One after another, several memories flash past Madara's mind, until the moment of Kasumi's death.
Madara buries Kasumi's body with his own hands.
"Kasumi!" Madara extends his palm to touch Kasumi's grave. On his touch, it disperses into small particles, returning him to empty black space.
"These memories… Are they really mine? They are… they are…"
"Ours!"
Suddenly, a figure materializes in front of Madara.
"Kasumi!"
Madara extends his hands to touch Kasumi's face. However, his body phases through her figure. He turns around and glances at Kasumi.
"Dear!"
Shiing…
Kasumi's eye turns into a five-petal Sakura blossom. Suddenly, their surroundings change and Madara returns to a third-person perspective.
He observes Kasumi's struggle with his eyes. Back then, just after a group of shinobis chased after Madara in the forest; Kasumi also senses the commotion. She walks out of the hut with vigilance.
"There is someone there!"
The leader of the group notices Kasumi and chases after her. Kasumi swiftly flickers in another direction to lead the second group away from Madara.
The second small group chases after her, leaving only a handful of shinobis.
"Burn this hut down!" A shinobi order.
Soon, a fireball engulfs the hut.
Kasumi continues to escape from the relentless chase of the enemies. Along the way, she engages enemies several times in a row and manages to defeat most of them.
Being an elite member of the Uchiha clan, she too possesses the Mangekyo Sharingan.
The chase lasts for several hours and Kasumi could only lose the enemy's pursuit at night. She uses the night as a cover to hide her tracks and infiltrate a small civilian village using transformation jutsu.
In the early morning, several enemy shinobis surround the village to search for her. However, she skillfully evades them with her powerful genjutsu skills. After her escape, the enraged shinobis burn the village to cinders.
Kasumi changes direction several times and finally loses them completely after two days.
She rests in an inn for a day and continues her journey to Konoha to ask for help.
After a week of tireless journey, she arrives outside the Konoha. Kasumi uses her identity as a member of the Uchiha clan to enter the village. Since the sensory barrier around the village is yet to take shape, Kasumi was able to enter the village after showcasing her Sharingan.
She quickly dashes in the Hokage Office's direction and finally meets with Hashirama. Hashirama recognizes her and leads her to a private meeting room.
Kasumi quickly recounts her encounter.
"What? Madara is in danger!"
Hashirama slams his palm on the desk and stands up.
"Please save him!" Kasumi begs Hashirama with tears in her eyes.
"Take me to his location. I won't let anyone harm my friend under my watch." Hashirama immediately agrees to help her without even confirming the truth of the matter.
"Please follow me!"
Hashirama and Kasumi swiftly leave the village.
----
"Was that my elder sister?"
A ten-year-old kid flickers outside the Hokage Office.
"Kagami!" Soon, Tobirama arrives with his group of anbus.
"What's the matter?"
"I saw my elder sister and Lord First leave the village in a hurry." Kagami reports to Tobirama. Currently, Kagami is training under Tobirama to join his Anbu guards in the future.
"This stupid brother of mine!" Tobirama sighs and shakes his head.
"Asuka, Ranga, Jiro… quickly gather a team of jounins and meet me at the village entrance in the next ten minutes," Tobirama orders his subordinates.
Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…
The shinobis hurriedly disperse to gather a group.
"Kagami, you too follow us. This will be your first assignment!"
"Yes, sir!" Kagami bows to Tobirama.
'The presence of Kasumi Uchiha implies only one thing; something has happened to Madara. Recently, my spy network in other villages also caught wind of information about Madara circulating among the other nations. Also, a large group of shinobis from other villages left on a secret expedition.
Since this mission wasn't aimed toward Konoha, I didn't pay much attention to it. But to think that their objective was to harm Madara.'
Tobirama's eyes narrow.
'I don't really care about Madara. For me, he can die as soon as possible to remove uncertain variables for the growth of Konoha. However, I can't let the matter of his death create chaos and unrest in the Konoha. Especially when the Uchiha clan is one of the founding members of Konoha, with several of their vassal clans. The village is still in its infancy. If anything major happens, then the Uchiha clan and its vassals might even leave the village. The economy and the military power of the village will collapse entirely at such a loss.'
