Hanako felt her chakra running low as her body reached its limit; her mind was submerged in desperation -knowing she couldn't afford to lose the fight.

"Now...who said the Uchiha, the great elite, were invincible, impossible to defeat? Well of course, you're just a brat. Just the thought of you defeating me must be a joke." Isao mocked, making the anger boil inside her as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Dammit..." Hanako muttered through gritted teeth. She balled her hands into fists and tightened them until her knuckles turned white. "No...I can't...lose..." she hushed, getting up. Her whole body ached, every tiny muscle felt sore, but she knew she had to stand. She couldn't lose against Isao-she wouldn't. It would've all been in vain; Shisui's training would have meant nothing.

Hanako observed determinedly, it was all or nothing. She focused all the chakra she had left in her hands, and launched herself at him. Her black eyes became red and everything around her was suddenly illuminated by a white blinding light. Hanako stopped dead in her tracks and closed her eyes. She felt herself falling into a void, but she relaxed knowing that there was no ground underneath she would crash into.

"I think that's enough," Hanako heard the echo of Shisui's voice and smiled. "You've been improving a lot."

"I keep forgetting these are just illusions," Hanako said. She opened her eyes slowly. There was no blinding light anymore, and she was lying against the bark of a tree in the middle of a clearing -in the forest near the Uchiha Compound they used to train. Rays of sunlight managed their way through the canopy, and stroke her face in a comforting warmth. "Sometimes, they are just too real."

Shisui chuckled. "Says the girl who fooled me in a game of 'Hide N' Seek' with a basic Genjutsu." Hanako stood up with a smile on her face, sighing.

"Time's running out..." she said, looking at the ground. "In a week, that illusion may become real or I really defeat him." Shisui's smile was suddenly wiped out of his face, and he looked away. "Shisui..." Hanako pressed her lips into a thin line, she had the intention of telling him something important but suddenly decided against the idea. He looked at her intently.

"What is it?"

Hanako shook her head. "I just...do you know anything about Obito Uchiha?" she looked at him curiously. She had not meant to ask that, but the words flowed out of her mouth, as she was used to when she lied.

"Obito Uchiha?" Shisui tilted his head, seeming to put some thought into the name. "I know he died in a mission at the borders of Kusagakure, but that was a long time ago-"

"Eight years ago," Hanako interrupted him. "Isn't a long time." Shisui looked at her curiously. "I went to his funeral. I may not remember, but I know that my family was desolated."

The older Uchiha nodded grimly, "You are asking the wrong person about him, Hanako," Shisui said, "but I know of someone else whom you can ask." Hanako looked up at him in astonishment. Shisui smiled. "I know what's going on inside of your mind."

"You do?" her eyes widened.

He nodded. "You found a long lost member of your family, who is also connected to your father." Hanako felt her stomach tighten. Did he know she had met Obito Uchiha in the flesh? Or was this one of his tricks to make her tell him the truth? No, it couldn't be either, that would suppose he knew she was hiding something from him in the first place, and he didn't. She had made sure of that.

Shisui noticed Hanako had paled, and grinned widely. "You have to stop pretending not to care, Hanako," he said. "I know you visit the Memorial Stone nearly every day. It was just a matter of time before you noticed Obito's name beside his." A wave of relief rushed through her and Hanako released a breath. "Do you know the green apartment building close to the Academy?" he asked. Hanako nodded, having a faint image of the place in her head. "Look for the apartment room 406," he said. Hanako frowned but when she looked back at Shisui, he was gone.

With a sigh, Hanako made her way back to the Compound, and before she knew it she had been dragged by her feet to the Naka Shrine. She walked up the stairs to the entrance, and stood there, looking into the dark sanctuary. There was a strange feeling invading her, inviting her inside, pulling her in.

"Developing an interest for your clan's beliefs, I see..." Hanako heard a voice behind her and looked over her shoulder at the Hokage.

"Sandaime-sama..." He smiled down at her.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Hanako nodded. Indeed, the last time they had talked was when she came back from the mission in the Earth Country, and that was almost two months ago. "How has your training been going? Are you well prepared?" he asked.

