Most of the village turned out for Senju Hashirama's funeral. Although it had only been a few weeks, it may as well been a lifetime for the amount of confusion, terror, heartbreak, and rage lingering in the hearts of the surviving villagers. Many influential people within Konohagakure no Sato came out of the campaign broken or dead.

Now they all gathered with a different sea of emotions lodged in their hearts, knowing they'd come here to hear Senju Tobirama's words as the Second Hokage. For many, their hearts were heavy and weary: too tired to fight back any further.

Before leaving her clan's district, Kazusa had caught sight of Setsuna staring off into the distance. His eyes refused to leave the mountain. She considered speaking to him and breaking his concentration, but she abstained. She wasn't in the mood for another guilt trip. All she wanted to do was get this ceremony over with, be recognized officially in the village as head of the Uchiha Clan, and congratulate Kariudo for having the same sort of honor thrown his way among the Inuzuka.

"Do you remember how warm this place felt when Hashirama was named Shodaime?" Kariudo whispered to Kazusa. They'd stand among the other clan heads, rather than their clans.

"Barely. I was a very little girl," Kazusa confessed. Wearing this much regalia felt false to her. The whole ceremony did, and yet the whole village would notice her absence should she decide to hide. "You shouldn't. He was already Hokage by the time your clan joined the village." She did, however, recall the first time she'd met Kariudo…just as he recollected his first memory of this village.

It hadn't been the Senju Clan who reached out to the Inuzuka first.

…

The world suddenly felt more claustrophobic. Join or die, the clans phrased it. While anything felt possible when the Mitokado Clan were their only major threat, the Inuzuka Clan saw the inevitable future. Waging war against one clan was one thing. Waging war against a dozen or more was suicide…and the numbers kept rising.

"I have my reservations, but maybe it's for the best if we join. They're offering, right? They want us?"

"More than you realize," the dark-haired stranger in the gold silk shirt responded, continuing to smoke the noxious thing in his pipe. Kariudo didn't much care for the fragrance, but the man himself made the boy feel slightly hungry every time he stared for too long. Their visitor's tight pink burn-scars reminded the child of cooked meat.

Okami's hands remained firmly upon the shoulders of her young son. "Kariudo's at an age where joining the village could greatly benefit my clan. They have an Academy. They have a four man cell program where an advanced shinobi from another clan will see fit to train him alongside children from other clans. That's what you said, isn't it?"

"Indeed, Lady Okami. It is. Our clan head's child is also of age. She's slated to share a team with a child from the Nara Clan. Your son would be a perfect match. Think of the possibilities."

The possibilities? He didn't know this other kid. This strange man was the only Uchiha he'd ever met. He carried himself like a clan head, but he wasn't one. Kariudo couldn't hide his confusion. 'If they wanted us so badly, why didn't the clan head come in person? Who is this man?'

"Well, Kariudo…" Okami grinned at him, petting her son's wild hair. "You'll take my place someday. Consider this the first big decision you'll make for our glorious and honorable clan. Do you want to do this, or do you want us to stay wild?"

"I–"

"What'll it be, son? Are we wolves or dogs?"

…

They were dogs: loyal and protective. Kariudo missed his mother greatly, but he knew he wouldn't experience any of the strife as clan head that his friend would among the Uchiha. None of his clansmen questioned his right to rule. They offered advice if they felt he'd take them in a bad direction, but they respected him and already saw him as a man.

Konoha wasn't a mistake. It was the best decision he'd ever made. Okami would probably turn in her grave if she knew her child's priorities, but Kariudo swore allegiance to the village first and his clan second. His personal feelings for the Nidaime were irrelevant. His loyalties would outlive the Nidaime.

"You look ridiculous with that makeup, though," he informed his teammate. "You should've worn your armor and let your hair down."

"Nah. I don't want to embarrass the Hokage or my clan," Kazusa grumbled, checking her reflection in a nearby pane of glass. Kariudo was right; she did feel ridiculous wearing something so dainty and girlish, but Naho went through great lengths to doll her up today.

This was a very important ceremony. The Nidaime would be received by the whole of the village and both Kazusa and Kariudo would be presented as official clan heads.

"But it's creepy when you girl up! I barely recognize you!" Kariudo groaned, wrapping one of his arms around Kazusa's. "And I bet Tochiko won't, either." Their third teammate could stay the hell away for all they cared. They never liked her, anyway.

