"You know the saying; Word spreads fast on a Hawk's beak? Well, Madara, my friend, I find that's actually rather true. Just this dawn past, I received a letter of sorts, from the main family of the Sarutobi clan. Apparently, they're interested in allying with us. I wasn't even aware that news of the village had spread so quickly across the land! Let alone clans previously at war would be interested in an alliance!"

There was an exuberance that would remain, unparalleled for several years, around the brown haired man, that Madara found himself smiling at, if only slightly, so many things had become dark in his mind's eye at this point that such joy was quite the pleasant sight.

The topic however, he found, distasteful. He cared not for diplomacy now that the war had finished, he was not a diplomat anymore, and he was hardly a political figure in his own clan, let alone in Hashirama's court.

He took a small comfort in the fact that he was part of the main family within his clan -as proclaimed by his father- so his position as the Clan Head was stable.

Yet discomfort turned in his gut. Perhaps it was his pride whispering such things to him, yet he felt inferior to his old friend, and that brought the urge for competition into fruition in his subconscious. He didn't care to think much on the thought, it wouldn't do well to dwell on thoughts of competition after so many decades of war.

He diverted his attention back to his friend, whose face was now mared with a look of concern which he was well acquainted with. With the frown, and the squinting of the eyes.

"What made that look filter onto your mug?"

"I should be asking you a similar question: What drags your attention away from the my engaging conversation?" The brown haired man shot him a grin, apparently quite aware of his disinterest in the topic at hand. He gave a brief chuckle in response.

"Idle thoughts, my friend, nothing more."

Silence descended upon them once more. When they entered the Uchiha district however Hashirama seemed to have had quite enough of it, he had always been eager for conversation.

"That boy, Madara, you must have seen it as well, with your Sharingan activated as it was. His Chakra, I must admit, it frightened me. Have you ever come across anything like it?" Madara shook his head, Hashirama it seemed, had no intention of stopping his train of thought, which came as no surprise if the man needed to think seriously on something, he tended to ramble. On occasion he would ask for his opinion on the matter, but more commonly he could sort out the matter by himself quite easily.

"Dual pathways are one thing, yet such a... a Chakra within his system is an entirely different matter. I imagine they balance each other. Yet, my instinct tells me that the red Chakra is not actually his own-"

"Hashirama! I admit while I do not trust the boy as of yet, in any form, even I do not believe he would use such a repulsive technique as you seem to be suggesting!" The brunet gave him a look of unease, yet he shook his head in affirmation as well.

"No, no, I do not believe he would either. Yet the fact remains, his Chakra's are far too different from one another to be natural." Madara gave himself but a moment to settle himself, his thoughts agitated by his limited knowledge. "Uzumaki are such a small family of the Senju clan. Yet they are known within the Senju family, particularly, for their dual pathways, still, even with that understanding, I have never encountered such a vast difference between the two Chakra's, as the boy seems to have. Nor have I heard of it. I wonder, is this the reason for his family's alienation?"

That grasped Madara's attention, alienated? The boy, well frankly, he seemed to be quite the asset, especially for a small branch family such as the Uzumaki, as Hashirama had said they were. Small families of such a large family were easy targets after all. It seems, however, that Hashirama and he had the same mode of thought, for when their gazes met the confusion of the situation was nearly tangible between them.

~÷~

He only had to spend but one moment near the small apartment to understand that something, was off, not quite different, but not quite right either. There was a stale sent filtering through the door, and as he turned the key that he had been given, the scent of rot clogged his senses immediately.

He pushed on without preamble, however, and inched into the apartment slowly, his team just as cautious as he, following by example no doubt in this instance, as he had the best senses of the three of them. The door clicked closed, and the three of them took a moment to take in their surroundings.

"It's so small..." He turned behind him briefly, and nodded, it was small, smaller he could remember than the one he'd seen previously. "Ugh! What is that smell?!" That was a question that did indeed need answering, as far as he was aware there was nothing within the small home that could rot, besides meat in the fridge, and even then it was unlikely, and it would not give off such a strong scent as this.

"Can you try to pinpoint it?" He turned to his team, the male, nodded. Evidently the youngest on the team was having slight difficulty with the overpowering odor, and it wouldn't be good to send her to find the source if she couldn't deal with it at such a distance.

"Naruto hasn't been here for awhile, that much is clear." He nodded to himself, sound in his facts, there wasn't even a small possibility that the exuberant blond had been here, the plants were beginning to wilt.

