A.N.

If you have not kept up with the manga from here on out there may be spoilers.

Disclaimer: Naruto does NOT belong to me.

Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga and/or anime are completely original.

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"Can you sense him?" was all he said. And it suddenly dawned on her.

A couple of minutes ago…when she had felt uneasy, like something was amiss, all that time it had been Neji. Sayuri closed her eyes focusing on his chakra alone but didn't find it. She tried again, again, but the result was the same. He wasn't amongst the ninja fighting against the Juubi's spawn.

"I would suggest you look over there." She watched Obito nod to his left. Turning her head slowly, her eyes scanned past the few ninja that were left to the very back where several ninja lay dead. Among them she recognized Neji's characteristic long brown hair, and Konoha vest. A strangled sob escaped her lips as she slowly released the man below her.

"Pity, he was such a great ninja too." Sayuri whipped her head back to the man in anger and froze as his Sharingan began to spin. Her hands fell to her sides uselessly and her body relaxed. "You make it too easy." He said as the girl robotically moved off of him. Obito stood with much effort and suddenly coughed into his hand. He held his wound and looked into Sayuri's half lidded eyes. "Let's get started."

Blame

It's my fault…

Her voice echoed all around her. She lay on her back, brown eyes staring up at the bright white space.

It wasn't supposed to be like this…

A lone tear rolled down her cheek. Her body trembled as she struggled to keep herself from sobbing. She clenched her fists at her side until she felt the sting of her nails dig into her palm.

If I hadn't left…If had stayed then…

She took a deep breath and that's when she saw him. Standing before smiling down at her, with that peculiar smile of his, the one he'd give her. He stood before her safe, healthy, unharmed, and most importantly alive.

That was when everything around her crashed down. The image she had of him cracked here and there, until it suddenly fell along with the rest of the room. Like breaking mirrors, everything crashed down leaving her floating in a pitch black void. And all the while she felt like she deserved it.

She had failed him, when he had not. She was not there with him, like he had been with her. At that, she let out a small whimper that slowly turned into sobbing. Hot tears ran down her cheeks, she felt like a lump had formed in her throat and wouldn't allow her to scream. Her entire body shook from the despair that she felt and at the moment that was all there was left for her.

Despair, anguish, misery, and pain.

Neji.

XXX

Obito stared down at the blank girl that waited for her orders and began to chuckle. It wasn't until he doubled over in pain that he stopped. It was funny how things worked out in the end.

Ten years ago he had been looking for what Madara had called, "A crucial piece of the puzzle." That piece turned out to be the container of the Juubi. They needed someone that could hold the Juubi's power and not be overwhelmed by it. They needed someone that had moldable chakra, someone easy to influence.

So Obito spend a good five years looking for their "crucial piece" and it wasn't until he thought he would never find it, that he found her laying in the middle of a green field staring up at the clouds as they lazily float across the bright blue sky. At first he thought it was a mistake until he activated his Sharingan and saw that her chakra fluctuated with that of her environment.

He had planned on taking her. Mold her into a perfect shinobi. Make it so that she would do anything he asked of her without question. But when the time passed and he could not convince the girl to go to him on her own, and when taking her by force had also failed, Obito settled on watching her every move. He tracked her development and watched her grow through the eyes of the one person she would never doubt.

He glanced up at the immobile girl. "Take me to the top of the Juubi's head." He instructed. Quickly the girl pulled an arm around her shoulders and leapt off with him. Once at his desired location, Obito sank down to his knees and began forming seals.

It was almost time.

XXX

"He took her!" Moriyo exclaimed. Most of the ninja had already marched on ahead. Her dark hair stuck to her face due to the sweat that rolled down her cheeks. She was getting ready to rush towards Sayuri when she felt a sharp sting on the back of her neck. The woman turned back to see Kenji with a saddened look on his face. "…Kenji?" the woman fell on her side and watched the young man approach her slowly.

"I'm sorry Moriyo…" he kneeled down before her and gently pushed her unto her back. "I had to do it. I'm so sorry."

"Kenji…what?" she felt heavy. Her orange eyes were becoming unfocused, ironically that was when she noticed that the monsters the Juubi created weren't attacking him; they were attacking the people around him. "How…?"

"Obito had recruited me years ago…after Kaminari's death. I had been in charge of making sure she'd be ready for when this day finally came." The man sighed sadly and chanced a look over his shoulder where he could spot Sayuri standing beside Obito. "That's why I asked you to return to the village during her Chunin exams, because you were the only one that could have trained her well enough so that she may reach her true potential."