They wouldn't have an opportunity to stand with their clans. As heads, they stood among other heads. Kariudo stood by Kazusa's side, feeling every bit as young and unsure as she did. They smiled warmly at Mito, but all she did was avert her gaze. Her face turned scarlet and she walked many paces away from Kazusa, not wanting to make eye contact. Kazusa also waved at Amano, feeling sheepish for her clan trashing the Hyūga head's home. Amano glared at her and silently decided the Akimichi head would be far preferable company.

But the one who stood out the most, Kazusa noted, was Osamu. A substantial percentage of the Yamanaka head's body was wrapped in bandages and Hanako pushed him in a wheelchair. She heard the news yesterday: Osamu failed to get out of his house in time when Akihiro torched it. She also heard rumors that a support beam fell and broke his back. These injuries were consistent with what she'd heard.

And yet, somehow, he smiled. Despite everything, that bastard still had it in him to smile.

…

For now, the pain was so bad that Hanako had to move into the house and dress him. Everything from the waist down continued to feel eternally asleep: needles and pins. Such numbness would be preferable to the agony from his burns.

Whenever his pretty little cousin replaced the bandages and put ointment on the burns, she stared at him with pity and morbid curiosity in her eyes. "You're sure you don't want the pipe?" Hanako stared in disbelief as Osamu murmured he didn't.

He'd never walk again. The damage proved to be too great. "Perhaps this is the wake-up call I needed to get clean. I hurt my sister, Hanako. I can't heal Yanagi's brain any more than the village can heal my back."

"Perhaps so," Hanako conceded as she returned to his side with a bowl full of steeped tea bags. "These contain tannic acid, Osamu-sama. They'll help your wounds heal faster and ease some of the pain." But they'd do nothing in comparison to the opium he'd loved so dearly for years. "Are you sure now is when you want to go sober?"

"I can be miserable all at once or I can do it in two stages. I'm in agony already." He may as well detox while he felt his worst. "This can't continue. I owe it to our clan to be lucid again," not that he'd done this in a genuine sense since he was Hanako's age. "Yanagi can no longer back me up or pull me out of my moments of distress. Every decision I make now…it's solely mine. It all falls on me."

She placed the tea onto the worst wounds, silently nodding her head in agreement with her cousin. "If you change your mind–"

"No. For the first time in ages, I feel like I have a mind again." He refused to lose it. 'But it wasn't all for naught. In the end, despite everything, we achieved our goal. We didn't suffer for nothing.'

They won.

…

"What are you smiling at?" Kazusa hissed at Osamu. The Yamanaka head didn't answer her question. He asked Hanako to move him closer to Aburame Mukade and Senju Toka. Somewhere in his low voice and muffled conversation, she heard him make a remark about how sows were sows, even when they put on lipstick.

'That man…' She'd find some way to bring him down someday, but not today.

"It's about to start," Kariudo whispered, nudging her. "Let's get into place. Are you ready?"

From up above, standing among the assembly of leaders, Kazusa could see the entire village below. Everyone needed to be here, save for the sick and infirm. Within her own clan, she noted Naho's absence, but her one remaining free brother, Muraki, stood in the crowd.

She watched as Toka turned to bow. The other clan heads followed suit, Kazusa included, and Tobirama moved past them in full regalia. They had all dressed in their finest, but the Hokage robes were again to be worn. The greatest of the five great shinobi nations once more had a Kage within their borders.

Kariudo bowed without hesitation, but he'd nudged Kazusa to follow suit. "It doesn't matter how you feel about him," he whispered. "He'll remember you helped save the village."

'I wonder. Will he?'

As Tobirama took center stage, the crowd did not cheer for him. Throughout the village came a long and resounding silence. He would speak, they universally decided, and it was up to them to listen.

"I stand before everyone as your official and irrefutable new leader. Effective two days ago, the Fire Daimyo openly endorsed my candidacy for the Nidaime position. So…here I am: your Second Hokage."

He didn't expect these people to applaud for him the way they'd done for Hashirama. The majority of the village voted for Hashirama. They loved his brother fiercely and many showcased that at his funeral. They never realized that even Hashirama had his own hesitations about leadership.

…

What did he have to be so depressed about? The village model was his idea; everyone knew that. Only a hopeless fool would think they stood a chance of being First Hokage over Hashirama. And yet all Hashirama did was quietly sit at his desk and let his fingers stroke the edges of the Hokage hat. His dark eyes remained on the item, staring at it as if it slighted him somehow.

