Yuushu bent down to one of the dead bodies at the gate. No one was around and Yuushu knew that. But a force of habit is hard to break and Yuushu still swiveled his head to the left and to the right to see if anyone was around and course, no surprise, there wasn’t. Everyone ran away from the front gates with a path of abandon things from food to items for trade; it was the typical scenario one sees when pandemonium strikes. For a moment, there was a silence that was completely above silence. The level of it was intense that even Yuushu question whether he was going through shellshock or not. It seemed that way or rather it was that way. The background noise, far off in the distance, broke it immediately. The earth gave a low vibration underneath his feet and that’s when Yuushu decided it was time for him to continue on moving.

Each body that had been killed by the unknown factor was given a silent prayer. Yuushu lowered their eyes and folded their hands together where it would lay rested over their chest. With each one, he repeatedly said “Resquicat in pace” a saying from long ago to where he heard his mother say. It meant rest in peace in a language that wasn’t quite in use today, not in this part of the country that is. Yuushu only thought of it at a superficial level and right now he still did. The moment he lowered the last person’s eyes over, he seemed to have realized that he somewhat gave them some type of last rite. It made him shiver when he thought about it and Yuushu knew in the future he wouldn’t do it again unless it was necessary. But it was all right at the moment and he need not to lurk back at the thought. He got up from one. His hand reached up to his mask feeling it to be in place. He had to go visit someone, someone important; someone that he hadn’t seen in a very long time. Underneath his masked, he smiled wanly, turning into a wide smirk on his face. His entire attitude changed as he walked past a few of the dead bodies and then down the quiet streets of Konoha. For the moment, he was extremely excited to be here for once.


The secretary smoothed out a wrinkle on her blue blouse. She was paranoid thinking that someone could see through her blouse and see the light blue bra underneath. No one could see and no one would be able to have a chance to see it. She looked at herself, looking at the well placed makeup over her cheek. It was a small amount really, barely noticeable by the pickiest of men. Her friends said she is one of those types who didn’t need to wear behind make up. Make up didn’t complement her rather it just made her look even ridiculous. A beautiful woman she is, standing at a petite five foot five with curly brunette hair that reached down to the lower back. She would sometimes get complemented for such her hair by men and women alike. Sometimes it would be mistaken to be dyed seeing how unreal it could get. Sometimes it was a brunette color, other time sit was closer a mixture of red than black. She had it in a ponytail when she first came in. When she came into the bathroom and looked at herself with the lights illuminating herself she decided it would best to let it all fall down. She looked at herself, her hands reached over her shoulders and pushed some of her hair so it wouldn’t reach over her shoulders and just be behind her back.

Though oblivious to the entire situation, the secretary hadn’t heard the faint crashing. She was in the bathroom but this bathroom was mostly sound proof. The contractor who had remodeled it had been paid (by the finest money could offer) to have this entire place somewhat sound proof. There was one incident only forty years back to a leader of fire country who was only in his twenties. The meal of rice and beans did not sole well with his insides and he was more so not fond of excusing himself (he thought he excused himself but one would confirmed that he just barged out of the room with a face of pain and embarrassment) out of the room and relieved himself in the bathroom. Needless to say, he was in that most of relief and was making very loud sighing noises that could only indicate such powerful release. Until this day, the politician was more so a laughing stock underneath the old politicians memories. It was him that paid off this contractor to install it so no one, including himself, would ever have to deal with that embarrassment. Of course, he wasn’t thinking that it was actually necessary for someone to hear the outside so that the people inside the bathroom would have some sort of recognition of danger if there was danger. The secretary examined herself, turned around to see the back of her skirt. She smoothed out the wrinkle by her hip knowing it would return the moment she sat down. She smiled “First day on the job. Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous” She shook her fist lightly then gathered herself and smiled again. She walked towards the exit pushed open the door. Her eyes had widen when she realize that she had lost-


- a small hairpin that Yuushu had crushed. Yuushu lifted up his foot and saw the hairpin lodged into his boot. “Ah hell” he said distastefully “Someone is going to be pissed” he pulled it out and examined the bent metal with a small flower in the middle. It appeared to be an image of a small sakura petal. He threw it over his shoulder “Oh well, sucks for them” He had continued on walking down the street, empty as it was quiet. He didn’t think the streets would be this clear rather filled with panic stricken men and women. It usually happens Yuushu thought but then again things haven’t been entirely destroyed. If it was a mass scale attack, maybe a group or a person who wielded a god-forsaken weapon and more damage was made then he could see that panic struck crowd.

But it was just one person, one man or one woman that did more attack specifics than attacking just for general homicide then he could see an orderly fashion running away although-Yuushu knew that it was doubtful of this. It did stick out as he walked down his path, his face covered in a falsetto ANBU mask. Regardless of how good the original creator was with these masks, it could never get the fine details of a true ANBU mask. He felt silly wearing it. He felt silly and false. He took it off and set into one of his pockets into his trench coat. He would wear it when it was appropriate.

There was a small apartment complex off in the restaurant district. Again, the place was abandon with the streets wiped off clean of human life and it was as if life had just disappeared off the face of this side of the village. But Yuushu was smarter than that knowing that this part of the village wasn’t completely abandoned. There was, indeed, one soul who had more courage than any man Yuushu has ever fought in his life. If his mother was still around in her apartment complex it wouldn’t surprise him, not even in the slightest. She wasn’t the one to actually run towards the shelters just because there was one threat that could potentially kill her. Death wasn’t something she was sub come into fear. Yuushu need not to know that her eyes were staring directly at him as he got into view over the third floor window. He looked up at the window wondering if the curtains she hanged over the windows had changed over the decade course. He couldn’t tell, he wasn’t close enough to see if it had changed or not. It was just a vague color, unnoticed by the passerby.

Whether it has or hasn’t, he could see a small opening for one to peer an eye out to see down below. Eyes fixated over Yuushu’s position. Yuushu imagined a woman with blonde hair pale enough to be deemed white was looking down through that small opening of the curtains. He saw her with a kunai in the back of her hand grasping the white tape over it like she always put so she could get a good grip over the handle. Her hand by something else to keep her hands occupied; it would be a vase, maybe a knife, another kunai or whatever she needed to keep her hands from fidgeting. It wasn't fear that made her hand shake but an tasteful excitement.

He saw her staring at him hoping he wouldn’t come up, hoping that he would stay down there and not knock on the door. He could see her beg him to leave, whispering to herself in the quiet and dark complex.

Yuushu could only imagine it. There was a soft explosion in the background again. It didn’t break his imagination right there but it did make his eyes side track over to the administrative building. Whatever was happening where the explosion occured he wouldn't be focus on it. Yuushu was only filled with plans. Chaotic plans. There was that sly smirk he had on his face earlier thinking about how fun it was going to be. He’ll have to leave his mother for now, disturbing her now would be a bad time and not a good conversation starter with her trying to stab him in his neck. He turned to that direction and walked towards the administrative office. Oh he’ll have his fun but there was always a bit of planning to be involved when you want to have some fun with a splash of a twist. He reached into his trench coat and he pulled out a-


-large bag that was filled with hairpins. She had a bunch of them this new secretary of the Hokage. She’s a tidy person, someone who thinks ahead in situations like this. That hairpin she wanted to wear was one of her favorites. She cursed to herself that she had lost that one hairpin that was her favorite. She had one hairpin that was similar in appearance, a sakura petal that was the color of a lighter shade of pin but not exactly the one. Oh well she thought and placed the pin in her hair, the metal disappearing in her curly hair only showing the sakura petal which stuck out. She walked back over to her desk, slowly sitting down in the chair. Although she wasn’t expecting any visitors to come in today, she wasn’t expecting a man wearing a trench coat with no shirt on come with a kunai in his hand with a smile that could win over a woman’s heart…or tear it to pieces.