Hanako nodded again. "Yes, sir."

"That's good to hear," Hiruzen's warm eyes rolled towards the shrine. Hanako couldn't snap her eyes away from him. Looking up at the Hokage intrigued her, how he could act warm and loving towards everyone in the village was a trait she admired in him. He seemed to know it all, and thus he never meddled into their businesses or nosed into their lives too much. How did he found out about things, then? Did he know everything about everybody? Hanako wondered.

"Hokage-sama," the old man looked at her curiously. "What do you know about Obito Uchiha?"

His brows arched up in surprise. "Obito? Your cousin?" His eyes gleamed for a moment. "Perhaps, my knowledge could be of use to you, what is it that you wish to know?"

"I want to know who he was," Hanako said.

"That is such a big question," Hiruzen sighed, looking down at the ground. "Obito was an orphan, his parents -your father's older brother and his wife- died before the Third War erupted. So, Obito lived with his grandmother, whom you both share."

"No," Hanako shook her head, "Not anymore. Grandma died of grief, according to Mother, just a few months after Obito died." Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly. "They didn't say anything, but we mourned it ourselves. We are a small family, there was no need to drag the rest of the Clan for someone they didn't mind of." Hanako shrugged. "I was just a little girl, I don't even remember what she looked like."

"I see," the Hokage sighed. "Have you asked anyone else? About him, that is."

"Shisui, but he only gave me an address."

"Where?" Hiruzen was quite amused. Hanako told him what Shisui had said to her and the Hokage only grinned. "That's Kakashi's apartment," he said. He had been there enough times to know. "Yeah, he is probably the only person who knew Obito better than he knew himself. But Hanako," Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "Why the sudden interest in him?"

Hanako looked at him. "Am I not allowed to know my own blood?" she asked, making the Hokage smirk.

"I guess you have a point."

* * *

"Hanako, dinner time!" She heard her mother call to her from the kitchen. She had been lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling for the past couple of hours.

Hanako yelled in response, "I'm not hungry!" She closed her eyes, letting her mind wander back into the cave.

"I see..." the man said before taking a deep breath.

"Zetsu, try not to scare her anymore." The masked man directed at the white humanoid.

"Hai, hai, Obito-san..." he replied.

"Obito...?" Upon hearing the name, Hanako's mind wandered back to the moment when she was visiting the Memorial Stone. She remembered seeing the name Obito Uchiha carved into it; her eyes widened. He couldn't be that person...could he? "Obito...Is that really your name?" Hanako waited for his reply but he only ignored her question as he walked towards the old man.

"So...why don't you tell me more about yourself?" The white thing -whose name now Hanako supposed had to be Zetsu- approached her.

"What in the world are you?" She looked at him dubiously.

"I can guess where this conversation is headed..." he grinned widely.

"This conversation is headed nowhere," Hanako snapped. "I ask you a question, and you answer it."

"Who would have known the girl had such a temper," Zetsu shook his head in disapproval. "How old are you, though?"

"Zetsu, I think I told you to leave her alone," said Obito in a tired voice.

"You told me not to scare her," he grinned.

"Ten," Hanako said in a low voice, calling their attention. She hated repeating stuff, so she maintained silent as they continued to stare at her.

Zetsu didn't say anything else as Obito approached her. "There's someone who's eager to meet you," he said. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the old man. Hanako refused at first, but when the man's eye landed on her she froze-letting Obito bring her to him.

"Quite the Uchiha brat..." The man chuckled. "I can sense your distrust from here." Hanako narrowed her eyes at him, downing her need to make a smart remark.

"Can you blame me?" Obito tightened his hold on her arm, digging his nails into her skin. Hanako hissed in pain.

"What's your name?" asked the man.

"Hanako..." she said, "Hanako Uchiha," she almost flinched at the hoarseness of her voice, but she stayed put.

"Hanako, huh?" The man smirked. "And how are your abilities?"

Hanako frowned. "That is none of your business." Hanako's threat lingered in the air as her eyes turned to a bright red color.