He got like this sometimes, especially if Madara was somehow involved. "He'll be Second, at least," he murmured. "If anyone deserves it…"

'But don't you just love democracy?' Tobirama kept the thought to himself. If the Senju head could lead as Hokage once, it would only take another Senju to follow in order to set and solidify the future of this place. A second Senju could prevent civil war.

…

In his heart, Tobirama knew all along this position would be his. Whether or not he wanted it was moot; the village needed him…and the Yamanaka Clan did the right thing eliminating the Uchiha candidate. Kaizen wasn't Madara by a long shot, but he would have been a problem regardless.

It didn't matter what he stood for. He was merely an obstacle.

"I know there are some among you who had your hopes invested in other candidates. Most of them, I had high hopes for and valued as trusted and honored comrades. It's something I don't take lightly: trust…or friendship…"

…

Miharu would never voice it aloud, but Shimura Daichi gained his endorsement at long last. A man willing to put his life on the line to save innocent lives deserved to be Hokage, not a corpse.

Daichi understood something none of the others did: one life did not matter more than a thousand, regardless of rank. That man gave an oath when his clan joined the village. He and every other Shimura would defend Konoha at all costs.

For seventeen years, Daichi fiercely protected Konoha's borders and came back to his son at the end of each mission as a hero worthy of admiration. People called him a war-hawk, never understanding this was what his job required. The weak and gentle were eaten alive.

Miharu understood. The village wasn't as far removed from the Daimyo's treacherous court as he'd first believed.

Knowing that even Mito caved in to endorse Tobirama gave Miharu the bleak realization of what his future would hold. He'd hide, spending the remainder of his days trying to convince the Daimyo to take him back to court. It would be safer, he realized. Hell would be safer than what was about to unfurl.

The mask would never come off, either. Not even at Daichi's funeral. No one deserved to know how badly he wept underneath the porcelain. His life was over and he knew it.

…

"If we want this village to work, we need to do away with these knife-in-the-dark tactics within Konoha borders. For all the effort some of us placed on advancing our own ambitions with little to no regard for the people we harmed in the process, we'd do better to turn that side of ourselves toward our enemies rather than each other.

"Some of you may be wondering where we go from here. What changes can you expect, now that we have a new Hokage?"

His hands reached for the edges of the podium as he leaned forward, staring off into the crowd.

"I'm not Hashirama, nor will I ever pretend to be. As much as this village loved my older brother, some of his well-intended idealism is what got us into this mess in the first place. We couldn't survive another Hashirama…"

…

Mito wore white to so many funerals as of late that she doubted she'd ever return to wearing anything else.

First, Hashirama died when some younger, faster, ambitious thing from an enemy village managed to get the better of him in a fight. It didn't feel real and hearing that Uchiha Kaizen and Hyūga Kozue tracked down and destroyed Hashirama's killer brought Mito no comfort.

Neither did the news that Sarutobi Sasuke overdosed on medication he'd taken to bypass the bad dreams projected by the Yamanaka Clan. He'd sooner poison himself than face his inner demons. Hiruzen had it in him to be incredible someday and Sasuke wouldn't be there to witness his son's triumphs.

…and neither would Shimura Daichi get to see such things with his own son. Mito saw great promise in Danzō and knew how deeply his father loved him. Those boys would have to stand together, supporting one another as they became the men of their households. Their mothers would need them. Daichi's wife wanted nothing to do with Mito, though, seeing as she led to Daichi's death.

But they weren't the only dead. Just as Hiruzen and Danzō lost their fathers, poor Inuzuka Kariudo lost his mother. Okami's death felt too convenient. It gave off a bad smell, just as Kaizen's death did.

She had so wanted to believe in Yanagi's innocence but all she saw around her were graves.

Tobirama was right. Had she become Hokage, the only Will of Fire left would be the crematorium for all the casualties she'd leave in her wake. She murmured it at first, too low to be heard. Her brother-in-law turned to face her, eyes narrowed.

"…I said I'll concede. I'll endorse you."

…

"…nor could we survive another power vacuum like the one we just experienced." He heard it among them, already whispering in agreement. It didn't go unnoticed that every clan stood as a group rather than mingling.

