*WARNING! From here on out please keep in mind that none of the characters for the remaining chapters of the story are safe from an untimely death. It's a war after all and in my honest opinion Kishimoto missed out on a great opportunity.

*Someone's gonna yell at me for some technicality, so let me apologize in advance! SORRY! Also, an update a year later is very cliche of me, I know!

In His Own Right:

Chapter 27:

Wednesday.

Shinobi had already begun leaving the village in preparation to join the grand force.

Now, Izumi was definitely all for obeying orders and being an honorable ninja, however, Kakashi's decision to withhold Naruto from battle came at quite the mock surprise. Despite it being protocol this particularly tricky situation complicated things. For one, staying in the village could in itself put Konoha in danger. Two, they were aware that Akatsuki held enough manpower to capsize the entire village if need be and three Naruto was possibly the most capable ninja from their village.

Sure, she understood why keeping a Jinchuriki—one who contains the exact weapon the Akatsuki need, from entering the battle...sort of made sense. Except everyone was failing to realize that infiltrating and destroying Konoha was not a hard task for the especially gifted—it'd happened with Pain and could easily happen again.

How could Kakashi listen to those wrinkle-skinned grapes and not his trusted advisor, Izumi?

But she did understand their reasoning. Not that she agreed with it.

But she also understood that this war was a worst-case scenario.

"Look you all can go on with your Madara extermination whatever, I'm not trying to go against Kakashi-sensei's wishes."

This was also an issue. Sakura wasn't too interested in plucking a few rules, which was fair, she was entitled to do as she wished.

Shisui was the only one standing of the other four, while Izumi remained isolated, leaning her back against the bark of a solemn oak tree and observing and calculating

"But you're not understanding...we literally NEED you, you're our medic, c'mon! Don't let Izumi down!" Shisui gave Izumi a look that said 'sorry but let me use you as leverage.' so she just rolled her eyes.

"Sakura-chan, I understand why you don't want to disobey Kakashi-sensei's orders...but, the prospect of saving lives. Getting the leader and making him pay for what he's done to us ALL! I don't wanna give them a freebie just for my own safety and I really want you to be there, 'cause man I'd feel so much safer with you by my side."

"It just feels wrong—we'd be basically going awol, I don't know..."

"Chill, that's a forbidden word." Shisui chided. "You guys don't know what type of power this guy claiming to be Madara has. All I know to be true is that he's a rogue Uchiha who's in possession of the mangekyo and who knows what freak else… I can't let someone with that power threaten the shinobi world, Sakura-chan, hear me us out, please. You're making my cousin cry."

"Yup!" Naruto agreed to her annoyance.

Ha.

Ino pointed her thumb in the direction of the village "Sakura, they'll have Shizune. We can help! We can end the war before it even hits a climax! We can actually be useful! Think about it."

"The choice is yours.", Naruto said and Izumi couldn't agree more. "I'm going regardless. And Kakashi-sensei already knows he can't keep me from going absolute beast. I mean, they can try..."

"...shit, I know, I know! I hear you guys, I know!" Sakura shook her head sideways, but thankfully enough conceded rather quickly "Putting it like that...I don't wanna just let y'all go off. Ugh, whatever."

Shisui and Naruto both gave one another underhand slaps, which made Izumi suspect that there had been some type of cohesion between the two.

Yeah, one hundred percent cohesion.

Blonde hair flashed through her vision, Ino wrapped her arms around Sakura from behind "I knew you wouldn't let me do this without you!"

"We better win…"

—they would!

And even though she didn't show it too often, acts such as that really warmed her heart.

Izumi sat up from the tree, the sound of her sandals scraping against dirt brought the group's attention to her approach "We won't prevent the war, but we can aid a swift end."

"Yeah. But where do we begin?" Shisui said.

Well, for one they had no idea how to even track Tobi, he'd eventually show up on one of the battlefields—especially if Izumi made herself enough of a threat to his plans.

The look on Ino's face simply was a mix of confusion and curiosity "Does this Madara have an army or something? 'Cause to me, it sounds like the Akatsuki's sort of understaffed."

"I'm not taking his words lightly and I know Izumi isn't either. We prepare accordingly."

Right there she agreed with her cousin "We begin where they begin. The enemy will attack us in their search for the remaining Jinchuriki—Naruto, and Killerbee-san."

"Shit… I don't wanna drag anyone else into this, could be nasty. I mean we all know what the consequences entail, right?" Naruto said.

The consequences...possibly derank, imprisonment all that good junk.

Yeah that didn't intimidate. Stopping this war as soon as possible meant more than anything to Izumi.

"Yeah, yeah! Kakashi-sensei won't do anything to us, Sasuke, and I used to always do the opposite of what he said and it's worked for us every time since."

Now, Izumi wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

"They get really really lucky.", Sakura said, looking directly at Izumi. The Uchiha nodded, agreeing.

And that's probably what made them so effective.

"We have to be cautious when approaching something as troubling as this, if we make a mistake it won't come without price—these shinobi will punish any mistake." Izumi thought about it for a second, maybe they should assume some sort of tactic.

Naruto stood, his hands in his pocket "Izumi and I already talked about this, but at this very moment, we're both ready to die if it's for the sake of the village—no, the shinobi world. This might be one of the most important missions yet. I really don't know. But hell if I'm gonna let people fight a war over me without at least punching back!"

"Yeah." Shisui agreed and Sakura and Happily accepted this with softened expressions.

"They want Naruto to remain." Izumi reminded everyone..

"To hell if I will!"

"Don't worry bro, we won't deny you your right to fight."