Kakashi, more then anyone, other than perhaps the Late Lord Third knew how much Naruto loved those plants. Symbolic as they were. He'd even gone as far as to ask Kakashi to water them while he was away on the training expedition with Jiraiya.

Stupid brat.

In truth he hadn't known why he'd actually done so for the tanned boy, his lazy nature had threatened him several times not too after all. Yet, every other day, he had gone to the house, used the key, and watered the plants, it had become ritual, so much so that temptation of habit had made him go to do so again even when Naruto had returned. Naruto had given him a soft smile as opposed to his usual grin, and although it hadn't been much of a moment, Kakashi was very sure in his belief that he had understood the boy a little more after the exchange, it wasn't plausible, he couldn't pinpoint it, though he knew it to be true, and that was enough for him at the time, and even now.

"No point now, huh?" He gave the green plants, and the one wilted rose bush, a brief glance over before moving to the kitchen of the apartment, intent on keeping himself strictly professional.

"Huh? Kakashi-sensei, did you say something?"

"No, nothing of importance Sakura." He looked over to the pink girl at this and gave her a brief smile. She had tears in her eyes, he noted, but he moved no further to comfort her. They were all rather distraught by Naruto's disappearance, and they were all coping in their own way, Sakura was simply the teary-eyed type, that was all.

"Kakashi-taichou. I believe I found the source." Sai's voice came as a good distraction for the direction of his thoughts, he wasn't usually so careless, but Naruto, was a special case in this instance, and even he himself was allowing his own mind, and even emotions a little leeway this time.

While remaining strictly professional, as it were.

"Sakura, you look around the kitchen for any sort of lead to Naruto's disappearance, I'll take a look at what Sai has found." With that, he walked past the distressed girl and into what appeared to be the bedroom.

As soon as his feet crossed the threshold, however, his eyes widened, and his body shivered, Sai gave him an expression marred with confusion, but Kakashi could only focus on what lay upon the ground. His stomach clenched he felt himself gag at the sight, luckily he caught himself before the bile could completely rise out from his throat.

A dead, rotting, child. The angle was irregular, blood covered the floor around him, and his abdomen was ripped open some organs were brutally ripped out of his body, torn apart and spewed all over the floor with the blood.

~π~

"I spared you on a whim. Nothing more, and this time, I will fix that." He wanted to scream at the finality of the words, the conviction of it all was tearing at his instincts. The worse part of him was driven by the temptation of curling into something small and putting his head between his legs like he had as a small child. The best part of him was taken by his determination to have something as special as his bond with his best friend restored once more, in the place where that bond had been strongly forged by emotional and mutual understanding more durable than the strongest steel.

They were drawn so very close together, that the movement each other made could be clearly measured. He knew this was intentional, as Sasuke reached for his Katana, yet he couldn't bring himself to move, not even an inch. Perhaps when it came near to him he would upon pure primal instinct, he couldn't foresee that however if he was to die, he'd rather it be by Sasuke's hand then any other. At least then they would both know who was stronger.

Yet, they wouldn't.

He drew back quickly, his muscles coiling, and he followed their movements not caring for his sub-conscious movement, his thoughts far more focused on proving his rival wrong, at least once more time. He was not subservient! Not in fighting in any case.

He found himself drawing his friend's arm to his face unconsciously at the small inclination. It turned out for the better however as Sai blocked Sasuke's attack, it was probably quite apparent that he wasn't going to move in time. He felt Sasuke's muscle tense where he held it.

"That. Was the correct choice." Not facing the others eyes, the blond could feel the disconnection between them as if it was palpable. Frost seemed to have overclouded his friend's voice, all the more now that he was not facing the man head on, it hadn't been so in the past, this was far deeper.

Sparks of white lightning danced around him, and his heart dropped to his gut, in the most painful way it could. Not simply numbing, or anxiety, it was more refined than that, and instead, acid clawed at his throat.

They were not fighting for each others regard anymore, this was simply unfinished business. Nothing honorable in such a thing.

He felt dishonored by it, as if it was a dirty fight, even if it was not. He knew this, several times he had found himself unwilling participating them as a child, and he rather knew what they were like, there was no equal ground in such a fight. Just as there wasn't now. It was different here, however.

Sasuke could kill him, he knew the pain of a torn bond, was well versed on it, he could handle another one.

Naruto couldn't, not after his childhood, any bond broken would physically ail him.