Yuushu had opened the door to a long stretch of a hallway. He had sprint the rest of the way there; avoiding any potential people who could have spotted him and taken any chances as to attack or just leave him alone. Whether he was an enemy or ally, it was hard to tell, the man was moving faster than the eye could perceive. Walking down the hallway he spotted a woman with curly brunette hair “Cute chick” he thought. His hands automatically pulled out a kunai without even patting himself to find this part of his body to find where it was. The woman hadn’t notice him until she sat down. Her eyes widen causing her brow to rise up out of terror at how fast Yuushu had overpowered her with a speed she hadn’t seen before in her lifetime. She pushed the chair back hitting the back of the wall. Yuushu had vaulted over desk with his hand stretched out so he could clasp her mouth so she wouldn’t scream. Indeed, she wanted to scream, he could feel the struggle of a burst of terror trying to escape but it was swallowed down. Yuushu placed a kunai by her neck and that immediate throat swallowing with every muscle in her body tense had froze her body.

“Lady” he said softly enough for her to hear. She was stiff for a moment, small tears coming out of eyes and streaking her cheeks. He could already see this turning bad but again that was the point of him doing this. He was suppose to scare her shitless but to the point of quiet submission. “Lady” he said again in that soft to hear voice “Loosen yourself. Relax. I’m not here to kill you. I just didn’t want to hear your scream. I rather not attract too much to this party otherwise the cops will hound my ass for sure”

She looked at him, her eyes watering with fear. She blinked and more tears streamed down her cheek. Yuushu was patient, he was in no rush “Just calm down ok. If you’re going to scream, I’ll gag you with my hand again. If not, then I’ll back away from you. Nod if you aren’t going to scream.” She nodded slowly having no intent of nodding quickly. “Good” he let loose of her mouth and drew back the kunai. She let out a soft sigh of relief then looked back at him. Yuushu jumped out of the small space they were and out in front of the desk “The Hokage out?” he smiled knowing the answer to this but she seemed befuddled in the moment

“I-“ she swallowed a hard frog in her throat “I don’t know. I just got here and I was in the bathroom.”

“What? No note saying he was leaving or anything? You got a intercom panel right next to your chair. How did you-“ he waved his hand dismissing what she just said “Never mind. Look, I don’t got an meeting with him nor do I intend on coming in next Thursday because of his busy schedule. I’m going into his office if you don’t mind” he looks at her, his eyes slitting down as if he was about to close it but he leans his head up so that he could have that woman luring smile “You aren’t going to tell anyone I’m here yes?”

“Wha-“she paused again with that frog in her throat. She was trying to clear herself from the shock but it just wasn’t happening “What if I did. What would you do? Kill me?”

This made Yuushu laugh out loud a short burst of laughter. He outstretched his hands “Do I look like a murderer to you?” he paused “Don’t answer that. I aint a murderer. Just your average jack-of-all-tradesmen is all. Listen, I won’t give you problems and you certainly won’t give me any. Just remember that I’m quick enough to do things that might leave this office a bit on the messy side. Kapeesh?”

“So….you’re not going to hurt me?”

“No. Not even tie you up. I rather have this party more of a social gather than a wild spree of shit getting out of hand.”

“Will you hurt anyone else if someone were to come in?”

“No…”

“What if the guards come in and try to stop you from doing whatever it is you’re doing”

“Oh, I have doubts about that. I just saw a few guards outside who were mutilated by a blade. Not a pretty sight if you ask me” she looked at him, her eyes buggy out. If her eyes could, they would’ve popped out of her sockets “I didn’t kill them obviously?” wasn’t that obvious from me saying I just saw a few guards. Past tense lady “And if I did, I would be coated in blood”

“You could’ve cleaned yourself off before you got here.”

That he couldn’t argue with though it was unlikely he would even clean himself up. He prefered to wait till it was all over which was, of course, the reasonable thing to do “True. One point for you. But I don’t think I could’ve done all that with all the commotion going on”

“Commotion?” She looked genuinely puzzled as if he told her the world was actually round instead of flat and what he just said was completely out of line.

“So you don’t know that the village is being attacked by one powerful missing nin? You didn’t hear the explosions, people running outside of the building to go and defend? That didn’t set off warning signs? Damn lady, talk about being oblivious to the world”

“I had no idea“ she lowered her head, her hands reaching into her hair where the pin was sitting. “I don’t know what to say” She looked at him then at the stairwell. “It’s the top floor-“

He was already moving towards it. He wanted to get out of that conversation. Oh how uncomfortable it must be to talk to a person like that. “I know top floor, the middle room, got it. This isn’t my first time here ya know” he waved at her with two fingers “Catch ya later lady.”

He went up the stairs, his boots hitting the marble floor then there was him going up the second set of stairs only this time it was much quieter and distant from her ears. Before long she couldn’t hear anything and that made her decide in her mind that she was safe for a short while. Her legs felt weak. She had to sit down otherwise she would fall where she was standing. She sat back and prayed that the chair would catch her. It did and she sunk back in her chair. It was first day on the job and now she felt the need to put in a notice for a vacation. Like all secretaries that gone through situations like this, the response most used isn’t ‘I need a vacation’ or ‘they don’t pay me enough’ but another saying. What she said would put her on the list for what past secretaries dealt with “Holy shit” she said softly.

Yuushu didn’t have to maneuver his way through the hallways. It has been a decade going on eleven years to where he hasn’t strolled through these hallways and to the Hokage’s room. The last Hokage that he had walked into with his uniform and the black cloak that separated him from the mooks and the captains was Shodaime. Now that bastard was gone, retired or what could be better for some dead. He doesn’t care about him now; he could care less about the boring old man. He was just that: A boring old man.

He was, however, having a fun ole time. He had recently found out who the new Hokage is through the chit chat of a couple in a bar in Amegakure. Though the night ended with him coming in late into his suite where he felt like punching another person in the face (Which he had only fifteen minutes before he came into the suite. The person had insulted him and of course, being an alpha male of a different class, instead of insulting him back decided that his face would look better into a wall) he did remember the couple talking how there was a young man of Uchiha descent. Young, maybe a little younger than Yuushu himself. They were doubtful as to how long he was going to be in power. And could he blame them for that opinion? Yuushu could only imagine how much shit that this new Uchiha Hokage was going through at this moment. Stress must hit his mind at a rate that could turn his sanity into madness.

Yuushu thought up something on his way here. He didn’t think Michio would care for that matter if the plan was to-well get another Uchiha on their side. Yuushu only experienced a limited amount of time with an Uchiha. The most recent was Suzumi. She had something inside of her that most Uchiha’s possess and that is that small line of revenge. Vengeance was a deadly key. Vengeance was a key that opens up opportunity with an Uchiha and perhaps this person has some type of opportunity. Of course he did Yuushu thought. He didn’t have to know whether this Uchiha had any plans to do whatever it is he had to do; he just knew that an Uchiha had that small little devil on their shoulder. It was always whispering to them, edging them to do it is that they need to do to get stronger. Everyone had a little devil, even Yuushu himself. But an Uchiha’s devil was something of a potent wine that was sweet to drink but harsh as it goes down someone’s throat. It can get addicting, that sensation.

What was this guy name? Shihouin? He didn’t particularly remember a Shihouin personally though he’s heard of a male Uchiha in the village that kind of look like a werewolf. It made him smirk as he opened up the door to his office. The layout was a bit different but not so much that he couldn’t get his way around to the desk. “Soft and cushy” he said as he vaulted over his desk and sat in it. Indeed it was something comfortable to kick your legs up on the desk and say fuck it to the world and all those who looked down upon them.

He swiveled the chair slightly to get see over to the window where there was smoke rising from that area. He wondered how long it would be before the Hokage would come. Oh, he would come he thought. It wouldn't take long at all. And so he waited.

It was hard talking to so many people at the same time, even though there were only like three or four of these little ANBU rats running around with him. Shihouin couldn't take it mentally so he would click into his blanked out mode where it looked like he was paying attention, but he really wasn't. They had so much to say but at the end of the day there was nothing they could do about his decision to let the attacker stay. He moved over to the balcony edge near the end of the building and leaned back against a tall railing and relaxed himself throwing his weight deep into the railing. He crossed his long sleeve covered arms and let his eyes go heavy like lead, blocking his sght for a bit.

He could hear the sounds of foot steps in his room and the darkness that surrounded them did nothing to muffle the ominous feeling of something big coming. He had his door open at night because the room collected too much heat if it was closed, so he kept it open to keep the air flowing in and out. He hated the heat and he hated the sweaty, sticky feeling that itched over his body when he was sleeping in it. The colder, the better. He was covered up in a twin size bed, snuggled deep in some cartoon covers terrified from the noise that grew louder and louder.