Izumi looked at Naruto "We'll join the main forces but—they want you to stay here."

"Right."

"They'll probably monitor you and expect you to obey a house arrest—order." Naruto didn't seem to like any of that. "So, all we need to do is have you produce a shadow clone and leave it in your stead."

"Yeah, that easy. Just don't let anybody punch you." Shisui shrugged.

"I need everyone to follow proper protocol—finding the Akatsuki leader may prove troublesome. We're not abandoning our company's—" Izumi actually hesitated "until that is...the time is appropriate. When we discover a breakthrough, when we push their forces so hard they'll have no choice but to call in more reinforcements."

The wind kicked up some sand and all of their eyes were on her, most of them with a look that said geez don't know what to say.

Sakura then pointed out "You're gonna try to force the big boss out."

"Right, instead of working harder and locating the bastards, let 'em come to us, dattebayo."

"And Tobi–SLASH– Madara, will meet a swift and fitting end by our hands... AmIRight? Listen! Everyone!" Shisui bent over and brought his hand forward face down, palm towards the ground "Shisui and his amazing friends, on three!"

Someone whistled… A bunch of leaves danced by before being lifted away by the breeze.

Izumi decided to pretend Shisui didn't do that, though Ino acknowledged it "I like the Madara murder force better."

Shisui retracted his hand, frowning before crossing his arms and turning away.

"Hm, I personally like team ending dawn." Green eyes went from Shisui to Izumi and Sakura shrugged "What? Sounds better to me."

"Shisui and his amazing friends sounds just...it just sounds right!"

"Sounds like you're trying to claim captain over the ship." Ino replied a hand-rolled on her hip.

"I thought I was captain?"

"You are." Izumi assured Shisui with a quick grin.

"What, we don't get to vote on our captain? We're forced to have this bullhead?

"I take offense to that!" Shisui whimpered.

"It was mainly his idea, Yamanaka-san."

Appropriately, Shisui stuck out his tongue like a child, then cleared his throat and immediately changing to a mock-professional demeanor"Yes, with great humility I uptake this honor!"

Maybe, Sasuke would be more likely to join if he knew Shisui was with them. A random thought, Sasuke must've felt so deceived when he found Naruto and Izumi intimate and to be honest, a nice conversation between siblings may be needed, at least before the war began. If not, she prayed he'd find his own light. At least before the worst possible scenario could take place.

"I bet I could do a better job than him." Naruto pointed his thumb at Shisui, crossing his arms and having his back towards Shisui.

"Like hell you could!"

"Yeah, yeah I could!"

"Cousin, please educate your boyfriend."

What was next?

"He'd probably win." She whispered so softly.

"What?!" Shisui picked at his ear.

"I said, cousin…" Izumi cleared her throat "...we need to discuss a game plan." her nonchalant voice carried in the wind.

"How about, I just go in by myself and start slapping people up?" Shisui declared proudly.

Izumi glared at Shisui, who knew that an angry Izumi was a rare and most definitely dangerous thing, and said not another word. Ino wasn't amused either and made sure Shisui knew by glaring at him. Surely they were bullying him now…

"Should we join up and start mobilizing with everyone else?" Sakura asked.

"Hey, don't do that, I didn't even get to leave a shadow clone in my place yet!"

"Shush, shhhh! Here, here's the big game plan for when everything goes down..." Shisui began to explain.

"How do you like your selection?" Kabuto took pride in his work, for him this was like art.

Yeah.

Tobi was silent, the only light coming from the torches of the hollow cave. "he kept walking, analyzing the soon to be reanimated corpses one by one in a single file line before settling one particlar corpse.

The corpse stood upright, like it was strong enough to support itself despite being lifeless. His hair was jet black sharp and curly, his jawline certainly familiar

"Ohhh? Kabuto...you might've outdone yourself With this one. The odds continue to stack against their favor." Rich, deep, evil...his voice was exactly what Kabuto expected someone like him to sound like. He sort of admired it actually.

"Too bad I couldn't get a hokage." The dragon sage couldn't control the smile that spread to the corner of his face. "But...if you like that...you'll love this last box...please take a peak."

The masked shinobi didn't reply, instead walking all the way down to the final casket in the line. He stopped in front of it, the casket closed concealing what was behind it.

But Kabuto knew and he also knew there was no reason to continue hiding it. Kabuto flexed his hands forming one signal before the box shot open, sending the door to the floor smoke floated out.

Kisame made his presence known, moving from the shadows where Kabuto just assumed he had been taking a nap. The great swordsman tapped his teeth together before whistling.

"Hmm, ain't that something?" Kisame saw it, Red armor adorned the corpse, dusty, dented and abused and an all too familiar face. "I could've sworn you said you were Madara Uchiha." Kisame stopped, possibly waiting for Tobi to reply, but when he didn't, Kisame kept going "I mean, if that were the case….then who's that?"

He'd caught him and Kabuto would have started busting out laughing if he wasn't so curious as to what the man's response would be. So Kabuto waited, stood back and imagined just what the masked man's face looked like at the moment. And so in that dark cave, it was as silent as the written exam during the many chunin exams he'd participated in. All of that felt like a distant memory now. Never would he have expected to be in such a high position.

Finally, the mysterious ninja moved, only turning his head towards Kabuto to calmly ask "How long have you known?"

"Let's just say, I've always. But don't—fret, I will only use this one if things get too hot."

"...it matters not. My plans will still come to fruition, regardless. Pay witness... "

Ok...

"...what's your game plan? I assure you mine is a lot more thought out."

