"Sasuke, are you truly certain about your conclusion?" Sakura asked worriedly while following him through the gate of the Hypericum Shrine.

He informed her of the hunch he had after monitoring the situation. He was also looking after Kina as well. Not that he would ever admit that. After five days, things took an unexpected turn; Reishi got hurt and Sasuke carried him back to Sakura for healing.

He had gone to the mountain to pick up some medical herbs when he was shot by a long cylinder. The most violent noise of the explosion echoed through the forest. The stone managed to hit Reishi's feet while he was climbing a cliff. The rocks crumbled, making him fall for sixty feet or so, down to a creek bed covered in colorful flowers.

Luckily he hadn't sustained serious injuries, just a light brain concussion. Everything else was easily healed by Sakura. She warned him to get some rest and should be careful for the rest of the day. He happily thanked her but adamantly left to gather more herbs.

"You heard what Kina said, right?" asked Sasuke. As he had imagined, just now, Kina rushed over to him and told him what he already knew; some new corpses had been found.

Sasuke glanced around the garden and noticed Reishi preparing an infusion of medicinal herbs in a pot. When Reishi saw them pop out of nowhere, he was slightly surprised.

"It smells good. Are you brewing a medicament?" Sakura asked.

"No. I'm extracting a perfume from some insect called 'shogun fireflies'" he answered her, wiping the sweat from his forehead,

"I'm almost done with Sasuke's eye drops."

"We're leaving the village today," said Sasuke. Reishi, who was stirring the pot's contents with a wooden spatula, halted his hand and turned to them.

"Kina came to me before and told me about yesterday night's murder," he continued. Reishi's eyes betrayed a sign of worry.

"I came here to thank you and to give you back this," Sasuke pulled the waxed paper bag out of his pocket. Reishi immediately went pale and was surrounded by a dark and ominous atmosphere.

"I picked it up at the Mausoleum of the Thorny Mount when the corpses were found. It's the bag with your notebook and the piece of paper we gave you with Itaichi's handwritten note about the eye drops he received from you guys."

"Don't worry. We told no one..." said Sakura. Reishi held his breath for a while, and then he said;

"Then it wasn't a coincidence that you were the one that helped me yesterday."

"No, I had you followed," Sasuke answered.

"Yesterday night as well?"

"Yes. Let's just say it's because I don't want you to be caught. That's all."

"Why?" Reishi was confused.

"Maybe because I understand your disposition. Although you hate this village to death, you've always been enduring for Kina. The guys you killed yesterday are the ones that attacked you on the mountain, and I bet that all the people you've killed until now have done something horrible to you or your brother." Sasuke explained.

Sakura waited for Reishi's response. Sasuke informed her what he had found so far, but for her, it was hard to believe that Reishi was the murderer. Even though it did make sense, she felt like there was more to it than she and Sasuke knew. Reishi was keeping his head bowed and his shoulders started trembling. She thought he was crying at first, but she was wrong.

"ha, ha, ha, ha!"

A chill went down not only through her spine but Sasuke's as well. He somewhat found himself wandering in his mind. Even if he would respect Itachi's will, he would have never been able to forgive the Leaf. And going back there to live like nothing happened? He knew that he would just like Reishi, pretend to be one of them and probably, every night, kill someone.

Reishi's laughter became fainter and fainter until it was replaced by a deep silence. Inside the pot, the perfume was boiling on a low heat.

"Do you also believe that, Sakura?"

"..." Sakura couldn't answer him. She looked at Sasuke, who was also glancing over her to see her answer. Who would she believe? Him or Reishi? More confused than ever, she decided to stay quiet.

"Sasuke...you're making a mistake."

Sasuke didn't understand. After a long moment of hesitation, Reishi raised his head, as if he had decided to tell them the truth. However, he couldn't continue.

At the sound of something cleaving the air, Sasuke quickly bent his back backward. An object brushed the tip of his nose.

"Are you okay?" Sakura quickly asked and closed the distance between her and Sasuke. He turned around and saw an arrow stuck in the door of the main building. Reishi threw a shuriken, but he only hit the shape of a man in the distance.

Sakura rushed to the door, pulled out the arrow, and opened the letter that was affixed to it.

"We have your little brother. If you want him to return safe and sound, come to the Landmines Field and bring the Kotaro's recipe with you." she read out loud.

There wasn't the addresser's name on it, but Reishi knew immediately that it was Jiryu Sendo's work.