The man only laughed, "Not too bad for a ten-year-old kid, you already have the three tomoes around your pupil," he sneered. "And I can feel an even darker aura around you. Something else hiding behind those eyes of yours. Is there anything you grieve for, Hanako?"

"Who the hell are you?!" she snapped, ignoring him entirely. Under other circumstances he would have punished such improper behavior towards him, but at the moment he only grinned wider. "Why did you bring me here? And why is an old man like you hiding underground? Shouldn't you be in an almshouse? Or whatever place they take care of lonely old people..." she breathed. "Because I suppose you don't have a family, do you?"

The man's eye darkened. "I do, actually. She just doesn't know she is my family, yet."

Hanako grinned. "Oh? Why is that? Long lost daughter, or granddaughter, perhaps?"

The man smirked again. "Enough about it. As to who I am, you could say I'm a living legend, you must have heard of me before. I am one of Konoha's founders, the village you currently live in." Hanako narrowed her eyes. "My name is Madara Uchiha." Obito finally let go of her, but Hanako couldn't move. Her body was paralyzed with shock as she stared at the man in front of her.

She shook her head, "It doesn't ring a bell," she lied. The name did sound familiar, but she didn't know from where. One thing she was sure of: she had never heard the name mentioned to her. "If you were one of the founders, though, shouldn't you have died a long time ago?"

Madara chuckled. "I cannot talk about my story if you don't know who I am or how the village came to be." His eye glistened. "Do you?"

"I've been taught in the Academy," she muttered. "But Madara Uchiha was never mentioned as one of the founders. You might as well be lying to me."

Madara's eye darkened again, as he glared at her. "Is that so..." there was a tinge of annoyance in his voice, which didn't go unnoticed by Hanako. She smirked.

"What's the matter, Madara-jii?" she raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried about it?"

"You might as well be," his eye glowed menacingly. "Do you want to know who I really am, Hanako?" She looked at him with slight interest. "I'll tell you under one condition."

"Which is?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Go to the Uchiha Shrine," he said. "Under the seventh tatami there is a secret room that only the Uchiha know about. There's a stone with a text carved on it, which has been passed through generations. I want you to use your Sharingan to read it."

"And tell you what it says?" she asked cynically.

"I already know what it says," Madara smiled darkly. "I want you to know what it says."

When Hanako opened her eyes again, she noticed that she had fallen asleep. The house was dark and silent, Akira and Hikari had long gone to bed. Hanako stood from her bed and walked towards the window. She still had her training clothes on, she hadn't changed out of them after meeting Shisui, but she didn't mind.

Out the window, Hanako looked up at the moon, high in the sky. It was almost midnight, she noted. Hanako jumped through the open window, and landed swiftly on the ground. She shivered at the feeling of the cold grass beneath her feet, she was still barefoot. For a moment she ignored it, and just walked towards the library inside the compound. Obviously, it was closed, and there were two guards -members of the Police Force- at its entrance, sitting on wooden chairs and fast asleep. Hanako smirked and rounded the building, heading for the back. There was a window, left open, through which Hanako climbed into, using one of the shelves on the inside as support so she wouldn't fall down.

Books filled the shelves to the top, and the room itself was full of shelves. Hanako walked among rows of them, until she reached a door. It had a metal sign, RESTRICTED AREA written clearly on it. Hanako knew that whatever she was looking for wouldn't be open to the public, so it would be confided in here. Hanako run her fingers through her hair until she found a hairpin and smiled. She used it to click the lock on the door open, and walked inside the room silently, closing the door behind her.

The room was dark, but with the help of her Sharingan, Hanako found her way. Near the end of the room, Hanako found the oldest books. One of them called her attention as if it were magnet pulling in metal. It was the peace treaty signed by the Uchiha and the Senju Clan, the one that incited the formation of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Madara had said he was one of the founders. When Hanako looked at the treaty and saw the signatures at the end of the page, her eyes widened. Madara wasn't lying. One of the signatures clearly belonged to the leader of the Senju, Hashirama; and the other one, to the leader of the Uchiha, Madara.

