When he told Kisame that there would be a child coming to live with him, Kisame straight up laughed in his face- even doubling over, and clutching the edge of his work table for support.

Kisame couldn't imagine it. Him! Taking care of a kid!  Who in their right mind would give him such a task?

"-I could have never guessed you had -pfft- jokes up your sleeve."

Quite ironic ones at that, considering Kisame was one of the most wanted criminals in the shinobi world, who had adamantly stated that he absolutely despised children.

It wasn't because he was a murderer with a twisted sense of morality. Actually, Kisame had hated kids long before targets were placed at his back and he was labelled as one of the most villainous shinobi in the world. Children were simply the embodiment of all the characteristics that got on his damn nerves.

And most of his life was spent with adults who were too busy plotting their next murder, which was typically not a place you'd see a child. They were a big contrast to the people he normally interacted with, so since he did not understand why they were so bothersome or why they had so much hope in such a deceitful world, he hated them.

So Kisame laughed until his jaw hurt and he could no longer handle the pain in his ribs, and when the rogue shinobi turned to pat him on the back for cracking such a good one, he realized that he wasn't smiling.

(To be fair, he never smiled, but still.)

He just stared at Kisame with the usual stone faced expression, ignoring his many seconds of laughter, and telling him to prepare for the child's arrival.

"Wait, hold on." Kisame shook his head as he tried to grasp the whole ordeal. "You're actually serious? You want me to take care of a child?"

The Akatsuki was a criminal organization that partook in assassinations, mass murders, and espionage. What reason would they have to take in a child?

What reason did he have?

He moved to sit at his desk. "I never told you to do that. I only asked that you shelter the child for a limited amount of time."

"Limited amount of time? Until when?"

"Until I tell you otherwise."

Kisame's forehead wrinkled. "But why me? What of the others?"

After the words came out of his mouth, he realized how stupid the thought was.

"Actually, never mind."

You see, each member of the Akatsuki had their individual...quirks that made them absolutely unsuitable to be around children, talk less of living with them.

Orichimaru was out of the question entirely. The creep had kidnapped children before coming to the Akatsuki (and Kisame suspected that he still did). If he were to have a child living under his roof, no doubt he would take a sick interest in the poor thing sooner or later, and they would become a test subject or a failed experiment before a month was over.

Kakuzu had the worst temper ever. He had two partners in the Akatsuki so far, all of whom he murdered in cold blood for nothing more than getting on his nerves. Keeping a child with him was a no, because no matter how well behaved they were, they would be dead the second there was a slight slip up.

Zetsu was a plant that was barely around. Besides, Kisame was unsure if he-it even had a house.

Sasori would turn the boy into one of his puppets, and that was a no brainer.

Konan would have actually been a good option if she wasn't so emotionless and busy. At least Kisame understood that kids needed to be interacted with, even if his ways would be by training the child and teaching them about the ways of Shinobi. Konan would minimize interaction to short and stiff greetings and the child would get sad due to neglect like children always did.

That left him, the only somewhat sensible option. As much as he hated children, he had enough heart to let someone else kill them. Besides, they could serve him some purpose by doing chores around the house.

(And although he didn't understand them, that didn't mean a small part of him wasn't excited to have someone living with him.)

(Even criminals got lonely, once in a while.)

In the end, he accepted it (not like he had a choice anyways) and prepared for the child's arrival. He cleaned up the never-used guest room, with a handy jutsu, of course, and put away all the sharp and harmful items in his living room.

(Not because he cared for the child's safety, but because he would give him shit if the child left in his care died as quickly as they came.)

The day passed by without any happenings or arrivals, and Kisame had assumed, once nightfall came, that the child would show up the next day.

With who?-he hadn't quite worked that out yet. Why?-he wasn't sure either. And he did not bother trying to figure it out.

Asking questions were not a part of his job description; following orders were.

