It had been a wonderful day.
It was the first day off Akane had taken since she was about nine years old. No training, no paperwork, no meetings with her people. She'd managed to shove off the responsibility for the festivities onto the council of clans-so any potential problems were her clan heads to deal with.
Akane had slept in with her husband. Coming awake to the sensation of Kotaro trailing kisses down her spine.
She had hogged him all morning-only letting him escape when he could no longer put off getting dressed for the entirely unnecessary ceremonial procession Madara had insisted upon. He usually hid his love affair with tradition fairly well, but every Uchiha had some kind of adoration for certain traditions-if not an outright fixation.
Akemi had adored complicated kimono ties. For Aiko it was the stereotypical Japanese breakfast, every morning-without fail since she had learned to cook for herself when they could afford it. For Akio, wearing Geta when he could get away with it. For Naoya, practicing calligraphy when he could convince himself he had a spare moment. For Junto it had been slurping his noodles as obnoxiously as humanly possible.
All Uchiha found something in their culture and traditions to hold on to. To ground themselves in their too short, too harsh lives.
Akane herself was a devout visitor of the clan shrine. What had begun as a desire to feel closer to her dead brother had evolved into spending time she didn't have burning incense and falling into a blank mental state for ten minutes at least three times a week, something Akane suspected was what had sustained her through the last twenty odd years.
Akane spent the sunset in the shrine-burning incense for her lost brother and thinking about what he would have thought of Konoha.
Meeting up with the rest of her family after had been fun. She couldn't remember the last time all of them had gathered, or rather-she was choosing not to. It was a good time, even her brother-in-law was around. Kei had become a rare sight once he moved out-she didn't really see him unless she needed him specifically and asked his sister to let him know.
But even people like Genji-the once blind Uchiha, who had become family by way of choice the way Samantha had once had a close knit group of friends, had gathered with them too. People she hadn't managed to just sit with and talk with outside of her duties for far too long.
Uncle Makoto especially, he was the same age her father would have been, and so she wasn't sure how much more time she had to spend with him.
The only person missing had been Haruki, something that hadn't really surprised Akane when she stopped to think about why that might be. It made her feel like a terrible aunt.
Hell-the whole wonderful evening had really rubbed her nose into what an absent family member and friend she had been the last few years. Akane resolved to do better-who was she working so hard to build a village for? It didn't make sense to ignore the people who drove her to build Konoha as doggedly as she did.
The Village did look magical in the lantern lights. Akane didn't think twice about it when a drunken Hashirama showed up to drag her to the top of the mountain overlooking the village-with an equally drunk, if quieter Madara in tow. Of course it wasn't just the three of them. Tobirama was there, his perpetual scowl gone for once, along with Mito-and the gorgeous love of Akane's life.
Watching Hashirama crow about Konoha to Madara was strangely cute, she kind of wanted to suggest he wanted his face on the mountain and see if she could get him to agree. She was pretty sure even Mito could be convinced to troll Hashirama and insist it had all been his idea and that he'd extracted promises from them to get it done with drunken enthusiasm.
But once they made it to the top-the sight stole her breath away.
Konoha was beautiful-soft lights nestled in a valley of trees. She had never known what a place could mean to her. What home meant to a shinobi, what peace could mean when you had grown up with war. Every second of the sweat, blood, and tears, even the aching of her ribs that would clearly never go away, the memories of being so weak and helpless, everything that it had taken to get to Konoha, everything-was worth it.
Akane had made it. She was keeping her people safe and sound, she even found someone to love who loved her in turn, even her family was growing-thriving.
It was the best day she'd ever had in her second life, so she stood on what would become the Hokage monument in time, basking in everything she'd managed to accomplish right along with Konoha's other founders and just soaked in the joy she felt.
So of course that was when the Kyuubi attacked-large Sharingan wheels spinning in its eyes.
They were backing up instinctively before they managed to actually react to the attack, Hashirama and Mito moving as one to try and restrain it-lashing out with tree branches and glowing chains respectively. Akane gathered her flame as Madara called up the armor of Susano. Tobirama drew a sword made of electricity.
Only the bindings didn't have a chance to take proper hold before they were being burned away with black flames.
The black fire could only mean one thing-an enemy Uchiha with the Mangekyo, and when their enemy revealed itself-that was exactly what it was.
It was Izuna, half absorbed into the blasted black plant thing that, having failed to corrupt her perfectly sane clan head, had clearly managed to go after and capture the Uchiha heir apparent.
Akanes' stomach sank at the sight-but things only went from bad to worse. Madara and Hashirama stepped forward to try and fight off the giant fox before it hit the village-but the rest of them weren't enough to hold back Izuna when he was throwing around black fire like he couldn't wait to lose his sight.