'This is the world I inherit to command: a world where clans come first and the village second.' He'd have his work cut out for him. So, too, would Tobirama's other officials.

"I see the limitations of our system and propose before all of you, as a vote, to give me power to name an emergency appointment for the Sandaime in case of my demise. Waiting another month as we did this time will only manage to destroy us."

Almost seventeen years ago, he'd argued with Hashirama against this. He's insisted that emergency appointments were a thing of the past and that the village should be democratic. Now he saw the risks that came with that. They left themselves wide open.

"I don't want you to assume I wish to take your right to vote from you, but the Daimyo chose my sister-in-law to act as regent until I was nominated as Nidaime."

Yes, and everyone saw how effective that was. Mito sat on the balcony as part of Tobirama's family, but she had never felt so much hate from the villagers below as she did now. She covered her mouth to hide the fact she wanted to throw up from sheer nerves.

Kazusa internally seethed at these words. Mito's seal broke when she witnessed the death of a dear friend. The thing that attacked wasn't her, but rather the monster inside.

Although the young Uchiha head now found herself in agreement with Tobirama that Mito would be a dangerous choice as Hokage, there was no point in kicking her while she was down…was there? She tried to turn her attention to Mito, to assure her that she still had a friend in the crowd, but the older woman was too somber and grief-stricken to notice.

"I'll reiterate. This stipulation is for emergency purposes only. Hashirama named me in his dying breath. It took us a month to come to that same conclusion. How many lives did we lose while we waited? How many good and promising people died, all because of a few overly ambitious men and women?"

…

Another one of his koi died: a remarkably scarlet fish save for the lone white spot on its belly. It floated to the water and the others immediately began to peck at the body.

'Don't do that. Stop.'

Tenjin reached with his hands to pick up the dead animal, feeling its slick and slippery body. The others continued to stare up at him hungrily, expecting more. Always more.

These koi were a gift from Toka as a token of gratitude for all his hard work and effort with the Konoha Expansion Campaign. She kept a pond at her house, too, and assured him that he'd never truly be seen as a "big fish" in this pond of a village until he had one, too.

In the right lighting, the fish shimmered like gold and jewels. And sometimes he swore he could see the reflections of the dead in the water. As the beautiful creatures swam about, Tenjin saw his father's face in there. When he squinted closer, he saw Kaizen…then Mitsuichi…then Masubi.

The last time the village sat under a full moon, the Son of a Thousand Fires had all six of his children. Now half of them were dead and one was in prison.

Tobirama's first act upon his appointment as Second Hokage involved Masubi's execution for breaking into Archives. Attempting to steal a forbidden jutsu, Tobirama argued, was treason. It was immediately followed by the KMPF arresting Akihiro for attempting to kill not only the Yamanaka head, but also the Uchiha head.

If anything, Kazusa seemed harsher to her own people than the rest of the village when it came to law and order.

Last full moon, Tenjin came close to becoming the father of a Hokage. But Kaizen died…and his other sons tried to avenge him. They weren't as resourceful, patient, or clever as Kaizen. They weren't even close, but that didn't make Tenjin miss them any less. He loved them all.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the dead animal, carrying it in his hands as he moved into his garden. He intended to bury the creature, hiding it under the earth so none of the feral cats would find it. But as he bent, his knees ached from where he'd knelt earlier for hours.

For Akihiro's life, he'd had to beg before not only Tobirama, but also Kazusa. The only time he'd remained on his knees for longer had been when he pleaded before Uchiha Tajima to spare his mother's life. It didn't work then, but his pleas before this new Hokage were enough to spare Akihiro. Masubi, he couldn't. And he couldn't bring himself to watch the execution, either.

As he dug a hole with his bare hands, it felt as though more than a dead koi would be left within the ground. All his aspirations would reside there, too. It all rested on Naho now. Exclusively Naho…and he'd be marrying her off into one of the clan's stronger families in the hopes of restoring what he lost.

'But what is the point so late in my life? I have lost and I cannot recover. I did this for nothing. I sold my soul to build this palace, and now I find it's empty.'

A rose bush scratched his hand, tearing at the tight skin and ripping it open. It stung and he placed his hands into the pond in the hopes of removing the dirt. Almost instantly, the fish swam to him and began to lightly nip at his fingers. It didn't hurt, but…

'I'm not so different from you, am I? So caught up in my pond and picking apart the others…'

"You're out here again?" Naho moved closer, choosing to sit beside her father. "Father, your hand."