Since the child wasn't showing up anytime soon, he decided to do a little work in the kitchen. He would never admit it aloud, that cooking was the only thing he loved to do apart from following orders and killing people. It kept his mind working and his hands busy, and there was something about it that put his mind at ease.

(It was the one thing that this twisted world could never take away from him.)

As Kisame was about turning on the gas, he felt a ripple of two chakra signatures in his room.

The first thing to come to any S rank criminal's mind when such happens is intruders. So Kisame wasted no time in picking up his Samehada and dashing to his room, ready to kill whatever had managed to intercept all the seals placed around his house. Although as he got closer he noticed one of the shinobi's chakra was quite massive and steady, making him second guess his plan of charging in full force and pause momentarily by his door.

Then, another ripple, and the chakra was gone like the wind, leaving a smaller one behind.

It didn't take long for him to realise it was the child, before even opening the door and setting eyes on the bed. (What he wanted to know, was how that child got into the bedroom, and who transported him, but once again, it wasn't in his job description to ask questions.)

There he was, curled up in a fetal position like he was trying to protect himself. His hair was a wild mess of raven strands and his knuckles were coated with dark red, which Kisame instantly recognized as blood.

Interesting-yes.

However, that was not what caught Kisame's eye.

On the back of the child's shirt, there was a symbol that had been a household conversation in the Shinobi world for decades, and had instilled fear into the hearts of many in the battlefield.

In school, he was taught to beware of any shinobi who wore the red and white fan. The Uchiha Crest.

In a sudden, the child's importance to him was clear.

He had never cared for kids, no matter how obedient they were or how much hope their eyes held. What he cared for, was attaining power. It didn't matter who or how, just as long as the power he attained was loyal and willing to corporate to achieve his goal.

This boy was not a child for Kisame to take care of.

"How interesting." Kisame mused. Both he and his Samehada wore the same shark toothed grin, amused by the turn of events in the Akatsuki.

This boy was a child for Kisame to groom.

"Now we have an Uchiha in our grasps? And at quite a young age too." He laughed humorlessly.

This boy was going to have his childhood stripped away from him to become the Akatsuki's greatest weapon.

It didn't matter the blood on his hands or the dried tears on his cheeks . It didn't matter his past, or how he got here, or if anyone would even miss him.

"Leader-sama got us an excellent pawn-"

It didn't matter if he wanted to go back.

"-and he got it from the village he despises so much."

All that mattered was the red and white fan symbol across his back, and the devastating power in his eyes.

: :

"You're in Ame, kid."

Konohans were so cute when they were frightened.

Kisame had watched with amusement dancing in his eyes as the young boy slapped himself, looked at him again with wide, fearful eyes, and fainted.

"I bet he didn't think this would happen." Kisame chuckled, staring at the unconscious boy on the floor.

"What do you think Samehada? Should we let the brat sleep for a while longer?"

The sword shook.

"No? Alright then." Kisame let chakra surge to his fingertips and harshly flicked the boy on the forehead.

The young Uchiha woke up with a jolt, scrambling to his feet and pulling a kunai out of his pocket a lot quicker than Kisame expected.

"W-who-" the boy was shaking; his kunai was held at a very awkward angle; and there was crippling fear in his eyes.

Kisame had to put a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter.

'My first time meeting an Uchiha, and he can't even hold his kunai properly. I can't even.'

"Who are you?"

Watching the little kid tremble in fear made Kisame want to say that he was an assassin planning to kill him, just to freak him out some more. 'Yeah I'm a dick like that.'

But then he saw something in the boy's eyes, something that he had saw in so many other shinobi he had worked with-or killed-or both.

Something he saw in himself every time he accidentally looked into a mirror.

The blood stains all over the Uchiha suddenly made a lot more sense.

Kisame sighed, not because he felt pity, but rather because he felt the glaring sense of de ja vu. 

"Kisame Hoshigaki." He formally introduced himself. "Your new roommate... and caretaker, unfortunately."

