Alex (guest) – I'm glad you liked my chapter and thank you for the nice complement! It was really sweet of you! ;D

Darkcush – I did hesitated at first to make Shisui very emotional but I thought this was better since these people were very close to her. I'm sure that any experienced shinobi or kunoichi would become all emotional at the sight of their beloved ones bleeding to death. As for the ANBU, did you recognize who it was? Thank you for the kind complement and the criticism! ;)

Sylencia – Heh. And you already know what I'm going to do with them. ;) Closer to yaoi but unfortunately for you, that won't happen in this story. :p Of course, I know that you love my story! ;D Thank for the review. :D

SilverIcy – Smart! You knew immediately that he was Sasuke! Good! :) Poor little Akhiko would be afraid of his own aunt Shi, which would be very painful for Akhiko…both of them. Yup, the assassin was Kakuzu from Takigakure, that was an important event in the history. You just took the words out of my mouth, 'The crap is about to hit the fan.'

VKlover13 – Sorry, I can't update like before, I just don't have the time for it. ;) Didn't you notice something amiss with the ANBU? Anything at all…? Try to re-read and tell me if you noticed who he really was. ;)

treavellergirl – It will be a sad event for Konoha indeed… So much drama… Read!By the way, I found your words (with the violent cocktail) very beautiful and decided to use them in this chapter, hope you have no problem with it! ;D

BlankZeroSeven – Rest assured, Mito and Akhiko won't die, they're too important for the story. They will have major injuries but nothing deadly, problematic, yes. The poor bugger was Kakuzu from Takigakure.. and I don't pity him.. ok, maybe I do. That was just overkill with the Uchiha-Senju combo (nice name btw). :p I mostly follow canon but for the rest I'm using my imagination. ;)

The Ice Sorceress – Akhiko won't die, rest assured. ;) Your nose sure is keen. :p And yes, I have thought about skipping a war, you'll see which one. ;D

Geminine – *giggles* No need to be jealous, your stories are quite good too, especially the SI, I'll be re-reading them again when I have the time for it. ;) But thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it and you know it! :D

So here are the ages for the ones that are confused, for this chapter only:

Uchiha Madara/Senju Hashirama=30 years to 31 years old

Uchiha Izuna/Senju Tobirama/Uzumaki Mito/Sarutobi Sasuke=28 years to 29 years old

Uchiha Shisui=25 years to 26 years old

Senju-Uzumaki Akhiko=5 years to 6 years old


Era of the Warring States

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By Angelbloodlover

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~ There's only one thing that can heal the heart... Only one... It's love, Gaara.

Yashamaru

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Chapter 33: Emotional Chaos

Shisui sobbed silently, pulling her legs up as she stared at the wall opposite from her. Biting her lip, she tried to stop her crying but it wouldn't stop, her tears kept rolling down anyway. "W-Why…?" She whimpered quietly, wondering how everything became this fucked-up in four days.

When she felt Tobirama's chakra signature flicker slightly, she wiped her tears away and stood up. By the time he came inside the room, more specifically his room, she was tidying up his bed, "Shisui?" He asked softly, the quietness disturbing him slightly, also the sight of his distressed girlfriend brought alarming bells in his head.

"Yes?" She answered quietly, not wanting to disrupt the silence.

He sighed tiredly and walked closer towards her, "He still didn't wake up."

Shisui's stiff shoulder tensed even more and stress altered her face, the bags under her eyes making her look even more worn-out. She turned around and looked at her boyfriend, "S-Still…," She swallowed inaudibly, fingers shaking, "…in his c-c-comatose state?"

A downcast expression appeared on his face and Shisui could only close her eyes as more tears were ready to drip down. "I see," was all that she could say.

Tobirama watched with difficulty as his girlfriend's calmness was breaking piece after piece. He could see that she had cried non-stop without sleeping at all. He didn't fare any better, his eyes hurting and begging him to take a small nap but he couldn't. Not when he had to adjust the entire security system around Konoha and the orphanage. Against Shisui's will, they had closed off any new orphan children for fear that they might be a spy. Madara and his brother wanted new security seals, new ANBU patrols- everything had to be new.

With another quiet sigh, he snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her closer towards him, "He just needs the proper time and treatment." He tried to sound confident and sincere but he had a hazard guess that she didn't believe any of his words.

