Who Needs a Princess, When You Can Have a Queen?

Celestia193's Author's Note: Okay, warning you all now, we're gonna be a bit mean to Rufus. And by us, I mean Minerva. But…you'll see. Anyway, time for Itachi vs. Rufus! And this is where canon really gets thrown out the window (originally, it was Eve vs. Rufus, and the poor guy didn't stand a chance against the Tiger). So, against one of the most OP magics that the Fairy Tail universe has to offer…let's see some Uchiha badassery! And, a surprise at the end for you all.

Chapter 14

It was a smug, arrogant smile that made its home on the younger wizard's face as he took the field. He'd heard of this one before, Itachi Uchiha, one of the more mysterious members of Blue Pegasus, and the least flashy of the trio he made up with his younger brother and older cousin. Yes…he'd memorized much about this particular foe prior to the start of the games. "You are the one known as the Tsunami, are you not?" A curious nickname, but one that implied a great deal to do with water. The elements, they were simple enough forces to bend and conquer.

"I am." There was no point in Itachi denying what was likely very common knowledge. "And you are Rufus. The King of Confidence as they say." And the one who had cost Eve a very legitimate win in Hidden.

Rufus chuckles. "I believe that you have mistaken me for Sting. I am, as they say, the Minstrel Who Sings to the Red Moon, Rufus Lore." It seemed that he had already put off his competitor, good. "So, shall we settle this like civilized gentlemen?"

He was Ridiculous as far as Itachi was concerned. What a pretentious and ridiculously long name. "Well it seems we have something in common then." He activates his Sharingan. "A fondness for the color red." And if he continued to irritate Itachi, red would be the color of that Arena. "And yes, that is always preferable to barbarism. What did you have in mind?" Though he highly doubted it would be all that civilized the man's verbose nature might very well be his undoing. There was every chance that he might slip up and tell Itachi something useful, even if it was only on accident.

Well, now that was a rather interesting trick. The Sharingan, if he recalled it correctly. He had heard it mentioned before, but the tales were few, and he had not had the chance to see one up close until now. He would be sure to memorize that… "Simply, that you withdraw." Rufus tilts his hat slightly. "No one will blame you for conceding to Sabertooth." After all, they were the most powerful guild in the kingdom for a reason. "There is no reason to dispute who would be the victor. Forfeit, and I will allow you to walk away."

"Well that is a kind offer." His eyes narrow at the thought. "I refuse though. Of course, I will extend the same offer to you as well as a courtesy." Sabertooth, he was going to be a declawed kitten when Itachi was done with him.

"Is that so?" Rufus' eyes glitter menacingly. He may be known as one of the more sophisticated members of Sabertooth, but he was no stranger to harsh combat. "Then it would seem that we are at an impasse." He was here to win, and nothing less than that would do, after Sting's failure yesterday, and Orga's poor performance in today's competition. He raises his hands towards his head, two fingers pointed to each temple. "Very well, then." His body began to glow with power. "Memory-Make: Karma of the Burning Land!"

It was nothing short of an inferno as a single gloved hand touched the floor of the arena. Spurts and gouts of fire erupt from the ground, growing ever larger as they fan out from Rufus' location, aimed straight for Itachi

"Yes, it does seem we are at an impasse." Karma of the Burning Land, well Itachi could only presume that meant a fire attack of some sort and he was soon proven right. "That is quite impressive, but using a fire attack against someone named Tsunami wasn't a wise move." He smiles as he launches his own attack. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"

A large dragon formed out of water appears seemingly out of nowhere as it smacks its mighty tail over the flames over and over again, quickly turning them into nothing more than steam. "It's flashy though, I will grant you that."

"As is yours…" Rufus' eyes glitter as he watches the giant watery dragon. How interesting, a very different kind of magic to those he had seen. Still… "Memorized." He would simply turn it right back at his foe. With a twist, of course. "Memory-Make: Black Lightning Dragon!" Using Orga's black lightning, and the water dragon he'd only just witnessed, he turns a twisting, watery serpent, infused with the dark lightning back on his foe.