"…tell me you're fine with Tatsumi," he murmured. She wasn't. He saw it in her eyes. She didn't want to marry at this age, and definitely not to Tatsumi. "He'll provide for you. His family is strong and influential." And grandchildren would be necessary to fill the gaps. Without grandchildren, his whole dynasty would fall apart.

Naho leaned on him, resting her head on her father's shoulder. "How I feel doesn't matter. I'll do it for the family."

…

"In light of the multiple tragedies and horrors we endured during the period leading up to my official appointment, I realize we haven't distanced ourselves from the sad world we inherited from our ancestors. This past month is proof that all of us carry old grudges in our hearts and may never have it in ourselves to forgive."

But here, Tobirama would give credit where it was due. As he'd called out some, he would praise others without ever naming names…save this one time. "Which is why so much of my hope goes toward our new generation. My sister-in-law suffered a traumatic loss recently and as a result, the seal containing the Nine-Tailed Fox nearly broke."

Mito quietly lowered her head, once again feeling ill and ashamed. What was the point in dragging this out, if only to torment her further?

"An Uchiha controlled the Kyūbi before." And the Uchiha Clan already began to glare, up in arms over whatever insult they believed Tobirama would throw their way. It never came. "And it was another Uchiha who helped me tame it again."

Kazusa's mouth was ajar. She expected him to say a few words to present her before the village as an acknowledged leader, but this–

"Those of you familiar with my clan and my culture know that the Uchiha were once my clan's greatest enemy. Even when my brother tried to put those grudges behind him for something better, I still held onto my personal reservations. The new Uchiha head, Kazusa…I have never felt so sure of the Uchiha's future as I have with her."

This wasn't an endorsement, no matter how much it sounded like one. So far as her clan would see it, this was a condemnation.

'It's already starting…' And she could feel all those dark, angry eyes leering at her.

…

"What do you mean he left?!"

Setsuna's heart couldn't handle another loss like this. "I knew he was miserable. I saw the anger in his face at the last clan meeting, but–"

Abandoning the village was suicide. His old friend would never come back, not unless Hashirama and some of the village's most formidable shinobi banded together. Were they to do that, his master would come home in a body bag.

Tenjin stared up at the sky, watching as the clouds moved and turned dark. A storm was coming and he felt it in his bones. "Nobody wanted to listen, he felt. Every time he screamed, it may as well have been into a void or in a room full of the deaf." Tenjin slowly shook his head and put the tips of his fingers to the sleeve of Setsuna's shirt. "I understand. You have more reason to be upset than most, considering the long history the two of you shared."

"After I lost my family, he became my brother!" Setsuna confessed. "I took a vow to follow him, unwavering and forever. We all took that vow, and look at us! We're stuck!"

But perhaps he'd chosen the wrong Uchiha to say that to. Most of his kin saw this village as a truce for the war-weary and something they'd merely have to tolerate if it meant the violence ceased. Setsuna was in the presence of an Uchiha who sold his good name for wealth and influence.

"Perhaps he simply didn't have it in him to drop the old life for a new one."

"As you did?" Setsuna would eternally hate this man and everything he stood for. "You sold your good name, Tenjin. You–"

"Judge me all you wish. Names are only names. We belong to something far grander than names now. And if I had that much responsibility on my shoulders, I'd crack and disappear, too."

…

The police force would be the last slight he'd ever accept from Konoha. Wealth and political influence didn't buy his loyalty the way it had for Tenjin. None of his relatives lived to see this village. Were they alive now, they would have sided with Izuna on all of this. It was wrong: a beautiful lie presented by the greatest liar he'd ever met.

And now that liar's brother would lead them. Kazusa was too naïve and stupid to see the truth behind everything: that this whole military police force unit was a means of alienating their clan further. But perhaps she'd understand soon enough, considering Tobirama just alienated her, too.

'Too late, little girl. You burned your bridge with me.' And he'd be her co-captain only for as long as it suited him. Things were going to fall apart. Tobirama as Hokage pushed it too far.

"This sickens me," he heard a female voice growl behind him. Turning around, he spotted Keiko with her sword. "They get more power and we're destined to be their guard dogs."

