Mi Ho pov:

This was crazy. This was totally crazy! First I turn up in this world, in this totally messed up world, fall in love with a totally insane guy, get chucked to the future by him and now I'm in a time where he's possibly just a bratty kid!

What on earth is going on?!

I sighed, shaking my head ad I looked out the window of my room. It was a rather pleasant day and I had surprisingly slept well last night. I got up from the floor and stretched my arms above my head. I was back to wearing these thick heavy kimonos.....they were really bothersome.

I decided to take a walk. Some fresh air really felt like it would help me now. I was sure some people would follow me to keep watch on me, but I had been followed around so much that I was quite used to it. I didn't have to inform anyone and I didn't have anything to take with me either. The sun was warm, the breeze light, make it my ideal weather.

I could sense three people following me as I left the compound for a walk in the forest. I ignored them and looked at the canopy of the trees with a smile. Following the same trail, I could sense three people in the distance. Two of them I could make out clearly - Hashirama and Tobirama. They were much weaker than the chakras I knew before but as I had seen yesterday they were still kids so it was obvious they were yet to get their actual level of chakra.

But I was yet to get over the surprise of seeing them as kids.

I continued until I reached them. When I did, they stopped talking and looked at me with sharp eyes. Wow, they looked pretty stern even though they were still so young.

"Hey....hope I didn't disturb you. I was just taking a walk." "You're the person we saw in tou sama's room yesterday." Little Tobirama was quick to catch on. I nodded taking the liberty to sit on the huge boulder beside them. "Yeah, I'm a wandering healer. I was lost in the forest yesterday but your clansmen were nice enough to bring me here." I smiled again.

"So you're Butsuma san's kids huh?" I asked. They narrowed their eyes at me but nodded. "I'm Tobirama. This is my older brother Hashirama and our younger brother Itama." "Ah, I see. So what were you guys talking about?" I don't know if my question sounded sort of imposing, but I asked it anyway. They didn't have to tell me the truth, right?

"Our youngest brother is dead." This time, Hashirama spoke. I looked at him, a little surprised about what he just said. "He was just seven years old and he's dead! Because of this stupid war! Because everyone thinks that killing each other is just to attain peace!" He shut his eyes tightly holding in the tears that wanted to escape.

"Ni sama! You don't have to tell some stranger !" Tobirama scolded slightly.

I was flabbergasted. A child barely seven years old had been sent to fight a war and had died? If I thought the time when Madara and Izuna were fighting against Hashirama and Tobirama was crazy, what on earth was I supposed to say about this time? How could kids be sent out to fight a war?! No matter how skilled they were, they were still kids and kids had to be innocent! Not going around killing others....or getting killed.

Hashirama hadn't stopped trembling in rage and sadness. I didn't know what else to do, so I moved closer to him on the boulder and pulled him to my chest. I had a hand on his head, patting him gently in an attempt to console him. He stiffened at first, but wrapped his small arms around me and cried into my chest.

Itama, the little kid with half brown and half silver hair and sparkling brown eyes began to tear up as well. I chuckled softly and held out my other hand to him. He didn't seem to be as good at controlling his crying though. He collided with me almost making me fall over and he too began to cry into my chest. I patted both of their back gently and whispered words of courage.

Although, I was sure they were much more courageous that I was anyway.

Tobirama was the only one who wasn't reacting like most kids would have. His hands ans jaw were clenched tightly and he had a hard glare on his face. He wasn't looking at me. I smiled slightly and went back to patting the other two's heads. Tobirama had always been the stern one; it looks like it was a characteristic that he had ever since he was a child.

I smiled to myself yet again and hugged the two people in my arms tighter.

>>Timeskip

I've been here in this time frame for about three days now. I usually heal the injured, babysit for somme of the families and the rest of the time, I just spend watching people train. The evenings are usually the most heart wrenching though. Every evening, bodies of those who died in battle are brought back and a burial ceremony is done for them.

Hashirama is usually the most affected and I find him tightening his fists until his knuckles turn white. Some people do cry at the loss of their loved one but Butsuma san seemed rather cold hearted. All he said was that a shinobi must never cry no matter what happens. He's rather insensitive, isn't he?

It was probably the worst though, when Itama died in a battle with the Uchiha clan. Hashirama was the one who had found him dead and I just couldn't get him to calm down.....it was too heart wrenching. I had to force him unconscious because he began to hyperventilate after some time. And after he woke up, he went into a closed shell.