He had expected that. The clone turns into nothing more than a splash of water, while the real Itachi launches a powerful kick to Rufus's back. "You act as though I haven't seen you copy other people's magic before. Demonic Illusion: Crow Mirage!" He had suspected that Rufus would copy and attack. So he produced a Water Clone in advance.

The kick, however, went right through the image of Rufus, before it shimmered and disappeared, the true body almost phasing into existence some distance away. "In that case, you should have known that I would leave only the memory of myself there for you to attack." But his opponent was no mere grunt. No…this man was clearly going to be a challenge. Rufus love challenges…

A torrent of crows suddenly launches itself at Rufus. Idly, Itachi wondered if this world had genjutsu or not. "Time to end this." Or how long it would take his opponent to realize what was going on. Though Itachi was in no mood to waste time. The sooner he took Rufus out, the better. With that in mind, he prepares some water bullets.

"I was aware of that, but you weren't aware of one very important fact. One isn't required to call out the names of their attacks." And so was the case with his Demonic Illusion: Mirage Crow Technique. "I do hope you aren't allergic to birds." The most useful aspect of this genjutsu was that one didn't even need eye contact to wield it against an opponent and so, he was easily able to use Rufus's arrogance against him and unleash a torrent of crows at the other man.

As the crows swarmed about, Rufus could feel something…wrong with his magic. It was as though it was swirling in an entirely different pattern than usual. So, he resorted to his usual tricks, the mind. From what he understood of the Sharingan, which was not very much, to his dissatisfaction, was that it granted the bearer quite a number of extra powers. One of which, from watching the older cousin, was the power of illusion.

Therefore, he deemed it wise to ignore the birds racing around himself, and focus his efforts instead on finding a way to break it. After all, why focus on something that wasn't real? "A fine attempt, but I know that your family have the ability to wield illusions." His fingers were at his temples again, the air glowing around him as the wind picked up, accompanied by a breath of biting cold.

He said nothing to that. Trust the trickster to figure that one out. It was getting cold, so Itachi decides to warm the area up. He takes a deep breath and expels it, activating the Great Fireball Technique. His Clan's coming of age Jutsu and one that should deal with Rufus's cold attack well enough. Nearly the entire Arena was engulfed by the blaze, save for Itachi and it was hurtling towards Rufus as the crows continued their distractions.

Frustrated by the annoyance of the birds, Rufus glows once more. "Very well, since you refuse to remove them…!" From around him burst a plethora of blindingly bright spheres, twisting and warping with sparks of lightning. A Night of Shooting Stars, the same spell that he'd used to win the competition on the first day. And now, those stars raced out in all directions, hurtling like meteors around him, and targeting not only the birds, but Itachi himself. That way, he would leave no room for error.

"Animal abuse is not likely to win you many fans." Itachi clucks his tongue disapprovingly as his birds are "killed" and he summons a series of shadow clones. The clones effectively serving as a shield of sorts, taking one hit before disappearing, but allowing him the precious time he needed to dodge effectively. "You do seem to favor that spell though." He likely had a wide variety of spells at his disposal, but the man's flare for the dramatic could be used against him, Itachi decides.

"I'm sure that they will forgive it once you are beaten and lying in the dirt." Because Rufus was all out of mercy, and while the challenge made his blood boil, he quickly found his patience to be running out. By now, he should be trouncing his opponent, not…locked in some sort of stalemate. He could not remember a time in recent years when such a thing had happened.

He shakes his head. "Then I suppose you shall never be forgiven, if that is the case." Perhaps, a more simple jutsu would work best. He expel water from his mouth, using his chakra to create the Hiding in Mist Technique. The mist was so thick thanks to Itachi's chakra, that Rufus would essentially be fighting blind.