The boy's eyebrows pulled together. "What?"

Kisame resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the boy's slow thinking. 'If they handed him over to Kakuzu, he would be dead by now.'

"You're not quick to catch on, are you?" Kisame deadpanned. "Or perhaps you're just in shock? I don't know how you kids operate."

The boy did not let down his guarded stance nor put away his kunai. In a way, Kisame sort of respected that the child knew to trust no one.

He was still holding the kunai the wrong way though.

Kisame was beginning to get a bit triggered by it.

"Why am I here?"

'Because you're going to join the Akatsuki and I'm going to groom you into a murder machine. And I'm thinking we first start with teaching you how to hold a damn kunai.'

"Beats me, kid." Kisame lied, looking at the kid's bare feet. Why was he not wearing shoes? The floor was freezing. "I'm just as confused as you are."

The kid shifted the kunai in his hand and his shaking ceased, but the fear never left his eyes.

(And even when he shifted the kunai it still wasn't the right angle.)

He made a good decision giving the child to Kisame. Any other member of the Akatsuki would've convulsed in frustration. (Even Konan, but in her own, emotionless way).

"Take me back." It sounded like he didn't mean his words, but at the same time wanted that more than anything else. The indecision in his voice annoyed Kisame.

Indecision killed people on the battlefield.

Kisame's eye twitched. 'Children...so different from Shinobi. That's why most of them die.'

Tired of dealing with the child and his poor thinking, the shark man proceeded to leave, to go back to the kitchen where he could finish what he started. And maybe he would be a good caretaker and offer the kid some of his food to eat. Maybe.

"Wait -tell me why I'm here! Who are you? Do you know my... "

Kisame left before he could hear the boy talk about his family, hear the horrid things that he saw, and see him break down from the fresh pain.

And that was a good thing, because if there's one thing Kisame hated more than anything, it was weakness.

: :

Sasuke's chest hurt.

No, it was more than that. It was not just the painful pounding of his heart against his ribcage that hurt, but also his head, his eyes, the swollen tips of his fingers, his stomach, and his throat. His entire body showed all the emotions his mind desperately wished to suppress.

He felt trapped like his beating heart. Angry like the patches on blood dried on his swollen fingers. Tired like the drooping of his eyelids, and the red eyes that refused to give out any more tears. Scarred like the scratches in his throat, hoarse from screaming in pain.

But most of all, Sasuke felt overwhelmed. Too much was bubbling at the pit of his stomach, trying to claw it's way upwards and spill out until there was nothing left. There was so much that had happened in the span of hours, so many images that had been burned into his memory, so little good left in all the wickedness that surrounded him.

The emotions were eating at him from the inside and Sasuke was too grieved to stop them.

He had cried -what?- two times in a day? That's a lot for an Uchiha, even if he was only five years old. If his father were to see him now, he would scold Sasuke for being weak, for not being as good as Itachi, for not living up to the Uchiha standards.

Sasuke's breath hitched. 'Father.'

His father wasn't amongst the family he lost. Neither were Yuki, Saitama, Akira, the Elders, Hitomi, Shisui, Itachi. There were so many other Uchiha that Sasuke didn't find dead on the pavement.

When they got home, what did they find?

Had they seen his mother's pale skin? Had they held her cold hands and screamed for her to get up? Did they cry? Or was they as strong as always, the way Uchiha were supposed to be?

Were...

Were they even alive?

He wanted to believe that, that the other half of his family was still amongst the living. But he thought of all the bodies, all the blood, and the hope that everyone else was alright fizzled out.

He hadn't seen his father or brother die. But his mother was gone, so why would he believe anyone else was spared?

The negative thoughts kept coming-of the entire Uchiha household being killed and their blood splattering on the pavement, the shoji doors, the futons, the floor.

The darkness surrounded him and Sasuke couldn't find a way out.

