"Nonsense. Living that long is impossible for any human." Nina retorted.

"Exactly. That's why I'm here to ask you how you did it." Hana took a step closer. "I have a deal for you. I have men stationed everywhere around this village, they're all armed with a certain jutsu that will encase the villagers in a permanent tomb. Those in the tomb will die of suffocation, a slow, painful death. My men have been told to carry out this jutsu on my command. Tell me everything about yourself and I'll order a retreat, no one will be harmed."

Nina remained silent, eyes locked in a blank expression in contrast to her racing heartbeat.

"How did you find out?" She asked slowly.

Hana's smirk widened.

"When searching through the history books my grandfather had collected, I found a few odd coincidences. The first one was in an Hatano history book dated around two hundred years ago. You certainly gave my ancestors a scare, destroying that mountain."

Nina closed her eyes, the image of the said event coming to mind.

"During a battle with the Uchiha..." She sighed.

Hana paused for a second, just staring at her.

"So it really is you." Her voice softened ever so slightly, "I was right."

Nina stared back at her cautiously.

"You've finished his work." She chose her words quickly.

The redhead's eyes softened.

"I did" She said proudly, eyes momentarily turning away from Nina.

The next thing she knew, a kunai was pressed against her throat.

In a flash, the woman formed an ox seal and a loud noise was heard from outside, something like a flare bursting.

"That's the signal." Her eyes grew large and wild. She grinned maliciously. "They'll die soon, they'll all die."

Nina cursed under her breath, swiftly flicking her wrist. Blood splattered against the green wallpaper.

Rushing outside, she watched as clay walls shot up out of the ground, forming domes over each compound. She saw Hashirama out of the corner of her eye.

"What happened?!" He shouted.

Nina's jaw clenched.

"I was too slow." She said through grit teeth. "Help me find a way to break these things."

They both tried jutsu after jutsu on the earthen barrier, to no avail, it was stubborn.

Suddenly, Nina froze in the middle of a chain of hand seals.

"Wait." She said, realization dawning on her face. "Hashirama! Dig tunnels into the ground! We'll get in the same way the Adachi did." Nina formed a new chain of seals and pressed her hands against the ground. Dirt pushed itself away and a tunnel was formed. Hashirama used sharp wooden poles to drill a path into the ground.

One at a time, tunnels were dug and the domes were destroyed from the inside, which was surprisingly easy. The pieces of what had been an unmovable tomb were now been shattered and moved outside the village. Madara had showed up halfway through the cleanup. He was thoroughly confused, evident by his expression. After burying the bodies of the fallen shinobi, both from the village and not, it was almost as if nothing happened.

By dawn, the village looked as it did before, perhaps a little dustier.

"When the first group of children graduate, we should split them into squads and put them under the training of a reliable shinobi." Tobirama suggested.

The other three people in the room nodded in agreement.

"Since there are fifteen graduates, five squads of three would be our best choice." Nina added.

"So it's decided. We'll choose squads in five days, right after the graduation." Hashirama finished, standing up with a grin.

Five months had passed since the incident with the Adachi clan, the village was prospering and everything was going well. The anbu had grown in number and in strength, now all members were formidable opponents in any situation. Nina had not yet told anyone else about her backstory, though no one seemed to ask anymore.

At the moment, Nina was heading towards the academy building. Despite her efforts, Tobirama had somehow convinced her to help with the teaching. She could often be found in a classroom as a 'special speaker', teaching the children about different types of ninjutsu and genjutsu, once she had even been asked to perform a summoning. Groans and complaints were heard for the rest of the day when the request had been denied.

"Madara." She observed, mildly surprised at the sight of the approaching Uchiha. "What are you doing here?" It was rare for him to come to the academy due to the fact that it was operated by a certain Senju that he hated so thoroughly.

"I'm here to see if this place is fit for Uchiha children to attend." He frowned at his own words, as if he was being forced to say them.

Nina was surprised to say the least, but quickly offered a small smile.

"I'll show you around." She said, turning towards the academy doors. There were currently no Uchiha students enrolled, nor were there any Uchiha teachers. If Madara were to allow the clan's children attend, the future of Konoha would be further secured with a promising generation of fire users.

After showing Madara the main staff areas, Nina went on to the classrooms. School was not over yet, lessons were being taught and students were still in the rooms. She intended to just have him take a look inside and quickly leave, as to not interrupt the lesson. However, Madara wasn't satisfied with that.

"Deciding whether or not to let my clan's children attend this academy is not a small issue." He stated.

Nina sighed as she knew what he meant, though she didn't disagree with him.

"Fine. Just don't disturb the kids." She opened the door to one of the classrooms and motioned for him to end. A dozen heads turned, staring at the man who had stepped in. Nina followed behind him, whispering something to the man teaching the class, who nodded and whispered something back.