Hanako ran her fingers over Madara's name, written in so fine calligraphy. He had written the kana in such a swift and passive way, it was so beautiful. Hanako smiled at the document in her hands when suddenly a dreadful feeling downed on her. She closed her eyes as she felt the world turn around her, she felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground, but she grabbed one of the shelves close to her for support. For a moment, her mind was filled with voices.

"I'm glad you finally agreed to this, Madara." Hanako looked up and saw a man looking brightly in her direction, but she noted that he wasn't looking at her. Following his gaze, Hanako saw that there was a man standing beside her, with an arm wrapped protectively around her waist. This man had long black hair, disheveled to the point where it appeared to form spines around his head and torso. He had a tight jaw and a straight nose, which only contributed to strengthen his features into a deadly looking man. He wasn't looking at her, but Hanako could see in his profile that there was something bothering in his mind.

Hanako looked back at the man in front of them at the same time Madara spoke, "Maybe I didn't want those fantasies we had as kids to be wasted." His voice was so dark and husky, but Hanako couldn't fail to notice a certain warmth in it. A tone he only ever used when he spoke to her, or the man in front of them. Hanako felt her stomach churn, a tone he only ever used when he spoke to her. Why had she thought of it that way? It wasn't like she had noticed a difference in his voice when he spoke to Obito, and how it suddenly warmed when he directed at her. She was far too concerned in her safety that she didn't pay attention to such lousy details.

The man in front of them grinned gleefully. His tanned skin only seemed to give him a friendlier posture, so kind that he couldn't even hurt a fly. Hanako recognized him from History books, Hashirama Senju. The founder of Konoha, the creator of the Mokuton, and the God of Shinobi. This was not the way she had imagined him to be, pictures always tried to show him as an invincible man, the kind you really didn't want to mess with. But the man Hanako saw in front of her was not like that at all. There was some vulnerability to him when she looked at them, a deep regret she couldn't place her finger on.

"You don't have to be like that," Hashirama's voice was soft like silk. "It was our dream, and we finally made it happen. Aren't you happy about it?"

"I guess I am...in a way." Hanako felt observed, and she looked up to find Madara's dark eyes staring right into hers. Her jaw dropped, she could see through him as if he were an open book. There was love, sadness, pain, loneliness, happiness... all those mixed emotions filled his irises like filling a cup with hot water. But there was something missing, like the cup was missing the tea. Hanako could see a large emptiness in him, and that made her heart hurt.

She could see herself reflected in his eyes; black hair fell on top of her shoulders. She was dressed in a fine silk kimono. Madara's hold tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to him. There was something missing, Hanako thought, that didn't allow him to be truly happy.

Hanako let go of the document and it fell on the ground in a dry thud. The sound of it hitting the floor brought Hanako back to reality and she took a deep breath. She brushed her fingers over her closed eyes, pulling back when she felt moist in her fingers. She was crying.

Hanako wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and kneeled down to pick the fallen document. After putting it back in its place, she leaned against the shelf, pushing it backwards slightly. The sudden motion caused a loose parchment to fall on top of her head before it hit the floor.

"Ow..." Hanako frowned, reaching a hand to rub the spot where the parchment hit her, "What the-?" The words died in her throat when she caught sight of the scroll. She reached to take it, and opened it to read it. It said to be a transcription of the Stone in the Naka Shrine, the one Madara had asked her to read.

It all circled around a certain special Doujutsu, the evolution after the regular Sharingan. The Mangekyou Sharingan. Hanako rolled the scroll shut when she heard movement outside the library.

"Oi! Wake up!" snapped one of the guards at the entrance. "We fell asleep again, come on we have to keep guard." Hanako sighed in relief, for a moment she had thought they had noticed her.

Hanako put the scroll in her pouch and quickly left the library, heading for the Naka Shrine.

The moon in the sky had moved to the west. "Must be around three in the morning..." Hanako muttered as she looked up at it under the arc of the Shrine. She sighed, turned on her heels, and entered the sanctuary, feeling an odd sentiment of peace as she walked. She counted the seventh mat on the floor, and approached to move it way with her foot. There was a stone door underneath it, with the picture of a Sharingan eye on top of it.