He brought his knees further to his chest, trying to find solace in himself. He was lost and confused, plagued with so many questions. Where was he? What should he do next?

What could he do next?

(Did it even matter, at this point?)

Sasuke's stomach growled, angry that there was nothing inside it for it to throw up.

The last time he ate was at school, hours before he saw his mother dead. His mom was-had been adamant about having a healthy eating schedule, always making sure everyone in the family had their three square meals at optimal times of the day.

'I should eat...mummy wouldn't like it if I missed a meal.'

But as Sasuke was about to get up, it hit him once again.

His mother was dead. Why did it matter?

Eating didn't feel as important, or as appetizing as it was before when all he could smell was the putrid scent of dried blood and spewed guts.

Sasuke welcomed the dark thoughts, not listening to his stomach's howling, thinking he would stay like this until his body finally gave up and he was gone...

It'd be easy to go. He was in a village where no one knew his name. The one person who had cared for him was gone. And living with the images in his head for the rest of his life felt like torture.

If he died, everything would be okay again.

And he could go and be with them...

At that point of no return, something dragged him back, saving him from the bad type of grief and bringing him to reality once again.

And that something was food.

Like magic, an aroma moved through the room, passing through Sasuke's nostrils and shocking him by just how delicious it smelled.

Sasuke's head shot up like a deer.

'That smell...is that...?'

His crazy mind pushed everything else away like it was yesterday's news, focusing all its attention on the savory scent (because if there's one thing the brain loved more than torturing its host... it was food).

Sasuke inhaled deeply, sighing like he just had a bite.

His stomach groaned again.

Sasuke sighed again. 'I guess I could try to eat...'

He pushed himself up, taking one last look outside the window before he left the unfamiliar room.

The rain had not subsided, how strange.

The living room was, like the room he woke up in, plain. There was not a single picture or decoration. Just a couch, a coffee table, and a bookshelf. It reminded him of his father because his study had little to no indication that it was his, other than a tiny picture of Sasuke and Itachi placed on his desk. And, like this shark-man he had seen earlier, his father had a huge bookshelf, taking up half the space of the room.

The bookshelf piqued his interest, so he halted, looking through the books' titles.

Chakra Control And Swordsmanship.

Konohagakure's Bingo Book.

Sunagakure's Bingo Book.

Amegakure's Latest Jutsus

Summoning Jutsus

The History of Ninjutsu

The Third Mizukage's Reign

The Scarred Reign of Hanzo

Sasuke frowned as he remembered his own father's bookshelf filled with shinobi-related books, one that he never allowed Sasuke to touch.

Then he remembered the way his father would ruffle his hair and promise him ''one day.''

Sasuke almost smiled, but the heaviness in his chest stopped him.

He pushed the sadness away and moved along, sniffing the air out for the location of food like some dog. Once he found it, he paused, and as his hand landed on the doorknob, flashes of a masked man whispering the words fear  to him.

This man-shark-thing...how could Sasuke know he was not being led into a trap set by him-it?

Sasuke was about to turn back.

Then his stomach groaned again.

Sasuke sighed and pushed the door open, surprised to actually see that the shark-man was... cooking.

"Are you hungry, dear?"

Sasuke froze, caught like a deer in the headlights as he stood on top of the dining chair he used to reach the pot. His mouth and hands were stained with the grease, presenting the truth if he even wanted to lie.

He turned around to meet the always soft, yet scolding eyes of his mother.

"I'll allow you this once." She grabbed her ladle and plated the dish, handing it to her son who smiled shyly. "But next time you do this, I'll consider it stealing, and I'll call you a bad child for a whole week!"

Three year old Sasuke pouted, "No no. I'm a good boy!"

"You won't be if you do this again, Sasuke dear." She patted his head. "Now go sit at the dining table, and be patient. Patience is what keeps us from doing bad things to other people, and to ourselves."