"Fine…you call this fine…?" Shisui started, pushing him away, "An intruder infiltrated Konoha under my watchful eyes and then henge'd into me and practically tortured Akhiko mentally and physically, messed with Mito's chakra system, then poisoned the duo. As if that wasn't enough, he also had to poison Sasuke. Now look what happened to h-him…" Her head started spinning and her knees buckled but before her knees would hit the ground, Tobirama steadied her, his eyes boring into her. "…he is nothing more than a shell of his old self." She buried her face in his kimono, crying silently, shame, self-disgust and pain lacing her every words. "I failed them, Tobirama…I failed them…"

Ever since the accident with the shinobi named Kakuzu four days ago, Sasuke, Mito and Akhiko had been hospitalized, they were injured beyond words, both mentally and physically. Four days later and they were being treated at home under the watchful eyes of Hashirama. They had allowed Kakuzu to live when he was on the brink of death and life for the reason that they wanted to infiltrate inside his mind through the aid of a mind-reading Yamanaka. Through his expertise, he had concluded that the intruder's name was effectively Kakuzu from Takigakure and his sole purpose was to assassinate the Shodai Hokage and collect top-secret information about the Bijuu's. But for the rest, they couldn't break inside his mind, somebody had used a pesky seal on his mind, avoiding things like that. It was no problem, Tobirama would break him-he always did.

And Shisui blamed herself for everything that had happened- she blamed herself for the fact that Mito's health was shaky, she blamed herself for the fact that she endangered the baby's health, she blamed herself for the fact that Akhiko got kidnapped and got tortured, she blamed herself for the fact that Sasuke had to step in and fix her shit. Everything was her- "…my fucking fault!" She finished outwardly, twisting Tobirama's kimono tightly as she shrieked and trashed against his kimono. "I'm a fucking monster!" She yelled in despair, her body trembling as her eyes flickered from black to red.

The white-haired Senju grabbed her arms and stared right inside her red, puffy eyes- the tomoes eerily spinning and watching his every move, predicting them a few second ahead. "Listen to me." He ordered calmly, his red-demonic eyes clashing with her desperate Sharingan eyes, the ones he had despised all those years ago. "Shisui, crying won't solve anything." She flinched at his harsh voice but knew that he was speaking the truth, "Instead do something about it."

Tobirama knew that he was harsh but sometimes people needed a good slap of reality. He couldn't sugarcoat her- she had to start realizing that crying wouldn't solve anything. "I know that this sound-" He was cut off when Shisui placed her finger against his lips, hushing him effectively, "I-I need some t-time to think…" She breathed out and took a step away from him, "…alone." She added quietly, turning her back to him. She didn't want to see him right now. She didn't want to see anyone.

All she could think of were the frightened, twitching eyes that haunted, raped her sanity,

Second after second,

When she closed her eyes. When she (unwillingly) welcomed her nightmares.

"As you wish," was his cold reply and he left. Shisui had to start realizing that life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.


Mito bit her lip as she looked at the ceiling above her, clenching her fist next to her body, she started so hard not to think about what happened. But every single time she closed her eyes, the scene re-played and she experienced the same desperate hopelessness all over again. A sob escaped her lips when her son's accusing eyes glared at her and she felt the same motherly guilt ram her like a giant tree, leaving her breathless.

"A-Akhiko-kun…I'm so sorry…" She whimpered in self-disgust and hate, she despised herself. What kind of mother hesitates to save her child's health? What kind of mother needs some time to think while her son's life was on the line?

…she couldn't even face her best friend and accept her comfort because all she could see was the impostor cloaked in Shisui's body and proceed to torture her son. She knew Shisui had nothing to do with it but she just…needed some time-off, she didn't want to re-experience everything- it was toofresh on her mind, toomuch for her to handle…

And her son…her poor little Akhiko-kun was in the room next door, being heavily guarded by high-skilled ANBU, under the Shodai Hokages order. Her son was in a comatose state because his little brain couldn't handle all the traumatic events- the betrayal, the hurt, the pain, the anguish, the anger, frustration, hate, helplessness… and he momentarily closed off his brains in order to process things slowly, understand them. He may be a skilled prodigy and have the mind of a seasoned shinobi but he was still a child.

…even for an adult's standard this was too much. Heck, even for her it was killing her from the inside, gutting her organs out, one by one.

Suddenly, feeling sick of everything, she ran to the joint bathroom and crouched next to the toilet and threw up her entire meals of that day, which consisted of nothing more than a loaf of bread, not having the appetite to eat more than that. Heaving, she cried out pitifully, silent tears streaming down her tired face.