Nina moved to stand next to Madara by the back of the room. They listened as the man resumed his lesson: the history of paper bombs. Madara zoned out halfway through. He glanced down at Nina who stood to his right, his face unreadable. He quickly directed his eyes back to the instructor when she looked his way. He saw her give him an odd glance from the corner of his eye.

The lesson soon ended and the man motioned towards to the two at the back of the room.

"Students, we have some very important guests today. Can anyone tell me who they are?" The teacher asked.

A boy with spikey brown hair shot his hand up.

"I know! He's the Uchiha leader and the lady is Miss Nina." The boy stated, clearly proud of himself. "She taught us about fuinjutsu in my other class."

"Correct. They both work closely with the Hokage, please be respectful." The teacher said, glancing over the children.

A girl with blonde pigtails raised her hand.

"Can we ask them questions after class?" She asked excitedly.

"Of course." The man smiled.

Nina and Madara glanced at each other, a look that said they knew they were in trouble. Neither had any desire to deal with this many children.

The instructor dismissed the class and all hell broke loose.

"Show us your best jutsu!"

"How old are you?"

"How many people have you killed?"

"Teach us some cool justus!"

Ten minutes later, the two of them managed to escape the hoard of ten year olds. They only stopped when they were a good hundred meters away from the building.

"I told you we shouldn't have gone in." Nina leaned against a tree, arms crossed. She only received a 'hn' from the Uchiha. "Anyways, do you think you'll let your clan's children attend the academy?" She questioned.

"I'll think about it." He said simply, looking back to the building in the distance.

For the next few hours, the two sat under the shade of a tall tree, jumping from one topic to another. Time seemed to fly by, as the sun was soon halfway down the horizon, the sky a mosaic of reds and yellows.

"How long do you see this village lasting?" Madara asked suddenly.

Nina turned to him, slightly confused as to where the question came from.

"How long..." She repeated slowly. "I certainly don't see it failing any time soon." She waited a while but received no answer. "What's wrong?" She asked, turning to face him.

"Nothing." Was the stoic response.

"What is it?" She pressed.

There was a long pause.

"Nothing." He was clearly done talking about this.

Nina, however, wasn't fazed, she was too used to his attitude. She decided to drop the topic for now, turning back to face the brilliant horizon. They sat in comfortable silence for the next few hours, even when the sky became dark and the stars began winking down at them.

Squads had been decided and the graduating class was sitting anxiously, waiting to see which one they would be on. Both Hashirama and Tobirama were present in the classroom, Nina standing with them. Hashirama had given a short speech before the announcing of teams, explaining what it meant to be a shinobi and what they should prepare themselves for.

It was soon time for the students to find out who their team and sensei would be.

"Yutara Shinji, Senju Jun, Nara Yukimi."

The three twelve year olds stood from their seats and moved to the end of the first row which had purposely been left empty. They sat together silently, Nina knew they weren't too fond of each other.

"You are Team 1."

Then three more teams were announced, leaving only the last one to be officially formed.

"Inuzaka Kai, Hamasaki Kaiya, Hiruzen Sarutobi. You are Team 5." Closing the book that he was reading off of, Tobirama looked up at the neat row of students, all sitting with their teammates. "Look around this room. Look carefully. These are your allies and rivals. You will encourage and help each other grow to be powerful shinobi. We believe you will all succeed and prosper." Faces varied from determined to slightly apprehensive. "Now, go meet your sensei in the area you have been assigned to."

"Yes sir!" The new genin squads scattered to find their sensei. The two adults were left in the now quiet classroom as Hashirama had taken his leave earlier.

"Go and find your team. Don't keep them waiting." Nina gestured for him to hurry.

Both shinobi exited the room, exchanged a nod, and headed their separate ways.

The vibrant green trees rustled lightly in the wind, dotted with colorful flowers. The sky was a light blue, clouds were scattered throughout its never ending surface, pushed gently by a light breeze. Villagers strolled through the scenic streets, they were all couples or families.

Nina sat leaning against a tall oak tree on top of the cliff overlooking the village. Hashirama's face had just been carved into the stone a few months ago. The woman gazed blankly at the village; as beautiful as it was, she couldn't help but to feel as though she didn't belong. Not in the way that she wasn't welcome, but rather that she shouldn't be there.

She didn't know how many hours had passed by the time she decided to get up, but the sun was nearing the horizon. On her way to her house, she came across an unexpected person.

"Elder Risu." She greeted.

The older woman smiled, wrinkles obvious on the corners of her eyes. Her once brown hair was now streaked with white.

"Miss Nina, how have you been?" The Senju asked.

"Quite well, thank you. And yourself?"

"Ah, not too bad." She looked in the distance.

