Conner POV

"She'll never find me," I whisper in a low hum.

I hear footsteps outside as I hold my breath.

"I know you're here somewhere Conner," Cassy says as my heart thumps.

My heart skipped a couple of beats when the laundry hamper I was hiding in suddenly lit up from the darkness I was in just a few moments before

"Found ya!" Cassy says as I spring out of the hamper and into motion.

I somehow manage to completely avoid her grasp and I launch myself out of the bathroom.

Cassy is right on my tail as I sprint out of the house.

Cassy is quicker than me, but I'm able to dodge a lot of her attacks.

She leaps toward me, but I roll to the left narrowly avoiding her fingers.

"Damn it," I hear her curse as I run to the tree line.

It doesn't take long for her to be right behind me again.

I break into the trees and start weaving between them.

"Come back you little rascal!" Cassy says as she has no issues following me.

Finally, my run comes to an end, my foot gets caught on a tree root, and my face goes flying into the dirt.

I slide probably 5 meters before I come to a rest.

"You ok kid?" Cassy asks

"Yeah..." I mutter as I stand up defeated.

"Looks like I win," she points out with a toothy grin

"Yeah," I say disappointed

Cassy's otherwise happy expression turns into guilt.

"Sorry Kid, I didn't mean to hurt you," she says.

"It's fine," I say discouraged.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Cassy says

Martha POV

Cassy has different recently.

The usual Cassy is always looking around for security reasons...but she just played tag with Conner...TAG!!!

Cassy in a million years wouldn't be caught playing tag of all things.

I'm reminded of what she said the other day, in the presence of (Y/N), the one-tailed anger is nonexistent.

Is this the real Cassy? The girl Cassy was before the tailed beast was sealed inside her?

Is this the childhood that she was stripped of?

I've been watching her closely, and she looks like she's been having fun with Conner. Before, whenever he asked her to play a game, she would reject it...but now, she jumps at the chance.

Just how much was the anger of the beast affecting her?

Her brown hair was all dirty from having just sprinted after Conner into the woods.

Even after everything, I can't believe the Hidden Sand had locked her up...all because of what THEY did to her. They caged her for no reason of her own.

While I was annoyed at her inability to trust people, I understood why she didn't. In her whole life, there was not a single soul who helped her, or treasured her. Her whole childhood was spent inside a cage.

If my memory survives correctly, she's only 22, so much of her life was wasted in a cell.

I can't help but wonder that staying here is wasting her precious youth.

Think positively, Martha! She's having fun, it's like watching two kids play together. But She needs to explore.

"Thinking?" I hear (Y/N) ask as he fumbles around

(Y/N) maybe blind, but he still has an amazing sense of where things are.

"Yeah...just that Cassy should be out exploring the world...not trapped her like she is," I say

"I can imagine it'll be hard to convince her to go and look for exciting things," he says

"Cassy of 2 weeks ago, impossible...but Cassy as of 2 days ago, I think she might consider it," I say

"No, I don't think she would leave you two," he says.

"I think she would," I say back

"Not a chance, she's too protective," he says as I go silent.

Cassy is protective of me and my son for no reason.

Maybe it's because he treats her like a normal human being...but...I don't know.

"Can you see again yet?" I ask him.

"Not quite yet...but I think I'll have my sight back tomorrow," he says as I nod

"Are you gonna leave right away?" I ask him

"Yeah," he says truthfully.

"I thought so," I say looking outside as Conner splashes in a bucket of water.

At that moment I saw a welt on his forehead...he musta tripped.

"Oh Dear," I mutter going outside to look at it.

Cassy POV

I help Conner wash up as Martha comes out of the house.

"Conner what happened!" She says worried as he explains what happened.

"Sorry," I say as she smiles

"You did nothing wrong, just having fun," she says as I freeze.

Something's wrong....something is really wrong.

I look around me looking to see anything out of place...but I see nothing.

"Cassy?" Martha asks as I continue looking.

Something at the bottom of my stomach feels wrong...something evil is lurking around here.

"Get Conner inside," I say calmly as she looks at me weird

"Get him inside!" I say again.

"What's wrong!" Martha asks as my entire world shatters.

I hear an explosion...and I start to hear ringing. My vision is shrouded in white light. My head pounds as I feel my body get launched.

My head hits something solid, and I blackout

(Y/N) POV

Murderous intent...where is it!

I sense it, but I can't pinpoint it.

Underground? Above? River? Treeline?

It's everywhere!

I hear an earth-shattering bang as the ground beneath me shakes to life.

All at once, my vision returns, either out of desperation, or whatever side effect from my Sharingan has faded away.

The window I was standing in front of shatters as glass flies everywhere...I couldn't believe my eyes.

A giant statue emerges from the earth.

The first thing that comes to mind as it emerges, was the statue that Obito was talking about.

The statue that he described as pure evil.

I feel my legs wanting to give way...but I stand tall, seemingly challenging it.

"Yahello!" A white figured man says.

That must be the Zetsu.

A black-coloured one appears behind, with Martha and Conner in his hands.

"We have hostages," he says in a deeper voice than the white one.

"Actually...no we don't," he says as they are Impaled. The colour sinks from my face.

Martha coughs up blood as the black Zetsu drops them.

"They woulda been too much of a hassle," he says walking toward me.

"Now. Where's the Jinchurki?" He asks.

His question was answered, by an unworldly scream of pain.