"Madara was right," Setsuna murmured. "He saw this coming and we should have listened." Keiko moved closer. "We'll be taking orders from a puppet." Kazusa could sit her big, fat ass on Tobirama's lap. Every word to come from her lips would be his and what could the clan do to her? Anything would be suspect. "If her ancestors could see this, they–"

"Sssssssh." Keiko stood by his side, allowing her hand to reach for Setsuna's. She gave a strong, supportive squeeze. "You aren't alone, but now is neither the time nor the place."

"…a few good men," he whispered. "That's all it will take, Keiko. A few good men…"

…

"Congratulations are in order, I suppose, seeing as your friend became Hokage today."

Yanagi glanced up at Naho, only mildly interested in what the girl had to say. Naho could feel her blood pressure rise simply by being in her former teacher's presence.

'I know what I want to say to you. Hanako's not here and neither is Osamu. I can speak my mind freely and you're too fucked up to care.'

Talking to Yanagi wouldn't accomplish anything, but maybe it would make Naho feel better. Yanagi reached for her teapot, once again offering "tea" for her guest. Naho heard about this through the rumor mill, but she couldn't help herself. She slapped the blonde's hand, causing the porcelain teapot to break. "My brother should have been the one to wear those robes!"

Kaizen could have been a great Hokage. After his death, Naho stole his journal from his desk. She'd read a few pages of it before in her younger years, because what little sister didn't want to spy on her big brother? Kaizen poured his heart and soul into those pages, all because he suspected no one would ever read the contents.

But Naho did.

She found out what happened to her mother through reading the journal, including the part about her father murdering her for giving herself to another man…and her beloved brother helping dispose of the body.

Those pages also gave her the truth about Kaizen's relationship with Kozue as well as his plans for the village. "He would have been the one to tear down the barriers between the clans and put a stop to all this nonsense. We'd build this place together instead of trying to tear each other apart. But we can't do that now. Not with Tobirama."

Yanagi said nothing. She quietly squatted down to reach for the broken pieces of her teapot. Her eyes seemed so much duller now; like slate rather than steel. The Yamanaka woman picked up the shards and stared at them, taking no further action.

"I learned a lot from you, Yanagi-sama. I was one of the girls you picked for your program." And it was what marked her transition from a skinny little tomboy with a flat chest and long legs into one of her clan's great and deadly beauties.

Tenjin had his daughter chase after a rising star in the village, wanting some of Yanagi's star power for his own family. Once Yanagi's star fell, he knew the program wouldn't continue and all that effort would go to waste. With no sons at home other than his adopted son, it now fell on Naho to save the line and marry…despite the fact Yanagi taught her how to be a courtesan, not a wife.

"Do you have any idea what kind of damage you did to me? To Hanako? To the all the others!?" It was why she'd secretly revel in the fact Mito wouldn't rule. Yanagi had hand-picked the prettiest flowers she could and turned them into toxic weeds. Her pupils would never have it in them to be good and faithful wives…and now Tenjin expected Naho to wed.

Tatsumi would come to get her soon. This visit wasn't meant to last more than fifteen minutes.

"You ruined a good man and put a rotten one in charge. You ruined me. You ruined all of us, but you don't even care! Did you even stop to think that we had feelings, too, or were we only–" Naho's breath hitched, her throat sore from all the crying she'd done.

She had to say goodbye to one brother already this month. Over the past two days, she said goodbye to two more. One of the two she had left, she wouldn't see again for five years. She'd have her husband, her father, and her one foster brother. That would be all. Yamanaka Yanagi had deprived her of everything.

"I didn't think I had it in me to hate somebody as much as I hate you. But you don't even remember any of it, do you? What you did to me, to Kaizen, to the village, to–"

What Naho saw next as she shook the blond with enough force to bruise her creamy white arms made her blood freeze.

Yanagi smiled.

Whether it came from paranoia, morbid wishful thinking, or the truth, Naho swore she saw a wicked gleam in her former mentor's half-dead eyes…and heard a little giggle.

"You bitch," she seethed, shaking Yanagi. "You remember! You don't regret a thing, do you!?"

Yanagi's head bounced when Naho knocked her to the ground and repeatedly shoved her into the wooden floor, but the smile didn't go away.

"I hope it hurts! I hope it never stops hurting!"

If karma existed, then she could wish for a long and shameful future for Yanagi. Naho wished for a future where the Yamanaka Clan grew tired of caring for her and left her to rot in a room: forgotten and unwanted.

