Daisuke rose slowly to sit up on his futon. Morning had already passed yet he knew the war was still raging at the borders. Looking down at his hands he could still see the blood smeared on them even though it had been days since then. Bright red, slick, and sticky. The blood that belonged to his best friend, the one person that he knew would always have his back. Blood that poured like a river onto him as he tried everything to stop it. Nothing stopped it and he knew he was screaming but the memories remained fussy. Until they become clear and from that moment on he could remember everything.

The way his eyes burned. The way Eizan looked at him with that stupid smile. Telling him it was alright. To leave him, because both of them knew the gaping hole in his stomach was enough reason and with no medic nearby there was no saving him. Nothing about his best friend dying was right. Yet, it made the Elders happy.

"Stop being stubborn, baka!" Eizan shouted, slapping Daisuke. "Go! Get the others out of here while we can."

Daisuke not yet knowing the way his eyes now bleed red with the Sharingan as tears fell freely. "I am NOT leaving you, asshole!" Eizan groaned from the pressure Daisuke put on the wound as shouts and cries rang all around them of the battle that still raged.

Taking a fist full of Daisuke's armor that was once Madara's and shoving him away. "Daisuke! Leave! As your commanding officer I am ordering you to retreat! They ambushed us. We're outnumbered!"

Daisuke scowled at his friend. "Outnumbered!? I'll show them who really is outnumbered! Setsuya! Stay with this asshole!" Red eyes burned and spun already with all three tomoes.

"Daisuke! Stop!" Eizan coughed tasting iron on his tongue as Daisuke ignored him and raced back into battle with a rage filled scream. The control Daisuke always had over his facial features was gone. Instead of smooth blank it was now a fierce and bloodlusted look that was only enhanced by the red eyes of his Dojutsu. He truly looked like a demon out for vengeance as he unsealed his father's gunbai.

They may have been young when Madara had left the village but they were old enough to remember much of the man. In this moment, Daisuke was an echo of who Madara was in battle as he tore into the enemy. Fireballs were flung all around lighting up the night so bright many had to shield their eyes on both sides. By the time the enemy was retreating Daisuke stood in the center of it all chest heaving, gunbai stuck with the top into the ground, and kama held at the ready in his other hand. Blood covered him as bodies of their enemies lay around his feet.

"Daisuke! Eizan is convulsing!" Setsuya shouted, snapping the teen out of his rage-filled mind. Not a second later, Gunbai and kama abandoned to the ground, Daisuke was kneeling besides Eizon taking a hand into his. Eizan coughed hard, letting blood seep down his chin as he bore into Daisuke's sharingan eyes. "T-tell Kaa-chan…I'm sorry..a-and I love her. K-keep her…com..company."

Tears fell steadily while squeezing the hand he held, not noticing the three other members of their group kneeling around them as well. "You asshole. I would never let Mito-kaa-chan be alone. She's just as much my kaa-chan and my own kaa-chan."

Eizan tried to smile but came out looking like a grimace. "I know, b-baka."

It was moments later Eizan stopped breathing and Daisuke could remember taking him into his arms in a tight embrace and screaming out into the sky, They had lost five comrades that night. What should have been a simple supply run to the outposts turned into a deadly battle to fend off invaders so far into their lands.

He could still remember the look on Mito when he had to hand over the scroll containing his best friend and just collapsed into her arms as they both cried. She had already lost Hashirama and her second eldest son, Youta, to this war. Youta's twin sister, Akino, had pretty much disappeared into the newly formed Anbu as one of the commanding officers making it seem as Mito had lost her as well. Rarely did the woman emerge from the dark depths as the death of her twin had crushed her soul. Much the same as Eizan's death ripping Daisuke's soul, he could understand why Akino lives in the shadows now.

Getting out of bed was a chore but he forced himself out of it. With feet dragging he made his way to the kitchen where he was met with the sight of Eriko sitting at the table with a warm cup of tea within her hands. She glanced up at him with a wane smile and held out a hand to him.

Emotions could not be contained as he moved to drop next to her. His face crumbled. "Kaa-chan!" He quickly wrapped his arms around her slim body and held her just as she did to him, moving a hand up and down his back as he sobbed. "I miss him so much, kaa-chan! I miss my best friend!"

"I know dear, I know. I miss Eizan also." she whispered back, kissing the top of his head before turning to lay her cheek there.