punched him he barely registered the sound of metal sliding barely before he felt the sharp sting of the silver plate hit one side of his face before he fell to the ground.

Sakura grabbed him by the back of the head then and he was surprised once more at her strength with a bruised and bloody face he was dragged to the front of the cabinet. "Don't worry I'll heal you after" His face hit the cabinet and everything went black.

---

When his mind had come back to him he realizes that one his face hurt, two Sakura had covered his face with a dark material that covered from the top of his head to the tips of his collar, and three all attempts to move his hands were useless, they were bound along with his ankles, and four Sakura had purposely seduced him, rather efficiently too.

He could scarcely see through the material, it was bright enough to know that he was outside in the sunshine and could kind of see the dirt on the ground.

The covering was ripped off then and the bright sun blinded him momentarily before he heard Sakura's happy voice. "Good morning boys".

She sat on a wooden stool one leg folded underneath her and the other bent with her elbow balanced on it with her chin in her hand, long black nails tapping against her pale skin with her long thick lilac-colored hair free and wild around her face, a form-fitting white coat with gold and red trimming opened in the front revealing a black top that covered her entirely from her neck to the where it tucked into her black pants.

Sakura looked like a black leopard waiting to strike at its prey.

Across from him was Hashirama and Tobirama, knee's behind them with a metal pole keeping them sitting up, their hands behind them and their necks constrained by a metal ring, standing behind them were two Hyuga, on his side he felt Izuna and he attempted to move his neck but realized he too was constrained the same way as the Senju.

He took a deep breath as he looked over at the smirking girl. "Sakura, release me now". Sakura rolled her eyes at him, disregarding him completely.

"You four have put me in a very difficult position here, I give you more gold than you could possibly ask for and the Kaguya children and you spit it back in my face by fighting over it. The plan was you release the seals on my chakra, build a village and I give you the gold and the Kaguya children. I left you all with everything you asked for" She stopped then and rubbed her head. "You lot give me a headache worse than one can imagine, acting like children fighting over a brand new toy"

Tobirama snarled as he struggled against his restraints. "The Uchiha!" Sakura stopped him. "The Uchiha, Uchiha, Senju-san stop the blame game we're all shinobi here. You all shame your clan's names by this madness you bind yourselves to".

At Tobirama's next words Sakura dropped her knee and stood up towering above them just barely. "The moment I'm out of these restraints I'm going to rip that pretty little head off your shoulders". She rolled up her sleeves then, her pale skin glowing with health as she looked around at all of them. "When we first met I was confounded, being in the presence of the great Senju and Uchiha chiefs, the tales that were spun about the great and glorious Senju, the clan that fought for love and the frightening Uchiha clan with their magic eyes that fought against the Senju's for power and dominance... Then you opened your mouth and I realized it was all just that, fictional tales. You branded me last time and I was naive and dumb stricken and I allowed the idiocy and did what I was told, that won't work this time".

Her wrists were small and thin, soft ivory with a whisper of blue-green veins without a single mark on her. Sakura moved then and grabbed Tobirama's face her long black nails digging into his skin. "As you learned last night darling I'm made it impossible for any to keep me and my chakra separated".

Darling? Last night. ... It would seem the young girl had used her clone's jutsu once more and had seduced the Senju heir just as she had seduced him.

"Let's move on from all that boys we need to talk about the peace-treaty between your two clans". Izuna spoke up then. "Sakura-san they kidnapped the Kaguya from us! We can't allow them to just trespass and steal from us!" Hashirama opened his mouth horrified at the statement. "How dare you! This accusation is such a low blow even for your boy!"

He could almost taste Sakura's irritation as she rolled her sleeves back down. "Really Hashirama then who did I just retrieve from your home then?" She moved her fingers in a come-hither motion then. "Akira-kun, Hoshi-kun come here".

The two eldest boys walked over to them then, the same height and looked up at Sakura as she turned them towards the Senju. "Boys tell me who was it that greeted you after they took you from Kiyoshi-kun?" The one that was a spitting image of Kiyoshi raised his hand then as he pointed at Hashirama then who looked down at the testament of the boys and Sakura crossed her arms. "Go on ahead boys, you've done well". The boys walked away then and Sakura smirked over at Hashirama.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire" Sakura bent herself onto her hind legs then and faced Hashirama, her white coat dragging across the floor "I give everyone a fair try Hashirama, and I admit, you really had me going there with your cheerful smile and bubbly personality I really was beginning to think all those tales I was told must have been right ... When the children were kidnapped it took a lot for me to not react and stay calm and wait to make my move, I mean really, fool me once Hashirama and you've burned the bridge between us. So tell me Hashirama I want to hear you tell me the truth. Was it you who called Ashina-sama after Izuna's injury or was it Tobirama, you told me and Uchiha-san here at the teahouse that he wasn't set to arrive until after the peace-treaty was formed, but then I found out from a little birdy that Ashina-sama had been here on the mainland not even a whole fortnight after Tobirama fatally wounded Izuna"

