33

Chapter 33: thirty-two: sleep, baby, sleepSummary:

Stepping away from the war means nothing when it'll always find a way to you.

Notes:

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

TW: violence; death.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Becoming Hokage 101

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Section Six

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Chapter Thirty Two

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Telling Fugaku about the things the butterflies had shown me goes as well as expected: quite badly.

The man sits behind the Hokage's desk with a furrow in his brows, something that's almost permanently etched into his face at this point. He rubs the bridge of his nose and asks for patience and strength under his breath, and not for the first time I feel bad for him.

"We'll deal with the most pressing issue first; the rest can wait, for now." The interim Hokage exhales heavily, pinning me down with his intense gaze. "I suppose you've already figured out how invaluable that makes you."

I nod, feeling slightly better about the situation after talking to Shikaku. As he'd said, there's no shortage of work to be done during a shinobi war, and Team Chiyuki would most certainly be kept just as busy as we've always been.

Fugaku looks somewhat relieved and worried at the same time, sharing a long-suffering look with the Jounin Commander as if to say 'is this what we signed up for'. He then clears his throat.

"The newly constructed bridge is crucial to Iwa."

"They've been struggling to get supplies from other places, since Konoha and Ame have been pressuring the other villages to stop sending provisions to them." Shikaku explains, a calculating look in his eyes. "Kusa is the only place that's still willing to work together with them."

"If we destroy the bridge, Iwa will eventually be unable to participate properly in the war. Kiri's suffered too many losses with their crazy Mizukage and their lack of money, so they're basically out too. That leaves Kusa, Kumo, and Suna." I finish the thought, rubbing my chin. The two men in the room give me an unreadable look when I mention Kiri, but I suppose that we're all going to have to get used to me knowing stuff I clearly shouldn't.

Even if the butterflies didn't necessarily tell me about it.

"Kusa relies too much on their alliance with Iwa. If we cut one off, the other will quickly follow suit." The Nara patriarch states, still looking at me oddly.

"Minato has just been sent to deal with Kumo, so their shaky union with Suna won't last long." The Uchiha patriarch adds, lips in a thin line. "It's not an exaggeration to say that destroying this bridge will be a major turning point for Konoha."

The room drowns in silence for a few seconds, each of us lost in our thoughts.

'I wonder who Fugaku is going to send. If he sends Team Kakashi, I can at least try to warn them of the possible dangers and chalk it up to a bad feeling, but if he sends people I don't know, then I can't really do anything about it.'

I glance at the two men, who seem to be having an entire conversation with their eyes alone, and furrow my eyebrows.

'Before, my father sent Team Kakashi on their own to destroy the bridge because he thought it'd be a simple mission, which was quite silly, if you think about it. You're sending a team of chunin led by a recently-promoted jounin to deal with a bridge that's clearly important to an enemy village, so of course you have to consider the fact that many things can go wrong.'

"Well," Fugaku clears his throat once again, bringing my attention back to him, "preparations will take a few days, but we should be able to send a team soon."

I bite my lip. "Would I be able to make a suggestion?"

The interim Hokage raises an eyebrow. "I believe we're far past the formalities. Go on."

I shrug, embarrassed for some reason. "Temporary or not, you're still the Hokage. I don't want to cross any boundaries."

Shikaku's hand lands on my head, warm and comforting. "You're fine."

I take a good look at both of them, taking in their open, trusting expressions, and send a mental apology to Tsunade.

'So much for ending the blatant favoritism. Sorry, Tsunade, but if it means I'll be able to stay in the know-hows, then I'll let myself continue to benefit from it.'

"I think we should send a team of jounin, at the very least. I know that many are on the frontlines, but this mission is vital for Konoha, and if we are to err, it's best that we err on the side of safety."

The two men glance at each other, then look back at me.

"You sound pessimistic." Fugaku states, narrowing his dark eyes.

I shake my head. "I like to think I'm being realistic, and I like to think we've got all our bases covered. A lot of things can go wrong in these types of missions."

"Is that a prediction?" The Jounin Commander asks, brows furrowed.

