Kay dropped down off the frozen rocks as the temple came into view. She made a "be quiet" motion to Shinju as they approached the now ruined building.

The scorched, misshapen and mutilated bodies of the monks surrounded the ruins. Smoke was billowing out of the collapsed roof, chunks of red pillars littered the landscape and the tattered still burning pieces of scrolls floated in the air.

Shinju walked among the wreckage with her hand over her mouth to block out the smoke and to hide her horror. Monks were non-combatants and even rouge-nin didn't attack them for fear that the monks would trap their souls in purgatory.

Kay knelt down next to a monk's body and examined it. Blunt force trauma, burns, lacerations...this man put up a fight for his life. She sighed as she closed the dead man's eyes, standing up and walking over to Shinju.

"C'mon. What we're after is inside" she said and began walking into the ruins. Each room they investigated was demolished and blood and gore covered the walls and surfaces. Moving to the back of the temple they found the rooms of the head monk.

An ornately carved chest was laying on its side, it's lock broken and the lid wrenched off. Shinju examined the chest, searching for false bottoms or any clue as to what the chest held. Kay flipped through the papers and correspondence on the desk. "Nothing here. You?" Kay asked. Shinju shook her head and got up, sighing.

"You two again" a male voice said. Both women looked up at the hole in the roof and saw a masked man sitting at the crater's edge and tossing a gilded scroll between his hands. "I don't suppose you'll give me the scroll, eh?" Kay asked.

The man leapt down, landing on his feet. He tucked the scroll into the pouch on his belt before replying "defeat me and it's yours".

Kunais and senbon needles whistled through the air as Shinju launched her attack from behind. Kay drew her tantō and charged at the man. The weapons travelled through him forcing Kay to block Shinju's attack and leap to the side. "You've forgotten already?" He taunted. "No matter you will die shortly. Again" he growled as he charged at Kay. "Fuck that!" She yelled as she countered his kunai. "Jube! Outside!" Kay yelled as she jumped through the hole in the roof with Shinju and the man following her.

She landed in the soft snow, skidding slightly. Madara landed in front of her. "I don't suppose you'll tell us what is written in the scroll?" She asked. While she was talking to him, Shinju created a clone and moved her down to the battlefield while she hid her chakra.

"I don't feel like explaining myself to women" he growled. Suddenly water coils wrapped around the man's feet, freezing in place due to the cold air. His eye widened underneath the mask as he fought to free himself. "Funny thing about water users," Kay mused, "they are the most versatile fighters on the field" as frozen water needles embedded themselves in his body.

He groaned and leaned forward as if the weight of the ice was heavy on him. Blood dripped onto the snow creating a stark contrast between the white and red colours. He yelled and surged his chakra, his fire nature melting the ice.

Shinju wove hand signs but a gloved hand reached out and grabbed her neck before she could finish. His hand crushed her neck, her head hanging limply at an odd angle before the clone turned to water and spilled from his hands onto the snow. "A clone?" He thought.

"WATER STYLE: HURRICANE!" "WIND STYLE: GALE FORCE!" Was shouted as a hurricane of frozen rain was whipped into a frenzy and Madara was caught in it. The iced rain lashed at his skin and clothing, tearing them to shreds. He blocked it as best as he could and waited for the attack to die down.

As the wind decreased, he saw his opening and charged at Kay who was ready with her tantō raised. She felt her tantō go through the man as if he was made of nothing and she shouted "Now!"  Shinju dropped down from the rocks where she had been hiding. "SEALING JUTSU: BINDING CHAINS!" as her chakra chains wrapped around Madara. His kunai was in Kay's shoulder and her tantō was buried in his stomach as the two growled at each other and tried to press their weapons further into each other's bodies.

Shinju pulled him away from Kay and he staggered and fell to his knees. "Keep him weak" Kay panted and Shinju nodded, increasing the flow of chakra from the man.

Kay knelt down and placed her finger on Madara's mask. "Who are you? Really?" She asked. "Fuck you!" He growled in response. Kay stabbed her tantō into his shoulder and leaned on the blade. "Didn't your mother teach you to respect women?" She asked while removing his mask.

The face that was revealed was not the face they were expecting. The right side of his face was heavily scarred with white patches while the left side was closed, the eye missing. "Can you double up?" Kay asked Shinju who nodded and added more chains. "You're a Uchiha but you're not Madara. What's your name?" Shinju asked.

The man refused to answer and Kay was growing impatient. She grabbed the scroll out of his pouch and removed her tantō from his body. "Speak!" She snarled. "I have nothing to say to you!" Madara yelled back but his voice wasn't as spirited and defiant as before.

"Hold him tight. This is going to hurt" Kay told Shinju as she knelt back down in front of Madara. "Since you won't tell us any information, we'll simply have to take it from you" she said as her fingers touched Madara's eye socket. "No! No don't!" The man yelled but it was too late.

Fingers dig into his eye socket and he screamed in pain and terror. Blood spurted out as Kay's fingers moved behind the orb, severing blood vessels and the optic nerve, before pulling it out. Madara was slumped on the ground, not an ounce of fight left in him. Kay grabbed his head and raised his blind socket to look at her. "Time for some poetic justice" she said as she slid her tantō blade across Madara's neck, his bright blood spilling to the ground and pooling around his body.

Shinju cancelled her jutsu and joined Kay as she opened the scroll. They read it quickly and closed it. "Let's go" Kay said as she wrapped the eye in a piece of fabric and tucked it into her pouch.

Their breath came out in white puffs as they sprinted across the snow covered ground. "Should we tell Pein about the scroll?" Shinju asked. Kay narrowed her eyes and said "no. I don't quite trust the Akatsuki yet. Besides, I need Itachi to examine the eye before I make any decisions".  Shinju nodded and they continued their journey back to the Land of Rivers.