To distract him further, Itachi summons more crows to attack him all at once from multiple directions at once to confuse him. "I hope Sasuke will forgive me for borrowing one of his technique." His voice barley audible even to his own ears as he uses the mist and crows as a distraction for the real assault. The lion's barrage.

Blind was right, Rufus couldn't see a thing through the mist. And for some reason unknown to him, his superhuman perception was reduced to…nothing. Something had blocked him from sensing the other's presence. And though he was silent, attempting to hear his opponent, there was no sound to be heard, not even a whisper. It was…unsettling, to say the least. "You've chosen to try and hide yourself, then?" His hands moving once more, the wind picks up again, this time, swirling itself into a small army of tornadoes designed to disperse the mist.

That was regrettable, but Itachi was already in position. "I'm afraid you're too late." The tornadoes likely wouldn't be directly above him as he could get hit by his own attack. "You should have yielded." So he felt reasonably confident this would be enough to end this. SMACK! BAM! CRUNCH! He levies a series of bone crushing kicks and punches at the blonde, all meant for one thing. Putting the man on the ground.

Pain was the last thing that Rufus felt before his chin hit the ground, his body feeling like it was nearly crushed under the force of the other wizard's assault. But…it couldn't be. He was a member of Sabertooth, the strongest guild in Fiore. He wasn't supposed to lose to a wizard from some half-baked lesser guild…he couldn't lose…Sabertooth wouldn't allow it.

"Incredible!" Chapati cries out across the arena. "It seems that Itachi Uchiha of Blue Pegasus has manage to do the impossible! He's defeated Rufus Lore of Sabertooth! Mr Yajima, could you have ever predicted such an upset!?"

"Mmm…can't say that it's the first thing I thought I'd see today when I woke up, but those boys certainly know how to put on a good show." The elderly judge may have been stating the obvious, however.

Despite a member of Sabertooth falling, and one of their most popular, to boot, the crowd was going wild at the victory. And not just the audience, but several of the other teams as well. They had thought it would be a cold day in hell when Sabertooth was finally dethroned, but it looked like winter was on its way.

Itachi smiles as he returns to his team. Not even sparing Rufus a backwards glance. After all, that was likely the greatest insult he could have given him.

Hibiki grins widely, clapping Itachi on the back. "That was incredible!" If it had been anyone else, there's no way he would have believed that just happened. Itachi had just…he'd done the impossible! "How did you manage to concentrate enough magic in that fog to mess up his perception?" He'd been watching the fight with Archive, and the readings he'd gotten were almost inexplicable.

"Oh it's a technique from our land, one village specialized it. Though really, almost anyone could do it, given enough practice." Itachi smiles at him serenely and he looks at Sasuke almost apologetically. "I'm sorry that I had to use your technique. I hope you weren't too annoyed." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"You really are such a copycat." Sasuke rolls his eyes, but he smirks anyway. "It's fine. If anyone needed a beating, it was him though and you got us some badly needed points."

"How fitting that the copycat used a technique called the Lion's Barrage then." Shisui chuckles at his pun. "Though I imagine that should get Itachi's She-Devil's attention rather nicely." Which prompted a nice round of flailing from the normally stoic ninja-wizard (or was it wizard-ninja).

Hibiki and Eve laugh loudly at the sight, Ren just quietly shaking his head with a smirk. Well, if nothing else, their team was far from boring. They might not be at the same energy level as Fairy Tail, but there was no denying that their guild could be rather loud when it wanted to be.

Thankfully, for Hibiki, Itachi's success meant that instead of ending the day with only one point, they were ending the day, adding eleven to their score. Adding in the ten from Sasuke's competition round yesterday, and the sixteen points from the first day, they were now sitting pretty at a total of thirty-seven points.

Fairy Tail's teams would come to sit at twenty-seven and thirty points. It was a VERY good day.


