The tense air in the battlefield brought Itachi several unpleasant memories. He was four years old when his father first brought him to the battlefield. The strong iron smell of blood leaked into his nostrils and lingered even after he returned home. Staring at the two enemy armies, Itachi feared to be involved in the same environment again. He wanted to get out of there.

Madara Uchiha looked up at the Senju side. He noticed several people missing, and feared they were going to take advantage of the distraction. "Are you her friends?" he asked, grabbing the handle of his gunbai.

Shisui understood Madara was talking about Hanako, and a spark of hope brightened his eyes. "Yes. We want to bring her home."

Madara smiled slightly. "She has nice friends." Without notice, he swung his gunbai, stopping in the air several knives thrown in his direction. "Go to the back. Make sure to stay away from combat."

Shisui and Itachi nodded and hurried past all the Uchiha shinobi. Both clans clashed and began once again their battle.

* * *

Amane pushed herself back by kicking the ground as hard as she could. She evaded most of the falling rocks, but while sending Hanako somewhere else, she missed a stone that hit her arm. Gasping for air, Amane held her arm tight and searched for an exit.

"Why didn't you run with her?" She heard that weird humanoid being speaking to her. The voice was omnipresent, like it didn't have an ethereal form.

"Which one...of us...are you after?" Amane asked between breaths.

"Hm..." Zetsu remained silent for a couple of moments. "Both of you."

Amane felt a slight breeze from behind her and looked around from the tips of her eyes. There was a slight ray of light passing through the mounted rocks. "Both?"

"Your chakra doesn't belong to you. It's mother's. I'm just taking it back."

"Your mother?" Amane was astounded. She took a step back, walking closer to the light. Zetsu jumped in her direction, but Amane used her eyes again and opened a portal to the other side. The less dense the rocks, the less chakra she needed, but still she had already used a large amount to move Hanako. Moving both of them would have been practically impossible.

"If only I had the amount of chakra she does." Amane took a large amount of air into her lungs. "Being half Senju has its advantages I guess..." She coughed furiously. "Damn the dust."

Amane hurried away from the place towards where she felt Hanako's chakra. Zetsu didn't seem like a guy she could defeat normally, so fighting against him was a waste of chakra. She needed to reunite with Hanako as soon as possible to get out of there.

* * *

"Why is Hikari with you?" Hanako looked up at the strange woman. Her bracelet was getting warm against her skin. "How did you bring her here?"

Kira moved out of the shadows, grinning. "Your mother wanted me to bring you back, Hikari just wanted to tag along." From her pouch, she produced a scroll. "We should go back."

Hanako...

Hanako widened her eyes when she heard the Hitsurugi's voice clear in her head.

I don't sense a good intention from that woman. Don't let her come close.

The girl narrowed her eyes. This woman looked almost exactly like her mother, but for some reason she couldn't trust her. "So, if she tagged along, why is she unconscious at your feet?"

Kira looked down at her sister. "We might have had a clash earlier. Nothing too big."

Hanako opened her hand, waiting to unleash the Hitsurugi at the right moment. Several doubts rounded her mind. Was this woman really her aunt? Was this real or another illusion? Is that really Hikari or just a decoy to provoke her?

"You seem tense," Kira noted. "She's fine. The trip was too much of a toll on her, she'll wake soon."

"Didn't you say you clashed earlier and now you say she's tired?" Hanako gritted her teeth. "Make up your mind. If you're going to lie, at least try to make sense."

"It makes perfect sense. She's tired because of our clash and the trip. We skipped 100 years to come here, do you have any idea what that causes to our bodies? Didn't you collapse when you were thrown here?"

Hanako remembered she was so tired, she couldn't even deal with two shinobi from the Senju Clan. Amane had saved her. But that didn't make her faint. Hikari had been induced into unconsciousness.

"You can push your lies up your ass. I don't believe anything you say." The Hitsurugi was almost burning Hanako's skin, begging her to unleash its powers. "What do you want?"

"To bring you back."

"Stop lying!" Hanako's eyes shone a bright red. The Hitsurugi's power unleashed, turning into a large scythe.

Kira grinned. "Fine, I'll develop." Her own eyes mimicked Hanako's activation. "I was ordered to bring your corpse back with me."

Hanako was about to attack but Kira picked up Hikari's unconscious body with one hand and put the other one over her head. "Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." With her Sharingan, Hanako witnessed as Kira seemed to absorb a white aura from her sister, as the time passed the aura was getting smaller and smaller.

"What are you doing to her?!"

"I'm just bargaining my chips." Kira grinned. "As a space-time ninjutsu user, you should know that with the right knowledge we can steal the lifespan from other people. After all, time is the most expensive currency out there, and we can easily make it our own. Space-time ninjutsu users own the shinobi world."

"What?"

"One month." Kira smirked. "That's all I'm leaving her with. If you don't surrender by then, she's going to die. So, who's it gonna be? You or your sister?"

Hanako couldn't breathe. Her chest was constricting so much, and her heart beating so fast she swore it would come out.

"You don't seem like a friendly woman, are you with that black thing that attacked us earlier?" Amane walked out from the shadows behind Hanako. The youngest Uchiha relaxed a little, but she still felt out of air. Amane looked at her and smiled. "Calm down, I won't let her hurt your sister."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "You must be Amane. Wow, I can really see the resemblance now. I understand why Danzo has so much interest in you."

Hanako froze. "Danzo? He's involved in this?"