I hold his gaze for a couple of seconds, then do the same with the interim Hokage, while the silence hangs in the room.

"It's a fact." I finally reply, and thankfully neither of the men question me further.

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Summoning Chou and assigning tasks to them isn't as complicated as I'd thought it'd be. The mark on my neck acts as a summoning seal, and since it's already connected to my blood vessels, all I have to do is channel chakra to it.

The butterfly appears in a flutter of wings and leaves, landing gracefully on my finger. "Hi, Chou."

"Hello, child." The insect nearly purrs, a certain amusement at being greeted even though we are in constant contact with each other in my head. "Should we leave right away?"

The night before, I'd been discussing the things I'd been shown with the butterflies in my head, and I'd decided that telling Nagato about Uchiha Madara was important. The old shinobi is closer to Ame than to Konoha, and if I can ask Nagato to at least keep an eye on the movement around that area, that'd be ideal. In the end, I had asked Chou to fly over to Ame and tell the red-head that I needed to talk to him, and that I'd appreciate it if he could create an opportunity.

'Which memory should we take?' The butterfly had asked, a kaleidoscope slightly spinning in their multiple eyes.

After thinking long and hard about it, I'd practiced some kunai throwing and told them to take as much of that memory as they saw fit. For such a small task as relaying a message, the memories don't need to be important or complex. If, however, the task requires more energy, furtiveness, or overall effort, then a simple memory I'd created on a whim wouldn't suffice.

While I'm still deciding on how I'm going to deal with Madara, it would have to do.

"Yes, please. Be careful." I whisper and kiss her head slightly, watching as the colorful butterfly swiftly flutters into the vast blue sky.

The hum of iron that's constantly around me shows no signs of having seen or heard the interaction, and I breathe a small sign of relief.

The ANBU Fugaku assigned to my protection while I'm in the village is someone I'm not familiar with, but I can easily sense the iron in their blood humming in a slow, constant way, even if they're keeping their distance. It makes talking with other people a bit more difficult, but since it was done out of a necessity to keep me safe, I'd swallowed my complaint down and made no fuss.

To my pleasant surprise and bafflement, my team and I end up meeting with Nagato and two other Ame shinobi not two weeks later, as we're coming back from an outpost mission. We're a day and a half away from Konoha when we receive the message that we'd cross paths with the Ame team, and I raise both my eyebrows as I'm reading the scroll.

Inside my head, I'd told Chou that it'd be nearly impossible to have a serious discussion with a foreign shinobi such as Nagato with an ANBU breathing down on my neck, and she had agreed to tell him that additional message in exchange for the rest of the kunai throwing memory.

I just had no idea the red-head could be so efficient.

"We're meeting up with a team from Ame? Why?" Genma asks, gritting his teeth together. The senbon in his mouth strains against his teeth, making a horrible rasping sound that he chooses to ignore.

We're in an inn inside a small civilian village, less than two days away from Konoha. I'd figured it'd be nice to have lunch close to civilization before we hit the road again, hoping the warm food would be enough to convince my two teammates to cooperate.

So far, it's not going so well.

I lower my voice, quickly checking the place for chakra signatures. There are none, and the half-dozen patrons that are here at this time of the day seem to be civilians, by their small chakra flow and slightly nervous hum of iron.

"Apparently they're coming to discuss something or another with Fugaku-sama, and we were asked to meet up with them so we can all go together." I shrug, taking a sip of the tea I'd ordered.

"Huh? What the fuck is up with that? They don't need us to chaperone them." The brown haired teenager fumes, leaning back on his seat with a frown. Next to me, Gai has remained oddly silent ever since I told them about the message, and it worries me.

"Politics are finicky, Gen." I explain after letting the warm liquid soothe my throat. "The alliance is rather new, and any goodwill we show would be appreciated."

"They sure didn't show any goodwill when they kidnapped you." He grunts, pinning me with his serious gaze.

"Gen, please be nice." I beg, trying to remain calm even if I'm already feeling on edge. Nagato and his team should be arriving any time now, and if I can't get the boys to at least remain civil, it would only add to the awkward atmosphere.