It was one of the Mangekyo secrets that Akane, past life memories aside, would have known anyway because there was little Naoya didn't tell her, and he had one of his own. Most Uchiha with the final form of their Sharingan tried to use its techniques as sparingly as possible-but Izuna, cloaked in the evil creature, had no choice in what he did.
You could see it in his lone visible eye-a soul deep horror as he struggled valiantly, if uselessly against the creature that was forcing him to attack his family and their allies.
Akane was fighting fire with fire before it could even occur to her how stupid an idea that was. Intercepting a stream of dark fire with her own that was headed towards Kotaro because there was no way in hell she would stand there and watch her husband be burned to death.
It also turned out not to be as dumb an idea as it sounded-her fire, usually a bright blue-glowed white as it dominated the Amaterasu technique. Akane could use her own flames to smother them-something that shouldn't have been possible, but Akane was too busy fighting to look that particular gift horse in the mouth. It worked, and as any shinobi would tell you-the why or how never mattered quite as much as the results.
With the discovery of her superior fire power the battle finally turned in their favor-Hashirama even ordered Tobirama away to evacuate the village, better safe than sorry was definitely something Akane could get behind-but Tobirama leaving had evidently not been part of the creatures plan because it turned to chase him and it chose to distract them with a Bijuu bomb.
For half a heartbeat-Akane figured she was done for, that they all might be, except that glowing blue chains wrapped around the thing as her beautiful, brave Kotaro used a seal that made the very air melt around him until he and the Bijuu bomb were both gone.
Kotaro was dead.
Akane held the knowledge outside of herself. She couldn't acknowledge it during battle-not when she was all that stood between her allies and the Amaterasu flames a possessed Izuna was still sending their way.
It was bad enough they were so close to the village, and only closer still as the Kyuubi continued its rampage and they failed to contain it-there was no stopping the attack until Izuna was down. Madara would not be using lethal force against his brother-Hashirama wouldn't either, Mito was too concentrated on stopping the possessed Bijuu.
Kotaro was dead.
Akane was a one trick pony-she could try burning the evil plant thing to ash-but she couldn't stop her violet flames once they started-She couldn't will her fire to burn as hot as it would and not burn Izuna as well.
Perhaps Tobirama could have used his lightning sword precisely enough to only harm the evil creature-but it was a slim chance, and Tobirama killing Izuna was the easiest way for the future Akane had been fighting against to make a reappearance.
She didn't make the mistake of trying to meet Izuna's eye. It wasn't a choice-not really, not once the nine tails started charging up another blast.
There wasn't another blast to contain it-and Akane was a one trick pony. She gathered her flames and pushed, rushing the creature and Izuna both-all it would take was a glancing blow-and she got it, but the moment Izuna was on fire the creature abandoned him and sunk into the ground.
Akane apologized.
Heart wrenching as Izuna's short scream was, there was understanding on his face in his last moments.
Akane didn't think she deserved it-but then, Kotaro had not deserved to die.
Without Izuna to free it, the Kyuubi was captured.
The thing was, with its capture-the future war was at their doorstep.
For the last five years Akane had been trying to figure out what spark would push Konoha into war-and the biggest contender had been the Kyuubi. Tailed beasts were considered mythical in the elemental nations-the closest they had ever come to being contained before Mito was some monk who had tried to hold the one tail. And that had failed after twelve years-something that made the rest of the world not even bother considering that the one tail was the weakest and they couldn't even contain it for a couple of years.
If a rival village suddenly captured the strongest of the tailed beasts-then it would be easy to talk everyone they had the slightest enmity with to band together to attack them-lest they managed to turn the power of the creature against them.
It even made some kind of sense when she thought Hashirama might see giving every other village a Bjuu would then keep the elemental nations at peace.
A ridiculous idea-but Hashirama made a habit of them, and it was hard for other shinobi to tell the difference when peace with the Uchiha and Konoha had once also been considered one of Hashirama's ridiculous ideas.
Akane had come up with a plan, with countermeasures that would hopefully make the incoming war less certain or maybe shorter.
There wasn't even a body for them to bury-so Kotaro's funeral wasn't particularly time sensitive. There would be time to tally their losses and grieve later, the moment Mito captured the Kyuubi they were on the clock.
"We need to hold a meeting about what to do with the Kyuubi," Akane was glad Tobirama had been the one to bring it up simply because she didn't want to.
Kotaro was dead, she'd just killed Izuna, and she couldn't even look at Madara, let alone address him along with everyone else.
But she would have to-that was part of the plan.
Akane listened faintly as the so-called inner circle of the village met in Hokage tower and caught up on the details of the attack.
Sana, thankfully alive, was the one to point out the obvious.
"Once the other villages learn of this they will declare war-Konoha will be considered too powerful."
It didn't take too long for Hashirama to come up with the oh so brilliant idea of a Kage meeting where he would hand out the other Bjuu like party favors in the hopes of making friends and keeping the peace.