What! He had expected that from Tobirama but knowing that Hashirama had been the one to make the call to request the Senju was all the more worse. What's more was that Sakura had figured it out before him and now Hashirama was having to face the reality, forcing him to plead his case of what that would have done to the Uchiha if Izuna had died.

Sakura grabbed Hashirama's face then, gentler than how she had grabbed Tobirama's. a single finger caressing his cheek softly as she spoke. "It seems I was wrong about you".

She let go of Hashirama's face then, turning away from them and pulling the stool she had been sitting on closer to where they were restrained. "Want to know a secret? I set you all up, the gold, the boys, it was all planned". Hashirama glared at her then. "You lie". Sakura smiled softly at them. "Do I, think about it carefully, I broke your seal twice under twenty-four hours ... It may have been just a crack but I broke it why would I need to give you so much gold if I was capable of breaking the seal? At that do you know how many times I had the ability to kill you? Take your blood and steal your chakra to completely undo it? Think about Hashirama. The gold the Kaguya, it was all just bait, part of a plan to see if you all would begin fighting over something again ... A part of me hoped you wouldn't show your true colors so quickly after I left, that's what I get though for hoping" She turned to him then. "And you, don't seem so surprised about Hashirama being behind it all, you're guilty as sin Uchiha-san, the Senju may have kidnapped two of the Kaguya's from you but you had stolen the gold from them before they had struck"

Izuna's voices drifted towards him. "What is she talking about Madara?" Sakura pulled out two very familiar scrolls then, the Senju seal golden and bright against the white parchments. "Nothing to say? That's alright" She unsealed one and allowed a single bag to appear in her hands. "You broke into the Senju compound and switched them" She popped open the bag then and pulled out a coin, twirling it between her knuckles before placing it in her palms. Her chakra zapped into the coin then and they all watched as the gold eroded into coal.

"Interesting Jutsu, I've never seen it before but it would explain why your coffers have always remained full, you get real gold from your contractors and then turn around and give this to unsuspecting civilians or lesser clans as payment right?"

It worried him that she had figured that out so quickly. Sakura then burned the fake scroll with the fake gold inside it and unsealed the real scroll allowing another bag to appear, an exact copy to the other, she pulled out a coin then and placed it in her palm. "When I had been healing Izuna I went through his things and found two different coin purses, Once I realized what you'd done it took me a while to figure out how you did it, but I figured it out" She zapped the coin with her chakra and this time it formed into a shell. "So when you stole the gold I gave you all you had actually stolen a scroll that I had already stolen days before".

"This is blasphemy!" Sakura rolled her eyes then as she looked over at Tobirama. "Shut-up before I decide to muzzle you" Tobirama glared at the younger girl. "Your nothing more than a witch, and the moment I get these chains off me I'm going to" Sakura covered his mouth then as she placed a finger up to her lips.

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed darling? We need to try to resolve these problems that you have because they cannot become a bigger issue. ... Though" She gripped his lips hard then, her nails digging in. "I had thought that after we shared so much last night that things between us would be much better than they've been".

Last night? What did they share? Whatever it was Tobirama backed down quickly from Sakura, it was obvious that the Senju hadn't realized that he'd given up until this moment. Sakura slapped his cheek softly then "Don't worry darling I'm not that cruel". Tobirama's eyes lit with fire then. "I swear once these chains come off your head is mine witch! The audacity you have to come into our home, stealing from us! Kidnapping us! When I'm done with you your whore of a mother won't even be able to recognize you!" Sakura gripped his neck then and lifted him, the metal restraints breaking and he heard a crack and watched Tobriama's eyes go wide and bloodshot.

"You don't know me Senju-san I was raised by a wolf and no I don't play by the rules because I don't have to, I'm not bound by the same laws as you and if you haven't grasped the concept yet I don't give a flying fuck, I'm not your little wife and I don't have to explain myself to you or anyone". She let go of his throat then, her hands glowing green with her healing chakra then. "Give it up Senju-san when it's come down to it all, I've won, you're the one chained down right now, chakra depleted and restricted alongside your brother and adversaries all by this little witch. ...You played this game smart, but that was when you were up against the Uchiha, when it comes to you versus me you tried your best but I played this game rough and dirty, seem's you'll fall if you keep fighting against me".