The fifteen year old sitting in front of me splutters for a few seconds, an incredulous look on his face. Even Gai turns to look at me with the oddest expression, and I struggle to keep a placid look on my face.

"Be nice? You're fucking kidding me." Genma all but spits out, crossing his arms against his chest. Gai, who usually agrees with me without questioning, nods in agreement with our oldest teammate, a somber look on his usually joyful face.

"I must agree with him, Chiyuki. I don't see any reason why we should be nice to him."

Bitting my lip, I try to look at the situation from their perspective and nod, figuring that it was probably way too early to be asking them to play nice. "Sorry, I used the wrong words. You don't have to be nice. Just be civil, then. You don't even have to say anything."

"Why?" Genma growls out with a snarl on his face, and for a brief second I marvel at the fact that a fifteen year old could look so incredibly fierce. "He kidnapped you, for fuck's sake!"

The other patrons look at us with uneasy expressions, and before the poor waitress can come over to our table asking if there is a problem, I meet her frightened gaze and raise my hands in a sign of surrender, mouthing a sorry with a shake of my head. The girl answers me with a shaky nod, and I ask Chou to remind me to give her a big tip for all the trouble we're causing.

Gai remains strangely quiet, a frown on his face. I honestly hate when he becomes like that - it seems as if he's kind of closing in on himself, shutting his emotions down, and it's so different from the lively Gai that I know and love that it makes my chest ache.

'Ugh, I'm such a bad teammate and leader.'

"He did, yes, but he was always civil with me. Konan-san let me wash myself, and Nagato-san even gave me his share of food." I shrug, feeling absolutely awful and disgusting that I couldn't be 100% honest with them.

'He also knows about my deepest, most intimate secret, and sympathizes with me, so there's that.'

"So they fed you. How amazing, we should give them a prize." Sarcasm drips from his lips, bitter like poison, as his fists clench tightly on top of the table.

"They're probably the only ones that would've done that. If Iwa or Kumo had gotten to me, I wouldn't even be alive." I mumble quietly, and Genma shuts his mouth with an audible click. "You know as well as I do that they'd probably maul my body and hang in on their gates for everyone to see."

"Don't say that." Gai grits out next to me, head lowered. I immediately feel awful and hold his hand tightly, feeling immensely relieved when he holds mine back just as tightly.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for. Forgive me, Gai-chan, Gen. It wasn't my intention to say stuff like that." I wait until the boy next to me nods before turning to our oldest teammate, who sags in his seat in apparent defeat.

I continue before any of them can say anything. "I'm not saying I'm willing to forgive and forget so easily. They kidnapped me and kept me in captivity for two weeks, and even if it could've been a lot worse, it wasn't exactly a nice experience."

I take a deep breath, squeezing Gai's hand and grabbing Genma's with my free one across the table. The teenager easily lets me grip his hand, holding it tightly in his own. "I'm just saying that Ame is a powerful ally, and it would be in our best interest to be civil. They benefit a lot from this alliance, yes, but so does Konoha."

My teammates remain silent for a few seconds, mulling it over in their heads, before Genma speaks.

"If you had no plans to become Hokage," he begins, a guarded look on his face, "would you even be worrying about stuff like this?"

I sigh, releasing their hands when the young waitress comes back with some more tea. I manage to send her what I hope is a thankful smile, and she keeps her trembling gaze on me as she nods and scurries away.

'A huge tip, definitely.'

"Probably." I easily reply, filling all of our cups with more tea. Even if I had no plans to become Hokage, my memories from Before would absolutely make me stay on my toes about politics and playing nice. It was too far an important aspect of remaining alive and gaining allies that there was no way I'd throw caution to the wind.

'Never close a door, because you don't know if you might need someone to open it for you one day.'

"Fine." The fifteen year old exhales heavily, tiredly, as if I'd just asked him to go get the Moon for me. "I'll behave."

The smile comes easily and softly to my face, and I squeeze his hand briefly again. "Thank you, Gen."