Moriyo tried to move but couldn't. Soon she would lose consciousness and she wouldn't be able to protect the young girl anymore. The memory of a stern blonde man came to mind. Saito…she thought.

A few days before Saito died he had been visibly disturbed by something but the man wouldn't say what. Could he have known?

"Saito…" Moriyo breathed out.

Kenji looked away. "He found me out. I had to get rid of him."

Moriyo felt herself grow cold. This man, whom she had been in the academy with, who had grown up with her, and eased her worries, was really a traitor.

"I'm sorry, Moriyo."

Moriyo felt her eyelids grow heavy until all she could see was black.

XXX

Obito cast a glance to Madara who stared down at them curiously. This is it…He thought to himself. He knew the time would soon come, in which Madara would use him to resuscitate himself. The Uchiha winced as he robotically raised his two hands and formed the same seal as Madara.

At first he was fine with it. He didn't have much to live for…right? He sensed Sasuke and Naruto quickly approaching him and grimaced as he felt a sharp tug coming from Madara's manipulation.

Sasuke jumped into the air, his Susanoo taking form around him as it raised its bow and arrow, aiming it at Obito.

"Sayuri!" He called.

In a matter of seconds Sayuri stood directly in the arrows path, hands at her side as she stared up blankly at the incoming attack. Sasuke, noticing her sudden appearance, and just barely managed to divert the arrows trajectory by a few inches, the arrow striking the Juubi causing it to howl in pain.

Cursing under his breath, the young Uchiha landed on the Juubi's head and rushed at Obito. He needed to stop him from fully reviving Madara. Just as he was about to reach him, Sayuri came across his line of vision, rushing at him, katana in hand. She leapt into the air and struck down missing Sasuke by a hairs length. She quickly spun on the balls of her feet and proceeded to strike again. This time managing to scratch his arm, she lifted the sword above her head and was about to strike down when he pulled out his Kusanagi and blocked the blow.

"…Sayuri…" He hissed as he pushed back against her. The brunette, however, only gave him a blank stare, unlike the one she had given him whenever she had been with Itachi. This was different, it was almost as if she was no longer there. He risked a glare at Obito. What the hell did he do?! He asked himself.

Sayuri pushed off against him and made her sword disappear. It was at that moment that he noticed the summoning markings on her wrists. She quickly summoned two kunai and threw them at him before heading towards him, fist pulled back. He turned on his heel as she attempted to strike his head with her fist, and grabbed hold of her wrist. He twisted her arm and pinned it behind her back, pulling her towards him as she struggled to break free.

Obito glanced at the two teens and frowned. Sayuri wasn't delivering any killing blows…subconsciously she could still recognize Sasuke and that wouldn't do them any good. But what did it matter anyway. Right?

Soon Madara will be resuscitated and then controlling the Marihasha would be his problem…The older Uchiha thought.

He began to recall Rin, Kakashi, and his sensei. At a time before everything became a tangled mess. Back when everything was simpler. And he recalled his old dream. That's right. He had wanted to become Hokage when he was younger. But why was he remembering all this now? It didn't matter anymore. Rin was dead and he no longer was the same person he was all those years ago.

Obito's eyes widened as he felt a sharp stinging pain across his chest. He looked up and saw the Fourth Hokage, his old teacher, standing before him, holding a bloody kunai looking at Obito in shock.

"Sensei…" Obito began but soon fell to the ground. Minato on the other hand pulled back and watched in shock, his kunai dripping with his student's blood.

"Obito…it was you?" the blonde man asked, recalling that he had marked the masked man that had attacked his village and his family sixteen years ago.

Beside him, Sasuke pushed Sayuri forward, tightening his grip every time she tried to squirm away. "Remove the genjutsu, now." He ordered glaring daggers at the fallen man.

"It's over for you." Sasuke responded. "All we need is to seal that zombie and the war will be over. We'll take care of this giant too." He tightened his grip on Sayuri's arm as she tried to pull away once more. "I'm telling you one last time Obito…remove the genjutsu."

The bleeding man smirked. "How can you be sure that the war will end?" Both Sasuke and Minato looked down at the man. Suddenly Sayuri elbowed Sasuke's abdomen, pivoted on her heel and sent the Uchiha flying across the Juubi's white head. Alarmed Minato got ready for an attack that never came. Obito was the girl's objective as she quickly picked him up and pulled the man unto the Juubi's back.

