I sat in my study, pondering about what the Uchiha's next steps could be in winning this war. I had just returned from an evening of fighting, confident at the fact that I walked out without a single scratch, though I had inflicted many.

Suddenly, a shinobi had appeared forth of me.

Shunshin no jutsu. He muttered.

"Madara-sama, forgive me for appearing so suddenly, but there's a matter impeding the Uchiha clan from growing. At this rate, if it keeps going, the Uchiha clan will stagger." The fair-skinned raven-haired fellow had spoken. I sighed, irritated. Just another problem added to the list. Many a times I had told my brethren not to disrupt me so abruptly, but war was war and there had to be exceptions.

"Kagami. What is it this time?" I narrowed my eyes. He was one of the few who supported the Senju alliance, and was in fact so adamant about it. I was aware he worked closely with Tobirama every now and then, something I had disapproved of at first.

"There's been in increase number of reports of Uchiha killing each other in order to gain some form of higher power." Kagami spoke, "Mangekyo Sharingan. I'd be damned if you hadn't heard of it."

It's true. It was a forbidden power, one that when used carelessly would cause blindness. A magnificent power suppressed by the heart. I crossed my arms.

"I possess the mangekyo sharingan." I taunted him, "And most will not. Only a few can awaken it. Set up a clan meeting and relay that information to the others." I ordered briskly.

Kagami shook his head. "I think it's better if the Uchiha hear it from you."

I closed my eyes, sighing in annoyance. "Very well then."

--

It had been a while since I spoke at a clan meeting. Most of the time they were attended to on my behalf by Tajima, Izuna or Kagami. I had frankly ran a little late, about five minutes, due to a altercation I had to dispute, that had taken longer than expected.

"Oi, musuko. You're already late to the altar, do not be late again." Tajima spoke, waiting outside of headquarters to lead me in.

I kept my gaze straight. He had brought that topic up a couple times now, especially over lunch when we could all eat together, which I would try to nonchalantly brush aside every single time. I simply had no interest. My priorities were different.

I entered to see a slur of raven-haired Uchihas, some injured from battle and others springing with vitality. The sight had almost made me smile to see all of them together, huddled and eager to listen. I stood to the front, placing my gunbai on my back, and my presence was enough to settle down the chatter and the shuffling.

"Listen well, everybody." I demanded, "It has come to my attention that many of you here have been killing your loved ones in order to possess the next form of sharingan."

Some of the Uchiha hummed in agreement, others voicing their agreements loudly.

"It's a myth! All these loved ones dying for nothing!" One yelled.

I shook my head.

"It is not." My eyes swirled from sharingan to mangekyo. "I possess it. It comes at a cost, but I'll leave that for another day. Any way, this must stop. Our clan cannot survive to see the next generation if it continues. And if this continues, I will see to your punishment. And..." My voice grew menacingly.

I took one solid look at everybody in the room.

"We have enough of our blood being spilled on the battlefield already. Why lower our population at such a dark time?"

One Uchiha stood up, pointing a finger at me. "Those damn Senju are too strong! We need to beat them somehow, and why can't you do it with your own eyes-?!"

"Be quiet!" An anger arose in my chest, my voice stern and loud. I clenched my fists. I had the mangekyo while fighting the Senju and I still couldn't protect my brothers. It was proving to be infuriating. My blood was boiling, soon that frustration reflected a deeper red in my eyes.

"Kill each other one more time," I stepped forward, "And I will place you into a tortuous trance. Would one of you like volunteer to show the rest what it's like? I think it would be most fitting."

It was cricket silence much to my pleasure, their eyes in awe. I knew that this would keep them in line.

"Madara..." I heard Izuna whisper, and it was enough to tame me down. Perhaps I had gotten too harsh, but it came from a place of goodness, I thought.

"We each need to do our own part. Without resorting to raising a hand against each other. You may all be dismissed." I ordered. The Uchiha had made a swift exit.

I walked around the headquarters, taking a look at the art pieces stemming from Uchiha ancestry, that were hung throughout the room. I felt a profoundness in looking at them.

"I think aniki needs a woman to soften those edges up a bit." Izuna chuckled jokingly, approaching me.

"What is it with this marriage banter both you and father tease me about?" I questioned sincerely, "When I find a woman, I will have no qualms of introducing her to you all. We must focus on war."

"So like you to say." He placed his hand on my shoulder, "I think having a loved one might even increase your stamina in the battlefield."

"Oh? And you know things about stamina now do you?"

Izuna always froze at the topic surrounding women, evident by the fluster written all over his face, and how he fumbled in his spot in denial.