She covered her face, sobbing pitifully as her heart ached painfully, many negative emotions swirling inside of her like a violent cocktail.


Brown, angry eyes stared at the sleeping body.

Right at this moment, he despised the bedridden man. " W-Why…?"

"Y-You promised…" He shut his eyes, not wanting to cry but it was so goddamn hard. He just wanted to buckle under the pressure and cry. "Damnit!" He cursed loudly, clenching his fists as he stood up, betrayal clear in his eyes, "I-I…" He turned his back to him but found that he couldn't leave the room, his feet disobeyed him strongly. He was too scared to leave the presence of the bedridden room, only to see him gone the next day. Choking quietly on his tears, he glanced behind him and saw that his torso rose and descend. If it weren't for the aid of the machine monitoring the life of the comatose patient, he would have died already.

…but what good cause did it have now?

This man, this crippled man was nothing. Gone was the person he looked up to, vanishing from his grasp like a slippery fish. How was he supposed-"…to make you proud…?" His knees buckled and scraped his knees but he didn't even register them. "Why…tou-chan…?" The brown-haired boy, whom by now was thirteen years old, and a full-fledged Chunin, even reaching low Jounin skills whispered quietly in a pained voice.

His stare could send shivers up someone's spine and feeling helpless at this situation he was put in-toosudden, he punched the ground underneath him until a warm hand covered his bloody fists. Looking up, his wide eyes met the empathic, concerned ones from his best friend. "D-Danzo…?"

"Hiruzen," was his soft reply as he started healing the bloodied fists with gentle, healing chakra, sending soothing chakra throughout his body and calming him down (slightly). "I heard about the news…" His eyes flickered hesitantly to Hiruzen's father, who was still oblivious to everything around him, cloaked in a world of unconsciousness and nothingness. "I-I'm sorry…" He stuttered out, "…that this had to happen…" His eyes hardened, expected from a shinobi, "But reacting like this won't honor your father. Instead, get up and make him proud by showing how strong you are. Both mentally and physically." Harsh, but necessary to make his friend realize that things weren't all downhill. "You act as if he had died while he is still here, breathing. Granted, he is in a comatose state but that's better than a dead father." His voice grew softer at the end and he looked down, repressing hurtful memories.

Hiruzen was verbally shocked, his head jerked backwards as the voice of his best friend, replayed inside of his mind, jabbing him. "I-I…" He knew his best friend had lost his father, both of his parents during the warring clans and he was acting like a drama queen. There was still hope for his father while Danzo wouldn't be seeing his parents anymore. "Y-You're right…" A shuddering breath escaped his lips, "…the candle is still flickering."

There still was hope left.


Madara stared with hardened eyes at his best friend and then averted his eyes to his most trusted advisor- his brother. "This is starting to look bad, Hashirama."

"…I know," his best friend replied solemnly, his fists clenched as he looked through the window, Konoha looking calm and peaceful on the surface but on the inside things were brewing badly.

Look underneath the underneath, was a lesson he had taught Hiruzen very well, his future Hokage candidate, while Madara took Kagami as his future Hokage candidate. At the end of their career, they would be testing the two on every skill and depending on the results, one of those two would be granted the position of the Nidaime Hokage. Hopefully.

But things were looking very grim. At that moment, a familiar chakra signature flickered slightly and then Hashirama's brother appeared, through the aid of his Space-time Ninjutsu, which he had perfected even more with the aid of Shisui's Hiraishin no Jutsu. His face looked calm but Hashirama could feel the tension and pure frustration rolling off his shoulders, something which the Uchiha brothers didn't miss either. Worriedly, he asked quickly for the welfare of his spouse and best friends, "How are they faring?"

"Shisui is closing herself off and blaming herself for everything. Mito is unresponsive to everyone around her, Akhiko…-" He clenched his fists tightly, inwardly roaring from fury. "-is still sleeping through this all. And Sasuke is in a comatose state." Tobirama's voice was calm and collected but he could see that this bothered his brother more than he cared to show, especially the fact that the person he loved was closing herself off.

Hashirama was so angry with himself for letting this happen to his family. Even with all the emotional turmoil inside of him, he couldn't show this to his villagers who were all worried about the health of his spouse. He had told them a lie (for the greater good!) and said that they had caught the flu. He gritted his teeth, feeling so useless at the moment. "I-I…" When suddenly Madara put a hand on his shoulders, he blinked his eyes a couple of times.