Out of fear he pressed his body deep into the bed flat and wriggled his small body under the covers until they met just under his eyes. He was trying to make himself flat enough so the bed would look like there was no one in it. The heavy foot steps stopped at the entrance of his open door and he heard the smooth sound of a palm rubbing up against the wall trying to find the light switch A small click echoed across the one bedroom wall and the entire room came to life and color with light. Squinting his dark eyes from the light, he heard the figure shuffle its way over to his bed.

The figure sat down on the edge of his bed and looked over at him. He could clearly see the smooth hand of a female caress his hair as he was able to see clearly in the light. "The power came back on, it's all right. Those noises were just the water running through the pipes... Your dad paid the bill so the water's back on." She was a beautiful mother, about 5' 6" with long shiny black hair that ran all the way down to her lower spine. Most of her friends though it was fake hair, but it definitely wasn't. It was one hundred percent home grown and only trimmed up every now and then. She had smooth curves that made it look like she hadn't even had a child, but it was none other than her ability to stay in shape to curve the pregnancy pounds off that made her look beautiful.

Shihoiun scrunched his eyes at her hands which were always touching him. "Why do you always have to touch me?!" He hated when people touched him sometimes. She poked his forehead sharply, and looked down at him with a joking look of disgust. "Ugh, jeez I just wanted to see if you were OK you scaredy cat!" She backed her hand away from him and stuck her pink tongue out. Angered, he rose his upper body from the bed with his hips, throwing his hands from under the covers into two tight fists. "I am not a scaredy cat!!!!" She smiled and laughed a bit at him, which always hurt his feelings. "Says the little boy peed himself last night." He was red hot now, like someone had drew red lines under his cheeks with a permanent marker. "You said you would never talk about it that again!" She smiled and wrapped her arms around the furious child and hugged him. "I'm sorry-- SHIHOUIN SAMA!!!"

What? Shihouin's eyes rolled around in his head and burst open in surprise. He looked around like he was in a daze, completely lost at everyone around him. In waking up from his tiny little micro sleep and dream, his body had almost slipped down under the railing. He quickly caught himself and looked at the three ANBU he had around him, all who seemed to be staring directly at him. It looked like they were worried and mad all at the same time with their body language even though he couldn't see their faces. Shihouin pulled down on his cloak as he stood up straight. He nodded his head down in confirmation and pretended as if nothing had gone wrong and acted as if he was perfectly fine. He took a step forward and spoke. "Right, so lets go back to the office!" For no reason at all, he took off towards the next railing, going all the way back to the office, in the opposite direction the ANBU wanted to go.

One of the ANBU behind him put his hand to his head and rolled in a circle, looking at the rest of the ANBU behind him. Obviously, Shihouin was having some issues that seemed to be stress related. This was the first stage of them, denial and self-assurance. He would assume that he was completely fine and had nothing to worry about until something bad happened. The only one capable of giving him a fair warning was Ayame, Hana, or Izumi and neither of them were here at the moment. Anyone else would end up fired from their position or maimed in some unsightly way.

After a couple of minutes of travel, the Hokage's tag-team group of ANBU and the Hokage himself arrived at the top of the roof of his Administration Building, just above his office. Upon landing, Shihouin stumbled a bit, regaining his footing on the dime. Anyone could blame it on the weather after seeing it, seeing that the roof was soaked and puddled every where with water, but the ANBU knew what his problem was. Even in the bright flashes of lightning, the bags around his eyes seemed too big and dark and long to be considered shadows. Shihouin turned to his group of ninja. "You're dismissed, head off and clean up the mess that was made quickly. Report later." As he walked down the steps towards the secret side entrance of the office, the ANBU scattered towards their tasks.

There was a code press inside of the wall, of course to protect from the elements and rain so it could function. Shihouin flipped open the little plastic screen and put his fingers to the number dial and pressed in the code. Zero-three, zero-four. Wrong. The lights flashed red and green and then held red. The flashing colors meant that his finger print had been accepted but the code was wrong. It gave the computer the knowledge that Shihouin was probably there, but not entering the code correctly. He paused for a bit and though. 'Huh, I coulda swore the code was zero-three, zero-four... Well I guess it's the reverse.' Showing his obviously declining mental state, he pressed the numbers in again but this time backwards. Zero, four, zero, three. The lights on the code press held green and flashed blue and green quickly, showing that he had the correct information. The secret door panel would now open.

The lock and door on the side of the building made a gaseous hissing sound, and the air pressure released leaking out into the outside and some on the inside of the office. The door handle clicked open, giving him about a second or two to open it. He gripped the wet handle and pulled the door 'into' the wall, with it being 'secret door' and all and walked in. He stumbled lazily and fell prey to the comfort of his familiar office. The cool feeling of the air conditioning and the smell that it carried. He could go to sleep and then deal with all those other issues later.

He stumbled towards his chair and his eyes kept moving around in his head, never staying still for a moments notice. He tried to fight it, walking towards the windows so he could sit in his chair and go to sleep. His footing almost got the best of him but he was able to quickly catch himself before he completely fell. At this rate, he could go to sleep for a solid 24 hours. Thinking he was completely alone, he moved in front of the chair and went to sit down as it was unknown to him that he was about to sit in the lap of a total stranger.

His feet were up pressed against the window. With one hand, he pretended it was a little person jumping off from rooftop to rooftop off to the location “Looks like we need to find out what cause some of the damage here Nii” he said in a very low voice. It was pretty good, closer to an accent not really heard a lot in Konoha. “By heavens no” he said in another voice, this time he introduced another hand who he had stood behind him “The Hokage is getting involved. We can’t interfere, we might do more damage”

“Nonsense” back to the low voice “We are trained men of Hokage’s finest, we can’t mess up.” He pretended that the one building Yuushu had set his hand on exploded causing the one character with a deep voice to scream out “YAAARRRGGGHHHHH” he said, letting his hand fall to his lap. The other hand screamed “ICHI, NOOOOO!!” There was a long silence. He was looking at his one hand who was the surviving “ANBU” left looking down at his fallen friend who had died to his death. He had a blank look on his face, his eyes low and slanted almost as if he was ready to fall asleep. He could see his one hand resting on his knee through the small slits of his eyes. He then closed them completely and made an exasperated sigh and rested his head back more in the chair. He could feel his boots slide down off the window. He set his feet up again but it continued to slide down the window.

He tried to keep on the window again but again it slid down. He opened his eyes and saw how there were faded dirt trailing down from where he placed it downward. He looked at it, stared at it with shallow eyes that could care less as whether he made a dirt streak on the windows of this place or not. What he should’ve done, though this was hindsight, was step in some shit, wet shit fresh from the dog and from the rain and wipe that on the window, let each mark stain the damn window to a brown streak. But again, it was hindsight. He rather not had done that seeing that he was sitting her in the soft chair and had really no intent of leaving as of yet. As much excitement it was to do, he rather not have to deal with that lingering smell, it ruins the fun when he had stay there and endure that matter of feces.

He set his foot down off the window. He set his elbow on the arm rest and rested his head in the palm of his hand. He was bored, however obvious it was he was simply bored out of the pure fact that waiting for the guy to come out of nowhere was more a chore than actually trying to find him. At least then he could get lost purposely and have some sense of wondering back in the past that he so called a home all those years ago. How many? Ten? Had it been ten years? Those ten years did seem to fly by pretty quick, ten years was all it took for him to make a name for himself, gather connections of the underground, steal from few countries and gather himself a nice business of being a jack of all trades type of person and-there was a soft pelting coming from the window. He looked up and saw that the window was condensed with droplets of water. It was raining now. He wondered what happened to the storm that seemed to threaten the village earlier. He didn’t hear any thunder though he might’ve confused that with the explosions that were happening earlier. Indeed that was a lie. He knew damn well that there is a clear difference between thunder and an explosion. He wasn’t that thick headed to not realize that.