The teenager nods sourly, as if he'd just been made to swallow a lemon, and raises an eyebrow to the boy sitting next to me.

"Gai?"

"I won't forgive them." Is said quietly, firmly, like a promise and a threat. There are way too many emotions swimming in Gai's eyes for me to pinpoint a primary one, too deep and too heavy for me to understand in this little while we have to ourselves, and I grip his hand again.

"I'm not asking you to." I say gently, kinda feeling like I'm talking to a wounded animal. Despite the worry pooling in my chest, my heart warms and with affection for my two teammates, knowing they just want to watch out for me.

"Okay." The thirteen year old sighs next to me, a heavy look in his dark brown eyes. "I'll do it. For you."

My chest tingles and flutters, and I quickly give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Gai-chan. Ah, isn't that your super spicy kare?"

The waitress has barely set our plates down when I feel Nagato flare his familiar chakra just outside. Genma and Gai look at me curiously when I turn around with a small smile on my face, but their expressions become skeptical when the three Ame shinobi enter the inn.

Our green-clad teammate doesn't outwardly show his distaste, but he does sit closer to me, dark eyes focused on the newcomers. Our oldest teammate, however, has no qualms in openly showing just what his feelings are, a snarl on his lips. He starts to aggressively chew on the senbon in his mouth, and if I didn't know any better, I'd be afraid he'd hurt himself.

Nagato, bless his soul, takes everything in stride and merely nods at the two boys, acknowledging them. He then focuses his gaze on me, and it softens the slightest bit.

"Chiyuki-hime." He greets, voice low and smooth just like I remember it. The two other ninja with him don't strike me as familiar - one is a dark-haired woman with a collected air, and the other is a white-haired man with an expressionless face. The iron in their blood flows in a timely, constant manner, and it reassures me that they are unlikely to pick a fight with us.

"Nagato-san." I greet back, bowing my head slightly. "These are my teammates, Gai and Genma."

The boys make no move to greet the man, and I sigh quietly.

'I can't really blame them, though. All they know is that Nagato kidnapped me and kept me in Ame for two weeks.'

"These are Rina and Takashi." The rinnegan user nods at his own teammates, introducing them in a quiet manner. "We'll be in your care for the next couple of days."

They nod their heads at us, and even though their expressions are carefully blank, I trusted Nagato would choose people that'd be able to keep their opinions to themselves. The red-head then tells them to check the perimeter, and the two swiftly leave the inn.

"Have you eaten lunch yet? We just ordered some kare rice." I ask before the atmosphere turns awkward. I feel my two teammates glance at me, but I'd asked them to be on their best behavior for this exchange, and I knew they'd try their best to keep to themselves.

At least, I hoped so.

To everyone's relief, the Ame shinobi shakes his head. "I appreciate the sentiment, but we just ate."

He turns around to leave, but just as my teammates start to dig into their meals, Nagato glances at me with a pointed expression.

"I'll excuse myself now. Let us talk more in the morning." I nod at him, understanding the message he's trying to send.

'Take the last watch. We'll talk before people are up.'

He nods back at us then leaves, quietly asking the waitress for three vacant rooms.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." I hear the cheeky tone in my own voice, grinning at my boys. Genma scoffs and rolls his eyes while Gai shakes his head, but both of them have small smiles on their faces, and I count it as a victory.

"Sure. Now eat your kare rice before it gets cold."

"If it does, I can just take some of Gai-chan's spicy sauce."

"You will not-"

"Youthful Chiyuki! I knew you'd come around to it eventually!"

My mouth doesn't stop tingling in an after-burn manner for hours after that, but it's totally worth it to see them grinning again.

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When Gai wakes me up for my shift, all sleep vanishes from me. I force myself to remain calm and smile at my green-clad teammate, easily taking up the spot by the window he'd occupied up until recently. I wait for a few minutes for him to fall asleep, suddenly wide awake, jittery and nervous to talk to Nagato about such a delicate topic.

'Is it fair to dump all of this on him just because he knows of my circumstances?'

Another, more logical part of me, berates me.