Soon, Tobirama leaves the village with a group of 30 elite jounins.
"I will trace their tracks!" Kagami gets to work and traces the path taken by Kasumi and Hashirama.
Since the two of them were in a hurry, they didn't bother to erase their tracks.
--------------
Kasumi and Madara travel for almost two days with a few breaks in between.
On the third day, they arrive outside the isolated forest.
"This way, Lord Hashirama!"
Kasumi leads the way through the forest. Along the path, the duo notices several stranded corpses of Iwa, Kiri, Suna, Kumo, Kusa, and many other small hidden villages.
"Such a large group!" Even Hashirama is surprised to see such a large lineup of shinobis.
A clearance appears in front of the duo, and they notice the burned frame of a small house.
"Our house!"
A painful expression appears on Kasumi's face.
"Don't worry! Madara is a tough fellow. He won't die so easily." Hashirama assures her.
He claps his hands and creates several wooden clones to scout the area.
Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…
The clones swiftly disperse through the forest, while Hashirama crosses his legs and sits on the ground. He closes his eyes and uses the Sage mode's sensory ability to search for any chakra traces in his surroundings. His clones search the area outside of his sensory range.
An hour later,
"I can't find his trace. Not even a body!" Hashirama shakes his head as his clones merge into his body.
"This can only mean one thing. He managed to escape their encirclement." Hashirama remarks.
Kasumi heaves a sigh of relief.
"However, if Madara wants to hide himself; it will be quite tough to track him down." Hashirama has a conflicted expression on his face.
"I will wait for him here!"
Kasumi walks towards the broken house with a resolute expression. She scourges through the house to search for their former belongings.
"Very well, I will accompany you!"
Half a day later,
Tobirama and company also arrive on the scene.
"Ah, Tobirama! Why are you here?" Hashirama opens his eyes and glances at his younger brother.
"It was so rash of you to leave in such a hurry, Nii-san!" Tobirama yells at him.
"You are the Hokage of a village, you know! So, it won't do well if you leave the village for such a long period." He glares at Hashirama.
"But… but… Tobirama… I…"
"Don't worry, my group and I will monitor this area and the surrounding villages. If any news of Madara appears, we will immediately take action." Tobirama remarks.
"Fine, I will return to the village! But I will leave my clone here, just in case…"
Hashirama creates a wood clone and departs the spot with a group of five jounins.
"After reaching the village, I will issue a search mission for Madara." He turns around and reassures Kasumi.
"Onee-san!" Kagami flickers in front of Kasumi.
After the previous incident in the valley of Sakura Blossom five years ago, Kasumi and Kagami left to settle in Konoha after their father's death.
Kagami enrolled in the academy while Kasumi became a caretaker in the Uchiha clan's orphanage. However, two years ago, she left the village with Madara; after the latter had a dispute with Hashirama.
"Onee-san, I will stay here with you!" Kagami consoles his sister.
"Ok!"
Meanwhile, Tobirama instructs his subordinates and walks towards Kasumi and Kagami.
"We will monitor this place for another week and attempt to locate Madara. If we fail, then our only option will be to return to the village."
The surrounding scene changes and a week passes in the blink of an eye.
"I will stay here!" Kasumi wipes her tears and turns to Tobirama.
Tobirama's group fails to locate Madara, even after their relentless search. Even his intelligence team couldn't spot a speck of Madara. Also, there is no sign of any enemy shinobi nearby.
'Strange! I smell a conspiracy. But which village is capable of such a thing!' Tobirama wonders.
'Madara isn't someone who likes to hide. By now, he should have created a ruckus; but…'
"Then I will stay with you!" Kagami insists.
"No, you will return to the village with the rest." Kasumi shakes her head.
"No, I won't leave this place without you." Kagami persists.
"Then…" Kasumi takes a last glance at the broken house and nods.
"I will return to Konoha with you. It's for the sake of our unborn child…" She mumbles the latter part of the sentence.