Sasuke nodded obediently, taking in her words of advice. "I be pachen, mommy!"

She chuckled lightly. "Good boy."

He grinned at the endearing praise as he took another bite. "Mhmm. Sweet!" Sasuke shivered deliciously, taking in another tiny bite.

"You like it?" Sasuke nodded happily.

"I like fish!"

Mikoto chuckled again. "Yes, fish. But the dish has a name. It's called-"

"Tempura?"

The house was no longer warm, instead it was dull and muted. Mikoto stared at him with a smile on her face, but it didn't reach her void eyes.

The blood gushing out of her also didn't make her smile seem believable.

Sasuke was about to scream.

"Kid, I am a patient man, but right now you're really testing me."

But then she disappeared.

And in her place was the blueish grey shark-man, with his fish eyes and shark teeth and gills.

Sasuke blinked. His hands were shaking lightly. "Huh?"

' I thought I saw her... '

The man-thing was looking down at him with a bored expression, "I said, do you want some tempura? Was gonna eat it myself, but then you showed up. " He mumbled the last parts.

Though still a bit spooked, Sasuke managed to nod timidly eyes drifting from the stove to the grey dining table.

"Yes you can sit. The chairs won't bite you." The shark man rolled his eyes. "And I don't bite either-I mean, if you're not an enemy... or if you don't get on my nerves."

Sasuke flinched as if his words had scorched him. Well, they had in a metaphorical way. The shark-man had an unsettling appearance, and an even more unsettling attitude.

He-it had told Sasuke his name a while ago, but Sasuke was too preoccupied with the paralyzing fear in his bones to bother about who he said he was. 'Ki. It started with a Ki.'

He couldn't remember the full name so for now he would remain shark-man.

"It seems you came from some sort of traumatizing experience." Sasuke flinched again when the shark-man started speaking.

The shark-man rolled his eyes. "Stop acting like I'm going to kill you. Come on, I'm just a man who happens to resemble a shark. You never seen one of those before?"

Sasuke averted his eyes to the table. "N-not really..."

"Hm. Konoha needs diversity then."

There were sounds of clanking utensils, then a plate of tempura was pushed towards Sasuke's area of sight. He looked up to see the shark-man-thing taking a seat on the other end of the small dining table, digging into his food already.

Sasuke looked down at his appetizing plate.

"So are you going to eat, or are you just going to waste my tempura?"

"S-sorry." Sasuke apologized, mumbling a quick thank you for the meal before taking his first bite.

Shark man's tempura tasted nothing like his mother's. It wasn't bad, but it just... wasn't home.

None of this was.

They ate in silence, mostly because Sasuke was too petrified of the shark-man to ask any questions. Also because though shark-man was obviously not a Konohan, he was not an Uchiha either. And that left Sasuke very conflicted on whether to trust him or not.

Konohans were not to be trusted. Shark man wasn't a Konohan.

But anyone who wasn't an Uchiha was an outsider.

But Sasuke thought all outsiders were Konohan.

But shark man wasn't a Konohan.

But he wasn't an Uchiha either.

Sasuke was very, very, confused to where he was going to place shark-man in his head.

"Kid, I am not helping you wash your dishes. So stop staring at your empty plate, get up, and get to the sink."

Sasuke recoiled at the harsh words.

Shark-man wasn't a Konohan. Konohans were uncomfortably nice. He  wasn't an Uchiha either. They were normally neutral.

Shark-man was just mean.

"Sorry." He got up quickly with his plate, walking towards the sink. It was when the sink was towering above him like a skyscraper Sasuke realized he was really, really tiny in this apartment.

"Why are children so damn short?" Shark man sounded frustrated. "I'm still not helping you wash your plate."

If he were at home, his mother wouldn't have even told him to wash his own plate. He remembered one time, his father had said Uchiha men were not made for household chores when he asked why his mother did all the cooking and cleaning in the house.