'You're twelve years old and a chunin. There's nothing you can do on your own about Madara now, and by the time you can, it might be too late. Rely on people more.'

Half an hour passes before I deem it safe to quietly open the inn window and climb to the roof, telling Chou to keep an eye on the boys while I scan my surroundings for any other hums of iron. When I only find Nagato's, I finally step on the roof, careful not to make a sound. The man quickly finds my gaze in the moonless night and beacons me over with a small gesture.

"Thank you for coming." I say quietly, sitting down next to him.

He gives me a nod, not taking his eyes off the dark sky. "Of course."

We spend a few minutes in silence, enjoying the calm of the night before it gives way to the bustling of the day. Even though there's no moonlight, the stars in the countryside are bright enough to light up the sky on their own, and I take this time to take a deep breath and appreciate the small break as the miracle it is.

"You look good. Like you've gained weight." The red-head murmurs, and if it were anyone else, I'd have given them odd looks.

However, when I look into his rinnegan eyes, I see a hint of regret and a pinch of relief, visible in the light furrow of his eyebrows. "I have. Thank you for your concern, but it wasn't your fault, Nagato-senpai."

The man shakes his head once, red hair following its movements. "I should have-"

"You did enough." I interrupt him before he can go down his hole of self-pity, slightly bumping my shoulder against his arm. "I appreciate it."

"I kidnapped you." Nagato sighs - a long, mournful sound, and it suddenly strikes me that he's still feeling incredibly guilty about it. "There's nothing to appreciate."

"I could've been treated a lot worse." I shrug, not wanting to make light of my own experience, but not wanting him to fall into a depressive state either. "Either way, it happened, you treated me well enough, and in the end, it all kind of worked out, huh?"

The man nods after a couple of seconds, turning his gaze back to the night sky. "Yes, it did. Thank you for acting as an intermediary in the negotiations."

I nod back at him, following his gaze and watching the stars twinkle. "Konoha benefits from this alliance as well. To be honest, I'm hoping we'll continue to be allies even after the war ends."

He shoots me a surprised look. "Why?"

I take a deep breath, barely stopping myself from biting my lip.

'Well, it's now or never.'

"I signed the contract with the butterflies. Which, thank you, by the way." I start and backtrack, all at once. The only reason I knew the stuff I knew was because Nagato sent me the scroll in the first place.

The man nods, murmuring that they kept bothering him to send the scroll to me as soon as possible, somehoe able to communicate with him through his rinnegan.

"Still, it's thanks to you that I- do you know what they do?" I slap myself mentally, cursing my nervousness and willing my brain to think properly.

"They are info-gathering summons." The red-head replies smoothly, then tilts his head to look properly at me. "Did something happen?"

"Kind of. When I signed the contract," I pause and show him the white butterfly outline stamped on my neck, half-hidden by my Konoha headband, "they showed me a lot of major things. Things that were going on at that time."

The rinnegan user glances at the seal on my neck then looks back at me with brows furrowed in worry. "And?"

I quickly check my surroundings once again, looking for the steady and constant hum of iron that signifies all the inn's occupants are asleep before blurting out in a rush - "Uchiha Madara is alive."

Nagato gives me a flabbergasted look, but something in my expression somehow prevents him from asking if I'm insane - no matter how crazy my claim sounds.

"I'm assuming that's a problem." He says slowly, and I feel dizzy enough that his rinnegan starts to spin slowly. "Chiyuki?"

"Yes, it's a problem." I drag a hand down my face, resenting the headache that's starting to bloom behind my temple. "Do you have time? It's a long story."

He nods, still looking at me with a worried expression, and I decide to share my burdens with this man once more.

"Decades ago, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara battled for the last time at the Valley of the End, and that should've been Madara's end. The man, however, had a contingency plan - he altered reality with a sharingan technique, and made his death become a simple dream in exchange for his right eye. Having predicted this, a being known as Black Zetsu, the physical manifestation of Ootsutsuki Kaguya's will-"

"The goddess?" Nagato blurts out, incredulously, but I barrel on before I change my mind.