"Now will you allow me to explain why your all here?" When no one spoke Sakura smiled as she rubbed her neck. "Let's talk about this peace-treaty between your two clans, I understand the armistice was destroyed" Sakura took out another scroll from her coat then. "Let's try this again, this time no armistice and this time we sign the treaty right here right now". She unrolled the scroll then. "I've done all the work myself all you have to do is sign it". She revealed a small needle then. "Release them", "Are you sure Sakura-sama?"

A Hyuga using such an honorific with a woman, a witch? ... Something wasn't right. "How are their chakra reserves?" "If I release the two they'll grow quickly". Sakura looked over to him then reaching out and touching the metal against his neck.

From her hair, to her skin and her eyes, everything about her glowed in the sun. "Release their hands and feet but add another rod to their neck, except this one, he needs the chakra".

She pulled away from him then and he felt the men behind him begin to undo the restraints bringing his hands to his front he rubbed them. "How are you keeping are chakra so low Sakura?" She looked over her shoulder at him as she smiled impishly. "You don't recognize those?" Why would she think he'd recognize them. She shook her head. "Those were created by the imperial family they mined this material from their lands, after the last emporer fell the imperial guard continued to mine the lands creating these restraints, the daimyo's use these when they have to restrain a shinobi, created to keep even the strongest of shinobi at bay, there metal aborbs chakra, but I figured out how to adjust the absorption in order to keep you all from falling into the dangerous position of chakra absorption, my shisho was gifted a pair of these when she'd become the leader of our village, she'd kept them a decor though, believed it to be disgraceful ... I think it's agreeable, but then again" She touched the metal again, her cold fingers just barely sraping the skin of his neck as she did.

Even in the sun her skin was still cold to the touch. "Putting a collar on the great Uchiha Madara is actually a feat". Another metal was put around his neck then.

"Don't worry Sakura when we're one here you'll be the one with a collar". Oh he couldn't wait to show her, she couldn't use her body and get away with it. Not with him. Sakura turned away from him then.

"Now gentlemen, who wants to sign first?" She turned to Hashirama then his arm struggling to remove the collar around his neck. "Senju-san please" Sakura tried once more but Hashirama ignored her.

Hashirama wasn't going to sign the peace treaty, not if she was controlling it, and he couldn't either, there was no way they could sign it. Sakura was a woman, a witch and they couldn't allow her to hold that sort of power over them.

Sakura realized this and she turned to him then. "Madara please sign it". It was the first time he'd ever hard her say his name, the sylables coming from her lips smoothly as she pleaded at him through her eyes. He took the needle from her small hands and held it up, looking over at his fingers, the blood pumping under his skin thrumming hard beneath.

"Madara" He looked over at Hashirama then. "Don't sign it" He reached out his hand then and Sakura immediatly knew what he wanted and she handed the scroll to him and he looked it through.

If they signed this then all power would be shifted to Sakura, it was a dangerous position for a woman to be in.

Looking back over to Hashirama he contemplated, if he and Hashirama signed this then Hashirama would undoubtedly have control over the shinobi, he was going to be marrying a Uzumaki woman and with that came the strengthening of the Uzumaki-Senju alliance and would use their union tyrannically. The Uchiha and Hagoromo would eventually be pushed out of the village infrastructure and forced to submit.

Sakura controlled the peace-treaty though. ... If he were to marry her the power would shift from her to him and remain in the Uchiha Clan, even if the Senju and Uzumaki attempted to force the Uchiha and Hagoromo clans to submit to them it would be impossible. Sakura created the peace treaty he was sure she had created it with her own chakra too, he could feel he strength in the raised ink of the parchment.

By creating the peace treaty her will was solidified, if they signed with their blood they were bound by the rules of the treaty, they were bound to her words.

Looking down at Sakura he was reminded of the way her lips felt running down his lips. 'No, I mean a real kiss'. he closed his eyes when she looked at him with those large gem-colored eyes of hers.

She was attractive enough to marry, it wouldn't be a real marriage though, she was after all just a clan-less girl and he was a chief. She wouldn't know, and he didn't have to reveal it to her, but would The Senju know? It was a long shot that they would know the inner workings of the Uchiha clans laws, and he was Chief, his word was law technically, no one other than the Daimyo could say other wise and The Senju wouldn't run to the Daimyo requesting the Uchiha's binding agreement with the lands of Hi no Kuni, they'd put themselves in a very bad position of revealing they were creating a shinobi village without the consent of the Daimyo.