He let out another sigh, this time it was longer and much more exasperated than the last one. He turned his head away from the window and to his right. What caught him off guard was a man, he had to be six feet five or taller, he was taller than Yuushu himself and he knew. His eyes not seem to drift towards his direction or any direction at all. It looked as though they were staring outward at nothing. He had grab hold of the chair and Yuushu had already saw what was going to happen. This fucker is not about to sit on me. He already knew the answer when he saw how the man was bending over ready to sit on his lap. “You ain’t no lady, you cannot sit on-“ he quickly grabbed at his back and pushed him back to the side. The guy felt limber, lethargic almost. Yuushu got up from the chair spinning back to his left so he could get some distance from the person.

Yuushu took a good look at him. Though his hands were sliding down into his trench coat setting his hands onto the grip of the bandaged kunai, he saw the look on the man’s face. Well, he wasn’t a man per se, he had a name Yuushu noted. He noticed how the person had gold color eyes and had unkempt hair that some may compare to an animal, a wolf, untamed and certainly vicious looking. Yuushu wondered how he slipped in. The only way someone could get in here during a particular lockdown was either through the entrance into the office where it was, at most times, unlocked which Yuushu took or the other way was a way that one Hokage had set up long ago where there was a passage that the Hokage can take if he wish for some privacy. Seeing that door he entered through was partially closed with the door not latched in, he decided it was the latter option.

Although both of them were unaware of their presence at the time before Yuushu had stood up, Yuushu had a sense that Shihouin was more or less on the slipping side. He had that look, that look of stress where his eyes didn’t seem to focus on one thing but many things. He appeared tired which made him appear older than he looked. Shihouin was no more than two years younger than Yuushu, he knew that from information but he looked as if he aged a decade at that very moment. “What the fuck happen to you?” he asked. He wasn’t going to dwell there waiting for him to happen. The question really was what didn’t happen to him?

Yuushu let his grasp fall from the kunai in his coat and took it out of his pocket. He crossed one foot over the other to get a middle ground position with himself. One side, he had the door which he could sprint to if need be. On the other was the window. Windows were his favorite things to kick down, that crashing sound they make when he kicks him them gives him a sense of rush when he did it. He made the option there but he didn’t think he would have to use it, not now that is. He saw the exhaustion in the Hokage’s face, something he hadn’t seen in a man in a very long time. Whatever the Hokage been though today or through the past week or so, he can imagine it’s been a stressful time; a time and place for Yuushu to speak to him without worrying about him trying to attack without necessary conflicts.

“Don’t worry about that question. You look fucking beat. What, did you get dump by your girlfriend because she was cheating on you? Got kick out of your apartment? Your manhood out of whack?” he smiled “Geez, you look like shit. Did anyone tell you that you woke on the wrong side of the bed because that side of the bed had dog shit lying on that side?” He paused “Well, take that as a complement."

Shihouin continued to stagger around the office, even though he had been pushed away from a complete stranger. His body rolled over into the corner, each foot straggling to give him the leverage he needed to properly balance so he could hold himself with some sort of resolve. He had obviously failed of course and wasn't able to move around good enough. The long tall body of the Hokage slammed up against the wall and for another second he stopped there and his eyes closed again. Whoever this person in here was, he was at an extreme advantage. For an assassin out for his head, catching the Hokage in a situation like this was golden. Any assassin would probably make a sandwich and enjoy the struggling Hokage.

He slipped off into another quick micro sleep. He was on all fours, shaking and trembling like he was a child. This time instead of dreaming about his mom and his better life as a child, he was in a coffee shop with the Second Hokage standing tall and firmly over him. Shihouin couldn't look up, nor could he control the chakra in his body, nor could he even breath properly. His entire body felt like it was boiling, running hot acid through his veins at one thousand miles per hour. Since his body didn't know what to do, nor could he handle the pain, he threw up a river of vomit in front of himself and panted.

The Second Hokage had treated him like a dog for the crime of murder. By all right he could have taken his head but the Second was.... not that type of person. He realized that the torture he was going through wouldn't be that in death. There was freedom in death, int hat it freed you from the pain and from all your suffering. The Second Hokage wanted to make sure that Shihouin suffered for his crimes and was punished thoroughly. he wanted fear and suffering, torment and submissiveness.

His shaking arm slipped and his head went straight down into his own pile of vomit. A sickening splat slapped across the confines of the coffee shop and the once proud Uchiha was down. a 6' 5" giant now was curled up in something like a fetal position shaking and trembling, and he knew the Second was enjoying every single moment of it. He couldn't think, nor react. He only had two things in his mind, kill the Second when he got stronger and don;t cross him until then.

"What the fuck happen to you?" Shihouin's eyes looked back towards him, the Second Hokage. Was he still dreaming, he couldn't tell. As he sat on the ground up against the wall of his office, he looked down at his hands palm up, studying them like some drunk wondering where his missing alcohol was. It took him a few minutes to realize that he wasn't dreaming, but he still couldn't snap out of the tiredness. He felt like sleeping for an entire year at this point.

He kept trying and struggled to come to consciousness. "Geez, you look like shit. Did anyone tell you that you woke on the wrong side of the bed because that side of the bed had dog shit lying on that side?" After that, his brain began to register emotions like anger and fuel for revenge. His body perked back up, but this of course would only be temporary. He opened his Sharingan and was about to attack the Second until he realized that this man here was no the Second Hokage in the least bit... He was confused, yet a bit relieved, yet suspicious all at once.

The pitch of his voice was deeper than normal since he was so tired. "Who are you?" As much as he tried to get the hidden kunai in his sleeve ready to attack, he didn't feel like wasting energy. He would just have to wait for the stranger to attack him. He figure he would already be dead seeing as how he was in here when he was wobbling around. Hopefully they could have the conversation while he sat up against the wall, it was too comfortable here for him to move.

What put a halt in Yuushu moving towards the door or to the window was that sorry state that Hokage was in currently. He was on all fours, his head bent over. He looked as though he was about to upchuck his entire lunch which Yuushu actually thought might happen. His assumption was correct as the Hokage made gurgling sounds, the sound that mixed in burning food, stomach acid and bile all coming out of his mouth and onto the ground. Yuushu had an expression that was not exactly revulsion but mild disgust towards it. He hadn’t seem shinobi, high ranking shinobi of his caliber appear like that. He looked like a bar patron after a long day of binge drinking, his head set on the counter, his mind was swimming in a sea of alcohol, his words almost incomprehensible to the human ear and yet-

The Hokage fell over on his face on the vomit. This made Yuushu brow raise up “Holy fuck” he said aloud. He didn’t mean to say it. He’s seen it so many times before and he didn’t know why this scene he saw with the Hokage just seems so odd. Yuushu then realized that it was not just an ordinary person who just face plant into his own vomit; it was the Hokage, more so an Uchiha who just face planted himself into his own vomit which made the entire scene even more out of place and new to Yuushu.

“Geez, you look like shit. Did anyone tell you that you woke on the wrong side of the bed because that side of the bed had dog shit lying on that side?” He paused “Well, take that as a complement” in that moment of time there was a look on the Hokage’s face that changed completely from utter pathetic to a raged man. The color of his eyes changed swiftly from that golden color immediately to that deadly red that the Uchiha are notorious for. This made Yuushu draw out a kunai. He wondered when his hand slipped down into his pocket so quickly that he didn’t even notice. He had the kunai in his left hand with his right hand in front with his fingers semi bent only his index and middle finger extended, his left leg shifted back some putting some weight on it while his right leg shifted up in front slightly bent yet extended.

The Hokage didn’t retaliate but instead sat himself up against the wall. In a low voice with some sinister intent inside he asked “Who are you?” Yuushu stood up right and lowered his hand but he didn’t take the kunai and place it back into his trench coat. He looked at him, Shihouin was it? He saw how he rested himself on the back of the wall settling in. If this was an operation for assassination he would indeed taken the opportunity to strike at him and he wouldn’t had hesitate in doing so. The fact of the matter is that Yuushu intent on killing the Hokage wasn’t even on his parameter of things to do for today. He didn’t think that killing him would achieve anything, not for the group, not for himself and definitely not for fire country. Didn’t he saw to Michio and Leon that they need a plan first before causing chaos? That seem so long ago yet it was only three days past since that meeting. Interesting to say the least. Interesting to a point that made him smile tilting his head to the side and shrugging his shoulders that he said “I go by many names Hokage. Names that you may have heard, maybe some you haven’t. I’m famous around these parts ya know. Ikkou-san, Mr. Eccentric, The Jack of All Tradesmen. I have many names and those are the three that are known in the black market. I have developed a new name-“ he bowed his head slightly “ Mr. Saturday they call me”

He walks over to the desk. He pretends to wipe off the dust on the table and sits himself on top of it “Though you’re looking at me as though you’ve seen a ghost. I don’t think I caused a prank on you when I was here” he tapped his chin “Did I do something to you?” he looks at Shihouin. Some of the vomit had made a small trail on his chin and had crusted over. Yuushu smirked at this and got off from the table “I don’t think you know me and I certainly don’t know you-well not officially I know you. I left this village ten years ago, wanting to set my eyes on some things that writers might call that “lust of adventure” and surely enough I got that. Now I’m here, I’m back to see what’s up with the village-well damn, shit really hit the fan huh?”