"The five great shinobi nations will pay with all of their lives for impeding on my plans. We'll send our forces in and crush their mediocre alliance. And tada, game's over."

He yawned "Sounds basic…"

"You're very much like Orochimaru, aren't you?...I don't like that."

"Me? Oh no! He was definitely way cooler." Kabuto grinned like the devil.

And even though the snake sannin was gone, things couldn't have been better.

"So, when do I get to play?" Kisame, Samehada tussling beneath its wrappings.

Wow.

Kabuto was almost giddy. Where did this guy find such eager subordinates?

And in that moment, Kabuto found himself quite confident that this war would be in their favor.

It was Thursday. Everyone knew it was the day of reckoning.

The Sun was getting close to setting, and the moon was already making its rounds.

Naruto was supposed to be confined to his apartment as ordered by both Kakashi and whoever that snot-nosed brown-haired elephant masked anbu captain was. But, being that Naruto could produce shadow clones and the fact that Sakura, Izumi, Shisui, and Ino would be waiting for him was incentive enough for him to break every order he'd been given. He couldn't believe Kakashi-sensei was trying to keep him from going off chunking heads and saving people! He owed it to Izumi, he'd made things complicated for her—the war, Sasuke, and all he felt completely guilty for all of those things.

"I'm worried about Sasuke." Were the words she'd said the day before, the last time he'd seen her, and Izumi had just come out and said it. And before she even told him that, Naruto knew her heart, he saw it on her face while everyone stood back oblivious.

At the time all he could offer were words "I'll get him back, he'll be fighting with us!"

The glow in her eyes, just the beautiful sparkle that she'd get when he'd say something assured him that she believed him.

Squash.

The sound of his sandals hitting wet grass sort of made Naruto cringe. It was a familiar clearing, grass everywhere, three stumps placed a few feet apart nothing crazy. Naruto walked between the two, his hands in his pocket, with his green flak jacket comfortably on him. The wind was light and made what would have otherwise been a warm day slightly chilled.

A figure sat on the center stomp, playing with a kunai, sending a surge of electricity onto the weapon and calmly watching it spaz across the kunai. His dark eyes were soft, calculating and he seemed to be in his own head. Naruto gave the area one quick survey.

"Huh, you decided to come here?"

Sasuke was clad in his classic all-black Uchiha out, his jounin vest sitting neatly placed on the stump to Naruto's left.

"Hm."

It was going to be hard doing this, Naruto mentally prepared himself anyway, Sasuke's action had been rather unpredictable recently.

Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke, his hand coming out in the shape of a fist, Sasuke looked at it, then him. "I think it's time we had a talk."

"Yeah." Sasuke dropped from the stump, becoming level with Naruto, Naruto being the man he was, gave him a bit more space, eyeing him "You know how embarrassing it is to walk in on you like that? Shit."

"Sorry." If Sasuke thought it was awkward, imagine how it felt for him and Izumi. "I wanted to tell you—"

"My sister—"

"I love your sister!" See Sasuke was about to speak but instead, the hinges on his mouth locked open and his math stayed in an O shape "Izumi. I love her Sasuke, it's taken me some time to realize and sure it hasn't been too long, she's the only woman for me, and she's given me no reason to find someone else, and I have NO intentions of finding someone else! That's how I feel Sasuke! I'm sorry about everything else, keeping it a secret, not locking the door!"

Ready to receive a heavy punch, Naruto shut his eyes only for a few seconds to pass and no for some reason no fist came his way. Both eyes slowly peaked, and to Naruto, it looked like Sasuke was going through a hundred mental emotions.

Then…

"Ah...whatever. It doesn't matter…" Sasuke lowered his chin, and Naruto could only stand there and look stupid. It didn't? "...not right now, at least. You know, some asshole organization is threatening to take over the world...more importantly, they're threatening the life of my best friend." their knuckles touched and Naruto would've never expected things to go down this smoothly, he couldn't help but grin. "We have to go beat the shit out of this old relic and his cult. That's more important than anything!"

"Ah, yeah! But you know, Kakashi-sensei has me on house arrest. A real bummer, they're not thinking properly if they're leaving me in the village."

"Hm, doesn't matter." Sasuke gave him a dumb look "What? I definitely know you're not telling me that you're gonna actually stay in the village."

Sasuke's words made Naruto smirk "You know I'm not telling you that!"

Of course not.

Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets "Hm. Then... let's catch up to a company and give them a hand or something. Those Akatsuki bastards have disrespected me way too many times."

"No, we've got a game plan " Naruto found himself sitting on one of the stumps, his eye shooting to the twilight filled forest thinking of all the shinobi in battle, wondering if his friends could hold their own just a little while longer. Naruto brought his hand up again and their two fists met "come play with us."

"Hm. Yeah? I'll play." Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed "What're the rules?"

They were back.

Shinobi were interesting.

Through sheer will power and a sprinkle of Talk No Jutsu from the fifth Kazekage and commander of the grand army, Gaara, the allied shinobi force as a whole had been able to suppress the hatred that had characterized over decades and decades of bloodshed and war. Everything didn't crumble right then and there, Izumi was happy she didn't have to kill anyone undeserving. Which was great because at that time Izumi was sure that they were going to start tearing each other's limbs apart. Gaara's specific and emotion-filled words were enough to calm the brewing storm, something she was confident would remain as the vast majority of shinobi understood how much grander defeating the Akatsuki was than obtaining revenge on a particular nation.

So the army calmed down, swelled, and waited.

The combined forces of all five of the nations dispersed when HQ informed them of their orders—every sing company but her own.

