"Are you awake, Akina?" I slowly open my eyes at the sound of Madara's voice. My head is on his lap as he is sitting down somewhere in the hideout. 

"Madara?..." I sit up and look around.

"You exhausted yourself with that last jutsu of yours. That's never happened before. It's a good thing I summoned you in time." 

I passed out after using my last attack? Something like that has never happened before. But, I remember everything that happened. "Is the Leaf Village destroyed?" I ask. 

"It is, but it is in the middle of repair." 

"What?!" My eyes widen as I look at him. 

"Pein is dead. Naruto defeated him. Your technique wasn't enough to destroy all of the Leaf. Naruto managed to get rid of your jutsu." 

'So, I failed...!?' My eyes stay widen as I stood up from the ground and walked over to the entrance of the hideout. 

"Akina?" Madara questions me. I open my mouth and a dark chakra ball blasts to a part of the area near the hideout, and I scream out of rage. 

'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! I did not succeed! I failed!' "RAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" I punch a wall beside me, bursting a hole into it and repeatedly punch it. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" I growl. 'They don't deserve to live! All of them should have perished! They all should have been wiped out!!! It's not fair!' 

"Akina!" I feel my wrist being grabbed and I am pulled into Madara's chest. "Calm yourself now." He orders. I breath heavily in his chest and tears begin to well up. I cling onto Madara's cloak and began to cry. 

It's not fair... They shouldn't be still alive... They should have been dead... All of them... I cry/scream in Madara's chest and Madara kneels down to hold me closer. 

"Do not get discouraged, Akina. There will always be another time." Madara tells me while stroking the back of my head. I slowly began to calm down and stop my crying, and just lie my head on his chest. "You have fought greatly, Akina. Now, it is time for you to rest and save your energy. Go back to sleep. I'll be right here once you awake again." 

Madara lays my head on his lap and I close my eyes, dozing off into sleep. When I woke up, Madara and I went looking for Sasuke, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo. He informed me about them delivering the 8 tails to him, but it was a substitution. Also, they had left the Akatsuki. 

We appears in front of them as they were traveling. "Hey! It's Akina!" Suigetsu smirks. "Where have you been? Sasuke's been worried about you. You suddenly vanished after capturing the 8 tails." 

"Akina!" Ritsu jumps beside me. "Are you okay? What happened to you?" 

"I'm fine, Ritsu." I say calmly. 

"She had other things to attend to. But, you failed me. The 8 tails you delivered was merely a substitution." Madara sounds angry. "You will continue what you started as members of the Akatsuki. Having said that, you can forget about the 8 tails. I've decided to give you a different task." 

"And if I refuse?" Sasuke glares. 

"We'll fight it out right now. And you won't be able to go to the Leaf Village."

"We'll force our way through!" Sasuke activates his chidori and attacks Madara. I get in front of him and grab Sasuke's wrist, instantly absorbing and stopping his chidori. 

"Don't, Darling." I look at him with an emotionless stare. 

"It's a little late to go to the Hidden Leaf." Madara informs. "Your purpose is fruitless. Too bad." 

"What do you mean?" Sasuke questions. 

"The Leaf Village is no more. Akina and Pein destroyed it." Why is he telling him this? He's lying. What is Madara planning now? 

"No way... Akina destroyed it?!" Karin looks at me in horror. 

"Akina and Pein destroyed the village all by themselves?" 

"Not likely." I step in. "Pein was also defeated by Naruto..." 

"And there is a new Hokage. Someone named Danzo." Madara adds. "A Kage Summit Confrence will be held." 

"Then he will be our new target." Sasuke glares. 

"You want to kill the Hokage?" I question. Why did he suddenly become dark? What happened while I was away. 'What secrets did he uncover?' I ask and glance at Madara, then back at the team. 

"What? The village is already destroyed and you want to go after Danzo as our new target, at the Kage Summit?" Suigetsu questions. "If that's the case, don't you think we should be heading there?" 

"Suigetsu!" Karin shouts. 

"What? Am I wrong?" 

"We're changing our destination. We will take the Hokage's head at the Kage Summit." Sasuke informs about his plan. 

"Sounds like a plan." Madara says. 

"Let's go, Akina." Sasuke looks at me.

"No." Ritsu suddenly grabs my arm and glares at Sasuke. "That's enough. I'm tired of tagging along with you. You're just causing more chaos and you're just going to bring Akina into it. She did what she had to do. She's not following you around anymore." He's already fed up with this. 

"Is that so?" Madara looks at Ritsu. "Your protectiveness and concern about Akina is adorable, but weren't you the one dragging her around before? What does Akina want?" Madara looks at me. 

"Come on, Akina. You don't really want to go with this guy, do you? He got his revenge on Itachi and got the 8 tails. How far are you willing to through with this? Aren't you satisfied enough?" Ritsu looks at me with a glare. 

"I am not." I answer bluntly. "My Darling is still here. You also agreed to this, too, Ritsu. Why are you suddenly having a change of heart?" 

"Can't you see I'm trying to get you away from this mess? This is getting out of hand and you know it. Do you really want this?" Ritsu grabs a hold of both of my shoulders while asking me this. 

I look at him dead in the eyes and say, "All I want is to be with my Darling. It doesn't matter what happens from here on out." 

"Akina." Ritsu's eyes slightly widen before releasing my shoulders. "Dammit..." He swears underneath his breath. 

"It looks like she has made her decision." Madara darkly chuckles before disappearing. I leave with Sasuke and the team, with Ritsu following, to go to the Kage Summit with half of Zetsu leading the way. 

On the way, I pull Sasuke back and pin him against the tree as the others are still going. I pin Sasuke's left arm above his head and quickly smash my lips against his. His eyes slightly widen before kissing back, wrapping his right arm around my waist, pulling me closer. 

After a while, I pull away. "Did you miss me that much? Or did you want my chakra?" He smirks.

"Be quiet." I order and kiss him again. Sasuke kisses back, closing his eyes. He rips himself from my hold and wraps both of his arms around my waist tightly. I can slowly feel my horns getting smaller. 

I pull away from the kiss and attach my lips to his neck. Sasuke faintly groans, then grunts when I bite down on his neck, marking him. He pulls away and smirks at me again, and lifts my chin. "Let's save that for later." He places a kiss on my cheek. 

"Hey! Sasuke! What happened?! You suddenly fell behind!" Suigetsu shouts as him and the others came back. 

"It's nothing." Sasuke replies and grabs my hand, then continues moving. The further we traveled, the colder it got. We were getting close. 

"I can't be the only one who's freezing right now." Suigetsu complains and looks at me. "You're not wearing any shoes and yet, you seem fine." 

"She's use to the cold." Ritsu mentions. 

"Woah! Look at that! Her hair is changing color!" 

I look behind me and see my hair is fading pink with a tint of white. My eyes slightly widen at this. With so much chakra I have taken, the transformation is slowly taking effect!

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