Besides that, everyone here has started to trust me so they're not as uptight ad they used to be. The two brothers seem to have become rather attached to me as well and I usually join them when they gather just outside the Senju settlement.

But there is one thing I have noticed about Hashirama. Sometime during the day, he disappears from the settlement. I don't know where he goes and what he does; no one else besides me has noticed him disappearing so often. It made me really curious. Maybe he was going for some special training but he would have at least told Tobirama, right?

I was just too curious so today I was following his chakra signature. I had made sure to keep my chakra completely hidden but I was still nervous of being caught. I kept looking back in the direction I came from and I kept darting my eyes around to make sure no one else was around me.

When I finally made it out of the forest I was walking though, I came across a big cliff. Hashirama and another kid with black spiky hair were lying on their backs and panting. Black spiky hair? Wait....WHAT?!

This chakra! I could make out this chakra anywhere! It was Madara! Madara as a kid!! He was just a kid but his chakra was pretty strong! Just as strong as Hashirama's....they must have been rivals for a long time. But the way the looked now, they seemed completely comfortable in each other's company. They were smiling, exhausted yet satisfied after a good spar.

"Then its decided!" Hashirama sat up with a big grin. "We'll build our own village here! The Village Hidden in the Leaves! Then we can make sure the kids aren't sent to fight and don't die in the war!" "You're really crazy, aren't you?" Madara said with a weirded out face. I cant believe I was thinking this, but Madara looked so darn adorable as a kid! I just wanted to go there and cuddle him to death!

"But I guess I'm crazy too because I like your idea." He smiled and leaned back on his arms. "Yeah, the Village Hidden in the Leaves....and then I'll be able to protect my only brother left. I wont let the sacrifice of my other three brothers be in vain. I will protect my brother." His voice was low, his eyes sharp as he gazed over the landscape. I saw the same protectiveness in his eyes that I had seen when he was older. It warmed my heart.

I too followed his gaze to look at the landscape and that's when I realized.....this was actually the Hokage Mountain in modern Konoha.

The way Madara was talking, I knew it was about Izuna. Even as a kid, the air around Madara was quite dense. He had that sort of power and authority and determination hanging around him....I didn't know what to think of it.

Both of them then fell on their backs again. I bit the inside of my cheek before heading back to the Senju compound. I felt like I had heard enough for the time being. This time was much more competitive than when Madara and Hashirama were grown up and I didn't like it that people's lives including children's were taken so lightly for the sake of their so called peace.

I wonder....why was I sent here? Who sent me here and what purpose did I have here? I wasn't using the powers I initially discovered anyway, so what am I doing here really?

I sighed rubbing my forehead stressed by the situation. I walked back to the room that had been given to me. I fell face first onto the mattress. What I going on with my life?

The next few days were just the same. Everyone goes out to fight, Hashirama escapes to meet Madara, I heal the injured and the defeated are buried at the end of the day. There was nothing besides this routine in this time period. I was starting to get tired of being here. The person I loved was still a kid who probably had no idea of me, the whole populace was divided, everyone constantly fighting against each other with no seeming end.

"Aarrgghh!!! This is driving me up the wall!!" I screamed as I sat in my room. I ruffled my head, messing up my hair and fell so my face was in the pillow. I heard the door of my room slide open and someone walked in. "Mio san? Is everything alright?" "Dho, ifts nod....[no, its not]" I muttered without taking my face out of the pillow.

I turned my head to the side to see Yuutaro watching me funnily. "Hey Yuutaro? When is this war going to end? When is there actually going to be peace?"

How come no matter where I popped up, there was always war and killing and greed and fighting and complications? I was really getting tired of all this.

"Until we become the strongest of clans and implement proper rules for everyone to follow." I groaned and sat up rubbing my face. "Why cant anyone understand that power and dominance isn't the only thing that is needed to bring peace? Peace is about accepting people for their strengths and weaknesses and cooperating with each other. If someone is strong, they protect the weak. Love is what will bring people together.....not war and fighting."

"I should have expected such an answer from an ignorant wanderer like you. Foolishly thinking that strength isn't the key to peace." Butsuma san walked into the room with a frown. I sighed shaking my head as I sat up on my knees. "Its not ignorance.....hurting each other just increases conflict. If someone takes the initiative to actually accept the positives and negatives of others, maybe we wont have to fight anymore."