XXXXXX

The Landmines Field was the wide fallow where the Village Hidden by Rain massacre happened a long time ago. Lightened by the setting sun, the silver grass shone bright red. Several pools, born perhaps from the landmine explosions, shimmered in the sun, reflecting the pink clouds.

Reishi, Sasuke, and Sakura stood still in that field of covered in silver grass. Sasuke and Sakura couldn't believe the scene that showed itself in front of their eyes.

Reishi was right, Sasuke hadn't understood anything. The reason for his sudden laughter when he told Reishi he was the culprit of the murders. Reishi even insisted on telling them not to follow him, but Sasuke didn't care and still did so with Sakura tagging along.

The Landmines Field was covered with plants, pools, resentful spirits of murdered shinobi, and several mummified corpses. There were certainly several dozens. On the back of those corpses that were lying on the ground, the symbol of the Senbo clan fluttered in the wind.

"Where is Kina?" Sakura looked around worriedly. Sasuke thoroughly scanned the place, but he didn't see him. He didn't know what to think.

Without minding, Reishi pulled a small of jar out of his pocket and unscrewed the cap. A large amount of shogun fireflies came out of it.

"This way," he said and they followed the insects. It seemed that the insects knew exactly where they had to go. As they advanced through the trees, the green light enfolded us more and more.

"Kina!" Sasuke shouted. He was lying on the ground at the feet of a huge cedar. Reishi hurried towards him, sending away the shogun fireflies that were surrounding him. The moment after, however, the insects went back to him.

"Quick! Let me heal him!"

"No, no! Thank you, but I can handle it!" Reishi quickly raised his hands, stopping Sakura from coming any closer. Nearby, something was emanating a particularly bright light from the ground. Sasuke got closer and picked up Kina's mask.

"Now I get it..." announced Sakura and got closer to Sasuke, "the perfume Reishi was brewing, he was using it on Kina's mask to track him."

"Why? Reishi. What the hell does it me-"

When Sasuke turned around, the words died in his throat. A pale purple-colored smoke was coming from Reishi's mouth. Kina was inhaling that substance from his mouth and nose. Reishi quickly positioned his hands.

"Spiritual Communication of the Tiger and the Wolf!"

Struck in several parts of his body, Kina's chest started. Reishi uttered an incantation staring at his brother's wide-open eyes. Kina's eyelids slowly began to close. Reishi kept reciting the incantation until they were locked shut. After that, Reishi put Kina in a big sack and shouldered it.

"Is this okay?" Sakura asked.

"We'll talk later," Reishi pointed outside the forest with his chin. At that moment, they heard some voices coming from the Landmines Field. The faint shouting soon got lost in the wind, but it seemed that someone was in turmoil. The corpses must have been found.

Their whole way back to the Hypericum's Shrine, Sasuke was wandering in his mind. He felt like a complete idiot. He had jumped to a conclusion by himself and felt an arbitrary sense of solidarity towards Reishi. It was like he was trying to share his selfish dream of him with Reishi.

"Every human being lives his life bound by his knowledge and his own experience, which he wrongly names reality. Your reality was nothing but a mirage."

Was what Itachi had told him after he had decided to tell him the truth. It seemed that way, and now once again, he was right. Sasuke couldn't distinguish reality from mirage anymore.

For the first time, Reishi's back looked big in front of Sasuke's eyes and it overlapped with Iatchi's. Now that he thought about it, Reishi had always been protecting his brother. Even if he had been considered a coward by Kina and hated by the villagers, he had stuck to his duties. Not being treated with respect, not even by the one person he had loved the most. He and Itachi were identical.

XXXXX

When they arrived back at the Hypericum's Shrine, Reishi put Kina in his room and joined the others in the room with the wooden floor. His face looked overwhelmed with fatigue but he was still calm as usual.

"Take this. It's ready," he said and handed Sasuke the eye drops. Even without listening, he immediately put the medicament on.

"I was about to tell you to use it with caution because it can cause headache, nausea, blurred and low vision."

"Don't worry about that. I'll take care of him," said Sakura and shook her head.

"What did you do to him?" asked Sasuke. Ignoring both of them. His sight became crystal clear, and the pain quickly subsided.

"I hypnotized him. When he wakes up, he'll have forgotten everything." Reishi answered.

"The thing I don't understand is how Kina manages to absorb chakra," Sasuke replied while wiping his eyes.

"You should know..." Reishi answered and stared motionless at Sasuke.

"Kina didn't learn ninjutsu. He doesn't give out the impression of having received assassination training." Sasuke mumbled.