To celebrate their successful day, and kicking Raven Tail out of the games, as well as Sabertooth to fourth place, Fairy Tail took it upon themselves to throw the loudest, most obnoxious party they could at the Sun Bar. Sitting at second and third behind Blue Pegasus, their epic comeback was definitely taking off.

Which, of course, only encouraged Natsu to get very loud about the totally one-sided fight that was Laxus and Raven Tail. One-sided, because like hell was Laxus gonna lose. "That was awesome! You totally kicked ass out there!" Though there was still the fact that Natsu had needed Gray to explain to him that the fight they were watching, with Laxus getting his ass handed to him, was an illusion. Smug little Ice Princess…

Laxus smirks with a hint of smugness as he sits back in his chair. "Of course, I did." As if there was ever any doubt. It was obvious that his father didn't understand the true meaning of what it meant to be a guild. "Any guild that resorts to underhanded tricks is always going to get their asses handed to them in a fight. He might be my father, but I wasn't going to let them get away with what they did to Lucy, Gray, and Wendy. Not to mention what they tried to do to Asuka…" Now that was REALLY crossing the line.

"Yeah! You got them good!" though Natsu had only gotten to see a small part of the fight, meaning, the finishing move, and Laxus crackling with lightning as the old man went down. It was crazy awesome! "We're totally making our comeback!" Just like he promised on the first day. They started with nothing, and now, the only way to go was up. And were they ever going up.

Mira smiles sweetly at that thought. "Yes, we are." Though some rather unorthodox methods at times, but still they were gaining on their competition rapidly. "I imagine we'll be able to win the entire thing at this rate. Though Pegasus seems to be doing rather well this year too. Which is good because now that Raven Tail is gone, Sabertooth is the team that needs beaten the most." Repeatedly by any team that could.

"True, however that means that currently, our competition is no longer Sabertooth." Erza had her doubts about whether or not Sabertooth would be able to recover from their failure to gain much in the way of points over the last two days. Perhaps the competition was simply stronger this year. Though with the Tenrou Team returned, and two of the Uchiha competing for Blue Pegasus, she suspected that she knew why. "while beating Sabertooth is important, we mustn't lose sight of the other teams now filling the spots left open by Sabertooth and Raven Tail."

"Relax and have some cake." Cana chugs down a flask of God only knows what. "We're doing great and if all else fails, we can always have another Beauty Contest and distract them. That's like their catnip or something."

Somehow, the redhead doubted that holding another beauty contest would be allowed after the…interesting circumstances surrounding the first one. Besides, tomorrow was the fourth day, and some of the other teams would undoubtedly be desperately out for points. Still, the idea may have had some merit to it. "Perhaps." And she did rather like her cake. Especially since the timing was perfect, and the cake was just now coming out from behind the counter. "But we should still remain prudent. Our success today may not be so easy to keep if we become complacent."

"We won't get lazy, don't worry." Mira assures her with a bright, confident smile, and the hint of a giggle. "It's just not good to tense up either, Erza. You should try relaxing sometime."

"Yes…you're right." After all, she did have her guild mates to rely on. " Wendy also did quite well today. She has proven her strength as a dragon slayer, I'm sure." Erza was so proud of their youngest dragon slayer, she'd taken on a god slayer and dragged the battle out to a stalemate. For being the least experienced member of the team, she'd done them quite proud.

"Yeah!" Cana beams at the reminder. "The kid did alright!" She waves her flask in celebration of that. "So relax. We can do this!" She smirks as a thought occurs to her. "At least the crowd is on our side now."

"Yes, it is." And it was something that Fairy Tail had been missing out on for a long time. They had always been the most rambunctious, most destructive, but still most popular guild because of their strength. And it was time for them to retake that status.

"Speaking of crowd favorites, Juvia wasn't the only one with groom." Mira couldn't resist teasing Erza. "I think that one of Pegasus's Stallions might have a case of a bad case of Puppy Love." That or maybe, Sasuke hadn't wanted Erza to be "alone" when there were so many couples around. Mira wanted to believe it was the former though! That would be far more fun!