He points over to the door with a thumb as if he was hitching a ride “Cute secretary by the way. Though a bit of ditz if you ask me. Is it just me or does the younger male Hokages aim for the ones with good looks, good tits and obviousness to the world around them? I guess it’s better than a smart woman. Won’t have her questioning and nagging you, am I right?” he laughed at that and pointed at the Hokage though he wasn’t exactly waiting for him to laugh with him “Ok, ok. So you’re not in the mood. Talk about a killjoy” he paused and looked at Shihouin once again. He did see it was getting to him though he still appeared as if he was drunk.

Yuushu walked over to him squatting down. In his hand, he patted the kunai in his palm looking at it and then looking at Shihouin. He did this a few times before saying “Seems you are in a bit of shit storm. I walk into the village and see this chaos and I wonder ‘Damn, the fuck happen here’. I see things falling apart, crumbling slowly. It doesn’t have to show in the structure of the buildings or the people themselves. You can see it in the faces of your shinobi.” He took one finger and kept it in front of Shihouin “And you wonder whether you should take an option and just kill yourself. It probably came to mind. Maybe once while you were probably making love to your girlfriend, wife whatever and after that, after you satisfied her and you’re looking up at the ceiling and wonder if you ever felt that low in your entire life. You simply ask ‘What’s the point?’ and you get no response.”

He pressed the kunai on Shihouin’s Adam’s apple. There would be a mild prick on his skin, the sensation of something sharp going to cut him “And it’s just like that feeling. That feeling of something is about to happen. You’re wondering when this thing will occur, whether this sensation will ever leave you. And the answer” he words out the word no letting no sound come out. He stood up and walked back over to the desk on top of it.

After like a good minute or so, Shihouin's body went through the cycle again. This time he had enough time to get his eyes open and wide too, so strength could flow through them and he could look like he was somebody. His senses came to and his nerves could be felt and he could move now, at least for a few minutes. Shihouin moved his legs and stood up regardless of the blade pointed at his throat and got up in a way which prevented him self from being butchered by the blade. But before he could get his resolve together one hundred percent, he realized something was wrong with him.

On the side of his face a smooth, sticky and unruly smelling liquid crusted to his hair and ears. The smell of gastric juices and old food with some citrus sting was all over him. He was dreaming of the time with the Second Hokage right? Shihouin's mind was working now so he could make light of it. Whatever was happening to his own body was not safe, he could not discern the difference between reality and dream any more, and if untreated he could kill himself. He would have to force his body into overdrive if he wanted to deal with this man.

He coughed up and spat vile liquids on the floor. "You talk too much." Shihouin looked dead at him. "Look, you can either tell me what you know or we can do this the hard way. I would prefer to do it the easy way and you just spill your guts, as you can see I am not in the cleanest mood right now to be dealing with this, much less you." Shihouin's resolve got better, he talked as if he was just standing face to face with him, regardless of the blade. "Tell me about you and the Second Hokage and whoever else you two are with.... You must be related to the Second Hokage or are using transformation technique... I'd like to assume its not the latter."

He wanted to get to the point. "Konoha's my village. As much as I don't like being in here I gotta protect it or at least leave someone else strong enough in charge to protect it. I have the love of one person here that matters to me the most... Whether or not you're here to change that is your own agenda. If you come close to what I value, I will destroy everything you ever cared about and grind your balls up into powder."

Shihouin's heart jumped in his chest and the veins around his neck and exposed skin pulsed as well. A wave of fatigue and conflicting bodily chemicals hit him hard and it was obvious. Whatever his body was doing to him wasn't safe, he couldn't keep pushing his body this long because it was failing him. A small trickle of saliva and some stomach fluids poured out of the corner of his mouth and he almost went into a small sleep.

"I don't have much time to deal with you, I need rest or I'll die and then it won't be fun when you come again. State your business or leave. I have no intention of trying to deal with you if you aren't going to offer me something at least remotely considered as a threat, or some interesting deal. That's what you missing nin do right?" He hoped that this guy would do this quickly, it didn't seem like Shihouin actually had time on his hands to do anything. Whatever he had been doing wrong with himself was hurting him.

Maybe he had been poisoned by this missing nin? Or maybe something had affected him to some degree that the adverse reactions he was having was causing himself to go into these dangerous fits. The physical and mental instability he had was astounding right now and even so much more surprising that Shihouin had never been the one to actually get sick. With all the training he had done to his body and all the exercises he had completed, there was no room to say he had some weakness or wasn't immune to some virus or bug. Maybe it would be something that the medic corps would figure out.

With the Hokage trying to recover himself, there goes Yuushu’s conscious telling him to put the Hokage back down on his ass. As much as he wanted the Hokage to stand up off the ground and at least talk to him face to face, he didn’t wish for his feet to settle in too quickly. He had an audacious thought in tripping him back on the ground, telling him to the sit back down laughing a cold cackle doing so. Though it told him to do so, he didn’t take action in doing so and smiled nonetheless.

Looking at the Hokage’s wavering eyes, he saw how it was struggling to look at him with coherent thoughts. He could see that his mind was in a bit of a jumble, broken into thousands pieces at this point. What Yuushu said had gotten to him, whether he was such a broken state or not, the words got through to him and he could see it in those eyes he possessed. There he saw more crust of bile on his cheek, something that his shadow had hid when Yuushu had bent over with the kunai on his neck. How nice to see that he was in this type of shape. With him trying to settle, he saw how his knees had a bit of a shake, his body not wanting to stand up and was telling him, no pleading him to sit down. It wasn’t going to happen. He was the gotdamn Hokage. That’s what he must of said over and over again saying it in mantra like format. “I’m the Hokage, don’t look weak, look strong, look strong damn you”

Another wave of his bile came out of him. Although it wasn’t much, just a smaller pile to the one he threw up only a minute, it took a toll on him regardless. “You talk too much” Shihouin said in a groggy voice. Yuushu couldn’t deny that he was talking a bit much, something that Yuushu doesn’t do all too often but that didn’t wipe the smile off his face. His smile only continued as Shihouin wanted him to get to the point, either receiving it the easy way or the hard way.

He held back a cackle with that one. Hard way? What was the hard way, throwing up on him? He had a image of Shihouin trying to take a few steps towards him before his knees buckling and his forehead would meet the sharp end of the desk. He rubbed his forehead with that image still there. He didn’t want to imagine how the pain would be like, especially if Yuushu was in the Hokage’s position. What truly got him to stop thinking about that all together was what Shihouin said, what he said caught Yuushu a bit off guard "Tell me about you and the Second Hokage and whoever else you two are with.... You must be related to the Second Hokage or are using transformation technique... I'd like to assume it’s not the latter."

The man was speaking some sort of nonsense saying he had to be related to the Second Hokage. Related in what way he thought, second cousin five times removed? He hadn’t heard of any relatives in his family besides his own small nuclear family of having a mother and a crazed father. He knew no living relative off the top of his head so this did utterly confuse Yuushu at first. The Hokage didn’t even give him a chance to think. He was on his last leg here "Konoha's my village. As much as I don't like being in here I gotta protect it or at least leave someone else strong enough in charge to protect it. I have the love of one person here that matters to me the most... Whether or not you're here to change that is your own agenda. If you come close to what I value, I will destroy everything you ever cared about and grind your balls up into powder." His eyelids were ready to fall down over his eyes as Yuushu watched him. He was half way gone on that last leg of his and Yuushu smile had faded to more of a taciturn glance at Shihouin’s eyes. "I don't have much time to deal with you, I need rest or I'll die and then it won't be fun when you come again. State your business or leave. I have no intention of trying to deal with you if you aren't going to offer me something at least remotely considered as a threat, or some interesting deal. That's what you missing nin do right?"

