"Oh? You've come back?" Madara called when he sensed movement within the cave. Zetsu appeared in the ground before him with an amused grin. Madara stared at him, raising one of his thin white eyebrows. "What's gotten you so happy?"
"You have no idea of the fight you missed," Zetsu said in a childish voice, sounding excited. "You did a good job with Hanako's training." Madara smirked.
"When don't I?" he replied. "Anyway, show me the fight. I won't comment until I see it for myself."
"Sure." Zetsu looked at the man in the eye, and soon the images started to form in his head. For Madara, it was a nice sight to see. Both girls had their right moves. Worthy opponents for the future, he thought. "I wonder though, how Hanako managed to get barely a scratch after that hit. The stomach is quite a sensible spot; she shouldn't have been able to move," Zetsu commented.
"How come you didn't notice?" Madara looked at the white humanoid, Zetsu only stared back at him with confusion in his eyes. "Look closely at the girl's fist. There's a fine layer of chakra between it and Hanako's stomach." Zetsu focused on the image and noticed the green layer of chakra. It was invisible unless one focused hard enough to see it, although he wasn't surprised Madara saw it without effort.
"What's that?"
"Susano'o," said Madara with a smirk.
"Wha—what?!" Zetsu's eyes widened.
"The Susano'o reflects any type of Ninjutsu or Taijutsu. In this case, Hanako used it to reflect the fist's damage away from her stomach. The amount of chakra the fist held, though, is what sent her flying backwards. The damage she got was from hitting the wall; the hit itself didn't affect her at all." Madara explained, enjoying the look of incredulity in Zetsu's eyes.
"But, how are you so sure of it being the Susano'o? That would mean she has..."
"Yes...The Mangekyou Sharingan," the old man affirmed. "Come to think of it, she meets all the requirements. She mastered the normal Sharingan and she's experienced death. She saw her father being killed; the trauma should have been more than enough to awake it."
"But..."
"I've seen it, Zetsu." Madara added. "She used it to protect herself in one of our trainings. I forced it out of her because I felt the power hidden in her eyes from the moment Obito brought her the first time." Zetsu remained silent for a moment.
"But, how come she never used it?"
"She doesn't understand what the Mangekyou is," Madara said. "That's part of the reason I sent her to read the Uchiha stone, but she still doesn't get it. Apart from the Susano'o, I have no idea what kind of abilities she might have. I've never seen that design." He made an extreme effort and stood up. That body wouldn't last much longer. He guessed it was time to let Obito take it from there.
"Zetsu. Tell Hanako and Obito to come. I'd like to speak to them one last time before my time comes." The humanoid nodded and disappeared without a trace. Madara let himself fall on the chair once again. He couldn't walk anymore, and feeling that way was disgusting enough. It was better for him to die now and revive at full power when it was time. Nagato had the Rinnegan. They would gather all the Bijuu and seal them into the Gedou Statue. And then, the plan would begin.
* * *
"Then, what's the plan?" Hiroki asked as he stared at his companions. Itachi, Hanako, Shisui and he were assembled in one of the training grounds, 'discussing' what they would do to deal with the Iwagakure's attack. Hanako looked up to the sky and sighed.
"What can we do?" Shisui looked at her and then his eyes drifted towards the top of the Hokage's place that towered over the trees. The Hokage wouldn't provide them any kind of help even if they asked for it. Besides, that would draw too much attention and might call for a war between the two villages. In other words, they had to do it on their own. Four ninjas: one Jounin and three Genin —possibly Chuunin— against three teams of Iwagakure shinobi.
"If I'm not mistaken, they're planning on setting the Hokage building on fire. We just have to stop them before they do." The older Uchiha said as he looked keenly at all of the present ninjas. "The Tsuchikage left the village as soon as the Exam ended, he might be reaching the border of the Fire Country by midnight. The rest should be on their way by sunset."
"It can't be." Hiroki raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "They made all this scandal, just to set the Hokage building on fire? What a waste of time." The green haired boy sighed in disappointment as he let himself fall on his butt on the ground.
Hanako stared at him until she noticed three familiar chakras heading towards them in a quick pace. She turned herself towards the upcoming figures, ignoring all the curious stares the others gave her. Finally, the Senju girl appeared from the trees, accompanied by her two teammates, Ren and Kaichi.
"I see you finally woke up." The Uchiha brunette commented with a playful smirk as she stared at Hyori, who was fuming to no end.
"How dare you?!" Hyori hissed as she pointed an accusing finger at her. "Do you have any idea of how humiliating it was for me that you knocked me out like that?!"
Hanako sighed. "You said the match would end until one of us fell unconscious." She shrugged. "Technically, I just ended the match." The Uchiha looked over at the Senju only to find her glaring daggers at her. "What? Are you mad at me for that?"
"I AM!" She said in a loud voice. "I thought you'd at least do an amazing jutsu to defeat me, but noooooo, you had to fucking knock me out like some piece of dipshit!" Hyori nagged and immediately turned away, feeling embarrassed.
"You know, a lady doesn't look good speaking such a colorful language." Shisui commented with a sweat drops rolling down his temples. Kaichi laughed at that.
"Come on, Hyori. You have to admit it was an unexpected closure. I bet it was the most entertaining fight in years on the Chuunin Exams. I couldn't hear people stop talking about your Mokuton and Hanako's Sharingan." Ren commented while placing back his glasses. "They even mentioned something about a fight between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha."
"Madara Uchiha?" Hanako snapped almost immediately upon hearing the name.
"Yes." Ren looked at the Uchiha strangely, surprised by her sudden interest on the name. "Why?" Everyone looked expectantly at the brunette who only shook her head and looked away not giving it any more importance.
"No reason, I just seem to be hearing that name a lot lately." She said. Shisui narrowed his eyes at her, being noticed only by Itachi who frowned and looked between the two of them. "I just want to have an idea of who he is, that's all." All of the present seemed to take that answer; however, Hanako's curiosity was still unsatisfied.
They started moving once again towards the Hokage mansion. The sky was starting to darken, which meant the Iwagakure ninja would soon start acting upon their plan. Hyori, Kaichi, and Ren started following the rest of the gang when they suddenly hurried out of the training grounds.
"What are you guys planning?!" Hyori inquired once she took notice of them getting closer to the Hokage building.
"We need to save the Hokage." Hiroki replied. "Iwagakure is planning on attacking the village, but we are going to stop them." The Senju widened her eyes.
"An attack?!" When they heard this, they suddenly stopped moving. Hanako and the rest came to a halt when they saw the other team stop on their tracks. "I thought they had signed a peace treaty, and that they had invited Iwagakure for the Chuunin Exams to confirm it."
"As if Konoha and Iwa could live at peace..." Hanako muttered under her breath. Although Itachi heard her and dedicated her a warning glance.
"You should let go of that hatred within you, it's not good for you." Hanako glared harshly at him,
"As if you could understand me." She tightened her hands into fists. "It's wasn't your father who was killed by them!" She said loudly, getting almost to the point of shouting at him. Itachi stared at her with serious eyes and a calm expression. "They think they can come around, taking with them whatever they want, but it doesn't work that way," she hissed. "They took something valuable from me, and I'm certainly not letting them do it again!" With that said, Hanako rushed at full speed towards the Third's mansion. There she felt a group of familiar chakra's assembled and a smirk took over her lips.
5