"Mira, be nice." Erza shoots her friend and rival a look over the top of her cake. "He's uncomfortable enough without you spreading gossip about him." There was no question who she was talking about, and if nothing else, Erza would at least try to protect Sasuke's pride. But…if she wasn't the only one who sensed it…then maybe she'd been right after all?

She puts up her hands and feigns innocent. "I wasn't spreading gossip. I was just talking with you two!" Besides, everyone saw Sasuke down there with Erza, even if he was standing at a more "respectable" distance than the other grooms, that was bound be noticed at least by some people. "Besides, it's not like it isn't public knowledge now." Luckily, Gray kicking Lyon out of the way, Asuka's and Wendy's adorableness, the Exceeds, and other factors had "saved the day" as far as major gossip starting about the Queen and youngest Stallion was concerned. "Anyone who was watching my fight with Jenny, probably noticed."

Right, like Erza was just going to believe that. Mira was too friendly, and too talkative to keep anything a secret for long, unless it concerned the safety of Fairy Tail. And this sort of thing…most decidedly did not.


Frosch. He loved that cat with all his heart, but sometimes, the little guy was just asking for trouble. "Ro…Fro wants to see Rufus!" How was he ever supposed to say no to a face like that? All green and cute, and wrapped up in his pink frog onesie.

Still, this was dangerous, and for reasons that Frosch was just…too innocent to comprehend. But not Rogue. No…he knew the risks in getting involved in this. Jiemma's punishments were one thing, but Minerva…she was even more sadistic than her father. Rogue could only imagine what she'd done to Rufus after disappearing with him. And though he couldn't show it, he did hope that it hadn't taken too violent a turn. "…Fine…we'll go to check on Rufus." He couldn't deny his little buddy anything.

"Yay!" Frosch skips ahead down the hall, Rogue following closely behind him as they pass room after room, all of them housing the various members of Sabertooth. But all was dead quiet, save for Frosch's tinkling voice in the hall as they approached the door not too far from their own, where Rufus, hopefully, should be staying inside.

Approaching with caution, Rogue raises his hand to knock on the door, seeing as Frosch's passed paws barely made a sound as he smacked them against the wood. "Rufus?" His voice is low, not a whisper, but not nearly as loud as his little buddy's. then again, he doubted that anyone would be listening anyway. Most of the guild was hiding out in the rooms out of fear of the wrath of their master.

"Rogue?" It surprised him that Rogue was seemingly coming to check on him, but he pawns that off to the fact that Rogue had always seemed a bit softer than the others or perhaps he imagined that due to the silly cat that hung around the dragon slayer. "Don't come inside. I…am hideously unpresentable at the moment."

The beating hadn't been enjoyable, but those bruises and cuts would heal, as would the cracked ribs. Jiemma's anger, he could take. "I can't believe that even she was this cruel." He fumes as he looks at himself in the mirror, the last part just a whisper. "She cut off my hair!" His once luxurious, hip-length golden locks were now cropped to hang about his face. He looked ridiculous! It was humiliating.

Rogue's eyes widen at the whisper, his hearing just sharp enough to pick it up. Nevertheless, he turns away from the door, scooping Frosch up into his arms. "Come on, Frosch, let's go." There was more than one way to check on a reluctant teammate.

"But Ro…" Frosch eyes the door over Rogue's shoulder as he's carried back towards their room. He was worried about Rufus. Everyone was being so quiet, and it scared him.

Could he even use magic to grow this back in time for his next public appearance?! Maybe, he should try to find Freed. Freed might know a spell. That hair couldn't possibly be natural, could it?!

"Rufus…" A shadow materializes within Rufus' room, ejecting Rogue and Frosch from the darkness. And the dragon slayer's eyes widen as he takes in the damage.

"I told you not to come in!" He had warned him! Why hadn't Rogue listened?! "Next time, you should listen to me. Now, unless you have a way to fix this catastrophe, kindly leave me be!" How could he ever face his fans looking like this?!