Yuushu got off from the desk, looking up at Shihouin and moved between the desk and him over to one of the cabinets. He didn’t glance at him, not entirely, looking at a small flower that was set in the middle of a cabinet. “Us ‘Missing-nin’ as you call us don’t make threats. Threats can be idle and dumb in nature. We only make promises.”

He turned to Shihouin, the smile he had returned on his lips. He points to the window where it was now raining, the water sliding off the surface of the window messing with the image of the village. “I don’t know what the second Hokage has to do with me personally, I have no idea if he does look like me or not. If he does then he must be one dashing bastard like myself.” he looked at the reflection of himself and had one hand placed on his chin and he turned him. He had a wide grin on his face “Tell me, why in the hell would I ‘transform’ myself into something as sexy as this? This is genetics good sir, all genetics. Though I’m probably a lot sexier than the guy you’re speaking of.” He turned his head over to see his blue eyes and those sharp canines in his reflection. “I’m not in league with the guy. Although, I can tell the guy must be a real douche if he causes you this much concern. If I meet him, I’ll tell him that you want to, what was that you wanted, ‘destroy everything you ever cared about and grind your balls up into powder’? You are a real poet with that line. It’s a real catchphrase”

He shrugged “I got nothing to care for. Money? Fame? Love? Kindness? Empathy? You don’t know what the hell I care for. For all you know, the best thing I care for is a rock and you could destroy that. Even then, I find me another rock.” He points to Shihouin; though he remained smiling his eyes said differently had how cold his intent was. “You have much more to lose than me. Much more because of your ‘bond’ you have with this village” he put his fingers up for bond as he said this “You love someone, you care for your students that you train and will raise for the next generation, you’ll protect them with everything blah, blah, blah, etc, etc.

“But you know the fuck up thing about this? This fucked up idealistic thing that you call loyalty, it has a tendency of shattering soooo easily when someone puts chaos in that little equation of yours. Everyone hunky dory when things are right. Even in war, as long as that shit is running smoothly, you have that ‘loyalty’. But when you put random, unadulterated chaos, you see that kindness splits in half and you wonder where that loyalty goes. It goes where the sun don’t shine man. It fucking disappears, splits, and catches a ride to the next gullible village to take up that ideology. It ain’t like it was back when that shit was considered the best option to have in a shinobi. Shit like that-well you could lead an army to its death and they would all remain loyal.” Like a devil, he had appeared over to where Shihouin was standing. Like the Niidaime, he was fast. He had one finger poking Shihouin’s chest and he split his words apart with each poke “But. Not. For. You. Hokage.” He steps back “They would betray you just as quick as they follow you. You’re a leader out of necessity. You’re Hokage because shit hit the fan when this Second Hokage, who looks like my dashing self, decided to up and leave this shit. You weren’t put in position because they thought you were a good leader. They put you here because they knew you were just insurance if things really got out of hand. Am I right? You were the best “available” option at the time and now you have this sense of loyalty now to a village who uses you like an insurance coverage. How does it feel to be considered that?”

“I have no threatening offer Hokage. All I’m going to do is do what I want to do and that is causes everything to crumble. The group, the Days of the Week they call it, want to see everything burn. Consider me the rational guy in the group if you can believe that. I’m here to give you a clause man. I’m here to help you escape from this illusion you call reality.” He snaps his fingers at the last word ‘reality’. He put one finger up “You can sit down in that chair and just threaten me with that nonsensical bull you were spewing just a second before and lie to yourself thinking everything will be ok. You can go back to that so-called life, where you have that so-called love life with this woman who blindly follows you. You can go back to training your so-called ‘shinobi’ and just as if he this was just another terrorist threat” then he put another finger up “Or you can come with me. You can be free from all of these lies they put in you. You won’t be considered insurance, you won’t be bonded to the lies Fire Country has spilled in you since you’ve been alive here. The bondages will be set free and you can truly understand the meaning of-” He points both fingers Shihouin “everything”

He wasn’t expecting an answer right away. No, Yuushu didn’t want him to answer it right away. He wanted the idea to seep in his head a little, wanting it to thicken as time went on. He could take him, no doubt that Shihouin’s conditions would put little resistance for Yuushu to knock out and carry. Too brutish he thought. He liked the idea of it boiling in his head and waiting there for it to explode. He was contemplating like his father was. He thought how his father would’ve said something like this to the First Hokage before he went M.I.A. He could imagine him adjusting his glasses to the old man, that shrewd smile he had on his face talking to him in the same manner. He wouldn’t be too outright blunt like Yuushu; they were different in speech and in levels of excitement. But they both had that pleasure in seeing something slyly pushed towards someone of power, revealing to the beauty of what they believed to be true only to be outright false. He enjoyed it which both sicken and amazed him all at once.

Shi's knees began to buckle and bend like a toy action figure under the crushing weight of a child who grew tired of it. Each knee popped forward and then back up again making his tall body rock up and down. The swishing, scratching sound of his back against the wall abruptly stopped with a dense thud as he could no longer take it to stand up and more. His bottom hit the ground and his hands curled in between his legs along with his head for a second. Whatever sickness this was, it was getting the best of him with every passing minute that went on.

Shihouin started to think to himself as hard as he could while his head bobbed up and down as if he were listening to music in an uneven time signature. A sore neck began to crack a bit and the muscles grew too tired as he threw his head back up against the wall for rest. Dangling strands of hair on the right leaned back a bit and the crusted vomit on the left stuck to him strong sort of like an epoxy. A long neck and adams apple moved up and down, gulping for fresh air. He couldn't breathe properly.

Was he hyper ventilating? It sure did sound like hyper ventilating, and it seemed to be more than that. Tears streamed down his face like liquid glass and he couldn't control it at all. The pain began to set in and his face began to sweat profusely. A track star would be surprised as the level of moisture that was leaking from him, definitely too much to be considered humanely possible. This man was truly fucked up but this missing nin would go ahead and make sure he had fun, at the cost of the Hokage's unknown sickness which seemed to be ailing him so bad that he cried a bit, even whimpering.

His fish-like googly eyes tried to follow his finger when he pointed outside. Anyone else would see the image of the village through streaking rain drops but Shihouin was seeing something else. He saw lines of molten glass bending back and forth and pulsing in real time with his erratic heart beat. His equilibrium was terribly fucked up and he leaned over a bit, slouching to the floor. These clothes were too hot. As the stranger spoke he took off his flak jacket like it was on fire, and even his shirt. It was a bit weird throwing off clothes in front of an other man but he would be surprised. Instead of the shuffling sound clothes would normally make, the flak jacket and long sleeve hit the ground with a wet slap. "I don’t know what the second Hokage has to do with me personally, I have no idea if he does look like me or not. If he does then he must be one dashing bastard like myself." The Hokage had to be related to this guy, he looked exactly like him and his Sharingan did not sense any hint of an illusion or transformation technique. His facial features were exactly the same...“Tell me, why in the hell would I ‘transform’ myself into something as sexy as this? This is genetics good sir, all genetics. Though I’m probably a lot sexier than the guy you’re speaking of.”

While listening to him speak Shihouin tried to drag his body up from the ground like a wet rag doll. His arm took some time with him and it took a lot of mental convincing but he was able to convince his brain that it had enough strength to move his arm and push it up under his body. Each sweaty finger wriggled and shook like a long tanned snake covered in water. Moving his arm in a good position to prop his body up, he was able to push his back at least up against the wall again. And soon after he found the stranger at his chest.

