I do not own Naruto. I do, however, own Chiyuki, any original characters, and this story's plot.

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Killing a young girl is all it took for her to become a villain, and if the world had been aware of that, maybe it would have made her kill one sooner - a 'what if' AU.

(takes place right after chapter 32 of BH101.)

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TW: violence, death.

dance around the fire

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Sarutobi Chiyuki is twelve years old when she kills a child during the Third Shinobi War.

She's no stranger to killing - no, far from that. Graduating the Academy at seven and being thrown at the frontlines a few months later had taught her how to kill swiftly and efficiently, how to burn or bury a body so there was no evidence, and how to exchange the corpse at the hunter-nin's office in case it had a bounty.

Most of the ones she'd killed had been ninja, but some had been civilians. Mercenaries. Bandits.

Victims.

Then she kills a girl no older than ten years old, and a part of her dies too.

Perhaps the infamous Sarutobi Princess wasn't as strong and powerful as she seemed to be, if killing a young girl was all it took for her to throw her plans out of the window and take the easy way out.

She could, of course, continue on her path to becoming Hokage. She already had enough support, she just had to wait until she was old enough to do so, training and gaining allies whenever the opportunity arose. She'd bid her time, honing her abilities and becoming as strong as possible, extending her influence far and wide, until there was no one who didn't respect (and fear) the Godaime Hokage, the Iron Demon.

'What, then?'

Would peace treaties be enough to stop human greed? Would alliances be enough to heal old grudges and bury distorted truths? Was it not human nature to yearn for more and more, until there was absolutely nothing left to take?

Chiyuki uses Chou to reach out to Madara.

The Uchiha, true to his wit and intelligence, carves up a beautifully laid plan, one that involves a surprise attack of the White Zetsu army a few weeks later. Her performance is Oscar-worthy, if she does say so herself, and for a grand total of three seconds, Sarutobi Chiyuki is really, truly dead.

She comes back to life gasping and clutching at her chest, ignoring the amused look Black Zetsu sends her. She's then taken to the small cave where the Ghost of the Uchiha is hidden, old body connected to the Demon Statue of the Outer Path. Both he and Black Zetsu grin at her wickedly, but she does not react.

The ash blonde child becomes Madara's longed for proxy.

She gives both him and Zetsu the pleasure of thinking they both have the upper hand, and sets out to do what she must do. She lets the Kyubi loose, killing Minato and Kushina. Madara kills Yahiko. She then recruits the members of the Akatsuki, one by one, except for Itachi. She gives Chou the most awful, most vile of tasks, and gives her memories of Konoha in exchange for a job well done.

She does not need them anymore, and ignores the pang in her chest everytime she thinks of the people she'd left behind.

'Chiyuki' dies, and in her place, 'Sen' is born - Sen, the mysterious leader of the Akatsuki, the Thousand-Eyed Demon, the one who is rumored to be as strong as a thousand shinobi.

Sen is twenty six years old when Madara completes the Eye of The Moon Plan, and shortly after, she kills him.

He'd been a fool when he'd given her the rinnegan, when he'd taught her to mold the iron in someone's blood vessels, and when he'd given her the means to break off of a sharingan-induced genjutsu.

The woman kills Madara, once and for all, and destroys the Demon Statue, because they've both served their purpose. She kills the White Zetsu army, because there may be many, but the Uchiha had been methodic and throughout in his training, and he'd made sure she knew just how strong iron could be against something as breakable as wood.

Sen kills Black Zetsu, because fuck Kaguya, goddess or not. He puts up a good fight, but in the end, she'd taken to the rinnegan like a fish to water, the doujutsu easy and right on her face, and only then does he see the mistake he and Madara committed in betting all their money on her, and the absolute monster they created.

Sen kills and kills and kills, and when the Infinite Tsukuyomi reflects off the moon, she doesn't even notice the people she'd once held dear looking at her in horror, because she doesn't remember them.

(The world drowns peacefully in a pool of all the spilled blood - red and warm.)

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Note: The Chi in Chiyuki is written like 千 (thousand) and it has two possible readings: chi, or sen.