"My friend, go to your wife. She needs you." He suggested helpfully.

His breath hitched in his throat and with a grateful nod, he shunshined towards his crying wife, ready to support her through these hard times. He knew this was a one-time chance only because after this, things had to change seriously. Because he still had the role of a Hokage to fulfill but for now he could fulfill his role as a husband and a father.

Madara looked at his brother and then at the frustrated Tobirama, who was practically ready to rip off someone's legs. "Tobirama, go see if you can find out more about this Kakuzu spy."

"With pleasure." Tobirama smirked in delight, thinking of ways to get the man spill out every little precious information he had. He was the ANBU-Commander, and as his duty, he had to make sure that he got all the needed information on this spy that had infiltrated and impersonated his girlfriend, who was in a mess because of this. After this, he would talk to her, even if she wanted alone time. He would talk to her, if it was the last thing he would do,

Talk he would do.

Sending his little brother a tired look, he spoke softly, "Go and check imouto. I wish I could go with you but as you can see, I can't. A Hokage has to be present at all time. I'll check on her after Hashirama gets back."

"Aniki…," Izuna called out softly, and Madara could see the vulnerability that had once swirled inside of his youthful, innocent eyes but it was gone after a blink of his eyes. And he was wondering if he did in fact saw that side of Izuna. Because to be frank, he knew his brother well, just not well enough since Izuna tended to hide his real emotions, even from him and Shisui. "Do you…- Never mind." He shook his head and was ready to flicker towards his emotionally distressed sister.

But Madara stopped him, "No, tell me what you intended to tell me." He tried to minimize the hopeful sound in his voice.

"It's nothing, aniki." When his brother's unbelieving eyes stared at him, he repeated firmly, "Really."

If there was one thing Madara was not, was giving up easily. Hell, he was as stubborn as a mule, especially when it came down to his small ring of loved ones. His grip on his brother's arm tightened and he made sure that Izuna couldn't utilize chakra throughout his system through the aid of a sealing jutsu, "Izuna." He spoke in irritated knowingness, eyes narrowed. "Tell me."

Izuna sighed, knowing that it was useless to argue because Madara wouldn't tolerate a 'no' as an answer, "…I-I…" He took a deep breath, ignoring the painful jolt through his heart, "Bad things are going to happen…" Quieter, "I can feel the tension boil unnoticing underneath the surface…it's growing in an agitated pace, aniki…"

Madara closed his eyes and did something that even surprised Izuna, his flesh and blood, he hugged his little brother, comforting him with his presence, "Otouto, I promise with my entire life that I will do everything to protect you and imouto." His arms tightened around his arm as a gurgling Izuna appeared in front of his eyes and he closed his eyes off, shutting those gruesome images away. That won't happen ever again! Not on his watch. "…the two of you are everything to m-me." He finished sincerely, his voice shaking at the end.

…Izuna, too shocked by this emotional voicing, could only grab his brother's kimono and hug him back, mumbling, "…aniki." just like he used to do when he was little and distraught.


The smell was like acid, eating her throat away, burning her nose.

She threw up, grabbing the toilet tightly, "…why?"

Her neck was so stiff from this uncomfortable position and she had difficulty breathing but the most painful thing coursing throughout her entire body was her heart that was hurting like never before. She couldn't recount the time that she was here, throwing and heaving the content of her stomach.

Eyes grew wide and then the screaming started, "N-No! G-get her away from me!" A loud plea, begging to be helped, and the terrified voice was crushing her heart.

She was viewed as a monster, ready to gut him with a kunai…but she had never done such inhumane things, nonetheless to this person who was precious to her. Yet, Fate decided to be a cruel bitch and used her as a source of entertainment,

…again.

"N-No…Akhiko-kun, listen to m-" "NO! D-Don't hurt me!" His eyes grew even more and his breath got ragged, he leaned to the side and vomited blood, the stress getting to him. Soon enough, he was screaming and trashing wildly against the hold of the medics, one of which she happened to be but it seemed her mere presence was making things incredibly difficult, no, worse.

Another blood gurgling scream that pained her ears, "Monster! Get away from me!" He trashed even wilder than before, his eyes rolling backwards as his body convulsed and the medics were forced to push her out the room, which saddened them beyond imagination. This was their shishou for Kami's sake.