The sun had ended its shift just a few moments ago and the full moon had already placed itself in the sky. The sky was almost a dark blue, the only light coming from those who'd been smart enough to bring a lantern.

Jiraiya-sama's company, or rather the third division, was a compilation of short to mid-range shinobi. To put it simply, for the most part, the average/common ninja could be found among their ranks—though that didn't mean they didn't have any heavy hitters. For instance, Might Guy was definitely a formidable opponent she would hate to see on the opposing side. Jiraiya-sama himself, she'd also place as a rather heavy hitter. And just to mention Sakura and Shisui also found themselves in the same company, her troublesome cousin was actually beside her— while Sakura was somewhere in the mix between Suna and Kumo shinobi.

To be completely truthful, Izumi wasn't feeling in the best of moods. So she sat there, quiet, not at all missing the uncomfortable green shinobi vest that tightly hugged her chest. It was cool compared to the scorching dry heat they'd felt from the desert when the sun had been in the sky.

The crowd of shinobi was bustling, their voices a jumbled mess but she was able to pick up on some of their conversations.

"...wow, never thought I'd be serving under a sannin."

"Ya got any more of that bubble gum?"

"We gotta fight with these cloud nin?"

"...Is that—Izumi and Shisui Uchiha, man why they look scary."

"...look like murders…"

"That's bullshit! Bullshit! They're heroes, they save people! They're anything but scary! SHISUI UCHIHA I LOVE YOU!"

"...man, I really wish I could've took a piss when I had the chance, dang."

"...She's so nice, dude. Be happy they're on our side."

"Yeah, yeah, and such a nice ass."

WACK!

"Ow, the hell...fuck...dude? What was that for?!"

"Moron, they can hear you! Do you know who's next to her? They'll tear us a new—"

…

She wished Naruto was with her, it would prove to make things much more comfortable. Anyway, he'd be joining them, hopefully along with Sasuke. Alas, she knew the importance of following the plan and couldn't dwell on personal matters.

"Aye, Izumi."

The heiress turned to Shisui "Yeah."

"Want me to go over there and give these idiots something else to chat about." his knuckles cracked.

The kunoichi shrugged, that came with the fame of being a passionate and resourceful shinobi. Maybe they simply didn't understand the situation in its entirety—many people were going to die.

"No, it's fine. Let's prioritize what's going on here—what we came to preserve."

The people they were fighting to protect, a vision of Naruto smiling passed through her mind.

"Ah, right-right."

"Probably best not to hit our allies."

"Huh? I wasn't gonna hurt anyone! Just scare them with a little small… genjutsu?"

Izumi glared at him. He wasn't serious. Sure, knowing Shisui what he had in mind would've been overkill.

She changed the subject "We're the last company here, when do you think we'll be moving?"

The desert sand was like a gold carpet around them.

Jiraiya-sama had been on top of that rock staring down at his company for more time than she'd say she was comfortable with. If anything they needed to be on the battlefield, forcing their armies back and making the big bosses come out of hiding.

Maybe he was waiting on specific orders, but something about him standing there in his sage mode state didn't sit right.

The wind was blowing heavier than normal, the sanin didn't move for some time and in that moment the bustling crowd was reduced to silent and perplexed humans.

Sakura, Guy, and Rock Lee slowly found themselves next to Shisui and Izumi. Sakura being in the same company was excellent—but, Ino being in an entirely different company on the other side of the map was the complete opposite, that put their team down two shinobi.

"I've got a bad feeling about this!" Sakura said and the wind whistled, sweeping up some sand and notifying everyone just how quiet it was. It was surprisingly a cool night.

"Try and stay together, we'll get through this." Guy explained, his arms crossed as the taijutsu master patiently remained vigilant.

Shisui grabbed the weapon at his back and Izumi mimicked him.

"Everyone, MOVE something's incoming!"

So, it began.

The ground erupted, Izumi and Shisui took to high ground landing on one of the platforms, the ground became consumed in white blue electricity, Any unfortunate shinobi yelling out for the final time, all of it sounding painful.

A giant wooden statue emerged from the ground sending sand clouds in all directions, the statue to Izumi looked like a miniature very of the first hokage's very own technique.

A voice yelled like a sailor, competing with the screams of dying people "Oye, I'm here to kill some of your best shinobi, you won't beat me so easily! Now, I have a question..." a form said, its face concealed by what seemed to be a spiral of weird organic material—if she wasn't mistaken, it was the foe named Zetsu.

Shisui fired off a ball of flames that incinerated the air around them and the new foe responded in kind both their fireballs extinguishing one another just as they made contact.

"What—does it feel like to poo?"

Okay.

A blur of black appeared on top of the statue beside the white abomination, a person, almost resembling a corpse it stood in an aggressive stance, the corpse glared, his eyes red undeniably with sharingan, his hair was spiked and all out and oddly...familiar.

And suddenly, Izumi realized she knew this person. It almost made her lose her composure.

But...that didn't make sense though...it—just couldn't be possible. Though she was aware that Akatsuki did possess the ability to revive the dead— she wasn't aware that such a technique didn't exclusively belong to Pain.

Izumi side-eyed Shisui though her focus stayed honed on the enemy. Shisui stared his face twitching and eyes frowning.

There before them, with paper-like skin, a face blank as space and eyes devoid of life, stood a face almost identical to Shisui. Yes, there stood Kagami Uchiha. Her mother's older brother...her uncle.

"Shisui…" she could only guess how he was feeling.

"I see..." he gripped his weapon, both of them staring at the dead man's grizzly eyes. "I just don't believe." She watched him bite down on his own teeth.