She placed him down and moved directly in front of him. Minato's eyes widened as he watched Obito turn the girl and place a hand on Sayuri's abdomen. Behind him Sasuke grunted as he pulled himself up.

"He's planning on sealing the Juubi in Sayuri!" Yelled the Namikaze. "…We have to stop him!"

Sasuke tensed at the idea. What would happen if she had the Juubi? Wouldn't it consume her?

"Shit!" he cursed as he leapt after the two. He had promised to protect her when she was younger, he had made it his duty to make sure she was safe, but all he had really done was fail her time and time again.

When her mother had died, Itachi had saved her. When he father and clan were murdered, Itachi had been there. When Itachi erased her memory, Neji had been there. When she joined the academy, Neji had been there. There was always someone else there for her when it should have been him.

He should have stayed in the village, instead he left it, his lust for power being stronger than the feelings he garnered for Sayuri. He should have returned after finding out the truth about his brother, instead he remained with their current enemy, this time, vengeance, winning over Sayuri. Something was always more important she was. He had been selfish since day one.

When he met her he had been selfish and wanted her attention all to himself. When she lost all she had, he felt that she was a lost cause; that she would never return to being his Sayuri. When she lost all her memories, and he all his family, not once did she pop into his head, instead he pitied himself and pushed the thought of her to a far off corner. When they were placed in the same team together he thought that things would go back to how they were; that she would once again give him attention. When he left the village he didn't think about her and how she would deal with his sudden departure, and when he found out the truth about his brother he thought that his anger and that his sadness was far greater than any others that he didn't stop to consider her and her anger and her sadness.

It had always been him. But not anymore.

Sasuke Uchiha turned on his heel and slashed through one of the monsters that the Juubi had sent his way. He quickly evaded each one as he headed full speed towards Sayuri and Obito.

"Sayuri!"

XXX

"Sayuri!"

The brunette gasped hearing her name being called out.

Sasuke…? Once again her voice echoed through the vast darkness.

She tried to sit up but found that she couldn't. Frowning she tried to lift her hands but found it impossible. Out of nowhere she began to feel something warp itself around her wrists, and legs pulling down on her to keep her from moving. In a panic she began to struggle against them only managing to make her arms twitch at the effort.

Sayuri winced as she felt a sharp pull down towards the center of the dark room.

Shit! She cursed. What the hell was happening out there? What had Obito done to her?

From the corner of her eye she could see a blue orb slowly manifest itself before everything froze. She no longer felt herself being pulled down. She was once again floating and looking at the blue light as it neared her.

XXX

Obito ignored the incoming Uchiha as well as the tug of Madara's chakra, only bothering to concentrate on his own chakra. Before him Sayuri began to sway and began to fall back, as if the strings that were holding her up had been suddenly cut.

"Sorry, Madara…" Obito smirked. "…But plans change." He didn't want to die just yet. He smirked as the Juubi began to expand before suddenly imploding causing a large amount of dust to accumulate in the air.

Seeing the brunette fall, Sasuke made a leap for her and managed to pull her against him before he too began to fall back along with Minato who had seen everything from atop of the Juubi's head.

Behind them Gamikichi leapt up into the air, with Naruto atop of his head. The blonde teen caught his friends with ease and placed them beside him.

"He blocked Madara's attempt at controlling him because this is what he wanted from the start!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sayuri was only a decoy to set his plan into motion."

"And that is?" Sasuke asked as he looked to where the dust had begun to settle. Before them was a floating Obito, skin white as paper and hair color to match.

"To become the Juubi's Jinchuuriki!"

All of a sudden a pillar fell from above Obito, one after another all curtsey of the first Hokage. For a second it seemed as if the First's seal would hold but it proved to be wrong, as Obito easily broke free. Suddenly four chakra hands stretched out from Obito's back and pulled the barrier that surrounded them apart. He then landed on Gamakichi's Scroll starling the three shinobi atop of the giant toad.

"Stop it Obito, that's enough!" Minato ordered his former student but the order fell on deaf ears.

"O..bi..to…?" the man repeated, tilting his head to a side, clearly confused.

"I'll say this bluntly…" Said the first Hokage as he along with the second, third, and Yūkan landed between them and the man. "He is much stronger than me."

"I know this may sound rude…but you are correct." Yūkan replied. "Even if you all canceled your clones, you still wouldn't have enough chakra to beat him."