When she first noticed the chakra seal on it, she supposed she needed a specific series of hand seals to open it and she panicked. But once her eyes merged into a bright red color and she placed her hand on the stone, the door opened as if it had been waiting for her to come. Hanako looked around in bewilderment, expecting the loud sound the stone suddenly made as it moved had drawn someone to her location, but it didn't. She was all alone in the sanctuary.

Slowly, Hanako made her way down the stone stairs, and the door closed behind her. Hanako stopped when she was left in darkness, cursing at herself for not having brought at least a candle with her, but her curses were shushed into silence when torches lit up in the walls beside her and down the stairs, illuminating the path. Hanako gulped.

She continued her descent, until she found herself in a large round room. This was the real Naka Shrine. Torches lit up the walls around her, giving Hanako a sense of dread -as if she felt some familiarity in the place. She had read in one of her father's scrolls that the Shrine was built to honor Mako Uchiha, one of the first Uchiha, and he was also the one who had given the Stone to the Clan. But that was all it said, it didn't give any details of who Mako was, or why he had given the Stone to them.

Hanako's eyes fell on said Stone and her stomach churned. It didn't look like a stone at all, it was more like a tablet, with -certainly- a text on it. The girl took short continuous steps, until she stood in front it, so close she could graze her fingers on the carvings; but she refrained from doing so. What she could read, was written in a foreign language -an ancient and dead one- but she read through it like one could read from their mother language. It said basically the same it said in the transcript, but not in an inciting way the parchment did. The scroll spoke of the way you could gain power, but the Stone was closer to telling what happened if one gained such power. It spoke of light and darkness, of power and sacrifice, and how the union of those opposites would lead one to find the true happiness. Whatever the message was that the writer intended, it was clearly not interpretable in just one way. Ones could interpret they were given a gift and the stone had the instructions on how to get it, but others could tell the stone was a warning of what their eyes could bring upon them.

"The text on the Stone is written in a language only the Uchiha know, that's why we know that it was written for us." Hanako looked over shoulder at Obito, he was looking straight at her through the hole in his mask. "It's like we have the key in our head to understand the words, but only through our Sharingan. The more developed our eyes are, the more we can read." His eyes moved down to the stone. "I have the Mangekyou," he said. "But even so, I can only read extracts of the text, not even a full sentence. It took almost a decade for the elders to translate the first sentences, but what they found barely scratches the surface of what the Stone really says."

"Then why can I read this?" she asked. "You say we can understand this to certain points thanks to our Kekkei Genkai, is it like we have a gene that helps us remember how to read?" Obito looked up at her intently. "Does anyone know what it says?" Hanako asked. "The complete text I mean..."

"Madara knows," Obito says. "He read it."

"To what extent can his eyes read?" Hanako asked again. "You just said that one could only read to where the development of his eyes let them, but this doesn't say what the end of that development is, the words imply there's more to it."

Obito's eyes gleamed with curiosity. "To what extent can you read, Hanako?" he inquired. "The way you speak to me makes me think that you have read the whole thing, and you're afraid someone else has. What does it say?"

Hanako narrowed her eyes. "I can't read it," again, she lied. "I know what it says because I stole a transcript from the library," she showed him the parchment she had retrieved from the restricted area in the Uchiha Library -making her falsehoods more credible. "I just wanted to know if you knew something that wasn't in here."

Hanako couldn't see under his mask, but she knew he was smirking. "Madara said you had an affinity for manipulating other people's minds. I can see why." Hanako put the scroll back in her pouch.

"Take me to him," the words came out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop them. "I want to see Madara." Obito's eye shone in her direction, and she was sucked again into another place.

Obito sent Hanako back to the cave he had taken her the night before. The place was dark, there were no torches to light up the way for her, but still Hanako felt like she already knew the place as she walked confidently down the path. Zetsu appeared in her way, grinning as if he had been expecting her.

"So, who brought the girl back?" he asked. Hanako's eyes shone brightly as she smirked back at him.