"Oi! Baka, I'm talking about you!" His jaw to the floor with a mighty fist in the air.

For a brief second his mannerisms reminded me of Ayumi's. I thought of her silky black tresses and perhaps how she had been handling this war.

Why had she been in my mind? Had I perhaps been smitten by her? Nonsense.

"No matter," I tried to change the subject, snapping myself out of that line of thought, "Let's get back to work, otouto."

-

*AYUMI'S POV*

36.. hours... of fighting... my thoughts were becoming clouded. The battlefield was ugly.

"Byakugan!" The shinobi's blindspot was oddly enough placed right posterior to his heart. It would be difficult to sneak up behind a shinobi's back, but doable nonetheless. I had to wrap this up quickly, I was running out of chakra and my eyes were beginning to strain me. But before I could dash, I air palmed his kunai away.

"Such a pretty lady like you shouldn't be soiled in so much blood." He said rather creepily. I had gotten sick of these comments, as if women weren't capable of fighting, and even if they were, it wasn't in our place to. I would show them otherwise.

"You scum! I'll crush you!" The boils of war running through my veins, I grabbed a dead man's katana and rushed as quick as my two feet could take me, plunging the sword right through his heart. No mercy! I watched him shake, his eyes were staggering between the blade and my face.

"S-so... heartless..." He managed to muttered.

I pushed the sword deeper. And he fell back to the ground. I eyed his body, deactivating my byakugan, trying to conserve what little chakra I had left. This scene was all too familiar. My eyes were beginning to blur, a gigantic headache was on its way, I could tell. I needed to find a spot to rest.

And in just that split second I had taken for myself, I instantly regretted it, as a long black rod appeared from a distance in my peripheral vision. It was too fast to even try blocking, and my air palm wouldn't be able to deflect it. What if I released tenketsu to guard me? No, too slow!

"Shit. Shit! I can't die like thi-"

Suddenly a figure had appeared high in the air before me, throwing his gunbai towards the trajectory of the chakra rod. I recognized him immediately from his long black mane and that Uchiha crest. Uchiha Madara!

He landed in front of me with such might his chakra density changed the atmosphere surrounding him. His gunbai landed deep into the soil in front of us, deflecting the chakra rod, returning it to the direction it came from, destroying everything in its path. I actually couldn't believe it. He protected me.

"O-oi! Madara..." I was speechless.

"Hyuga," Madara spoke coldly, enough to cause me goosebumps. It was right there and then that I realized, Madara never really called me by my first name. Ever. "Pick up your slack."

My jaw dropped to the floor, and my eyes were wide, eyebrows clenched. "Oi!That attitude! Why are you even here any way?"

Madara turned around to look at me, his armor clanking as he did so. His sharingan was flaring a red so fiery it was utterly fierce, I thought.

"Our battling territories began to overlap with the Senju in that corner. I saw you from a distance and thought you would have been a little more appreciative. But I suppose not."

Our alliance did state that it was our duty to protect each other when possible, and Madara had done just that. At least I knew he was someone to be trusted. I quickly withdrew a specially made Hyuga tonic from my pouch, my chakra slowly replenishing as I did so.

"Oh?" He eyed my flask curiously, "How convenient."

"I should be able to keep up with you with this." I dangled the tonic. "Wouldn't want to embarrass myself in front of Madara-sama. Want some?" I immediately regretted asking, a stupid blush grew on my face, as it would have been weird for him to drink out the same flask I had been sipping on and rationing for hours now.

I heard a hm from him.

I leaped, landing beside him, handing him his gunbai.

"What was that?" He abruptly asked.

"Oh, the tonic? Well it-"

"Not that." Madara's sharingan glimmered with a slight curiosity now, that I could tell he was trying to hide. "Your palm."

"Oh." How did he even notice that? I hesitated, but it was no use in lying to a man like him. I held my palm up to him. He grabbed it rather harshly, tugging my feet closer to him. "Oi!" I yelped, trying to gain my hand back.

"Relax. Let me see." He coaxed me smoothly with his words. I gave in, that tone had tamed my temper down a notch. The pad of his gloved thumb rubbed over the crescent moon, oddly pulsing with light as soon as Madara had touched it. I decided that I liked the way his hand felt around mine, it was big and strong. Why did I like it?

"I think you owe me an explanation, girl." Madara let go of my hand.

Owe him? An explanation? 'Taku.

"But not now. We have two annoying flies above us." His eyes looked to the sky to reveal two Senju adolescents.