The words just came out "Neither do I…"

"I can't believe—no way it's a genjutsu…but, there— you are." Shisui's voice faltered, she could see the slight tremble spread from his hand and across his sword.

"The enemy is bringing back the dead." Izumi concluded after her eyes surveyed the clouded battlefield watching "Where's everyone else?!" she asked, sharingan trying to spot them through the smoke, only to find below them still shaking, buckling, and then finally bursting open as what could only be described as an infestation of white zetsu like men poured out of the opening like ants from a mount—Izumi only got confirmation everyone was okay when she spotted pink hair plowing through a line of zetsu with what had to a thousand outnumbered ninja.

Izumi turned back to the silent Kagami and whatever that thing with the great value wooden statue was. The battle wasn't quiet, the sound of metal, screeching and explosions ringing out were all too familiar as far as the sounds of war went. She watched Guy, Lee, and Sakura engaged in combat, taking on multiple white zetsu at the same time, as the trio effectively watched one another's back. The heiress frowned, some of her comrade's last moments were going to be in this desert.

The four foes stared, no words being exchanged, just the cold burn of their stares.

"Izumi…" His voice was at a tone you normally wouldn't get from Shisui, Izumi turned to him and the conviction in his eyes was like a swarm of locusts. "...leave. Him. To me!"

Right, of course, it only made sense "Yeah, I was gonna do that anyway. Be careful."

"You know how I like to rumble, Izumi."

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

DOOF! Smoke enveloped the battlefield. All Izumi could see was the silhouette of a giant toad. A broad-faced white haired sannin stared with eyes so sharp any balloon would be of no match for his gaze.

The wooden statue came forward standing before the giant toad, the air crying as the colossal statue faced.

"Ooh, the legendary sannin, Jiraiya—maybe you could educate me on how it feels to pass a 'log'." The statue swung, hundreds of fists plowed the ground as Gamakichi took to the sky, causing the Earth the shake.

"Jiraiya-sama." she said.

Shisui and Izumi disappeared, Izumi appearing in the sandy clearing feet away and Shisui quite literally landing on the wooden statue and tackling Kagami off the wooden beast, forcing them to free-fall at least 30 feet.

The ground quaked again as the two titans began battle. Toad vs wood statue, water hit mud and fire. Effectively allowing the soldiers

below to be hit with a weird mix of mud rain, that had the unique and weird smell of sulfur.

Everyone was filthy, it got in her hair and already she was hating every second of it. Izumi didn't voice her opinion and immediately went into warrior mode.

She turned just in time to split one of the pale white zetsu abominations in half with her katana, as she evaded the thing's hand-formed into a spear. Another five came her way and she methodically cut them down.

Swish!

Slash!

Izumi attempted to make her way towards them when the body of a battered and bloody cloud nin was thrown towards her, the girl jumped over it, the man's corpse hitting the ground and lightly resting in the sun-kissed sand, the kunoichi's eyes went to the direction his body came from.

Three Suna shinobi with their kunai handy rushed the towering Akatsuki form, the sword covered in white wrapping came out and in one move it shredded right through them they all cried out before their bodies slunk into the ground. It happened that fast.

Izumi twirled the hilt of her katana around in her hand adjusting her grip, Izumi's face holding a clean glower as the form of the Akatsuki member approached.

She didn't know those shinobi, but she still considered them her allies.

"Izumi Uchiha. Oh, they don't lie about your looks...my my." Sharp teeth tapped together and blue skin was all she needed to see to know who exactly who she was speaking to "I thought I'd seen Shisui earlier, where is he? I was hoping for a rematch."

"Sorry to disappoint...Shisui...he's busy with some personal issues can't promise you that rematch. However, I can assure you something…fighting me will be your greatest failure." Izumi fluttered her lashes, her weapon reflecting the light from the moon. "You will die."

"Mmh. They did say you were straight to the point, but geez. Good thing the big boss wants you dead immediately." Kisame tilted his head then his eyes suddenly bulged " Anyway. At least let me enjoy this, this is gonna be the last war in history, after all!"

"You're foolish if you think that's true." her voice was so nonchalant, Kisame seemed to take offense at her lack of response.

"You know...I should've expected that you'd be more—I don't know, how do I say this? More...level headed than your brother." Her brother? Sasuke had made quite the name for himself, but he wasn't aware that Kisame and Sasuke had met before. She didn't like where he was going with that "You look confused... When I saw ole Sasuke-kun, Your brother had quite an irritating mouth, I was 'bout to kill him when—"

Steel swiped fast like a bullet, Izumi's eyes shined, deciding then and there that she was definitely going to kill this man. Steel lunged, Izimi's katana digging into air as Kisame danced to the left avoiding her attacks. Izumi swiped to his left attempting to behead him, but samehada swung hard and fast! Chang! Izumi took a fast step back, breathed deeply, blocking the constant flow of calculated swings with her blade, picking to continue to analyze and allow her sharingan to guide her. Finally, she found an opening, with a sudden upper slice that couldn't have been seen unless you were a master, Kisame's face parted, a giant laceration dripped red liquid allowing the shinobi to stare at her with such an interesting expression.

Yeah, Izumi was no pushover, he was slowly understanding that the rumors probably weren't just rumors.

The air directly in front of her lips sparked, lighting the night "Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu!"

What it sounded like, admittedly, was exactly what it was—a huge ball of fire hurling at supersonic speeds, unstoppable and consuming. The size, sound, and heat caused all witnesses in appropriate proximity to turn at just the right moment.

—Sometimes she took pride in her work.