He'd have to explain it to the elders, but that wasn't really a worry, they needed to have a little shock given to them every now and then.

"Madara" He looked back down at her and saw that she was still waiting on him. "Sakura why are you so intent on this peace treaty? On us building this village?"

Sakura looked away then "Honestly ... When the rest of the world hears that the Uchiha and Senju laid down their arms and came together after a millennia of nonstop fighting do you know what will happen? The rest of the world will follow suit because the Uchiha and Senju are the two oldest clans in this world and they lead the way for all even you all have never realized it. ... And really we all need something to believe in".

... Something to believe in... He looked back down at the scroll then, the ink raised and chakra thrumming in each kanji waiting to take hold through their clans. "I'll sign this Sakura if you marry me". He could feel the Senju's outrage and he looked over to see Hashirama's jaw on the ground.

"Of course you'd think of a way to try to manipulate everything" He ignored the younger Senju's words. "I can't believe you Madara! She kidnapped us and your thinking with your dick now of all times!" He looked over at Hashirama then and lifted a brow at the other man. "Isn't that a normal mental state for you whenever there's a woman around?" Hashirama crossed her arms then. He looked back down at Sakura then. "At least with the Uchiha you'll be cared for". Sakura scoffed then.

"First Tobirama and now you, that's something" His eyes went to Tobirama then the younger man glaring at Sakura while Hashirama had attempted to look over at his younger brother as well with large eyes and a dropped jaw. "Tobi-chan! Why didn't you tell me". Sakura looked back to him then.

"Don't worry Senju-san your brother was planning on killing me anyways, it was all just part of his game, just like Madara here". "I would never hurt you Sakura"

She flipped her hair off her shoulder then, her thin fingers grasping it and moving it all to one side. His eyes saw it then, the bruise on the back of her neck, his mark. It was surprising to see especially since there were no other marks on her from what he could tell at least her neck was covered by the material of her shirt, but still with her healing abilities he would have assumed all of them would have been gone.

Sakura belonged to him, his mark on her skin proved that, she was his and he'd be damned if the Senju would have her, his eyes moved over to where Izuna stood at his side. For that damn any man that tried to take her from him, even his own blood. "Sakura marry me".

Sakura popped her neck in front of him. "Are you sure you want to be bound to me Madara? You'll be bound to me forever and forever is a very long time".

There was something in her words that should have worried him, he couldn't figure it out, he knew he needed to reevaluate what she was saying but with the situation as it was there was no time. "Forever isn't long enough" Sakura smiled impishly at him then, those dimples deep and distracting. "Alright, hold him for me".

...What? The Hyuga that was behind him grabbed one of his hands then and pulled it for Sakura while another held his other arm behind him. Sakura twirled a kunai between her fingers then before she grabbed into his hand and sliced his hand. He held in his hiss as he realized what she was doing.

Sakura wasn't going to let anyone take the power from her, she had already decided their fates the moment she had decided to kidnap them. The kunai cut into her hand then. "Your blood, my blood" She brought their hands together then and she forced their hands to do the seals together and there was no way out for him. His chakra pulled from his body and twined with hers, her chakra moving through his system and filling the crooks and crannies of his body in a painful way that had him bitting his tongue, the pain nearly unbearable as it hit him like a storm on the sea.

Sakura's face didn't move as she continued to hold onto him, her eyes hard and focused, she had to have been in as much pain as him but she didn't show outward signs.

When the storm died down Sakura let go of her, her breathing labored as she took a step back. "Heavy is the crown boys, you've forced my hand and it seems I'll be controlling this treaty and village from now on" She looked over at the Hyuga's that stood behind Hashirama. "Hold him down for me, we're gonna make sure none of them can refuse this anymore".

Sakura was going to bind the two clans to herself, they wouldn't be able to refuse anything she demanded of them now.

That excited him more than he could possibly have imagine.

---

Oh god this took forever to write, if there are errors I apologize greatly I started using grammerly as was suggested but it slowed my computer down so much that I got so tired of it!

Anyways this chapter had been deleted and rewritten multiple times and purpose and on accident ... I hadn't wanted to write it so long but was unsure when to stop, I decided to stop the chapter as is or else I'll never know when to stop it.

Anyways Love you all, hope you enjoyed this long chapter, and thank you soo much for the reviews, they really had me wanted to make sure this chapter was good enough to keep you interested in the story.

Love you all.

Aethi-spirit.