"Oops, I said too much." Kira let go of Hikari and opened a portal behind her. "One month." Taking a step back, she disappeared into the wall.

Hanako felt as if all the adrenaline had been stopped, and all her muscles relaxed at once. She fell to the ground, looking at Hikari one last time before drifting into unconsciousness.

* * *

Shisui and Itachi watch from afar the battle developing. "I honestly thought for a second we were screwed," Shisui sighed. "Luckily, Hanako stayed with the Uchiha these few months."

"He seemed like he knew about Hanako's situation." Itachi kept his eyes on Madara. The way he moved in the battlefield, so sure of himself and without fear or hesitation, made him look like he was dancing.

Despite their situation, Shisui found himself grinning slightly. "We made it, we're here. Hanako's here."

Suddenly, the sound of a breaking twig called the attention of the two boys, and they both dodged just in time an attack from two Senju. "Damn, we had you for a moment." They grinned.

"Had us?" Shisui huffed. "In your imagination maybe. Stepping on a twig is an amateur mistake."

"Huh? You two seem a little too confident."

Itachi and Shisui gave each other a knowing look before looking back at the two men.

Within the battle, Izuna kept sneaking glances at the boys at the back who had been dragged into combat. They had appeared right in front of them, but were Uchiha like them. Were they from the same place Hanako was? Were they here for her?

Izuna felt something pulling at his heart every time he thought of the possibility of Hanako disappearing back to her home. He knew it was selfish of him to hope for her to stay, but it pained him to let her go.

Everyone in the battlefield knew that killing the enemy's weakness was the fastest way to destroy their spirit and demoralize them. And Butsuma Senju knew better than anyone else that Tajima Uchiha had a soft spot for his youngest son. Taking advantage of Izuna's distraction, he sneaked behind him.

"Izuna!" Possessed by anxiety, it was Madara who noticed him first. His brother was slow to react, but Tajima had known Butsuma's intention and covered his son from his attack. The sword pierced his chest and blood oozed from the wound. Tajima coughed, blood had reached his lungs. Izuna watched with wide eyes how his father had taken the attack for him.

"Son..." Tajima's voice was muffled. "Do it, before he escapes." Izuna understood. His father was gripping Butsuma's sword so that he couldn't pull away. But there was only one way to get him, and it was through his father. The only way he wouldn't see the attack coming was through the sacrifice of his own father. "Do it... so I can be at peace."

Izuna's hands were trembling, but he forced them to tighten their hold on his sword. With a cry, he pushed the sword through Tajima's chest and into Butsuma's heart.

The Senju watched with wide eyes the smile on his rival's face. Something hot was spreading through his chest, but he knew it was blood. The pain wasn't as intense as he had imagined, or his consciousness was already fading. He wasn't sure. "So, we're going together?" he asked.

Tajima just stared at him. "I hope we don't get to meet in the other side."

Madara was frozen in his spot. He watched in slow motion as both his father and Butsuma Senju fell limp to the ground and didn't move again.

"Madara." The Uchiha recognized Hashirama's voice and slowly looked at him, not believing what he had just witnessed. "Let's stop here."

"Stop?"

"We both lost our leaders, let's stop this. Let's stop the fighting." Hashirama spoke firmly, looking at Madara with pleading but serious eyes.

Madara looked over to where the corpse of his father lied. Izuna was right next to him, eyes wide open, and slightly trembling. Looking back at Hashirama, he pressed his lips. "We will retreat for now."

The Senju sighed and nodded, signalling for his people to stop all attacks and retreat.

* * *

In his house, little Sasuke was patiently waiting at the front door, staring at the outside and looking at everyone who passed by. Fugaku Uchiha, who had taken the day off, found him when wandering around the place.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?"

"Waiting for Nii-san."

Fugaku was astounded. "Waiting for him? Where is he supposed to be?"

Sasuke looked at him as if he lived under a rock. "Shisui-san and Itachi-nii had a plan to bring Hanako back home. We were supposed to leave this morning, but nii-san hasn't come home."

Fugaku narrowed his eyes. "We?"

"Yeah, the three of us." Sasuke seemed to ponder. "Maybe, Hanako's sister will tag along, then it would be four of us."

"Wait, you said your brother hasn't come home?"

"He didn't come to dinner last night. Mom was worried but I told her he was with Shisui, and she calmed down. Yet, I can't believe he's not here yet!"

Fugaku took a deep breath. The day he decided to rest, his son leaves on his own accord. From the tip of his eye, he saw Tekka walking towards his house. He had probably come to give the report of the previous day.

"Tekka."

The man looked up at his leader and nodded in respect. "I'm sorry to bother you on your day off, Fugaku-sama. I came just to give you a summary of yesterday's–"

"Have you seen Shisui or Itachi today? My son just told me they have gone missing."

Sasuke looked up at his father with wide eyes. Tekka sighed and nodded. "Yeah, they came by the office this morning. They were looking for someone."

"Who?"

Tekka seemed dubious to answer, but he did nonetheless. "Kira Uchiha. It seems she came back. Akira probably asked her to look for Hanako since we haven't found her in three months. As a mother, I understand her desperation."

"Why didn't you report right away? That woman is not welcome here!" Fugaku had clenched his knuckles so hard, that Sasuke wondered if he was going to witness his father go in a rampage. "Where did they go?!"

Tekka pressed his lips into a thin line. "Orochimaru's abandoned lab in the North Forest."