The sand at the ground was ignited, as a ball of fire formed at her mouth, it drove forward completely enraged. Kisame was surprised, leaving the ground with a hop just in time to evade the fire that must've reached at least 30 feet in height.

A line of cleanly melted sand—or rather glass flakes laid in the path her fireball dugout.

Her instincts kicked in, yelling at her to look up just in time to witness Kisame's form eclipsing the night clouds, dropping with the force of gravity, blade perpendicular with the ground. Sharingan saw it before anything! Her stepback was perfectly timed, Kisame hit Earth below like a boulder that'd broken free from its mountain, sand, and smoke hit her nose just as Kisame darted forward free swiping at her, causing Izumi to rely only on her footwork and evasion skills feeling the S-class criminal out.

What was his problem?

He was wild. The sword sharkskin swiped sideways and she evaded it by tilting her body, pressing her teeth down at how close the weapon came, and whipping her weapon back to block. He quite literally pounced with a war cry. Izumi silently met his attacks on all fronts, her blade blocking and swinging as the two swords met, again and again, their feet maneuvering around one another as the sound of their attacks joined that war. She kicked him, causing him to almost tumble over before her weapon swung against his hard grunted as she pushed every ounce of her strength into her strikes.

CLING! Pow! The weapons sparked and banged with each hit, as the sword users circled each other, their limbs moving faster than should have been possible to comprehend.

Izumi landed a kick on his jaw, finding satisfaction that it sounded like it dislocated something, she followed up by jabbing her weapon upwards in death stance blade targeted for his snake sharp throat. Kisame dodged with a side step, before sending a kick and busting out a few hand signals. Water warped above her as if out of thin air before morphing into needles and raining down like arrows. Izumi rolled headfirst across the sand, recovered back to her feet, and ran with her back turned to Kisame, past the formation of shinobi attempting to wall off the growing numbers of white zetsu, Izumi then turned around and expelled flames from her mouth like a dragon. The former swordsman of the mist replied by spraying water from his mouth like a hose, the two elements extinguished each other.

Kisame refused to meet her gaze, instead, her feet seemed to hold his interest. Smart—she'd have caught him in a genjutsu already—but truly, she didn't even need her sharingan for that.

"Why stay loyal to a village that cares nothing about you?" His question was something she'd been asked many times before. Drug lords, shinobi evil businessmen, many people were curious about what motivated her.

What motivated her?

Sasuke? The family? Naruto? Protecting the innocent? Really she could list so many.

Izumi lifted her head high "Hm. Could you ever understand my reasonings?"

"Ha. Perhaps..." Kisame played with the sword that seemed to shiver and twitch as if it were alive itself. Izumi was cautious.

"You killed your own comrades."

"Oh well, I wouldn't expect you to understand my reasonings. Actually...we are both very similar."

Similar? She almost shivered in disgust—they were in no way similar. With that said Izumi decided to ignore that last part.

"No reasons justify killing those you called comrades. No reasons justify a war that'll only result in mass graves. You and I differ."

"Oh. Sasuke-kun certainly wasn't this gold and righteous—"

With a deep inhale, Izumi was in front of Kisame in a tiny-little more than 1000 nanoseconds, putting all her force into the swing of her sword.

Doof! Kisame was pressed, his feet people pushed backwards into the dirt but he continued to fight, attempting to gain momentum back the sword's wrappings finally tore giving way and falling, freeing Samehade's body, that spread across its torso and a mouth that she was well aware absorbed chakra.

Blades crossed and crossed as both sent endless flurries of attacks against one another, fists and legs went flying. Thankfully, Izumi landed her elbow on cheek, he grabbed her by the neck and hurled off into the distance before tossing a water dragon her way.

She flipped mid-air, landing on her toes before a ball of fire hurled right into the charging water dragon. Izumi shot forward through the smoke and dashing faster than Kisame had expected, so when Izumi struck down with her blade Kisame's unexpected grunt informed her she'd forced him onto the defensive. Kisame backtracked, catching each of her attacks with Samhada attempting to free himself, but Izumi refused to let him breathe—they fought across the field moving fast and jumping over shinobi and zetsu of all kinds. Their battle even caught the eyes of a few when a dozen giant white abominations became victims of one of Kisame's counter attacks, their heads rolling into the darkened sand.

Izumi lifted her free hand, pointing her index "I'll show you where our convictions differ. Remember what I told you...fighting me will be your greatest failure."

"Cute."

It was over, he just didn't know it yet.

Kisame rushed her, Izumi replied by hitting him square in the jaw with a high kick. Kisame hit the side of her ribs with the heavy pound of his hilt, Izumi ignored the pain as she heard bone crack before unleashing a kunai and throwing it so fast, Kisame dipped down as Izumi materialized behind and rewarded Kisame with a flurry of sword swipes, he parried, Izumi saw an opening and immediately jabbed her sword for his chest. With a smile and a cat-like maneuver, he caught her blade in between his armpit, lodging her weapon. Something she didn't expect. The Uchiha tugged, her hands blistering but it wouldn't budge.

It was stuck, like a rusted door that had been sealed shut with a blow torch.

The sound of air splitting forced Izumi to back rebound as sharkskin struck down, a loud bellow coming from the taller ninja as he predicted where she'd end up, Izumi almost snapped at herself for being so careless Kisame jabbed Samehada through her body, splitting Izumi in half completely convinced of his victory.

The world's clock stopped. Crows poured from her mutilated body, the flock of birds swarming and circling around one another as they cackled and kawed, dove, and accended.

Beaded shark eyes watched on, certainly mesmerized by the birds.