"-yes, the goddess, anyway - Black Zetsu predicted this, found the Uchiha's corpse and hid itself inside, which later led Madara to believe he'd created it. After that, he went into hiding with a… trophy from his fight with the Shodaime: a mouthful of the Senju's flesh that he managed to transplant into his own wounds. Yes, I know it's gross, bear with me.

It wasn't until years later, close to the end of Madara's natural life that the cells made him awaken the rinnegan, which in turn restored his right eye. With his new doujutsu, he summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path - yes, that statue - which he used to create mindless clones of the Shodaime, which he called the White Zetsu Army."

I take a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. The red-head next to me remains still as a statue, mouth slightly open, and I take his silence as an invitation to continue.

"Madara's insane goal is called the Eye of the Moon Plan. He wants to place the entire world in a genjutsu, stopping all the fighting and conflict. It's a very time consuming plan, however, and he realized he wouldn't be able to complete it in the time he had left. So he transplanted his eyes on you-" Nagato flinches and I mimic the action, only now realizing how awful that sounds.

"-sorry. It's true though. He intends for you to use the eyes someday to bring him back to life, but he knows you wouldn't do it on your own. Madara is now currently connected to the Demonic Statue, the only thing keeping his old body alive, while he searches for someone young enough he can brainwash and manipulate into acting on his behalf until you resurrect him."

I finish speaking in a hurry, wanting to just get the words out. Like it happened back in Ame, now that someone else knows about the Uchiha's absolutely bat-shit insane plan, it's like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders, and I feel strangely light.

The first rays of sunlight are slow and lazy to come, sluggishly painting the sky in shades of red and orange. The rinnegan user remains quiet for a long, long time, enough that the sun has nearly completely chased the night away, and people are bound to start waking up soon enough.

"As ridiculous as it all sounds," Nagato finally speaks, voice low and raspy, "from what little I know of Uchiha Madara, I understand he was insane enough to think he'd be able to pull this entire thing off. Did the butterflies tell you all this?"

"No. They told me he's hiding somewhere between Iwa and Ame, but all the other knowledge came from Before." I reply with a shake of my head. The inn owners start to wake up, iron flowing in their blood vessels in a half-asleep manner, while the two other Ame ninja all of a sudden seem as wide awake as I am.

Our time is up.

I get up, knowing Gai and Genma are about to wake up at any moment now, when the red-head speaks to me in the same low tone, making no movement to stand up just yet.

"What do you want me to do?" He asks, and there's something that hints at eagerness in his eyes, something that speaks of determination even in the midst of hesitation. I refrain from throwing my arms around him, remembering we're not at that level of intimacy just yet.

"Please help me figure out how to deal with him. Black Zetsu and Kaguya aside, we can't let Madara live. He's dangerous enough on his own."

The man purses his lips for a few seconds then nods at me, and his answer fills me with pure, unadulterated relief.

"We'll be staying for a week in Konoha. We'll figure something out by then."

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We set out for Konoha barely half an hour after the sun has risen, wanting to cover as much ground while there's still sunlight out.

The six of us run at what I think is a reasonable speed, inevitably pushing Team Chiyuki to go a little bit faster than what we're used to. Nagato, Rina and Takashi take the lead, running a few meters ahead of us. We follow our usual position whenever we're traveling - Gai taking the lead, as the one with the best reaction time out of the three of us and short-ranged attacks, then me, as a team leader and with medium-ranged attacks, and finally Genma, with his poisoned senbon and long-ranged attacks at the ready.

We travel in relative silence, only taking breaks to eat and quickly drink water before we're running again. It goes like this for hours, and just as the night starts to crawl back into the sky, the rinnegan user raises his hand in a clear sign for us to stop. His back is tense, eyes glancing quickly at our surroundings, and the three Ame shinobi move closer to us.

I wipe sweat off my face and spread my awareness out, trying to feel for other chakra signatures. There are five or so of them rapidly approaching, but when I turn to feeling for the hum of iron, I find a dozen shinobi coming our way.