Sasuke could've rebutted with that.

But there were no Uchiha women anywhere nearby. (Besides, talking back to shark man sounded like instant death.)

So Sasuke pulled out one of the drawers near the sink, stepped on it to hoist him up, extended his leg, and landed on the slab right next to the sink.

"Hm, you finally used your brain today. Good work. "

Sasuke flinched at the underlying insult, but also at the bold compliment.

His father had never commended anything he did. Ever.

Suddenly Sasuke felt shy. "T-thank you, shark man."

Sasuke stopped.

His subconscious face palmed. 'This idiot.'

The blue man turned to stare at him, blinking rapidly.

"Did you just... call me shark man?"

Sasuke was ready to bolt out of the house. 'I'm so dead. I called him shark man. SHARK MAN. He will kill me.'

With a feeling of resignation, Sasuke waited for shark man to use his weird spiky sword to poke him to death.

But to his absolute surprise, shark man just laughed.

"Shark man? Are you serious? I mean, not a bad nickname but-pfft-"

The grey room got a few shades lighter as light peaked through the window on the other side of the room, highlighting the sides of shark-man's face.

How nice. He looked even creepier in the light.

"But in case you forgot, and I'm sure you did. My name is Kisame. Hoshigaki Kisame."

The shark-Hoshigaki Kisame grinned.

"Like I said before, I'm your new caretaker. But I'm not going to cheer you up when you're sad or play with you or whatnot. My job is to give you food, and for now, teach you how to hold a damn kunai."

: :

Konoha was sad.

That was the only way Sakura could describe it. After the Konoha Festival there was a decline that started with those black haired people that liked to brood. Whenever she passed by one, they looked like they were about to rip someone's head off in any second. Her mother had told her that was just how they were, while her father had made period jokes about it-which made her mother explain the time of the month way too many years early.

The decline, she noticed, shifted quickly. The first day everyone was talking about a prodigy named Hatake Kakashi that had apparently slit his own throat in his home. They said he was depressed; he was weak; or he was manipulated into doing so.

She didn't understand the meaning of the word manipulated.

The Kakashi talk had fizzled out as quickly as it came, and the next morning people were talking about the dead people found in that household on the outskirts of Konoha. They were also cursing some guy named Itachi-though she couldn't understand why.

And then again, the decline shifted only a couple of hours later, dismissing the mourning of the black haired people. The decline was one that hit Sakura on a personal level, and had her running to the lake near the Akimichi household to find all of them at their usual spot.

Ino was crying. She was crying so hard Sakura had thought she was someone else because Ino never cried. Before this, whenever she was about to cry, she sobered herself up by training, saying that Hokages were strong and unwavering, and she would be too.

Chouji looked like he had just seen a ghost. He was unmoving, paralysed almost, watching the water flow below his feet. The usual soft, sweet look he carried was gone, and what was left was a face void of all emotion that scared Sakura.

Shikamaru seemed okay. Seemed. Fact was he wasn't okay-he was just incredibly good at hiding it. He threw rocks along the lake, listening to the pitter patter of if against the waters. If the pitter patter wasn't loud enough, Shikamaru would frown.

Sakura didn't say anything once they saw her. What could she say? Sorry your dads are dead? Sorry your entire family is talking about the next clan head rather than mourning? Sorry I have two parents that would never be caught in shinobi crossfire?

Sentimental messages were useless. What Sakura gave them were hugs. Chouji found solace in Sakura's arms the most, wrapping his arms around her tiny body and pulling her closer, so she decided to stay by his side after she had comforted the other two.

After an hour of sitting in absolute silence, the rest of the gang poked their head through. Akamaru immediately went to nuzzle a sniffling Ino, who had kindly smiled in return and patted the puppy's head. Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet, walking over to Shikamaru and whispering a "Sorry man", which the Nara boy acknowledged with a nod.