"Are you saying we should swallow our pride and lower ourselves to accepting those who have killed our people?" Butsuma san asked. I just deadpanned at him. "Hello? Aren't you listening? People are killed because we don't accept others to begin with! And what does this have to do with pride and lowering yourself? Accepting people is even greater than pride....besides...."

I paused when I noticed him watching me with something close to a glare. I rolled my eyes and stood up smoothening out my clothes. "Oh, forget it...." I muttered to myself and walked out of the room. Madara, Butsuma san....no, everyone. So darn thick headed!!

I didn't come back to the compound for quite sometime. The stream that Hashirama and Madara usually met up at was a nice place to think. I was throwing stones into the water while muttering complaints under my breath. But I stopped when I felt multiple chakras coming near the river. Three from the Senju side and three....from the Uchiha side.

Not wanting to get into a sticky situation, I bolted into the trees and lowered my chakra to zero. I looked out and saw Hashirama and Madara come into view. They both threw stones on the water horizontally, making it skip and reach the other side. They caught each others stones ans smiled. "You've finally become an ace at rock skipping." Hashirama commented. Madara chuckled but both of them looked slightly off.

I was even more curious because Butsuma san and Tobirama were hiding on this side and Tajima san and Izuna were hiding on Madara's side. When Hashirama and Madara began to part, they looked at the stones and stiffened.

Everything after that happened so fast, I barely saw what happened. The only thing I saw was everyone jumping around dodging attacks and finally stop with Madara protecting Izuna and Hashirama protecting Tobirama. I slapped a hand over my mouth as Madara grinned madly, his sharingan glowing. But unlike the times I had seen it, there were just two commas in the pattern. "I will protect Izuna no matter what....the next time we meet, we'll be enemies."

There was regret in his eyes despite his words. I felt that it would be best for me to run back to the Senju compound unnoticed so I took steps back slowly. It seems luck wasn't on my side today though. I heard a snap and looked down to see the twig I had stepped on. The next moment, I found myself staring into the glowing red eyes of Tajima san.

I yelped, losing balance and falling onto my rear. "It seems we have a little mouse eavesdropping on our battle." I scooted backwards watching him with wide eyes, frightened for the first time in my time here. Tajim san wasn't like the old guy I had met, he was younger and probably much more merciless.

"T-Tajima san! I-I....." He narrowed his eyes and I flinched. "How do you know my name?" Shit! I forgot that I'm not supposed to know him!!! I mentally cursed and yelped as I was pulled up with a painful grip on my upper arm. I was dragged to where everyone was and was thrown forward, effectively bruising my elbows in the rocky floor of the river bank.

"Mio?" Butsuma san was the first to react and I sat up with a glare at Tajima san. "Be a little gentle will you?! Jeez what's your problem?!"

"So she's a spy from your side, Senju?" Tajima san sneered. "Excuse me?! I was near the river first, its your fault for invading my privacy! Its not my fault if I heard your conversation. Besides its not like you spoke about anything secretive! Always climbing the ladder of inference....and for your information, I'm just a healer." I dusted myself off as I stood up.

"A healer? Well then, lets do something disadvantageous to the Senju, shall we?" He said and the next moment, his sword was pierced through my chest. Blood trickled down my chin, my eyes going wide. I coughed as I felt the wind knocked out of my lungs and I fell to my knees feeling an electric shock rack my body.

I blinked and fell forward my hands supporting me on the ground. My eyes were wide and I was sweating and.....

I saw grass.

I lifted my head and looked around panting to see a low cliff, forest ahead and a star studded sky. I looked behind me and saw the non ninja village I lived in with Ryoshi.

Was that a dream? Seeing Madara and Hashirama as kids? Or had I really gone back in time to see what they were like then? The blood, the deaths, the killing....it had all seemed too real to be a dream.

I staggered up and shivered as a breeze cooled the sweat on my body. I was in that time for just a few days....was the inter dimension travelling getting messed up and unstable? I hope not....

Whatever the case, I was jittery from what had just happened. Tajima san had tried to kill me, that jerk!!! I cant believe him! I shivered again thinking it was best if I didn't think about that incident too much. I'd only end up freaking myself even more. Surprisingly too, my medical ninjutsu book was next to me as well.

Picking it up and holding it tightly to my chest, I headed back to hopefully my unchanged non ninja village.

~~~~~~~~~~~~