"We need to let the nine-tails go." Akane said.
She had no idea what her face was doing, but it brought the room to a quiet and gave her the chance to repeat herself.
"So that another Uchiha can use it against us?" Tobirama scoffed from beside her. "We can't afford such an attack a second time."
Akane had struck him before she could make the conscious decision to do so.
"No." She said blankly, distantly surprised to find that she'd made contact and left a clear mark on Tobirama's cheek, "This isn't who you are. You're not going to risk everything we've worked so hard for the past five years on something as stupid as bigotry Tobirama-No."
Tobirama flinched like she'd struck him again-part of her wanted to, part of her wanted to stop talking, to let Hashirama's hair brained scheme be the plan they followed because Kotaro was dead and it was a Bijuu Bomb that killed him. She liked the thought of the nine tails locked away for as long as it took Naruto to be born and befriend it-she wanted to ignore all the other options.
But Akane couldn't quit now. She couldn't allow herself to fall into the trap of hatred the way Tobirama had-hatred had no end, the Kyuubi contained just meant it would be more easily found for any future attacks on Konoha. She knew that, her loathing helped no one-they had to do this properly, had to release the Kyuubi and work with Sanas plants to pretend they were trying to hide that they couldn't contain the Bjuu for less than a day.
It was the only way to convince the other villages they shouldn't be banding together against Konoha-or at least, keep whatever alliances they risked shallow and hopefully easily broken in the face of a protracted war.
"War is unavoidable now, even fending off the strongest of the tailed beast is going to be enough to drive the other villages to unite against us-but what choices we make now will dictate how long it lasts. Your solution might mean we never see an end to this war, Lord Hokage." Akane continued blithely.
Hashirama paled-the rest of the room didn't look much better. Because Akane was perfectly honest and she was the one in the room who knew how people, even those that were shinobi, thought best.
"Where would we release it?" Mito asked, sending the room into a flurry as they tried to figure out the least painful way to go about getting the creature as far from Konoha as possible.
Akane waited long enough so it looked like she'd just thought of the location she'd long selected, far away from any unfortunate civilians, but close enough to a shinobi clan that got by mostly through stealth and information brokering.
Madara had already broken the creature's genjutsu while Mito had been sucking it into the seal on her stomach, so Akane suggested they try to communicate with it and see if they could learn anything about the enemy that had attacked them.
Which was how Akane found herself with Hashirama and Mito as they released the nine tails.
"We apologize for the manner in which we removed your presence from our village, Lord Kyuubi." Akane said, before the fox got its bearings and lashed out at them reflexively.
"You, a worthless monkey-dares to adress me?" The fox spat with disdain.
It was still better than a Bjuu bomb, so Akane continued making her apologies and insisting they'd never meant any offense.
The giant nine tailed fox looked down at her, voice booming as it declared; "You loathe me with every fiber of your being-you're kind only asks for peace long enough to find a way to stab your enemies in the back."
The nine tails could sense hatred, Akane had forgotten about that. But it changed nothing, so Akane bowed once again and stuck to her party line, "I watched my husband die trying to contain one of your attacks, Lord Nine-Tails. While my mind understands that you participated in the attack under duress-my heart might never be able to make the distinction. I apologize if you find my emotions unpleasant-would you prefer to deal with another representative of Konoha?"
The Kyuubi snorted, an action that made the trees near its snout sway unsteadily, "It would be a waste of time-I haven't fallen low enough to ally myself with monkeys."
Akane kept herself in the oh so humble position she'd spent most of the conversation in, unsurprised by its words. Evidently all the good grace they would be getting from the fox was a ceasefire for letting it go willingly-then again, they were probably lucky it didn't seem to see being contained in the first place as enough reason to attack their village.
It also wasn't terribly helpful about the plant thing, although it did give them a name at least.
Zetsu-the bane of the Senju and the Uchiha. Now the bane of Konoha as well.
It took three weeks to have all of their funerals. The twins had lost their father, Emiko, Akira, and Madara, their brothers. Akane had lost her husband, and possibly her mind-once she could no longer deny the reality of the situation.
Kotaro was dead.
And Akane didn't even have the time to accept that and mourn him because even before they finished all of the funerals there was an emergency meeting called in Hokage tower. After five years of bending over backwards to avoid it-they could put it off no longer.
Konoha had received a declaration of war.
X
So shinobi WWI begins.
A lot of you guessed Kotaro's death coming and I will definitely give y'all the genre savvy prize of tipping my hat off to ya.
Next up we have Genji-the once blind Uchiha as when I tried writing Uncle Makoto it came out super flat and I just didn't like what I wrote so I'm moving some things around-lol. Also for those of you eagerly anticipating Tobirama he's our alternate POV after Genji, so you only got a couple more chapters to wait.
As always I appreciate the hell out of those of you who comment, please let me know what you think!!