~~~~~Chapter twenty~~~~

As the twins get older, they notice their mom getting sick a lot more than normal. She had assured them that she was fine, but both of them wouldn't believe her. She was forced to say the truth then.

"It's a side-effect from the forbidden jutsu I made. It shortens the user's life significantly, so you can only use it once. Use it more than once and you die on the spot," she explained. "Honestly, I think I've only got three to four more years."

Both their eyes widened. They looked like they were about to cry but they were holding it in. Nao simply smiled softly.

" I don't regret it. I don't regret saving both of you, even if it meant leaving your father behind. Maybe I can see him in the afterlife," she said with a chuckle.

They tried their best to laugh as well, though they burst out crying instead.

Truthfully, it broke her heart, the fact that she wasn't there for him. She had countless sleepless nights because of it.

What would have happened if both Izuna and her didn't die? What would have happened if she was there for him? Would they live peacefully?

She missed his warmth very much. She missed waking up with him by her side. She missed his affection, his hugs and kisses. She missed his voice that whispered loving words to her, and she missed the way he looked at her as if she was his queen.

She missed him a lot.

She wanted to touch his soft hair again. She wanted to hear his voice again. She wanted to live with him again, but all of that wasn't possible anymore.

She wanted to see him again, and she did.

Years later in the war, she saw him again.

She couldn't believe it was possible, but he was there, in front of her. Besides, she had seen her friend Shirogane Akito before Itachi and Sasuke defeated Kabuto. She had even fought him.

~~

"Akito, it's nice to see you again though it's unfortunate that you're an enemy," she said to him as they clashed jutsus.

"Nao," he said in relief. "You had survived. That's a relief but I'm sorry. I can't control my body. Please...defeat me."

She nodded her head and sighed. "What a troublesome corpse you are. You haven't changed though you look quite a bit older now."

He smiled though he had a hard time being conscious. He was about to be fully controlled. "I'm sure you used your family's forbidden jutsu to come to this era. Well, I'm glad to have seen you again."

"Likewise," she said as she finally defeated him, sealing him. She had gotten better at it with years of more practice.

~~

If it were any other situation, she would hug and kiss Madara and tell him how much she had missed him. She would ask how it was possible that he was alive.

But she was in the middle of a war and she had met countless numbers of important people to her who were at risk. He was also the one who started it all.

Honestly, she didn't know what to feel.

He seemed to have not seen her or maybe he was too insane that he did not recognize her anymore.

Was that possible? Thinking of that broke her heart. She didn't want that to happen, but she was too scared to find out.

When the twins showed up beside her with the sharingan, everyone was shocked.

It was a war and they needed to show their full strength. Both of them trained with it a lot, so they were quite a bit used to using them. They even got the other forms although they were not as strong as Sasuke or Itachi. A lot of things happened as they grew up so of course they got stronger.

"Mao-chan?"

"Masato-kun?"

"Wait, they have the sharingan?"

A lot of people thought of the same thing.

Were they Uchihas or did they steal those eyes?

Madara's eyes narrowed at the twins. He didn't know what to feel. He felt angry that there were two ninjas, twins, that had the same names as their would-have-been-children. Moreover, they had the sharingan.

With rage, he sent a giant fireball at their direction which would have fried any other normal ninja.

The twins were caught off guard and were about to deflect it when Nao extinguished the fireball with a giant waterball of her own.

It was like their little spar back then, except this was deadlier.

"Masato, Mao, how could you have been distracted. You could've died," she said strictly.

That was when the four Hokage appeared along with Sasuke's team and Orochimaru.

The other ninjas couldn't believe what they're seeing.

Someone was powerful enough to deflect Madara's attack and the four dead hokage appeared?!

The four hokage looked at Nao with surprise. Well, Hiruzen and Minato only looked at her in surprise because they had not realized that she was that strong. They knew that she was strong but not powerful enough to stop Madara. Hashirama and Tobirama, however, looked at her with surprise because they knew her. They have met her when they were still alive.

Tobirama narrowed his eyes at her, as if asking what she was doing there.

She sighed. Mito was her friend but she was not friends with Hashirama. She remembered almost getting into a fight with Madara because of him. She actually just wanted to be friends with him, hopefully to be at peace with the Senju since she had just turned into an Uchiha. It was obvious that she had failed.

"Kuzuryu-san," Hashirama said, calling out to her, then shook his head. "I mean, Uchiha-san."

He could be serious when he wanted to.

"It's Tsugumi Karino-san now," she said with a sigh.

Every other ninja were confused.

"I assume you're here because of your clan's forbidden jutsu and not because of the reanimation jutsu," he said.

She nodded.

Then I must ask you," Tobirama said, "Kuzuryu Nao, are you an ally or an enemy?"

She glanced at Madara, then at Mao and Masato, and back at the four hokage.

"An ally."

'I'm sorry, Madara, but you need to be stopped...'

A/N

Okay, so this fanfic is almost finished C: