Chapter 41
Chapter 41
“Uchiha Satsuki,” Satsuki declared, looking around the table at her family and holding her breath. It had taken all of her courage to open up to them and she was still terrified of rejection. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she sat before Anko, Naori, Izumi and Sakura. Naruto was at her side, holding her hand and providing silent support while Sakura wore a small but endlessly warm smile across the table.
“How is it written?” Izumi asked curiously and Satsuki quickly wrote down her name. “Lunar blossom, it suits you. I’m happy for you Satsuki, congratulations.” Izumi’s smile was understated but her icy chakra was crisp and full of sunlight. Like a beautiful mountainside after a snowstorm with white dusted slopes glittering like gemstones under a brilliant sun.
“Satsuki, I’ll do my best to not make any mistakes and feel free to punch me if I do.” Anko said cheerfully, her grin wide and eyes arcing into crescent. She wasn’t surprised, though none of Satsuki’s sisters were. Apparently it had been rather obvious or at least suspected among the other Uchiha.
“I’ll help you with any paperwork required when you’re comfortable taking that step.” Naori informed Satsuki before rising to her feet. Her chakra was relaxed but ready and Satsuki knew that ANBU patrols had been stepped up with the chunin exams being run in the village. “You two should get some sleep while you can. You’ve got a big day tomorrow Satsuki and Sakura, you’re going to be on patrol.”
“Kay,” both Uchiha children said in unison, getting up and grinning at each other. Naruto did the same, a guest room already prepared and waiting for him the moment he was tired. The three children walked into the hallway, making their way towards their rooms when Satsuki came to a sudden stop, her chakra spiking with nerves.
“Thank you two, I was really scared.” Satsuki whispered, earning a shoulder bump from Naruto. The blond was wearing an easy grin that was so calm and laid back Satsuki wondered how he could manage it after the life he’d lived.
“It was nothing, we’re teammates after all.” Naruto shrugged, his hands supporting the back of his head as he leaned back on nothing. Satsuki couldn’t understand how he always seemed to carefree. Naruto was quick to anger, immature and mischievous yet at the same time he was dependable, trustworthy and utterly self motivating. He’d bounced back after the events in Nami no Kuni quickly and even managed to help Satsuki find herself while he was at it.
“Still, thank you, this means a lot to me.” Satsuki gave Naruto a small smile before turning her attention to Sakura. The rosette cocked her head to the side, silently asking what Satsuki wanted. “Watch, tomorrow we’ll make you proud.”
“I know you will.” Sakura agreed, pulling both genin into warm hugs. “But more then that, come back to me alright? It’s just an exam, it isn’t worth your life. Promise me, if you can’t win you’ll run, you’ll give up, you’ll survive.” Sakura’s fingers tightened as she gripped the two newest members of her family. Naruto and Satsuki were vulnerable in ways nobody else she loved were, she was always worried about them and knew she’d need to get ever stronger to protect them. They were like stars, shinning with a brilliance that a mere mortal like her would struggle to match and soon enough they would surpass her if she didn’t redouble her training efforts.
“We’ll be fine, I promise Tora-chan.” Naruto grinned, his cheeks turning pink and yet he still returned the hug. Satsuki shifted, equally embarrassed but she didn’t pull away. After a minute, Sakura finally let them go. “We’ll see you tomorrow? Before the exam?”
“I’ll try, I have work tomorrow but I’ll be sure to keep an eye on you two.” Sakura promised giving the two genin a warm smile before she turned to her door. “Now make sure you get a good night’s sleep alright?” Sakura gave Satsuki a quick look before turning a glare onto Naruto. The blond had a habit of staying up late, usually training but occasionally plotting mischief which was healthy for a young kitsune most nights but not for a genin going into the chunin exams.
“We’ll do fine dattebayo.” Naruto promised and Sakura believed him. She gave the two a nod before retiring to her room. Satsuki watched her older sister head to bed and looked at Naruto. He gave her a nod, his blue eyes alight with determination. “We’ll take the exams by storm.” Naruto promised. Smirking, Satsuki held out her first to him, her eyes equally brimming with anticipation.
“Don’t embarrass us Usuratonkachi.” Satsuki said as Naruto bumped his fist against hers, his answering smile sharp.
“Don’t go getting cold feet on me Teme-chan.” Naruto replied as the two headed to their rooms, waving to the other without bothering to look back. Satsuki could feel Naruto’s brilliant, stormy chakra full of excitement and knew the message had gotten across. They were going to ace these exams.
***
Madara jerked awake, his chakra sense, sharpened to a razor’s edge by constant practice, was alive with contacts in the lower levels of the fortress. ‘Something’s wrong.’ Madara’s eyes snapped over to Sakura who was already on her feet, unburdened by the dredges of sleep that still had him gathering his thoughts. It was moments like these that he was eternally grateful for her oddness. He didn’t need to worry about her being half asleep during a surprise attack, nor was she groggy in the mornings unless she used far too much chakra the day before.
“We should go see what’s going on.” Madara said and Sakura gave him a sharp nod before heading off to her own room. She didn’t need the living space, but it would be improper for them to dress in the same room now that they were both reaching puberty. Madara wasn’t really sure why it was improper, he’d seen Sakura naked many times before, but it wasn’t worth an argument so he’d just accepted the changes without complaint.
Pulling on a simple dark blue yukata, Madara stepped out into the hall to find Sakura wearing the same outfit in black. Izuna’s door slid open as they walked past, the younger Uchiha blinking away the last traces of sleep as he struggled to wake up.
“What’s going on?” Izuna asked, his question immediately followed by a large yawn as he trailed behind them. His long hair had been tied back into a ponytail and he hadn’t even bothered to put on his socks, instead walking barefoot through the halls.
“We don’t know yet.” Sakura’s reply was in her usual calm voice but Madara could feel the tension underneath. They all knew what this much activity meant, a battle was headed their way and it would be a big one. The castle was already preparing for it, servants emptying the armories and shinobi girding themselves for battle. Nobody had sent for them, yet, but it was only a matter of time.
The trio walked into the main meeting room on the first floor where Tajima and the clan elders were currently looking over a map. Light illuminated the map, showing where Sakura’s security seals had been tripped along the border, the sheer scale of the invasion already apparent from a distance. This was no cross border raid or a skirmish, the Senju were aiming for a knockout blow and they were headed for Sora-ku.
“It looks like the second battle of Sora-ku is going to be immense.” Katsuhito cursed, his dark gray eyes focused on the map. He had been the Uchiha’s best healer and medic before Sakura had begin learning how to heal with chakra in her own time, though the man had picked up what she had to teach remarkably quickly. He’d joined the clan council a year prior, a replacement for one of the many who had died in the fighting sweeping across the land.
“Unless we can intercept them.” Kurou tapped the map, his eyes still nearly black despite his age. The man preferred to wage war from the shadows and was usually charged with leading ambushes that required a subtly most of the clan lacked.
“We can’t mobilize fast enough to stop them there, it would merely be a delaying action.” Tajima stroked his chin thoughtfully, the map blurry even after Sakura’s best efforts to heal the damage of the mangekyo. The rosette claimed the damage was reversible after investigating it, but she simply lacked the necessary experience to pull it off. Of course she was only twelve so nobody in the clan begrudged her failure to fully heal their eyes.
“Chichiue, where will you need us?” Madara cut in as the silence in the room began to deepen. None of the adults had missed their arrival but the conversation had been too tense to interrupt. Tajima waved them over and the trio quickly took their places at his side.
“The main force will head towards Sora-ku. The walls have been reinforced but the local defenders lack the manpower to hold off an attack like this. Kurou, I need you to pick a delaying force while the rest of our army gathers in Sora-ku.” Tajima’s eyes glanced towards Sakura before returning to Kurou. The message was silent but clear, they’d need everyone hand they could get and Sakura’s seals and stealth would be critical here. Madara was superior in open combat but when it came to sabotage and infiltration, Sakura was one of their best.
“Very well, I already know who I’m going to take with me. Sakura-sama, if you would kindly get ready to sortie?” Kurou looked at the girl who always stuck by Madara’s side. She’d been separated from the clan heir only when absolutely necessary and today was one of those days. Her unease was obvious to everyone present and Madara was loath to be parted from her but he knew how important Sakura would be in this fight.
“Go on, we’ll meet up soon anyways. It’s just a delaying action after all, nothing more.” Madara whispered and Sakura gave him a nod before leaving at a fast clip to get her armor on. Madara swallowed the bitterness he felt over being separated from the rosette for any length of time and turned his attention to his father. “Chichiue?”
“You and Izuna will be part of the defenses with the main force. Kurou will link up with us after they’ve done what they can. Kurou I don’t need to remind you not to engage in open battle?” Tajima cocked and eyebrow at the man who gave a curt nod then flickered away to gather his forces. Tajima looked back down at the map and wished he’d been given more time. Sakura’s seals were few and far between, her attention pulled in every possible direction. Explosive tags, barrier seals, sensory tags, wards, medical seals, storage scrolls, fuinjutsu was war winning but it was a slow and time consuming art. Even Sakura’s apparent prodigious talents in the field required endless hours of devotion. Each seal was a hand drawn work of art and the slight differences in the ink and paper meant no two seals were ever exactly the same.
“Everyone, you know your rolls. We have to reach Sora-ku before mid day. Dismissed.” Tajima ordered and Madara waited a second as the council flickered away before grabbing Izuna and flickering to the hallway outside their rooms. He let his little brother go and pulled his door open. He heard Izuna’s footsteps pounding down the hall as his otouto raced for his own room. Putting his armor on was a well practiced art at this point and soon enough, Madara was back in the hallway, Izuna only a half second behind him. Sakura’s chakra was already racing through the castle, her head start allowing her to get dressed before either of them and Madara knew she’d be heading for the gates to meet up with the rest of the ambush team.
‘You better come back to me.’ Madara thought, trying to ignore the fear burning in his heart at being away from her. They were a team, perfectly in-sync with one another and their battle prowess together was far greater then separate.
“Aniue?” Izuna’s voice was nervous, his onyx eyes glowing with dull red embers. Madara could feel his younger brother’s chakra crackling and burning, his emotions running hot.
“It’s nothing, just worried.” Madara replied softly and Izuna gave him a nod. This was the largest attack in months but it wasn’t anything they hadn’t faced before. Sakura going off on her own wasn’t unheard of, just rare and Madara knew she faced plenty of danger without him when she returned to her homeland each night.
“She’ll be fine,” Izuna knew Sakura would survive. The heavens wouldn’t send her all the way here to die, they were cruel but not unjust. Izuna’s eyes burned slightly, his breath catching as he closed his eyes, wiping away pink tears as his neurons smoldered. “Come on, the clan will be looking to the four of us to lead them.”
“When did you get so wise, otouto?” Madara smiled despite her nerves, reaching the ground floor to find most of the Uchiha’s main force already assembled. Tajima looked towards his two sons, both of them immediately moving to his side. The air in the room was tense, chakra filled with a mix of anticipation, fear and anger roiling off everyone present.
“The Senju think they can invade our land and dictate the course of this war.” Tajima’s voice cut through the tension, his graying eyes hard despite his diminishing sight. He was young still, not even forty years of age, but his body had suffered the wear and tear of constant warfare, aging him beyond his years. “They have had the advantage since they started teaching jutsu to their ashigaru but now our numbers are equal and they will learn they can no longer rely on swarming us. We have always been the stronger clan and it is time they remembered that. Move out!”
***
Hi no Kuni’s interior hadn’t changed much since Konoha’s founding. There were more settlements in the future and older ones had grown in scope and scale though the terrain and forests were recognizable if all slightly different. Perhaps the biggest difference was the lack of the massive trees created by Hashirama. The mokuton forests marked the spots of various battles, all of which had gone down in legend, though the Uchiha were almost entirely written out of them. Oh Madara was known, but that was it, Izuna, Sakura, Tajima, none of them made the cut for remembrance.
“We’ve got another ten miles to go, Sakura-sama what supplies do you have today?” Kurou looked over at the girl who supplied the Uchiha with their seals. She was their sole affordable supplier as the Uzumaki refused to sell and the other clans of Uzushio all charged premiums for their work, which made sense seeing as they had a monopoly.
“I’ve got some barrier tags which would be better for defending Sora-ku, about fifty explosive tags, several medical stasis tags and an experimental five tag seal. It’s a wide area katon array.” Sakura explained as the group closed in on the advancing Senju. They would not be colliding with the Senju forces but rather moving ahead of them to place traps and pick off scouts. The goal was to stall their advance and force the Senju to waste time and energy, degrading their effectiveness when the full battle began.
“Can you arrange the explosive tags for a large blast?” Kurou asked and Sakura nodded as she flipped, her childish side coming out whenever she concentrated on what was to her kitsune influenced mind a prank, just a rather lethal one. Landing on a tree branch, Sakura kicked off as her mind went over the various possibilities before she looked over at Kuro and grinned.
“I have an idea, have you heard of a backdraft explosion?” Sakura asked, eyes just a bit too gleeful at the thought of unleashing hell on the Senju. She’d grown up fighting them and while she didn’t hate the other clan, she took immense satisfaction in her capacity for inflicting death upon them. She hadn’t been born to war, but the gods had chosen a life of violence for her and it was all she knew, all she understood. To Sakura’s mind it wasn’t hypocritical to dream of peace while doing her level best to kill every Senju she came across in the meantime.
“I have, most Uchiha would know what that is even if they didn’t know the technical term.” Kurou pointed out and Sakura’s teeth glittered as her smile widened. His own grim smirk was equally vicious, even if his teeth were blunt his whirling sharingan more then made up for it. The Uchiha were tired of war and the fastest way to end the conflict, short of mass suicide, was the destruction or the Senju’s military capabilities. Nobody would be anything but happy about a potentially devastating new technique.
“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. The explosive seals will be set to remote detonation and powered purely off natural chakra. That will keep them from being detected.” ‘Even by Tobirama,’ Sakura added mentally, though she had no way of knowing that without her future knowledge. The Senju’s advance would lead them through forests, the roads ignored now that they had storage scrolls for the bulk of their provisions.
‘The only constant in war is change.’ Inner said wisely and Sakura agreed as she slapped an explosive seal down on a tree and modified it slightly. The explosion would focus on pulling the natural energy from the tree itself, reducing it to a withered and more importantly dry husk when it went off. More modified explosive seals were put down at the base of various large trees, creating a network of interlocking explosions that would reduce a large chunk of forest to splintered tinder.
‘The Senju are about five kilometers out, their scouts will be here soon.’ Inner’s serious tone was all Sakura needed to refocus herself away from the fuinjutsu arrays and on her surroundings. She signed to Kurou, informing him of the incoming threat and the Uchiha immediately took to the canopies, their chakra suppressed to nothing as they waited for the incoming army. Sakura slipped eight bo shuriken between her fingers, the weapons resembling enlarged senbon and by far the most lethal of the common shinobi throwing weapons.
‘Half a kilometer out, the scouting party’s chakra is familiar.’ Inner couldn’t quite place who was leading the charge but Sakura knew it was someone they’d met. That was a surprisingly large pool of candidates as Sakura hadn’t exactly killed every Senju she’d come across, far from it in fact. Most shinobi, at least in this time period, retreated immediately upon being injured, unless there was something stopping them.
Several shapes sped by beneath the Uchiha team as they waited above, everyone watching the first few Senju go past. Kurou silently ordered them all to pick out targets and then his arm fell, in the silent signal to attack. Sakura’s sharingan spun to life, her killing intent tightly leashed and hidden as she spun around the branch, her chakra keeping her feet attached to it even as she crouched upside and then with shunshin speed kicked off.
Wind rushed through her hair but the shell of chakra provided by the shunshin muffled the noise completely, allowing her to race towards the back of her target without alerting them. Sakura’s scythe came free from her armor and she put all of her strength behind it as she swung downwards, crushing the Senju’s skull with the hammerhead opposite her scythe blade.
Blood and gore exploded outwards, splattering the rosette as her feet briefly touched down on the branch the dead man had been about to kick off of before his sudden removal from this life. Spinning the haft of her scythe, Sakura deflected a volley of shuriken as Hashirama rushed towards her. The boy’s eyes glistened with silent tears as he drew his sword, the weapon biting into the wooden haft.
“Hashirama, good morning.” Sakura greeted as she kicked his chest plate, the blow sending him rocketing through the air as she twirled her weapon and grinned. “Shall we dance?”
“Sakura-chan,” Hashirama glanced at the ruined form of his clansman on the ground and grimaced. His expression hardened, his chakra leveling out as the warmth within him dimmed considerably. “I am sorry we have to fight.”
“I’m not,” Sakura shot forward, swinging at her friend who ducked the blow easily. Letting go of her weapon, the rosette narrowly avoided a kunai to the throat and leaned backwards into a flip, kicking the knife from Hashirama’s hand as she did so. “I won’t regret the actions I take in the defense of my clan. I only regret they are necessary.”
Hashirama’s chakra thrummed with understanding, even as muted and dim as it currently was. The two children exchanged a brief flurry of taijutsu, Hashirama seeking a chance to grapple her while Sakura tried to smash her opponent into submission, armor and all. It was obvious that in pure taijutsu, Hashirama was going to lose, Sakura’s superhuman strength outclassing his chakra reinforcement though this close she could feel the beginnings of perfect chakra control.
“You’re holding back,” Sakura murmured, throwing a sweeping kick that Hashirama jumped over, opening up space between them and his fingers flying through an unfamiliar seal sequence. Sakura’s sharingan spun, copying the move as her own fingers came together. The trees around them writhed as Hashirama called upon his mokuton and Sakura’s own bastardized technique sent his jutsu out of control, destabilizing it but not replicating it.
“Damn, I thought I could copy you.” Sakura growled, raising her hand to summon her scythe back into her grip with the paired seals on her gauntlet and the weapon’s haft. She truly had expected to be able to copy Hashirama’s mokuton here, but even seeing it performed, she couldn’t copy the use of natural energy.
“I’m impressed you even managed to stop it.” Hashirama admitted as the two children eyed each other. Hashirama was trying to buy time while Sakura knew she wouldn’t be able to kill him today.
‘Injure him then, ensure he can’t use the mokuton in the coming fight.’ Inner whispered and Sakura’s resolve ignited. She had come to love Hashirama as a friend, Touka too and while she didn’t want to kill them, hurting them would protect both them and her clan.
The burning killing intent that Sakura had learned from her countless brushes with death and her long years of living in ANBU boiled out from her, all of it focusing on Hashirama who still saw her as his pink haired friend. The boy, unprepared for the sudden outpouring of blood lust froze as Sakura flickered forward. Hashirama drew a sword but the weapon was a sidearm and the sheer mass of Sakura’s scythe blew it from his grip before her war hammer collided with the side of his breastplate.
Hashirama’s eyes widened in shock, his breath forced from his lips as the distinctive crack of bone echoed through his body. Sakura met his eyes, the moment frozen forever in her mind by the sharingan as the pain registered in his brain and then he was hurled into the trunk of the tree they’d been fighting on. He ricocheted off the wood and Sakura caught him, sliding her grip on her scythe until she held it near the top, the blade resting against Hashirama’s throat.
“Remember this Hashirama, I spared you.” Sakura whispered as he wheezed, his mouth open as he struggled for breath. Despite the pain, his eyes were clear and fixed on her, his head dipping slightly in the closest approximation of a nod he could make. “Go, before anyone catches you.” Sakura let the Senju heir go and watched him flee. Their eyes met one final time as he looked back over his shoulder as he ran back towards his father’s army, regret and determination visible within them.
‘That will never work again. He’ll be prepared next time.’ Inner whispered but Sakura already knew that. Hashirama was like Madara and the only advantage she had over him was one of information. The Shodaime was perhaps the most heavily recorded warrior of this time period, at least in Konohagakure. Every technique, every accomplishment, it was all a matter of public record. She knew him inside and out, which gave her an edge up until he adapted to her own patterns and tactics. Then, just like Madara, Sakura feared she’d never be able to best him. ‘We’ll figure something out. I refuse to be relegated to the sidelines.’
‘You’re right Inner.’ Sakura agreed as she fell back, racing away from the oncoming Senju army as dozens of contacts began to light up the edge of her senses. The rest of the Uchiha broke off their own fights, several having made kills while the rest simply threw explosive or smoke seals down to cover their escape and shunshined away. The goal was to create chaos and Sakura’s traps would be doing the heavy lifting today.
***
Hashirama coughed, flecks of blood painting his lips as he reached the main Senju force. The familiar chakra of his younger brothers rushing up to meet him. Tobirama’s was utterly blank, his face a mask that completely hid any emotion that he was feeling, though Hashirama sometimes wondered if Tobirama felt anything other then scorn. He loved his younger brother but Tobirama’s mind was dominated by rules and the tenets of the clan.
“Anija, you are injured.” Tobirama’s voice was colder then usual, a clear indication that he certainly felt something. Still his chakra was ice and his face devoid of expression. Dull brownish red eyes roamed Hashirama’s body, taking in the crumpled steel on his left side. “A warhammer?”
“Sakura-chan.” Hashirama grinned, revealing bloodied teeth. He could practically see the gears turning in Tobirama’s head. The younger Senju’s eyes left Hashirama and focused on the forest ahead of the army. All around them, soldiers flowed forward and Hashirama quietly noted it was unusual for Tobirama to speak while stationary. “Are you worried about me?”
“You are prone to emotion Anija, if you are not watched you are likely to get yourself killed.” Tobirama could tell something was wrong. Uchiha Sakura was one of the two Uchiha that Hashirama had made contact with. That she would spare him wasn’t unexpected, but the fact that the Uchiha had risked their sole fuinjutsu user in a skirmish was setting off alarm bells. “Anija, did you see the Uchiha placing down any seals?”
“No, they came from above. They were hiding in the canopy, I think it was an ambush team. I saw Uchiha Kurou leading them. Sakura-chan was there as well, so it’s likely this was a stalling action but…” Hashirama trailed off, quickly cottoning on to Tobirama’s concerns. Both brothers knew something was wrong and shifted to find their father. Kawarama and Itama quickly joined them, the four brothers cutting through the formation as they made their way to the mobile headquarters of the army.
“Chichiue,” Tobirama started, drawing Butsuma’s attention. The group were setting a brisk pace forward, rapidly closing in on where the ambush had happened and Tobirama’s instincts were screaming at them to stop. The white haired nin stuck his feet to the next branch he landed on, his action bringing the entire party to a half.
“Speak quickly, the Uchiha heiress was spotted up ahead. If we can capture her, the clan will benefit greatly and if we can kill her the Uchiha will lose-” Bustuma was cut off as a series of distant bangs echoed through the forest. All eyes shifted forward, Tobirama and Hashirama’s chakra senses rushing forward, engulfing the entire forest and revealing the full scale of what was about to happen far too late to interfere. Over fifty chakra explosives had just went off, creating a cloud of chakra rich carbon smoke several hundred meters in width and a five pointed array nearly a kilometer wide lit up, drawing in the natural chakra from plants, soil and even the air itself.
A deafening silence spread through the forest, all sound muted for the split second between the initial blast and whatever was coming. Hashirama felt his breath catch in his throat, his link with nature whispering to him that death was at his shoulder. A flash of white light spread through the forest, the cloud of smoke suddenly and violently turning into flames as it rushed inwards on itself then exploded outwards. A visible wall of air was forged by the blast, turning trees into shrapnel and ripping apart anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in its path.
Hashirama’s injured lungs throbbed painfully in his chest as the shock wave swept passed him, the trees all groaning and bending despite the distance between them and the explosion. Stars danced in the Senju’s vision, his eyes struggling to see but his chakra sense was alive and well, informing him of the sheer scale of the carnage.
“Kami above and below.” One of the ashigaru whispered, the man having stopped along with the rest of the army. A quarter of their number had just vanished, removed from the fight in an instant, their vanguard utterly wiped out without even getting the chance to cross blades with the Uchiha. Some of their best fighters simply vaporized and the battle hadn’t even been joined yet.
Hashirama looked to his brother and realized that if Tobirama hadn’t stood still while they talked, had he not stopped their father, the entire head family would have been caught in the blast. At the edges of the explosion they might have survived but none of them would have gotten off easy and Hashirama was already injured.
“Change in plans.” Butsuma’s voice broke the ringing silence that had fallen over the army. All eyes turned to the grim war leader as he surveyed the devastation wrought by little more then knowledge and ink. “Our target is no longer Uchiha Tajima. The half Uchiha brat needs to die. Ten thousand ryo to the man who kills Uchiha Sakura.”