They would never be on equal ground emotionally. Sasuke was far more pain resistant them him.

Sasuke's emotions had always been on wide display for him.

For all those experienced enough know what to look for.

Those younger, thought Sasuke was a cold and arrogant emotionless boy, now man, yet it was obvious.

His anger showed in the tone of his insults, his glare. The sadness and the loneliness he harbored was within that state of deflection near constantly, well placed as an arrogant shrug, or a quick retreat from an impending conversion if it could manage it.

Rarely did his happiness show through in those years, and blond was near sure, it was much the same now, regardless of the years that had passed. Anything other than bittered anger or frigid sadness were covered by his eyes, as if they were placed under a seal.

Even when Naruto was sure the other was happy, nothing ever seemed to permeate that ever cool gaze.

They were so different.

He was well aware of his own ability of being able to perfectly mask his own emotional turmoil: Smiling when appropriate and more than necessary to give off a naturally happy disposition. An extrovert casing, and overly inviting, gave off the illusion of a kind upbringing. Determination, mingled by the desire almost ridiculously unlikely, gave his friends, mentors, and family, the false impression of innocence.

It was so very easy, people were less inquisitive if somebody smiled, less perceptive to your falsehood if you showed them what they want to see from those they cared for: Happiness.

Naruto knew this and he exploited it for his own protection. Although he knew he ought not to.

Sasuke hadn't grown up as he had. Sasuke hadn't monitored people's bonds to each other as he had. He hadn't grown up in envy, not from the beginning, as he had.

This very fight proved all of that and cruelly showed him it with staggering clarity, that he was sure he didn't want to feel, let alone see.

"Sasuke...."

~π~

They were underneath snow covered trees, covered from head-to-toe in protective gear. Both for the chill, and possible threats. He hated the cold himself, it was a pestilence to him, yet the beauty of the Land of Iron could not possibly be lost to him. It was remarkable scenery, he often dragged his eyes away from the path ahead of him, to simply gaze at the pine trees covered by the white sheet that was the snow, shadowed by his perception upon it, yet still completely beautiful.

A sudden pull behind his eyes brought his already slow pace and made it a lagging strolling pace, that didn't match his partner's long quick strides. He focused his vision back on the snow covered trail once more, though the pull behind his retina didn't cease.

The irritating pull turned into a sharp tug, that seemed to grasp his bloodline without his consent, and ripped it forward into activation. His Mangekyo Sharingan activated and spinning wildly. He stopped moving, reeling for a moment, for, even with all his foresight into possible calamity's with his health, his Mangekyo activating without any sort of willpower of his own was not one of those listed.

When his movements stopped, his partner stopped, looking to him with an irate expression in place, his gills flaring out dramatically.

"Why do you have that activated?"

"I don't know." He replied. His unease at the situation shining through, even though such emotion hadn't shone through since he was a mere child. It was a confusing situation.

He covered himself quickly however once a daunting clarity stuck his mind, and straightened his back, as he forced his eyes to deactivate into a three-comma Sharingan, it wasn't much of an improvement. Though if what he had a vague feeling of was true, it was not his top priority.

"Kisame, we will postpone our return to the base-"

"What! No! I need to-"

"-We must start for Konoha immediately." He finished as quickly as he could, without sounding desperate. There was something amiss and he needed to figure out what before another incident occurred.

"Konoha? But that's-"

"-Code; Feline, Is in effect as of right now." That closed Kisame's mouth faster then one of his ever famed glares ever could have, the code he used, developed by the Akatsuki, was used as a quick fire acknowledgment that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was in mortal danger. It was not something that should even need to be said, the blond man was quite the Shinobi. Even the Akatsuki could recognize that.

It was with caution that Kisame spoke with once more, slowly, with measured pauses. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

"It is widely acknowledged that the Sharingan was created by the Kyuubi yes?" Kisame nodded, yet the reaction was delayed and slowed with the man's unease. Itachi continued without much pause.

"It was widely believed throughout my clan that if the Kyuubi's life was considerably threatened the Sharingan would react to it as their connected Chakra preserved it." There was quite a deal more to tell with that, many more questions opened up with the sentence, but Kisame was wise enough to take what he got, and turned away, waiting for Itachi to overtake him, with silent allowance. Itachi hardly spared the act a second thought as he changed direction and walked as quickly as he could, recognizing his way towards Konoha with ease.

The ice underfoot stopped them from running, as they both were eager too.

Itachi had no doubt: this was a dire situation.