Even though Shihouin was in the most intense pains of his entire life, he hated the conversation more than the pain. He hated everything this man was now saying. His words.... as many as they were began to hit home like a rock through the living room window. His body couldn't show it but sadness crept through his sickness and he could tell that this man was absolutely right. "You can sit down in that chair and just threaten me with that nonsensical bull you were spewing just a second before and lie to yourself thinking everything will be ok. You can go back to that so-called life, where you have that so-called love life with this woman who blindly follows you. You can go back to training your so-called ‘shinobi’ and just as if he this was just another terrorist threat". Even though he loved being apart of the village and helping everyone... He couldn't help but realize that the burdens he was in had been due to the pressure of the Hokage seat. Maybe Shihouin couldn't take it, maybe the pressure was too much or it wasn't the type of job for him. He remembered the old days when all he had to do was rank up and become stronger with each mission. Sandaime Hokage, an Uchiha reaching the 'throne', the clan had finally moved on up. His goals had been meet, yet so much pain in the process and even love which could cause greater pain.

Or. OR. "Or you can come with me. You can be free from all of these lies they put in you. You won’t be considered insurance, you won’t be bonded to the lies Fire Country has spilled in you since you’ve been alive here. The bondages will be set free and you can truly understand the meaning of----everything." he wondered... Freedom huh? No more Yamazu, no more lying, no more hiding, no more worrying... He would look like a liar in front of Katsumi... But was it worth all the pain and suffering that he would continue to go through? He wouldn't leave for vengeance, but to leave to be free from Konoha and lead a life of his own.

Which path would he choose?

The pathetic stare on his face only brought more sadistic pleasure in the whole charade of good and evil; light and darkness. Yuushu thought how in the books where history is stored, how they’ll tell the tale of a white haired man tempting the Hokage like a snake to a woman, a devil to a messiah. They will speak of his name as one who talked honey to the ears and gave words that were gold to the Hokage. They will speak at how Yuushu was an outright devil.

“A lie is a lie” the voice of his mother said in his mind. It was her speaking to him when he was only a twelve year old boy. He still had scars from training day in and day out, a small kid who was no taller than his mother. It was a time and place where his thoughts had expanded towards being a powerful shinobi for the village; ideals were so simple back then and it never caused any hard ache for anyone. Naivety at its worse hour as his mother talked to his one son, her only son at least to Yuushu he thought he was her only son “Whoever is victor writes history, they’ll cover the raw and tender truth with easy lies that eases the wound.”

The victors shaped history. History wasn’t being formed right there and then but more just gathering the wood before starting the fire. Yuushu kept to himself that perhaps he could get Shihouin to join him, not the Days of The Week, just him. It would wound them greatly, Konoha; it was a hard kick to the nuts it was and they would be feeling it for years to come. It gave him a tickling feeling that almost made Yuushu laugh out until he was on the ground rolling back and forth holding his stomach.

Yuushu looked into Shihouin’s eyes one last time. Tears ran down his cheek in a small stream not out of pain but sickness, madness, anger, sadness, relief. Shihouin was in pain, no doubt he had caught something and it was stress that was feeding the sickness. He was a cocktail off emotions that would kill the Hokage if he were to stay up any longer than his body would permit.

“Think about it Hokage-no, not Hokage. Shihouin Uchiha. Think about it long and hard. Let it sit in your head and sink into your conscious. Let it boil until it drives you mad and you have to make a choice as to whether to accept madness or accept freedom” His hand reaches to the back of his head cupping the skull in his hand and holding it as gentle as holding a newborn. He leans over to his ear and whispers something into his ear. It may have been disorientation that caused Shihouin to be deluded but he thought he heard him say Amegakure. The tenderness of his whisper wasn’t sensual, not in the least bit. It was a loving whisper but it was cold to hear it from him. It held so much meaning and yet it was void of every emotion.

He placed his other hand Shihouin’s forehead, letting go of the back of his head and he moved his head into the wall. It would be quick, a trip of pain would’ve been sudden but nothing life threatening. He would see a bright light at first and then total darkness. He would have a major headache when he woke up from his unconscious state but nonetheless rested.

The force of impact would project a loud bang in the room. If anyone were to walk past that room at that very moment, the sudden bang would have stopped someone in their tracks. Would it be wise to interrupt the Hokage? Maybe a knock on a door with a concern “Is everything all right?” comment and Shihouin didn’t answer, it would cause a bit of suspicion at the very least. Yuushu envisioned it all with a person trying to open the door, having the door not budge and then he or she would knock on the door saying “Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama! Are you all right?! Answer me please!” After a minute of worrying patience, that person would run for help and that would have given Yuushu a good minute and a half to get his white ass out of that scene.

Yuushu went still, wondering if anyone had walked by his office door and heard that loud bang. First it was ten seconds. Nothing. Twenty seconds. Yuushu could hear his heartbeat, lup dup, lup dup, lup dup, lup dup at a slow but steady pace. Thirty seconds. He looked over to the window and still the rain was pelting down on the village with ferocity now. It reached to a minute. The rain was the only thing that was making any noise. It didn’t mimic footsteps of any kind, but it could cover it So he waited for another minute. Then two. Then three. Finally, Yuushu decided it was best for him to leave. He should’ve left when he knocked him out but a part of him wanted him to stay. He looked down at Shihouin, now resting with a bit of ease and outright agony.

He put an arm underneath Shihouin’s knee and with his other arm he wrapped it around his back. He set him over on his chair, slowly lowering him into the seat. When he saw the chair move downward just a tad, he knew that Shihouin was in a good position. He moved Shihouin’s head over to his right side. His hand felt something warm and sticky on his finger tips only to see when he took his hand off of him that it was blood. He looked at it then looked for something to wipe it on. He looked down at the jacket and the shirt Shihouin had taken off. He reaches over and grabs the shirt and wipes the blood on it until his hands were noticeably clean from the stuff. His fingertips were red but that would fade away.

Yuushu hand grasped one of the handles of the window. It slid across opening up wet air into the room. He didn’t move out just yet. His hands came together performing the handseals. His body slowly became invisible from his feet upward coaxing his body with chakra. “See you soon, Shi” he said. He took a step out of the window and then took his other foot until he was in squatting position. He slid the window shut. There was a quiet splash off the brick edge. It might have been caused by an extra droplet of rainwater flowing off the rooftop and onto the edge. Then the only thing that entered into the room was the soft breathing of Shihouin and the rains downpour. The storm was just beginning.

Spoiler:

Even now his will would be something that would go down in history or even at least his biography or something. Despite the sickness and head pain that had gripped him, not a moment after the stranger had escaped he came back to his senses. He couldn't move well, nor could he convince his body that it had the ability to function halfway decent, but he could crawl. The surprising thing was that his sweats began to stop and resume like they were in some type of cycle, repeating over and over again. It was like looking at a broken sprinkler the way he dragged himself across the room, dry, then wet then dry all over again.

It took him a while to reach the door entrance on the side which he had come into, but his long and lanky arms would help save his life. The code press on the side of the wall, he moved his fingers into it and began pressing number after to number, making sure the code was wrong every time. The wet sticky sweat on his fingers dried up against the key press until the whole thing flashed red and the alarm tripped off, a silent one.

Each an every ANBU, Jounin, and some Chuunin ninja if they could would come running towards the office. If no one was able to get there within five minutes, a dispatch alarm would send out a team of the fastest messenger birds across the village and warn those at the gates, who would warn all the other types of ninja with in the village. If five minutes after that no one had arrived, that same messenger bird team would move towards the most popular village routs towards different countries, along with a back up team of birds after them. If there was no one to save him after that, then..

He deserved to die there in his office. He lay there slumped into a puddle of his own sweat and mucus, hoping that someone would come in time enough. The stranger had taught him a valuable lesson and had given him something he could cherish. As much as he loved Hana, Ayame and even Izumi, he didnt want to be in a situation like this anymore. He wasn't quick to give up, but the word freedom was definitely something he would have to heed too.

From roof to roof, then yet another roof of a building within Konoha was used as a stepping stone for Ayame to hop on as she aimed her sights at the largest building within the village itself, able to be seen from the depths of Konoha no matter where you are. The blonde kunoichi was still as confused as ever when it came to her purpose of even going to her destination in the first place. Why would Shihouin call in a top priority urgent meeting of ANBU at this very moment? More importantly, why would he specifically call for Ayame herself to be there as such an important piece to this little game of chess? Something was definitely not sitting right with the Energetic Enigma.

After stepping on her last roof, the rest of the path would have to be walked, or in this case of emergency, ran. Before dashing down there however, Ayame would put her left foot on the edge of the roof and lean on that leg as she took a relatively close look at the tower. She wondered exactly what she was going to see up there. Knowing Shihouin for his not so simplistic and PG rated ways, she figured that she wasn’t exactly going to like it, but then again, it obviously couldn’t be helped at this point.