"You know what my clan used to do to useless pieces of garbage like you? Hn? They'd leave them in the woods to starve. You wait. They'll do the same with you. That or you'll wake up one day covered in bedsores and diaper rash because no one can be bothered to tend to you. I hope your brother's every bit as sick as the rumors say. I hope he takes advantage of you at night because you're too weak to fight back. I–"

"You're done in here," a low voice growled. "Your fiancé is waiting outside." A portly Yamanaka man with a high-rise ponytail and impressive sideburns moved forward, reaching for Naho's sleeve. When the Uchiha girl attempted to slap him, the man caught her wrist and proceeded to drag her out. "The hell is wrong with you? She was your sensei once."

"SHE RAPED AND MURDERED MY BROTHER!" Naho screamed as Inoru pulled her out of the den. She refused to stop looking at the brain-damaged blonde. "SHE REMEMBERS IT! I SAW HER SMILE!"

But Inoru didn't turn around. He walked faster with purposeful, angered steps. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU SOMEDAY, YANAGI!" Naho swore. "YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'RE…"

It may as well have been white noise in Yanagi's muddied head. Her little smile grew into a grin as she held out her hand and waved bye-bye like a small child to Naho, who kicked and screamed as Inoru dragged her out and toward a future she'd never grow to love.

…

"Is Hanako-chan still staying at your place?"

Kazusa furrowed her brow, stifling a small laugh under her breath. "You don't have to sound so eager." She knew Kariudo had a crush on their Yamanaka friend, but now was hardly the time. This week, she'd also have to buy Hanako a second tomato plant to make up for the fact she and Sarani trashed one this week. "Nah. She's moved back into her house. Osamu's staying with her for a while, at least until his burns heal."

He looked terrible at the ceremony, but Kazusa held no pity for that man. If the Yamanaka twins hadn't stepped into this mess in the first place, a lot of good men and women would still be alive. "But I can't make an arrest, unfortunately. Not when the Get Well Soon card he received from the Hokage came with a pardon."

This was going to be a disaster. "Honestly, I'm half tempted to take a page out of Hanako's book. How much would you object if I asked to stay at your place for a while?"

"Eh?" The young Inuzuka head laughed. "You aren't asking Naho?"

"I'd be a total idiot if I asked for Naho's help right now. I think half my clan wants me dead now, especially after that stunt the Hokage pulled."

She'd never hear the end of it from Setsuna, Tatsumi, Keiko, Tenjin, and everyone else. Everybody had an opinion suddenly and all of them left her feeling uneasy. While Kazusa knew she never endorsed Tobirama, that wasn't how it appeared. The fact he openly praised her for helping him pacify Mito when her seal cracked stained her with his colors forever.

But she'd do it again if the chance came up. Who wouldn't? Her actions had saved the village. If her clan chose never to offer any voiced gratitude in regard to that, then so be it.

'I'm not here for you to love me,' Kazusa decided as she glanced up at the sky. It would be a hot summer as well as a wet one. Soon, hard rains would come and try their best to wash away the scandal and shame that polluted this village for a hellish month. 'If I spend my whole life chasing after love, I'll lose sense of my responsibilities.'

"I don't think my uncles will mind if you want to stay for a few days," Kariudo confessed, "but I really do think you should stay here. Don't let your clan think you're scared of them. You run them, not the other way around." Thinking his friend needed the support, he pulled her into a tight hug. "Let's catch up tomorrow, alright? If you need me, you know where I live."

And he knew where she lived. It felt empty again without Hanako there. "Say…Kariudo? Before you go…" Kazusa squeezed him in the hug, wanting it to last a few moments longer. "This isn't like when we were kids joining a team for the first time. We're leading our families. Will we still be best friends and support each other when we're old?"

Kariudo stroked his friend's frizzy hair, trying to get it to stay down. It refused, standing up even more with every touch. "Always and forever, Kazusa. And with this village, always and forever."

Once her friend returned to the Inuzuka district, Kazusa walked in silence past her fellow clansmen and actively chose to tune out their whispers and gestures in her direction. Her house carried no ghosts, but rather missed opportunities.

"…I'm home," she murmured, expecting no answer in reply aside from a meow or two from her cats.

~END~

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the Kazusa Densetsu saga, and I'm glad you read from start to finish. If you enjoyed this series, you may wish to check out the Vines series, as it follows the same continuity. It just takes place a generation later.