"The girl has a name, you know...Zetsu." She looked up and down at him, scanning his figure. He was entirely white, and his short hair had taken a greenish color, like moss. His yellow eyes stared right through her, gleaming with intense curiosity.

"You remember my name..." he muttered, his grin widening. "Hanako-neechan, it's only fair I remember yours too." Hanako looked ahead as she walked past him. "Are you joining the cause?"

"No, I just came looking for answers," she narrowed her eyes. "And I know Madara has them."

"Alright," Zetsu had lowered his voice. Hanako looked at him from over her shoulder but he had disappeared.

"Did you do what I asked you to?" Madara's voice made shivers run down Hanako's spine. She turned slowly to find him sitting in the same 'throne' he had been sitting in the day before. He was looking at her with his head leaning on his hand, and a smirk plastered on his wrinkled face. He looked nothing like he had in the past, like his younger self.

"If I hadn't, would I be here?" Madara chuckled and straightened up.

Obito didn't follow Hanako to meet the old man, in fact he hadn't come with her to the cave. He only sent her there. Knowing she was alone with him gave her certain confidence, but at the same time it terrified her. "Then, is there something bothering you, Hanako?"

Hanako frowned at the way he had said her name, as if he were making fun of her. "If you're Madara..." she started saying. "How come you're still alive?"

"I have my own ways to cheat death," he shrugged as if it were nothing. "Forbidden jutsus and some other tricks I have under my sleeve. People just underestimated me and assumed I had died in my battle with Hashirama. I simply decided to let them believe it."

"Why?"

"It's what benefitted me," Madara smiled, his voice softening. "So that they wouldn't look for me anymore."

"What do you want?" Hanako pressed her lips. "Why did you make Obito bring me here? Why did you want me to read that Stone?"

Madara narrowed his eye. "Do you remember me, Hanako?" he suddenly asked, leaning now on his knees. "Have I ever crossed your mind, at least once, before today?"

Hanako looked at the ground as her breath hitch. She remembered the images flooding her mind in the library. Madara in his young-self holding her protectively with an arm around her waist. How his eyes reflected his mixed emotions.

Madara looked at her intently, reading her face, and smiled. "I have."

When Hanako looked back at him, she felt as if someone had landed a kick in her stomach. She could see all over again those emotions in his Sharingan eye, as if he had lifted a curtain. Hanako took a deep breath. "There was a woman," she said. "And you lost her, didn't you?"

Madara breathed slowly, closing his yes. "Yes. I did something stupid and I lost her, but I have faith that I can have her back." He opened his eye again and looked at her. "There is only one way I can do it."

"How...? Isn't she dead?" Hanako looked at him in confusion. Madara only smiled.

"No, she isn't. She's here. I have waited for her, all this time, but now she doesn't remember me." Hanako looked at him with pity in her eyes. The old man was probably senile. "Now, I am weak and old, and she is young and beautiful as always." Definitely senile. "I waited for her, but now I need her to wait for me."

"Gramps," Hanako sighed. "Seeing ghosts is a premonition of death, it means you're walking in a limbo."

Madara chuckled. "I know, I'm not seeing ghosts."

"You still haven't told me what you're doing in here. You're an Uchiha, you could have stayed anywhere and people wouldn't have bothered you."

"People couldn't know I was still alive, they would have interfered with my plans."

Hanako narrowed her eyes. "What plans?"

"I want to change this world," Madara said. "I want to bring the so desired peace. I want to create a world in which only love, joy, justice and tranquility triumph. A world in which only winners exist; where there's only light and no wars nor hatred nor darkness. I want to create a world in which no ninjas exist, nor chakra, so that no one will be superior to anyone."

Senile madness, she thought. "That just sounds too good to be true."

Madara grinned. "You don't understand that now, but you will in time. Memories will come back to you slowly through the years. And when you remember, you will look for me, again."

"Will you be here when that happens?" Hanako raised an eyebrow. "You look like you could kick the bucket anytime now."

"Drop the brazenness, young Uchiha," Madara said in a firm tone. Hanako pressed her lips into a thin line, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Have you come here to mock me, or is there something worth listening to coming from your lips?"