"But maybe if we all work together we could…"The Third Hokage grimaced when he saw Yūkan shake his head. The Marihasha had always been straightforward, and rarely was he wrong. The fact that he was disagreeing with him was disheartening.

"Watch out!" Yūkan barely managed to warn before Obito was on the move.

The Hokage barely had any time to react. By the time they realized what was going on, Obito had cut through Hashirama and Tobirama in one move.

"Saru, Fourth, Yūkan, jump!" Tobirama ordered before he began to use his body to wrap itself around the pale man.

The men moved quickly, getting away from the two as a series of explosions took place where they once stood.

"What the hell is going on?!" Naruto yelled as he fell on his back after Gamakichi jumped back.

"Don't lose focus, and keep watching!" Minato ordered his son.

"Is she ok?" Yūkan asked Sasuke who held Sayuri to him. The Uchiha nodded as he sat up and placed her beside him.

Upon hearing another explosion, they all looked up to see Obito holding the Third's head before he took him out, the old man's body falling back with a dull thud.

"Dad couldn't you have made the Third jump with us as well?" asked Naruto concerned with what he just saw.

"Stop complaining." Sasuke ordered his old teammate. "The Hokage are all Edo Tensei. They know they can't die that's why they're out there approaching him on purpose to study his moves."

"He's right." Minato agreed. "I should go over there and create a distraction." The older blonde got ready to move when Obito turned to them and began flying over. However his body suddenly began to inflate like a balloon and the Uchiha fell to the ground.

"He's still trying to get used to his body." Minato noted.

Yūkan's red eyes narrowed at Obito's general area. "There's something wrong…" The Marihasha tensed up in a second and quickly picked up his daughter. "He's below us!"

"What?!" Gamakichi exclaimed, barely able to jump out of the way as Obito's torso emerged from the ground.

Yukan landed a few feet away, atop of the rubble when his daughter caught his eye. His eyes widening as she opened hers. Below them Naruto, who had fallen off his summon, began to fall to the ground when Obito looked up and was about to attack him, until Sasuke with his Susanoo stopped the man from killing the blonde.

"Not you…" Sasuke glared at the man. "I will delete the past." He announced. Behind him a surprised Naruto stood.

Delete the past? The blonde wondered before the two were pushed back as Obito grabbed hold of their heads. Two of the black orbs that he had floating behind him moved forward towards the back of his palms, ready to strike the two teens.

Just as Obito began to get the attack ready the ground below him exploded pushing him back and away from the boys. He looked on in shock as Minato yanked them back to safety.

"Dad did you do that?" Naruto asked his father once he was on his feet, referring to the explosion that saved their lives in the nick of time.

He shook his head. "No…it wasn't me."

"Then…who was it?" Naruto wondered in confusion.

Sasuke's Sharingan began to spin as he scanned the area, his attention drawn to his right where Sayuri stood in front of her father who looked surprised.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking over the boys shoulder and staring up at Sayuri. "What's—" he began but was cut short when Obito decided that moment to launch himself at them once again, arms outstretched.

In a matter of seconds Sayuri appeared before them, arm raised, palm up sending the Jinchuuriki crashing back with a strong wind pulse. Behind her Naruto and Sasuke stared in shock. Never had their friend been able to that, especially without forming hand seals beforehand.

"Sayuri…?" The blonde was the first to speak but received no response.

"Yūkan!" Minato exclaimed as the Marihasha landed beside him. "Thank goodness your daughter stopped him, I thought I wasn't going to be able to move us in time." Minato began to laugh but quickly stopped when he noticed his friends serious expression.

"She is not my daughter."

Naruto turned to the Clan head in shock. "What…?! Then who else would she be?!"

XXX

Hashirama and Madara clashed with one another. The two had been fighting since Tobirama tried to take Obito down. One had a mad grin on his face while the other glared. The two struggled against the force of the other until the two felt a new source of chakra.

Hashirama gasped while Madara looked up, both pushing back against each other, skidding to a stop. The Senju looked over his shoulder, brow furrowed in concern while the Uchiha looked on in surprise.

"…Hino…"

A.N.

I'M ALIVE!

Please don't hate me. College life is not easy. I've been taking upper level courses, and working so I don't have as much free time as I used to. This chapter has been given me so many problems too…I really do hope you guys like it.

I have not given up on this story! I will finish it! I promise.

Thank you so much for reading. I really do appreciate it.

Comments? Concerns? Please Review :)