I quickly gathered chakra to expel from my hands. "Hakke Kusho!" And proudly, they were flung hundreds of kilometers back. I would be safe for now. For some reason, I had glanced back at Madara for some sort of acknowledgement, only to not have it met.

"Meet me at the meadows near Nakano Shrine at the Uchiha compound when you've wrapped your business up." Madara ordered me, as if I was one of his clans mates. And he disappeared into thin air. I itched my head slightly irritated. That guy.

--

*MADARA'S POV*

I had just finished with a Senju when I noticed a familiar chakra signature in the distance, slowly but surely dwindling out to nothing but a little flame. I decided to check it out, there may have been a formidable enemy nearby. So I pooled chakra to my feet, and leaped.

Alas, it was her. Ayumi.

I quickly took note of an object flying near her direction, and she had looked so helpless. It was easy to tell that she was caught in a bind - little chakra and not enough time to act. I threw my gunbai, though I was not sure why I decided to interfere. I landed right in front of her, hearing her typical slurs of annoyed utterances. I had protected her, should she not be relieved?

"O-oi! Madara..." She was panting.

"Hyuga," I turned around to meet her eyes, "Pick up your slack." Ayumi was clearly beaten to a pulp, the war had shown on her features. Her own blood, and dirt was smeared across her cheeks - I oddly thought it complimented her brazenness.

Her jaw dropped to the floor, much like how Izuna's would at times, with her set of angry eyes locked onto me. I almost had to stifle a chuckle. "Oi! That attitude. Why are you even here any way?"

I was slightly disappointed at the fact that she had taken offense to my comment. She was an upstate Hyuga who I heard great things about, and expected to see more of, yet it looked like she would be just another person I would have the responsibility of protecting, as per the alliance treaty.

"Our battling territories began to overlap with the Senju in that corner. I saw you from a distance and thought you would have been a little more appreciative. But I suppose not." She frowned like a child, I noticed a yearning in her eyes. She quickly flickered a hand to her pouch, and I noticed a strange marking on her palm. She retrieved what seemed to be a tonic of some sort, and I noticed her chakra was steadily rising.

"Oh? How convenient." I noticed her vitality had risen, her face was now fill with colour and her build had just seemed more stronger. It would be interesting to see her in battle, I wondered.

"I should be able to keep up with you with this." Ayumi dangeled the flask, "Wouldn't want to embarrass myself in front of Madara-sama." The latter of her statement and the way she spoke my name sounded melodic, dare I say. "Want some?" She offered. I eyed her flask and her hand, and she retracted it immediately after a blush had developed on her cheeks. She had just killed someone yet here she was flustered by me. Whatever it was, I enjoyed the apparent influence I had over her.

"Hm." I muttered, crossing my arms. She leaped beside me tossing my gunbai, I caught a slight glimpse of that marking once more. I couldn't help but ask, I hadn't seen anything like it.

"What was that?" I asked her.

"Hm? Oh, the tonic, well it-"

"Not that." I eyed her hand, "Your palm."

"Oh." She responded almost dumbfoundedly. I could tell there was a slight hesitance in her eyes, but she eventually exposed her palm to me. I grabbed her wrist, almost pulling her a little bit too close to me. I noted that - be careful next time. She was small and didn't need much force. "Oi!" She tried tugging herself back.

I sighed, relieving myself of my tension, "Relax. Let me see." I spoke more softly, maybe she would respond in that way. And she did.

I rubbed the crescent moon on her palm that had intrigued me so much, and noticed it was pulsing with literal light upon my touch. Not chakra, but light. She had spiked my interest in her, that Hyuga. I recalled the pieces of ancient artworks hung up in the Uchiha headquarters, some figures had been illustrated with a crescent moon in the background, though I begrudgingly did not quite understand its significance.

"You owe me an explanation, girl." I let go of her hand, now staring right into her eyes. I sensed two other people on their way, "But not now, there are two little annoying flies above us."

She reacted quickly this time. "Hakke kusho!"

And I could no longer sense them, both of them out of our field of view.

All that with just an air palm? Impressive technique. She regained her footing, I see. Ayumi glanced at me much like how a child would seek approval after completing a grandiose task, expecting some kind of praise. Instead, I wanted to see more of her. I wanted to know more about her.

"Meet me at the meadows near Nakano shrine at the Uchiha compound once you've wrapped your business up." I insisted. I felt confident leaving her alone, she was able to control her ground now.

---

shunshin no jutsu = teleportation jutsu

musuko = son

aniki = elder brother

otouto = little brother

'taku = utterance of being annoyed

hakke kusho = eight trigrams: air palm