As soon as the warmth in his voice had come, it dissipated from him like vapor. He glared coldly at her, and his words felt like knives. "I have a request to make from you," Hanako said.

Madara's glare didn't falter. "What do you want?"

"I want you to teach me," Hanako looked up at him with full seriousness in her face. The time for games was over. "Help me become stronger."

"You want me to train you?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes."

"You're the first one to ever ask me such a thing, why do you want me to train you?" he wondered.

"Because..." Hanako looked away from him. "I am weak," she said. "The first time I came here, I was terrified. Your sole chakra signature made my body tremble. I felt vulnerable in your presence, and I don't like to feel that way, in fact I hate it." There was a lump forming in her throat, making her gulp. "I saw my father being killed right in front of me, and I hate that I wasn't able to do anything." Hanako closed her eyes when she felt a sudden rage burst through her.

"I won't train you just for the ambition of gaining power," Madara replied curtly. "State your purpose, Hanako."

Hanako looked up at him, and saw sparking interest in his eyes. "I just want to be able to protect something in my life."

Madara took a deep breath. He remembered the last time someone had asked him for help, "I can't stand being the only one staying here doing nothing. Help me be useful Madara, I want to be able to protect others." The words struck him more than they should have, but he found himself accepting before he could refuse. "Amane...I am so sorry..."

"Very well," he sighed. "But you have to do something for me in exchange." Hanako tightened her hands into fists. "I'll help you with your purpose, only if you help me with mine. Will you do that?"

Hanako took a deep breath as her eyes focused on his. "I will."

* * *

Shisui hurried that morning to the spot he trained in with Hanako. He had overslept last night, and had almost forgotten he was supposed to train with her. He had expected Hanako to be angry with him when he arrived, but he found himself alone when he reached the clearing. Hanako was nowhere to be seen.

That was strange, he thought. Hanako was normally eager to train and got there early. Why wasn't she there today? Had she overslept as well?

Shisui hurried again, this time heading in the direction of Hanako's house. There, he knocked on the door. Hikari opened it, surprised to see him. "Shisui?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

He was panting, trying hard to catch his breath. "Is Hanako here?"

"I haven't heard her come out of her room, she's probably still asleep. Why-?" Shisui walked inside, past her, numbly taking off his sandals. He rushed up the stairs and threw the door of Hanako's room open. Her bed was done, but creased -as if someone had lied on top of it. Beyond that, the room was empty. Shisui growled inside his mind and left the room, descending the stairs just as fast as he had gone up. "Shisui!" Hikari called at him as he went to the entrance door to put on his sandals. "What's going on?"

"Hanako went missing," he said in a hushed voice. "She's not in the clearing we meet to train, and she's not up in her room sleeping." He looked at Hikari with a worried face. "I don't know where she is."

Hikari sighed, rolling her eyes. Hanako was doing it again. "That girl..." Hikari walked back to the kitchen, Shisui looked at her with confusion. "Let her be," she said. "She does this all the time. Hanako only thinks about herself, she'll come back...eventually."

"But-"

"Let her," Hikari looked at him with stern eyes. "If you want to look for her, go. I won't stop you." She sighed. "But you won't find her."

Shisui pressed his lips into a thin line. He wanted to look for her, but the way Hikari glared at him made him stop. "You know her better than I do," he said. "When will she be back?"

Hikari shrugged. "Probably the day of the final rounds."

* * *

Isao found himself entertained in a game of cards. He had stayed in the hotel room Konoha had provided for them during the Chuunin Exam. His sensei had left almost half an hour ago to meet other Shinobi at the border, to pick up some information the Tsuchikage had sent them. There was only one day left before the final rounds of the exam, and they needed that information so they could carry their attack on the Leaf Village. Tomoya had been taken back to Iwagakure right after the preliminaries, so he was rather alone in the room, with only some poker cards to give him company.

Minutes later, the main door opened and closed. "Isao," his teacher called to him. Isao looked at him from over his shoulder, he didn't stand up from his chair as the man approached him with a serious face.