Ayame quickly leaned forward to the point where she would not only be falling off of the roof but to where she would rotate completely into a front flip before landing on the grassy ground, the effects of gravity causing her crouch down and place her hands on the ground to keep the pressure from doing much to her. Still having just a bit of hesitation when it came to ultimately meeting the image that was bound to catch up with her once she made it within the office right in front of her, Ayame would soon take a second to stand up and then dash forward as a means to recover any time she’s wasted thinking the situation over.

As she got closer and closer to the massive building labeled “The Hokage tower”, Ayame’s got feeling that something was seriously wrong would only strengthen at an immense growth rate that somewhat matched the beat of a heart in relations to pumping blood into the human body. Every second or so, a pump of this uneasy feeling would run through the Energetic Enigma, a flood of it pouring in with each of those pumps. This feeling caused time to slow down somewhat in Ayame’s mind as this nonexistent level of comfort ran through her.

Once she had finally made it an inch away from the entrance of building, Ayame looked around for a second. ‘That’s strange, it looks like none of the ANBU has come swarming around the place yet. Usually, they would be all over the Hokage in the span of 2 seconds or less if urgent emergencies like this were to sound off.’ Was this a sign that Ayame was destined to be here before anyone else, or was she just missing the big picture here? This was getting even harder and harder to decipher as time went on.

Ayame shook her head as she placed a hand on the door handle, slowly pulling it open as a just in case factor before peaking her head in to see what was inside the main office. It would seem as if this particular level was completely abandoned, though it did seem to be recently populated by one or two people in the near past, but those people had obviously left the area not too long ago, perhaps due to village emergencies caused by this mass mayhem circling around Konoha. Ayame then slowly stepped within the room, allowing the door to shut behind her.

Taking a few steps forward in order to get a broader view around the place, Ayame walked over the direction of the desk. No secretary, no guards, nothing. After taking yet another step towards the desk, Ayame heard a crunch come from beneath her right foot. Lift her foot from the area it was on, she caught sight of what seemed to be the remains of a hairpin that looked quite fashionable due to the sakura pedal that decorated it. She ducked down to take a closer look at it for a second and noticed that it was placed there only recently, probably in the last few minutes or so as a matter of fact.

Instead of continuing to dwell on why this place had absolutely no one in the area, Ayame simply stood back up and made her way towards the stairs so she could start on her way to the final floor and simultaneously, the Hokage’s office. Ayame would then take a deep breath as she got to the foot of the stairs and dash up through the various floor at top speed. At this point in time, Ayame definitely had to figure out just what was going on here. This was definitely more than simply a missing shinobi attacking the village, some type of conspiracy was running through the entire village. A type of conspiracy that was marking Ayame’s suspicions even more so than it was prior to Ayame’s meeting with Yamazu.

After making it to the top floor of the tower, Ayame didn’t have much more ground to cover as the Hokage’s room was basically the only one around there. Ayame kept one hand on the handle of her sword, which was strapped to the back of her waist, as she used the other hand to slowly push the door open, taking in a close view of anything she could see within the room as the entryway became wider and wider for her path into the office. At some point during her opening, Ayame caught sight of black hair sprawled out on the floor, causing Ayame’s eyes to widen right before she quickly opened the door the rest of the way to see a certain dark haired and significantly tall Hokage lying on the floor. 'Shihouin?'

Ayame would then rush over to his side and bent over so one of her knees would hit the floor as she made it over to him. "Shi, what’s going on? What happened to you?" All while she was saying this, Ayame picked his head up from the puddle it was lying in before whipping some of the mess from his face with her left sleeve.

Fighting in and out of consciousness was a battle that took more than bloodline, Sharingan, speed or stamina. The true will power of the mind was something that was hard to access to in a state where the body didn’t want to cope with anything, not even speaking. His mouth resisted opening like a lid on too tight, but with enough strength he was able to force it open. Nothing but a warm breath leaked out and his eyes could barely open along with it. As she patted her with the dry cloth on her sleeve, he felt a little bit better enough to speak some.

He moved from her cradle sharply, not to reject her but to spare her. As soon as he was back up against the wall he went into another sharp coughing fit, spewing remnants of bile and other innards juices all over his chest and on the floor below him. Each breath was a sharp and painful wisp of cool air that came out hot and warm after. “I’m sick… I think I picked it up from training in the Forest of Death… I need- I need to get to a hospital as soon as possible.” Trying to fight his way too his feet he placed his hand on his thigh and tried to tuck his legs under it while using himself as a brace to get up.

Needless to say it failed halfway through but he managed to get to a position where he had one knee on the ground and the other up so he could stand halfway at least. Soggy-haired and sweaty, he looked over to Ayame. “I need your help, at least..” His chest seemed to expand and condense too rapidly. Even though his trained muscles covered up the most of him, you could see the fine imprints of bones underneath it as he breathed out. “I need your help. I haven’t.. I haven’t been a good Hokage, but after this sickness is out of me I’ll change all that. I swear…” The idea he was coming up with seemed like another lie, even to him. So many times he had said, ‘I’m good now’ and so many times had he lied and lied on top of lies to his best friends and ruined his trust with them. He was the type of person that you could be a friend with but never trust one hundred percent no matter how hard you laughed with.

Yet this time it seemed at little different. The weakness of not having anyone there for hi had battered him down to a level lower than a stump. Vulnerability trickled all over his body and weakness clutched him in the palms of his hands. Could Ayame really trust him, or was he pulling her legs again, along with everyone else in the village? Even though he had good intentions, or at least tried to get his good intentions to surface, he didn’t want to do anything bad to the village at all. From here on out, he would leave Konoha alone and let someone run it the right way, someone that would make the best choices for the village…

Seeing that Shihouin had at least enough strength to move at this point gave Ayame something to go by in the sense of comfort. She didn’t know why, but seeing anybody like this, no matter who they were, was upsetting to her stomach. She simply wasn’t the type of person that could watch anyone suffer and go about her business as if it didn’t bother her in the slightest, because it did. No one, in her eyes, deserved to go through that type of pain, or any real serious kind for that matter; it was simply in her blood to help those out in need so she only thought about what she could do to help him.

Ayame started to wince in pain just a little bit as she caught Shihouin attempted to stand up on his own feet, noticing the obvious pain that was coursing through every inch of his body in a fashion that made Ayame herself feel just a bit of it from her position. Just when he was getting about halfway there however, he would then fall down on one of his knees while landing right in front of her, literally mirroring her own position with this ironic distance and direction between them. At first, Ayame wanted to help him out but, for some odd reason, was willing to allow him to support himself for a small while.

As if he was reading her mind though, Shihouin would then express on how he needed her help, to which she was quickly prepared to obliged to this request. However, he would then speak about his position as Hokage. Mentioning the negativity about how he was running things, he would then continue on about a change of things and implying that he would do his best to protect the village instead of allowing its distruction. Ayame started to recall what Yamazu had told her not but a few hours ago. She remembered his opinion on Shihouin’s rule and how it was practically stolen from her. He continuously mentioned that Shihouin was most definitely not the correct holder of the title and that it was Ayame’s own personal right to be leader of the village and not Shihouin. Ayame would then recall all the past promises Shihouin has made to her, and how nearly all of them were broken not too long after making them. She was the true heir of the title…

And yet...

“Shihouin…” Ayame simply stared over in Shihouin as she moved closer and eventually, right next to him “You shouldn’t speak right now, it'll sap away at the little strength you have left.” She would then take hold of his left arm and move it right over her shoulder. “We need to get you some medical attention, that’s our number one priority right now.” Ayame would then slowly stand up to allow Shihouin some leverage before taking careful steps towards the door of the office. If Shihouin was willing to change his ways, Ayame might be able to accept that or she might not be able to even believe it. But, at the moment, she wasn’t concerned with trivial thing like that in the least. Her main goal right now was to keep Shihouin breathing by any means possible and she was going to see through to that before concentrating on anything else. Because, as said not too long ago, she couldn't stand to see anyone suffering this kind of pain, especially her best friend.

We'll end the thread with that post guys.

[Topic Completed]-Archived