It wouldn't be that easy, surely Kisame knew that it had simply been a clone!

Izumi was behind Kisame, Steel went against the skin of his neck and then the next thing Izumi knew, she was dodging twelve flying clay birds that came from the side of her vision, she ducked like she was performing the bridge literally bending her spine, Kisame taking his chance and freeing himself.

She closed her eyes as the clay birds detonated, giving her clear voyance as to who entered the battlefield. Kisame took to the sky like some sort of supervillain, just as the bird swooped by and snatched him up.

The heiress could only stare upwards, her keen hearing picking up on their words.

"Ha! Even in death, I saved your ass!"

Some things weren't even surprising anymore.

Deidara—the shinobi who had fallen in his battle against Shisui. Did that mean every Akatsuki member would be brought onto the battlefield? That'd be troubling, most shinobi in the Akatsuki were more than enough to take on at least a hundred of your average jounin, and truly Izumi was being humble in that assertion.

"Perfect timing. Or else I might've just joined you on the resurrection table."

"Right… most definitely wouldn't want that. That's Izumi Uchiha, yeah?"

"The very one. Ahhh, almost got me."

"She doesn't look so strong. I could probably take her, by myself! Un. If only I could use my hands!"

"I'll finish her..."

"Well, my hands are moving by themselves and we're about to drop a few hundred bombs on their army, so I dunno what the caster intends on doing."

"Where's Sasori, he was revived, right?"

"Are you listening?! I don't wanna talk about that prick. I'm about to start a bombing raid! Gah, I'm not doing it, but man its gonna look beautiful!"

"I just wanted to catch up with him...tell him that he was for sure right about you dying early."

"Hey, shut up! Sharingan is stupid! A fucking an unfair blessing to these Uchihas!"

Izumi appeared on the bird, the two turned towards her way too slow before she sliced the zombie blond's head clean off, and really the only time you'd ever see her yelling, hands moved through signs in milliseconds.

The sweat on her face boiled, as the dark night was lit.

"KATON—"

"What the hell is going on?!" Shisui gripped the man by his arms staring down at him, shaking him as Shisui felt the rate of his own heart jumping the more he questioned his own sanity. Shisui activated his mangekyo sharingan staring at the man who birthed him straight in the eye. "You—you shouldn't be alive. You died! You're dead! You—"

It was almost as if a shattered dream had become a reality. A dream that he'd given so long ago in his yonder years. A chance...just the chance—a simple opportunity to talk to his father one more time. It didn't make sense, it just didn't.

Was God answering prayers that Shisui had made in his childhood? That was years ago.

"Wow…. Hae was right, you definitely look like me. Wow, mangekyo too. You were just a boy..."

His parents had fallen both when he was very young. Shisui frowned, he didn't even remember their personalities like that.

"You look the same...and the fucking enemy wants to use you to fight—"

"The enemy…huh, I don't even know who the enemy is. But, I'm curious about the events that's gotten all five of the nations together. Ah...must be a huge threat!"

"Not, sure I could explain it now."

The ground quaked.

Kagami looked at himself, the lack of breathing from his father was throwing Shisui sideways.

"Edo...tensei."

"What—edo...tensei...wait—" Shisui's mind flooded with knowledge from classes he remembered taking when he first joined the ranks of anbu "That's a forbidden jutsu!" he declared when it came to him.

His father smiled "That the jutsu that's being used here. A technique which by taking the DNA of the deceased...be it hair, saliva—you know! By taking whatever DNA that the caster finds, with Edo Tensei the caster and revived that deceased person. Wow...the second truly did regret creating it, that's why he did all he could to erase its memory. Second-sama, you predicted what I could never consider."

"Erase its memory...I see. Huh..."

"Well, it didn't work!"

"Why's he responsible for making so many forbidden jutsu, he ain't learn from whichever was the first tim—What the hell is going on with your eyes? Don't tell me you that's some cool technique—"

His pupils were suddenly glowing a bright royal blue, a complete contrast to the red that was his sharingan, a high pitched continuous ring sounded higher and higher, Shisui gazed down, his skin tingling.

"Ninigi." Ninigi? Kagami Uchiha's narrowed eyelids. "Shisui you must dodge! The caster has remote access to my body. That means Get off of me already!"

"Ninigi?" Parallel blue lasers shot from both his eyes at a speed even Shisui could barely comprehend. Before he knew it his ears were ringing, Shisui leaned back, jumping from his father's downed form and sliding a safe distance, huge eyes completely awestruck. He watched the laser continuously speed upwards and into the sky "Was that Ninigi?"

Holy shit!

Shinobi were yelling, screaming, shrieking and fighting all in the background.

With his attention back to his father, he fixed his legs relaxed and ready.

"Yes!" It came again, with the same ear burning pitch, and the same twin lasers, the same color, and speed, shot out with a PEW! Shisui ducked avoiding the attack as Kagami got to his feet, his body clad in armor of the generations before him, he blinked his paper-like face seeming to be filled with pain. "That's an ability of these eyes."

Crimson sharingan sparkled, outshining the moonlight, Shisui watched his features sizing the man who stood the same height as himself. The body flicker specialist looked at his weapon almost as if he were inspecting the handle wrapped in white...wrappings. "Alright...I was slightly expecting the rumors to simply be rumors, you couldn't have an entire company of cloud nin with a simple blink, huh...but it looks like you've actually got an awesome arsenal!"

His father somehow was able to put his hands behind his back and stand that way—it was his posture it was something he remembered from his early childhood and for some weird reason the memories almost forced tears from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't around to see you grow up, Shisui."