"There's something sealed inside his body?" Sakura thought out loud when Naruto suddenly popped into her mind. Could it be that Kina was just like Naruto? Kabuto had told her everything about Tailed Beasts. There were nine of them and Naruto had the ninth one sealed inside of him; the Ninth Tailed Fox.

"Exactly."

"yet there's a thing that doesn't convince me," said Sakura, "the first time I saw him, the night of the fire, he was bare-chested. I didn't see a seal on his body."

"Come," Reishi requested and they followed him in Kina's room. The kid was sleeping inside his futon and was breathing calmly. Reishi knelt next to the pillow and parted his hair with his hands.

"The seal is on his head..." said Sasuke.

With this, Reishi told them the whole truth. Their father truly did undo Roen's seal from the Kodon Shrine. His father did succeed in controlling the Roen and wanted it to serve as a lesson for the villagers who were persuaded that the blue explosive powder was a foolproof means for self-defense. However, the Kumanoi Clan had secretly created a greater cylinder, that was much more powerful and used much more blue explosives than the smaller cylinder. The guards had decided to use Roen as a testing ground for the use of that new weapon.

With this, the hypnotic genjutsu vanished and the Roen went out of control. Their father and mother were already drained from their chakra and tried to restore the Spiritual Communication of the Tiger and the Wolf trying somehow to seal Roen back into the Kodon Shrine. However, sacrificing their lives, they only managed to seal it in Kina's body.

"Roen lives inside Kina's body?" asked Sasuke.

"How come he isn't one of the mentioned Tailed Beast?" Sakura wondered.

"He hadn't been classified as a tailed beast because it lacked intellect and was formed by instinct only. It was a monster that survived greedily sucking human chakra," Reishi explained,

"My forefather sealed it inside the Kodon Shrine."

Reishi was only ten years old. At first, his parents had tried to seal it inside his body, but his body didn't accept it and they had no choice but to use Kina. When he came to his senses, he saw Kina crying and their parents dead. The Kodon's blood ran through his veins and made him understand its meaning when he saw the seal imprinted on Kina's head.

His parents left it to Reishi to free it from Kina's body and seal it back to Kodon Shrine using his weak point, which was on his back. However, it was easier said than done. Roen and Kina's chakra had become one. If he freed the monster, it would absorb Kina's chakra. If he doesn't sever the bond between Kina and Roen within ten minutes, his brother will die.

"If they came to know that a monster is living inside his body, they would certainly kill him..." said Sakura,

"trust me. I get it. A fr-...A former friend of mine is experiencing the same thing. The higher-ups are protecting him and they aren't allowed to kill him...but they do wish it. How bad they wish he would just drop dead and also treated him like he was the monster himself."

"How did you know about-" Sasuke looked at Sakura,

"About Naruto? Come on, Sasuke. Kabuto told me everything about the Tailed Beast and Naruto being one of them," Sakura answered and looked back at Reishi,

"but, how come you didn't just leave the village?"

"We can't. I've tried many times, but Kina always ended up coming back here. He is continuously attracted to this place."

"So this is the reason..." Sasuke mumbled. He placed himself in Reishi's place and had the feeling he was able to understand Itachi's feelings a little. He heard a voice whispering something in his ear.

'Who was Itachi? For the Leaf, a good spy; For the Uchiha clan, a traitor; for Akatsuki, a disposable pawn. And then for Sasuke Uchiha...who is he?'

"The only thing I can do is use hypnosis on him when he cries like a hopeless baby. Every time he commits a homicide, I erase from his mind those terrible memories."

Suddenly, shattered in thousands of pieces, the glass of the window lay glittering on the ground, totally similar to raindrops. The mob was shoving to get to the others throwing stones as big as a fist against the windowpanes.

"Come outside, monster! We know you're the murderers." shouted someone from the outside. Something stiffened in Reishi's body, giving him an awfully sad look.

"Come out! Someone saw you!"

"Sakura, protect Kina! I'll g-"

"Wait!" Sakura yelled when Reishi suddenly dashed towards the entrance door. Sasuke tried to grab Reishi's shoulder, but Sasuke's visual field was suddenly enveloped by white darkness.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called out to him. Seeing him lose his balance, Sasuke fell on the fireplace. A thick cloud of ashes rose in the room, seeping into his eyes, nose, and mouth.

"Take care of my little brother" Reishi pleaded and walked outside towards the crowd.

