𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

91

"[Name], my great uncle has requested to see you."

As Naruto entered the dining room that night, having just finished his shift at the village wall, [Name] looked up from between Himawari and Boruto as she watched them eat their dinner.

"Now?" asked [Name], mildly surprised at Ashina's timing. The day had long since ended, and it was in these rapidly darkening twilight hours that the common folk of the village were unwinding and preparing themselves for a night of rest.

Naruto nodded sternly as he joined his children at the table, the worried expression on his face adding to [Name]'s curiosity.

"Okay," replied [Name] softly, gracefully rising to her feet and stepping aside from the low dining table. "If I'm not back by the time you finish your meal, leave your dishes on the table. I'll clean up when I get back."

"You'll do no such thing," scoffed Naruto, picking up his chopsticks as he reached out to one of the dishes in the centre of the table. "We'll clean up our mess. You're no maid, [Name]. I wish you would stop treating yourself like one."

With a small smile being her only reply to the Uzumaki, [Name] exited the dining room and headed to her own bedroom to change into something more presentable to see Ashina in.

***

"Well, well, well. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

As [Name] stepped into Ashina's office later that night, her jaw dropped to the ground at the sight of none other than Tobirama standing beside a concerned looking Ashina, who sat solemnly at his desk as he awaited the Kouhage's arrival.

"Tobirama-sama!" exclaimed [Name] excitedly, unable to mask the delight in her tone. "What brings you here?!"

[Name] briefly saw Ashina shoot a scornful look at the Senju, immediately causing her to jump to the worst conclusion.

"Wait..." she started slowly, subconsciously stepping back. "Are you here to take me back to Konoha?"

"Well, in a sense, yes."

[Name] paled at the prospect of having to return to the village she had come to loathe, and in her desperation turned to Ashina for aid.

"Ashina-sama, you told Naruto I had until Himawari's tenth birthday to stay in Uzushiogakure!" exclaimed [Name] indignantly, unable to believe that Ashina would go against his own word. "She's yet to turn five years old! Why am I returning to Konohagakure? I can't return! My family, the Uchiha clan- do you know what challenges I'll have to endure if I'm ever to show my face there again? I dishonoured my family, the alliance between ourselves and the Uchiha- hell, I disgraced Madara himself! There's no telling what he'd do to me! Please, if you want me to leave, I will, but I won't go back to Konoha!"

Tobirama let out a low whistle as he let [Name] plead her case to Ashina, still tentative about how he was going to break the news to her.

"Actually, [Name], I wouldn't worry about dishonouring your family if I were you. Well, how do I put this... there's no one left for you to dishonour?"

[Name]'s face transformed from a look of anguish to one of bemusement as she listened to Tobirama.

"I... huh?"

The perplexed expression on [Name]'s face would've been hilarious for Tobirama if not for the foreboding news he was here to deliver.

"After a long and thorough discussion with my brother... well, we decided that you had a right to know," said the Senju carefully. "I'm afraid that Madara... well, Madara found a way to... exact his revenge, to put it lightly."

"Revenge?!"

[Name]'s thoughts instantly leapt to Sayuri, and then to Sasuke and his family.

"Who? Who has he hurt?!" asked the frenzied Kouhage, placing both hands over her head as she tried to make sense of Tobirama's words. She had been so sure that nothing bad would come out of her deserting the village, and Madara- if she had known someone would have gotten hurt, she never would have left his side.

"Well, I... there's no nice way to put it, [Name]. Save for a select few children, Madara has completely decimated your clan. Your mother, your father, your sister- everyone has been killed. I came here to deliver the news myself, because I too played a part in his crime. I failed to keep my word to you, and as a result, many innocent lives were lost. Please forgive me."

Stunned into an agonising silence by Tobirama's unexpected words, [Name] remained unmoving even as the Senju took it upon himself to honourably lower himself to the ground, prostrating towards the Kouhage to show his remorse.

"[Name], please remember, this doesn't change our arrangement at all," added Ashina, sighing at the shocked woman's face as she dropped to her knees, unable to remain standing. And then, in a softer tone, he added, "You are still welcome here. For as long as you want to be here."

[Name] shook her head, in a state of distress as she attempted to clear her mind. Why did something always have to go wrong whenever [Name] tried to do what she wanted? Why were there always negative repercussions whenever she went against what she was told to do by other people? Sure, she had been unhappy with constantly being told how to live her life- when she was told to marry Sasuke, she had unwilling left Naruto behind, and when she was told to marry Madara, she begrudgingly left Sasuke behind- but no one apart from herself had suffered because of it.

However, the moment [Name] started speaking up for herself, other people began to get hurt as a result. And now, her clan had paid the ultimate price, alongside Tatsuya.

"[Name]?"

It was all Madara. All fucking Madara.

As hot tears of fury poured from [Name]'s eyes in torrents, she clutched at the sleeves of her kimono so forcefully that the material began to tear. The Kouhage paid little attention to her fraying sleeve, and instead turned to face the still bowing Tobirama as she glared bitterly at him.

"Where is he?" asked the [h/c] woman in a shaky voice, feeling her long ago repressed chakra swirling ferociously within herself, wanting nothing more than to be expelled from her body. "Tobirama, where is he?!"

"He's waiting for you outside of the village," replied the Senju quietly, face still pressed against the ground. "We knew you would want to return, so I came to escort you."

"I'm going to fucking kill him," seethed [Name] between her teeth as she pressed her palms against her eyes, only to find them slipping down her face due to the wetness of her glistening tears.

"Now, [Name], we need to-"

Ignoring both Tobirama and Ashina's pleas, [Name] rose to her feet and tore off the shredded portions of her sleeves, throwing them at the ground as she turned on her heel and stormed out of the office, heading home with the intention to unearth her kunoichi gear which had been hidden away and unused ever since her arrival in the village.

"You know, you should follow her," suggested Ashina, watching as Tobirama slowly sat up from his position on the ground. "She might just head off to Konoha without you."

All Tobirama could do was let out a sigh.

He knew that eventually, another life was going to be lost.