Nina was puzzled at her withdrawn behavior until she remembered that her son was one of the victims of the village infiltration a while back.

"I'm sorry for your loss." She said, using her best sympathetic tone.

"He died a brave man." The Senju's eyes became slightly glossy. "He had just come back from a mission from the Land of Water. How coincidental that bandits from the same place would be the ones to take his life."

Right, that was what the villagers had been told. The victims were all killed outside the village by bandits from the Land of Water. Nina was one of the people to support the cover story, they had all thought that telling the truth would cause serious paranoia among the clans and the alliances could be weakened. Vulnerability to more attacks could potentially be fatal to Konoha as a village, not even the anbu or police force had been told of what really happened. The truth stayed between the four shinobi.

"He was a good man." Nina stated simply.

The elder nodded and let out a slow breath.

"Anyways, I hear the first group of genin has graduated from the academy, it must have been a difficult first year for you." She commented, a smile returning to her face.

"It was difficult for everyone, future years should go smoother." Nina nodded to herself.

"I do hope so. Oh, I have something I need to get to, so I'll be taking my leave. It was good to speak with you again, young lady." She smiled and walked pass the taller woman.

Nina returned to her house soon after. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she gazed at the familiar staff leaning against the wooden wall across from her.

"What's this?" A white haired woman asked, examining the handle of the unfamiliar object. The staff gleamed in the moonlight. She had only seen one like it before, and that one belonged to the man in front of her.

"A shakujō. Before the clan relocated, Hamura and I decided that you would need this." The fragile form of the elderly man said.

The woman frowned.

"Before the clan relocated? That was almost seventy years ago! Why give this to me now?" She asked, confusion evident on her features.

"I was here for the past seventy years, I trained you and showed you the extent of your power. But now I don't have any time left, yet there are still some things you must learn. That was what my brother and I were afraid of. Our clan cannot be here to teach you, and when I pass, there will be no one at all. However, Hamura and I have infused parts of our chakra into this staff. It will guide you. It will teach you everything you need to know to protect our clan's descendants. Keep it safe." He glanced through the window next to him, the night was clear and the moon shone bright. "My time on this planet has come to an end, yours must not."

That was the last time she saw her friend.

That was the last time she felt safe.

The first few years were hard. She slowly learned new abilities that seemed show themselves at random intervals. Unfortunately, they took much longer to learn without someone to properly teach her. Kamui had taken her nearly three years to master. But time soon began to become fuzzy and years blurred into decades which blurred into centuries. It seemed to get easier after she finally accepted her fate and duty. She also began to learn new techniques faster, even though new skills were revealing themselves less and less, she took it as a sign that her training was coming to an end. The difficult thing was finding a place to practice the techniques. During times of war, the surrounding areas were all either owned or claimed by one clan or another, being discovered was a worry of hers from the very beginning.

She did manage to find ways to train, mainly during conflicts in which either the Uchiha or Senju were involved. She would use newly discovered techniques during these battles, though only when she knew she could help them win. Over time, she found new, more effective ways to subtly help them. There were, however, certain jutsus that could not be carelessly used in battle, and those were the ones she had to risk secrecy in order to practice.

Every once in a while, she would purposely begin training in an area that belonged to a clan. The techniques she would practice were among the most powerful that she knew, special ones she learned from the great Sage himself. Of course, more than one surrounding clan would rush to the area, sensing large bursts of what she would always hear them call 'strange chakra'. The time frame in which she could stay to train was very short. These brief, dangerous training sessions never failed to end in a speedy escape, usually just as the first group of scouts arrived. Inefficient as this method was, there was simply no other way for her to get any training in for those certain jutsus. It was either that or nothing.

Time left no mark on her; she remained untouched by age, that was one of the abilities her clan's chakra had. It was more than a little odd for the first century, never seeing any change in your appearance, but appearance all together soon became a trivial thing that was almost never on her mind. After centuries of glancing at the same face, she knew what she looked like.

Knock knock

The sound pulled her out of her daze.

Knock knock knock

Someone frantically tapped at her door. Odd. There had never anyone at her home before.

Standing up, she slid over and turned the brass handle. Careful to keep her shakujō and books out of the visitor's line of sight, she opened the door.

"I apologize for having to intrude in your place of residence, but the Hokage request for your immediate presence in his office." An anbu bearing a bird mask said, head lowered in respect.

"Alright, you are dismissed." Nina responded promptly.

After a swift bow, the man was gone. She headed towards the tower at a slightly hurried pace.

'Must be important.'

Hashirama stopped pacing the moment his office door clicked open. Nina stepped into the large space, giving the man a questioning look. He hesitated when he saw her, almost as if he wasn't sure what to say.

"What is it?" She asked, concerned.

The Senju frowned deeply and slowly opened his mouth.

"Madara's gone."