"Wait! Damn it!" Sakura yelled but it was no use. She didn't know what to do at this point. Here she was, kneeling to check up on Sasuke who was experiencing the eye drop side effect at a very wrong time. Kina who was sleeping in his room. Unconscious and helpless leaving him with Sasuke at this moment was not an option. And now Reishi went outside to face a crowd that wanted him and his brother dead. Who should she protect?

The white around Sasuke was growing more and more intense, and just like a glass that steamed up, a light mist formed at the back of his eyes. The only thing he managed to loosely distinguish was Reishi's silhouette from behind when he walked out of the entrance door.

"Damn it! I can defeat all those people by myself! Why did he go!" Sasuke cursed, covering his eyes with his hands. He couldn't do anything but follow with his eyes, Reishi's silhouette that was being swallowed by a huge black shadow, and, along with him, Sasuke saw Itachi's image dissolve into the darkness. The shouting became louder;

"There he is! He came out! Kill him!"

"Guide me!" Sasuke ordered. Without hesitation, Sakura did what she asked and went out the porch and jumped onto the main building roof. In front of the fence numerous gleaming dots were overlapping, probably due to torches.

Sasuke didn't need to see for him to tell that Reishi was in the middle of that angry mod. The picture of his figure kicked and pummelled like a dog went across his mind.

"Don't," said Sasuke as soon as he felt Sakura's grip loosening.

"But-!"

"I need you to my eyes for the moment, but also keep an eye on the house. Make sure no one enters the building."

Just before Sasuke was able to come up with a plan to save Reishi, everything was stopped by one single person yelling 'Stop'.

'shit...' cursed Sasuke. He looked down towards the shadow that had dashed out from inside the house.

"Stop that! Why are you hitting my brother? You'll pay for this!"

They didn't think Kina would wake up. Instead of focusing on who was entering the house, we should've focused on the one person not exiting the building.

"Don't come close, Kina! You have nothing to do with this! Go back inside!" shouted Reishi.

"This brat came out on his own like a bug throwing itself in a fire!" said Jiryu Sendo, dying with laughter.

"Sakura, don't!" Sasuke yelled, but Sakura didn't listen. She completely let go of him and dashed towards Kina. She wanted to take him away from the crowd, but Kina, however, refused to leave his brother behind. Sakura shielded Kina with her body and received all the hits the mob tried to inflict on Kina.

"Stop it! Leave them alone! I beg you! Kina had nothing to do with this! That's enough!" Reishi blustered with rage.

Although Sasuke couldn't see most of what was happening, he felt he could clearly distinguish Sakura's and Kina's figures taking injuries, being mocked, and being beaten by everyone. The police also joined the scene and tried to take control, but the mob started attacking them too for apparently taking Kina's side.

As far as Sasuke tried to stare at the scene, he couldn't see anything but a white cluster. Taking Reishi's screams as a reference, Sasuke leaped in that direction but didn't land next to him. His body had already been swept away by the most violent shockwave of the explosion.

"Sakura?!" Sasuke called out to her as soon as he heard her scream. He quickly did a rotation in mid-air and changed his posture and landed on a treetop.

"Are you okay?" he asked as soon as he felt her presence next to him on the treetop.

"y-yeah, just a little bruised up..." she answered. Sakura watched as an evil chakra enveloped the house entirely.

'How did we end up in such a situation' Sakura wondered standing on a treetop right next to Sasuke, as she watched a very powerful black chakra, as big as a mountain, gradually growing in intensity.

"What's happening, Sakura?" Sasuke wondered sensing the chakra in front of him. He didn't have a clue what was going on. He couldn't see anything but white clusters.

"A- A monster! It's Roen! It's standing on his two feet!" A man broke the silence. A rapid succession of shouting began.

"It must be fifty meters tall!" another man shouted.

"What the hell are those silver tentacles on his back?!"

"Look! A man has been taken back! It's draining him completely!"

"The guards! Somebody call the guards!"

"Damn it!" Sakura cursed as she watched everything happening in front of her. She was about to jump down to help them, but Sasuke quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Don't you dare leave my sight!" he ordered,

"That monster is draining people from their chakra. With my blurry vision, I won't be able to have your back and protect you."

'Is Sasuke worried about me?'

At first, they thought that Roen was chasing after the crowd, but observing the scene from the tree on the hill, they realized they were wrong. It was heading towards the faint glinting of the village's lights.

"Does it want to get to the heart of the village?" Sakura wondered.

Ten minutes...Sasuke couldn't think about anything else. If they hadn't been able to sort it out within ten minutes, Kina would die.

~to be continued~