Well, he couldn't fix the lesser of the two problems, but Rogue could still do something as Frosch jumps out of his arms, toddling towards Rufus. "No, I don't." But judging by the bruises blooming from under Rufus' torn collar, and the little bits of blood here and there, hair was the least of the real concerns. Jiemma hadn't smacked Rufus around THAT much. Most of that had to be Minerva's work. "But you need basic medical attention, at least." He produces a first aid kit, a small one, easily concealed under his long, dark cloak.

Frosch, on the other hand, stumbles his way to Rufus, attaching himself to the wizard's calf. "Is Rufus sad…?"

Rufus sighs, even he didn't have the heart to tell the adorable feline to leave him be. "I'm more humiliated than sad." He glances at Rogue. "I don't need the pity, but seeing as you likely will not give me a moment's peace until treat my injuries, I'll merely borrow the kit and return it to you when I am finished using it."

"No! Fro wants to help!" The little green cat toddles back over to his human, reaching for the medical kit. "Like Ro does to Sting!"

Knowing where this is going, Rogue rolls his eyes and opens the kit, pulling out a roll of bandages, and a tube of anti-bacterial ointment. It was about as close to healing magic as you could get, without being a Sky Dragon Slayer, but Rogue had a supplier up north that he could get a reliable stock from. "It's Frosch's idea, don't blame me for it." And maybe…he wanted to make sure that his teammate was okay. That he'd be fine, come morning. "And the team will suffer if you're too injured to participate on the last day."

"Fine. Just get it over with." Could this day possibly get more humiliating, he thinks to himself.

Rogue nods, taking out another roll of bandages, seeing as Frosch would only be able to work so fast with his tiny paws. He motions for Rufus to take off his jacket and sit down. It was kind of ruined anyway. The hat was intact, somehow, and hiding a fair bit of Rufus'…'problem'. Odd, for the lady to leave that intact, when she had punished him so thoroughly. "Show me the damage.

Rufus grumbles, but dutifully shows where the worst of it was. "My pride was what they truly killed. These injuries will heal swiftly enough." And then, he would get some payback.

Rolling his eyes, Rogue sets about working on wrapping up the cuts and bruises that littered Rufus' arms and shoulders, and even a few that managed to find his neck. It as far from the worst he'd seen, since having Sting for a partner meant getting into some rather ugly situations. But…those bruises on Rufus' chest had him worried. Not that he showed it. "Does it hurt to breathe at all?" Pale fingers prod along his ribs slightly, looking for fractures, just in case.

"It does somewhat." He shakes his head at the thought. "I imagine I have a cracked rib or two, but such a thing will heal."

"In a couple of weeks, it will." Rogue had seen more than one injury like this. Most of them on his partner. "If it's bound up properly, you should be fine to fight." And bind it up, he would as he unrolled another length of bandages, securing one end, and handing the roll off to Frosch. The cat begins to wiggle around, circling Rufus with the bandages. "If you take too strong an impact to the chest, they could break, so be sure to dodge whatever comes at you."

He nods at that. "You don't need to worry about that." He made a mistake in underestimating Itachi. Rufus wouldn't do that again. "My next opponent won't be so lucky."

"Maybe…" Rogue wasn't so sure. Even if he hesitated to say it aloud, except to Frosch, Sting, and Lector, he wasn't comfortable with how their guild worked. It fostered strength, but no compassion. And, as proven in Rufus' match, that strength was not infallible. "…This might be Sabertooth, but we're still a team. We're supposed to be able to lean on each other for support." Even if that sort of weakness was reviled in their guild. "If you need help…ask."

"Don't let Minerva or Jiemma hear you talking like that." He glances at Rogue in surprise. "Or you'll be banished from this guild faster than you can blink. You know that Sabertooth is based on strength. Not sentimental notions." The blond shakes his head. "While not necessary, I do appreciate your help though."