Senju Toka and Uchiha Rya, along with Uchiha Setsu took the lead and started treating the boy who was in critical danger.

…Shisui could only slid against the door, her quiet sobs not reaching the chaos behind her.

"…please…" She pleaded in a quiet whisper, wanting this all to be a hallucination, or a nightmare. She just wanted to wake up the next morning, wishing that everything would go back to normal.

She felt the ripple in the air when somebody flickered in the bathroom, having found her chakra signature and she wasn't surprised when she felt Izuna's chakra flicker in worry. Her stomach churned nauseating and she threw up but this time, she didn't threw up the contents of her empty stomach, no, she threw up blood and then proceed to faint, worrying the alarmed Izuna even more.

The first thing he did was assessing her himself, his medical skills weren't as perfectly honed as her but he had trained his Kenjutsu skills far better than her. Still, his medical knowledge wasn't to be laughed about, especially when his sister had drilled the more advanced medical jutsu's inside his brain where he could keep the healing glow on even when he was sleeping.

Well, he was bluffing but it did happen one time! He was sleep-walking and had activated his healing chakra on accident and then proceed to heal his big brother, whom had been scared to wits about this fact. Really, waking up to someone infiltrating your body, your entire chakra system, wasn't viewed as a mere play. To ninja's this could mean their death.

Reverting back to the situation at hand, Izuna acted quickly and found her to be in slight shock, body malnourished, deprived from food and water, and even sleep, according to the bags decorating her face.

"Imouto, don't you dare leaving us, leaving me." He muttered under his breath, keeping himself steady as his warm chakra invaded her chakra system without kicking him out and marking him as an intruder. Her body was used to his chakra after many repeated attempts of healing her.


"I-It's not f-fair…why d-id this have to h-happen?" A weak voice asked in a pained voice.

What could he answer to that?

Absolutely nothing. So instead, he hugged her even more, whispering soothing words into her ear- the words that she wanted to hear. "He'll be fine, Mito-chan. We'll be fine." He corrected quickly, resting his chin on her head as he heard the quiet sobs and cries from his best friend, flinching every time she puked. It was a painful choice he had to make- his wife or his best friend…

Of course, Madara had known about this and had sent Izuna towards Shisui but when things had gone awfully quiet, he had started to get agitated, growing restless but he had to be here for his wife. He was sure that Izuna had everything under control.

He knew that the Uchiha would help Shisui.

Hushing his crying wife, he glanced at his pale son, praying that he would recover from this traumatic event. He was sure that he would need a lot of time to heal, especially when it concerned Shisui's presence. He had to see and feel that Shisui wouldn't hurt him, that it was an impostor, using Shisui's body…

…but he was still a child, and children were very prone to vulnerability.

And Shisui was taking it worse than everyone else. He had talked to her, tried to convince her that none of it was her fault. Yet, the Uchiha was adamant about it and had closed herself off from him.

Things were looking bad for Konoha too. How much had this Kakuzu persona found out about their SS-rank secret? How in the name of Kami had he even known that there was an SS-rank secret going on in Konoha?

He could only fear the worst.


Red, demonic eyes pierced tired, green ones, "I'll enjoy breaking you slowly on." The Senju hissed darkly and clenched his fist, pleased with the pained scream that tore from the infiltrators' chapped, bloodied lips.

Blood spurted out from the man through his pores and Tobirama smirked in glee as the man stubbornly kept fighting against it. However, the torture was too much for him, an elite, and he couldn't help but elicit a blood-gurgling scream.

…and Tobirama watched, dissatisfaction curling inside of him. He wouldn't stop until his lust was satiated.


Madara rubbed his temples, glancing down at the papers on his desk. It was irking him that he couldn't be there for his sister but then again, life was a bitch, just like Kami and Karma itself.

But what he feared the most was Takigakure…

And the other villages. Did Takigakure send information towards the other villages? Kakuzu was a hard nut to break but he was confident in Tobirama's abilities, that man could torture a person without killing him…and his techniques were…refined and very intricate.

He shuddered, thinking how the white-haired Senju showed him his special torturing techniques. It was downright disgusting but he was used to gruesome things so it didn't bother him that much.

Then his mind went back to the situation at hand…

It was starting to worry him to no end…and when things started to worry Uchiha Madara, shit was about to happen.

…but moreover, he could smell… war.