"Do you have what we need?" Isao asked.

"Yes," his sensei nodded. "The Tsuchikage will come tomorrow to watch your fight. Right now he's on his way here." He placed a scroll over the table, in front of Isao.

"What's that?" asked the Genin, his eyes glued to the object.

"Information about Konoha, the Hokage and the elders," said his teacher. There was a malicious grin in his face as he spoke. "And something that might also motivate you for tomorrow's fight." Isao raised both his brows, looking up at his teacher. "I also came to find something interesting about certain Uchiha."

Isao returned to the cards in his hand. "The only thing I need to know about her is her name, her chakra nature and her abilities regarding her Sharingan," he said in a firm tone.

"Are you sure about that?" His sensei pushed. "We found something that might be of interest to you." Isao rolled his eyes as his cards were sprawled in the table in front of him.

"What is it?" He gazed up at his teacher with inquiring eyes.

"According to what Shun left us after his death, Hanako was the one who started the fire that burned down that town and killed your father."

Isao stared at him for a moment, then his lips curled back and he hunched, erupting into laughter. His sensei observed him silently with a straight face. After a moment, Isao realized he was laughing alone and forced himself to stop. "That's not true," he draw a breath. "She's just a brat. A Jounin started that fire, I'm sure of it."

"Not according to what Shun said-"

"Sometimes the information obtained is false." Isao raised his voice at his teacher. He stood up, carelessly pushing his chair back and dropping it. "I'm not going to discuss what she did or didn't. Tomorrow, I will fight her and I'll make her regret her choice of becoming a shinobi." Isao walked to the door in long strides and went out, slamming it shut behind him.

* * *

That morning Itachi had gone to the Hokage and knocked on his office's door. When he heard the permission being given to him, he walked inside and stopped when he stood right in front of his desk. "What happened, Itachi?" asked the Third, smoking from his pipe, as he looked up at him. Itachi had a serious look in his face.

He had been running through the words in his mind over and over again, but when the time came and he was standing right in front of the Hokage he couldn't manage himself to speak. "We need to talk," he blurted. The Hokage nodded at him, urging him to continue. Itachi took a deep breath, "It's about Hanako and Iwagakure. I know everything about her mission."

The Hokage pulled the pipe away from his mouth, exhaling smoke as surprise filled him. "I see..."

"Strange things have been occurring in these exams, and I think we've all noticed," Itachi continued. "Besides, Hanako asked me no to tell anyone this, but I think you should know, Hokage-sama..."

"What is it?"

"What really happened in the Forest of Death, and in the preliminaries..." Itachi was serious, which only made the atmosphere around them tenser.

"I think I have an idea of what's going on, and I know what you're thinking Itachi, but it's impossible to change the encounters the day before the last round begins," stated the Hokage.

"But-" The Hokage shut Itachi up with an upturn of his hand.

"I said it's impossible." Hiruzen put down his hand. "The matches are selected randomly, not set up." Itachi pressed his lips tightly against one another.

"Can't there be an exception?" He looked at the Hokage with hope filled eyes, but the elder only shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry Itachi." The boy sighed in resignation, before turning away from him.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you, Hokage-sama."

"Itachi," the Hokage called. Itachi stopped right in front of the door, and looked at the elder from over his shoulder. "Believe in Hanako. I'm sure she will do just fine, after all, she never ceases to amaze us." Itachi smiled lightly.

"Hai..."

After Itachi left, Hiruzen lay back down in his chair and let out a long sigh. "These kids..." he muttered to himself. "One day they'll take me to the grave." He stood and walked out of his office to take a walk.

A silhouette then emerged from the office's floor and neared the desk, looking for some documents.

"I can't believe he didn't notice us." Zetsu chuckled.

"Shut up." A darker figure emerged beside him. "We were just lucky," he replied as he also started to search among all the paperwork. "Oh, here it is." He chuckled when he eyed the paper. "Now...now...Hokage-sama," mocked the black figure. "Maybe you won't change the matches," he chuckled. "But I cannot say the same about myself."