"…Would it be so bad?" Rogue tucks away the remaining supplies, looking Rufus over one more time, satisfied that his injuries have been tended to sufficiently. "Fear, strength, and ruthlessness. That's how things are done here. What Jiemma and Minerva did tonight is proof." And he hated it, he chafed under it. He couldn't understand how Sting could stand it. "Are we a guild, or an army?" Fairy Tail was a guild…they were a family. But Sabertooth…they didn't even know the meaning of the word.

"Are you saying you wish to leave the guild?" He gapes at Rogue in shock. Of all the things that he had ever anticipated the other man saying, that had been the last on his mind. "You really wish to leave the strongest guild in all of Fiore?" Granted, they were doing poorly in the rankings at the moment, but they would mount a comeback. "A couple of bad performances doesn't change the fact that we are the strongest guild, Rogue. Never doubt that!"

"Maybe…" Rogue reaches for Frosch, tucking his little buddy into his arms as he rises to his feet, backing away from his teammate. "Or maybe Natsu was right, when he said that we need to treat each other like we're a guild." Like they hadn't done for Yukino. "I don't want to leave Sabertooth. But that doesn't mean that we don't need to change." And with that, he turns towards the wall, melting into the shadows as he disappears from sight.

"He seems to forget Frosch is the cat." Rufus shakes his head at the thought. "Rogue doesn't have nine lives. Dragon Slayer or not." And that's what he would need to deal with the wrath of Jiemma and Minerva, if he started sprouting those idealistic notions in front of them.


A world away, Mikoto looks around at her clan warily as her husband explains the plan. "Years ago, Itachi, Shisui, and Sasuke went missing." Today was a day that was years in the making. The day when the truth would finally be unveiled to the remaining members of their family.

"Now, we know where they went." He sighs, his brows furrowed and for good reason, it had taken far too long to discover the truth, and now, what faced them was a grim choice. "We've finally discovered the note that Itachi left us years ago. It seemed they did not die in the chaos of that night." That horrible night when everything had changed. "They evacuated so to speak."

A hush fell over the crowd. No one dared to talk about Shisui, Itachi, and Sasuke since the day they went missing. Even if they had wanted to, the chaos that had followed left little time to focus on much else. For a time, they had been able to negotiate a fragile peace that had lasted for a few years. It took all their focus just to maintain it, but eventually even Fugaku and Mikoto hadn't been able to maintain it. It was what had led to their even more fragile state and now dwindling numbers.

There had been factions within their clan. Three or four depending on how one looked at it. There had been those who wanted to keep the peace. The second group wanted to fight. Still, another wanted to flee. And finally, there was a small group of Uchiha who couldn't decide on what course of action they wanted to take and just tried to stick to the shadows. Today, such behavior wouldn't be tolerated. A choice would have to be made.

"The note was rather concise." Likely written in a hurry. "Essentially, the Stone Tablets have a way out of this dimension." Fugaku pauses and appears to be steeling his resolve. "It is a risk, but according to the note anyone who chose to follow them would end up where they did." That wasn't very reassuring and he knew it, but it was something. "We do know that the Jutsu was designed to take us to a place compatible with human biology though." He'd read it on the tablets himself, before deciding to come forward with the news.

And it had to be, otherwise the Sage would never have lived long enough to write about it. Still, that was something. He didn't feel like going to another dimension just to choke on poisonous air. "We've come to the following decision. Some of our people will stay behind in case this doesn't work." There was a chance it wouldn't. "And some will come with us in search of our missing kin. This way the Clan will be divided into two halves. Which will increase the chance that at least in one, perhaps in two dimensions our family line will carry on."

Mikoto nods at this. "We will not hold it against anyone who chooses to stay here." The Clan Matriarch felt the years of strife weighing on her. "Though you will have to make your decisions soon. Tonight, those who wish to go will pack and we shall leave in the morning at first light."

Either to their doom, or a new dawn.