My eyes meet Nagato's, who quickly comes to stand beside me. Gai and Genma bristle, but I raise a hand to stop them.

"Twelve incoming." I whisper, and the man next to me nods, tense as a sprung bow.

"I felt twelve chakra signatures as well."

"Are we fighting?" Just as the question leaves my mouth, my answer comes in the form of an earth jutsu.

"Earth Release: Bottomless Swamp!" Instantly, the ground beneath our feet turns into a deadly swamp, and we all jump to find safe footing in the tree branches.

Twelve Iwa shinobi immediately surround the area, seemingly unaffected by the unsteady ground beneath their feet. Seven of them look to be at least chunin level, while the other five seem to be around genin level.

Three of them seem to be even younger than I am, and that realization makes my stomach churn uncomfortably.

None of them waste any time in launching attacks, no doubt wanting to make us leave the relative safety of the trees. I curse under my breath and kneel, sending chakra to my feet so I stay secure in the tree branch.

Nagato wastes no time and jumps into the unsteady ground, throwing lightning jutsu around as if it were child's play. Four of the strongest Iwa shinobi, easily jounin level, team up against him, but quickly prove to be no match against the rinnegan user.

Rina and Takashi pull out their respective weapons from sealed scrolls - a tanto and a staff, and show no hesitation when they jump right into the middle of the fight. They team up to take down five of the Iwa shinobi, making sure to steer clear of Nagato's battle. They seem strong enough to be able to easily hold their own, and I focus on my own situation.

The three youngest Iwa shinobi look up at us, clearly hesitating, and bile rises up my throat. I quickly squash the feeling down, trying desperately to focus on the task at hand.

'They're the enemy. No matter how old they are, they're the enemy.'

I swallow the rising nausea down with some difficulty and make a sign behind my back, ignoring the sting behind my eyes.

"Genma, plan Z. Gai, cover. Let's end this quickly." I murmur as soon as my teammates land on the branch I'm in, and not a second later Genma starts shooting poisoned senbon downwards, almost like a deadly rain of sharp weapons.

One of the Iwa ninja quickly dives down into the ground, still unstable from the previous jutsu, and another one manages to barely avoid the rain of senbon. I quickly make the snake hand sign to help me focus and shift my gaze to a few of the senbon flying down.

The senbon made of iron easily gives in to my will, and before they can fall and sink into the swamp, I will them to turn around and hit the ninja that barely managed to avoid them, who drops to the ground shortly after. The third child isn't fast enough and gets nicked in the arm by a couple of senbon, falling to his knees a few seconds later.

Gai blurs out of existence next to me, and swiftly knocks the two children unconscious without touching the unstable ground. He's quick to come back to his place next to me, while I struggle to keep from throwing up.

I'd tried to make their deaths as painless as possible, but it didn't change the fact that we killed them. Genma's poison would act fast, and they'd likely die in their sleep, unconscious as they were, but the thought barely comforted me.

Chou's voice in my head warns me against the first child - the one that'd dived into the swamp - just as I feel an ominous presence in my back.

"Chiyuki!" I hear Nagato's voice yell from somewhere in the battlefield, but the sound that fills my head is mostly static.

My body reacts before my mind does - without looking, I thrust my elbow back, feeling the odd, but not unfamiliar sensation of a thin iron spike shooting out of my joint. I hear the tell-tale sound of it hitting its target and piercing soft flesh, warm blood wetting the back of my hoodie. A gurgled, wet, soft gasp, and I manage to turn around.

The girl's already dead eyes stare right back into mine as her lifeless body hangs from the thin spike coming out of my elbow, silently judging as if damning me to an eternity in hell.

It had been a single, clear shot, straight to her heart. Her death had been instant, and it was unlikely she'd felt pain for more than a couple of seconds. Blood leaks out steadily from her wound, spreading through her clothes, red and warm, red and warm, red red red warm warm warm-

Hands on both my shoulders. Shouting. Static.

The iron spike disappears back into my elbow, and the girl falls down down down down-

It splashes on the ground, so red and so warm, but dead, but warm, but dead-

A part of me dies with her.

.

.