In that moment sand or mud most definitely—100 hundred percent for a fact got in his eyes and the two teardrops that slid down his face were only because of the irritations.

An explosion sent a shockwave of wind.

"What?! That's stupid, man! Don't apologize, you were dead, geez! You think I wouldn't forgive you or something?! Crazy. You died a hero in my eyes, shit man, even if my experience with you on Earth was so limited, it doesn't matter...You're a man of honor!"

"Honor...I'm—I'm glad my son thinks so." Kagami seemed to frown his pupils glowing blue again "We're going to have to cut our chat short! My body...Someone's toying with me like a freaking sock puppet! I have Knowledge, hear me! This is Edo Tensei, Shisui! Be mindful, the undead cannot be killed, we MUST be SEALED!"

Blue Beams zipped through the air cutting through reality, Shisui teleported, only his afterimage getting hit, before appearing beside Kagami with his weapon inflamed and slashing, Kagami looked at Shisui wide-mouthed clearly surprised at the speed of his body flick. His father pulled a steel bladed six-foot obsidian scythe with a metal handle from... somewhere, Shisui turned his head following his father's motionless body before he caught the slightest change in Kagami's stance.

Off in the distance, an enormous explosion ignited the sky, as if on queue Shsiui went offensive appearing right in front of his father, katana meeting the cold steel of the scythe. The ground below them burst, and so began the battle between father and son.

A prominent shinobi from Suna died and mixed of shinobi from all the five nations fought with tooth and blood to retrieve said body, from what was the equivalent of an ant's nest's worth of zetsu, who dragged at it and attempted to keep the body as their very own prize, before long it became a tug of war between the allied nations and white abominations, ninjutsu flying, rocks being hurled and shinobi having their entire bodies grabbed and pulled straight into the sand like an insect caught by a trapdoor spider. The casualties were building.

The reanimated Deidara miraculously disappeared after the explosion and Izumi free fell.

Both Izumi and Kisame landed within running distance of one another, falling back into the desert sand, observing one another for what had to have been no more than three seconds. Izumi for one was quiet and had complete control over her breathing, Kisame, ever so slightly, definitely had increased breathing, the clear first warning signs of fatigue. Though she knew the mist missing ninja before he still had the chakra reserves to continue pumping out jutsu, their battle was over.

Kisame gazed to the sky expecting her partner to return, but to his dismay that didn't happen, so his attention went back to her.

"You're good. They did say you were trouble. Ha. Ever the more reason I feel that you could have very well turned. Just. Like. Me."

She didn't say anything, but Izumi didn't act either, it looked like he had something interesting to say and so she listened.

Kisame sneered "Yeah easily! You think Konoha and Kirigakure aren't the same? ...That you—Anbu captain Izumi Uchiha of the sharingan are exempt from suffering the same fate of a missing shinobi? Tsk...tsk...I thought a genius would think better. Put in my shoes you would do just the same."

No!

Memories flooded her head, moments with Danzo, the crisis with the third hokage and the Uchiha clan over the appearance of the Kyuubi. Danzo ordering Izumi to eliminate every single member of the Uchiha clan. Izumi one hundred percent about to do what she needed to protect the village…

Some would say she was like him. Maybe she was...

"I'll do anything to protect the way of shinobi. My village and the greatest army my fellow peers have established in all ninja history!"

"Typical response from a law-abiding heir to a prominent clan. Ah...what did I expect?"

"People are dying."

"People die everyday. Life was never guaranteed."

"You're enabling a war that's based on twisted ideology that is both primitive and ineffective."

The robed ninja tilted his head, glaring at Izumi before his hands formed signals at uncountable speeds. Water formed around him molding into the shape of a shark, the water glowing a bright blue, the water around him glistening.

"I would never kill my comrades, especially not in the manner that you did." She declared and it was true, the would-be Uchiha massacre had completely different circumstances...or at least that's what Izumi told herself.

"Maybe you just simply didn't get the chance." Kisame smiled, went to jumped and slam his sword into Izumi, but that never happened. Instead, the sharkman found himself stuck in place, almost as if his feet had been sealed in cement. No, his entire body...paralyzed. The battlefield froze.

"I can't move. Shit, there's no way."

Izumi shook a free strand of hair from her face "My genjutsu."

The world around them slowed before coming to a complete standstill "Izumi, don't tell me...Deidara too?"

The genjutsu had only set in at that very moment simply because Izumi willed it.

"No, his entrance was unexpected." She admitted.

It must've been painful for him he struggled but it was impossible "When?"

"When I pointed at you." she did a little demonstration to amuse him.

"I don't remember—" he did remember, Izumi saw the drop of his jaw, the tension of muscles throughout his huge body. Shock shot through him, she saw it in his eyes. Then he laughed "So what, you're gonna kill me now?"

It probably made sense to extract as much intel from him first, there was probably vital information he would be able to tell, battle strategies caster of particular jutsu.

"Yeah."

The paralyzed shinobi standing against the frozen battlefield didn't stop his tooth filled grin "To protect those you care about the most, eh?"

She didn't feel the need to hear anymore drabble, the battle was her's.

She held up her sword ready to finish him both in the genjutsu and in reality, it was over.

Then the otherwise paralyzed ninja, Kisame, against the effects of Izumi's Ephemeral moved.

*There's a poll you guys can find on my page that may or may not affect the future of the story.

*The question on the poll is simply Who's a better final boss Madara Uchiha or Kaguya Ōtsutsuki? Please vote, the results will be shown in the next chapter.

*THANK YOU!