Kiba, well, he wasn't quiet. But he wasn't loud either, and the Ino-Shika-Cho children were grateful he wasn't.

His words were neither comforting nor pitiful.

"This sucks."

"Kiba!" Sakura harshly whispered, nuzzling Chouji closer to her chest.

"What? What do you want me to say? Sorry? What the hell can a sorry do?"

Naruto flinched at Kiba's harsh words.

Kiba sighed and apologetically looked at Naruto, which Naruto took as his way of saying sorry for being so rude.

Then there was a deafening silence again that nobody really knew how to fill.

Kiba decided to just spit out whatever came out of his mouth. He hated silence.

"Shit's going down right now. Clans are having meetings-people aren't leaving their house as much again-the Uchiha kid's gone." He didn't mention the deaths of their fathers. "Guys. I think something's about to happen, something big."

Shikamaru surprised everyone by speaking. "You're right. For the past few days bad things have been happening." He frowned when the pitter patter of the rock wasn't loud enough. "I read a couple of books from the library."

Sakura piped up. "What kind of books?"

"War books."

No one replied.

Shikamaru went on. "One that I read was called the Causes of War. The other was called Starting a War In Your Favour."

Ino wiped her eyes. "And?"

"Both of them had a similar ground." Shikamaru threw another rock. "Which is kill off someone important from the enemy's side."

Chouji looked up. "What does enemy mean? "

"It's like a spar mate, except the spar mates want each other dead."

" Wait, hold on." Kiba shook his head. "Are you saying that a war's about to start?"

" I don't know." Shikamaru sighed. "That's what it looks like though."

"My dad would never let a war start, dattebayo!" Naruto shook his head, feeling the need to defend his father.

But his need woke up an anger in Ino.

"So your oh-so-great father can let my father die, but you don't think he can let a war start?"

Akamaru whimpered at the gaze in Ino's eyes as she glared at Naruto with a fiery anger no one wanted to see but everyone expected.

Naruto cowered a little, wondering what he could say that wouldn't offend Ino.

"Ino chan, you know what I mean. A war's a really bad thing, daddy wouldn't let it get to that. He's the Hokage, he'll protect us!"

Shikamaru sent a warning glance his way. Wrong words, idiot.

"Oh! Protect us? The Hokage?" Ino seethed. Sakura flinched at her icy tone. "When was he when half a clan was killed? Where did he go when Kakashi san killed himself? Where was he to protect my father when some bastard dragged him to The Forest of Death and killed him?!"

Naruto paused, his eyes getting wet. "I..."

'He was with me, with my mom and her baby. He wanted to take care of his family, he wanted to be a dad for just a while. He didn't know this would happen.'

"That's right, you can't answer." Angry tears formed at the corners of her eyes. "No one can give me a damn answer to why this happened! All they keep talking about is Shinobi shinobi shinobi like that's all my father ever was!"

Chouji was silently crying now, gripping the hem of Sakura's green t shirt for support.

"Stupid shinobi. Stupid hokage. Stupid village. Stupid people!" She screamed. "Everyone's just so stupid!"

Shikamaru glared at the rock in his hand.

"So stupid." Ino cried. "So, so stupid."

She fell to the muddy ground, screaming and screaming until her voice was hoarse and Kiba was begging her to stop. She screamed until Shikamaru screamed back and started crying. She screamed until Chouji ran away, tired of all the noise around him.

Naruto, Sakura and Akamaru stared at the damage before them. At the kids who were caught in the crossfire of a hatred that didn't even involve them. Sakura wiped away her tears from seeing her friends sad and not being able to do anything to help. By her side, Akamaru nuzzled her, trying to stop one person from crying, at least.

"I'm sorry, Ino chan." Naruto dropped to his knees. "I'm so so sorry."

Konoha was spiraling into chaos, and there was no one that would leave the hurricane unscathed.

: :

Masters of Deception

Written by Dorothy O/Milochondria

9/1/2020