All missions for the four had been reassigned to other people. Tobirama and Nina were completely focused on training the new anbu recruits while Hashirama had been investigating possible suspects behind the break-ins. Madara was occupied with reorganizing the Konoha police force.

Another three days had passed without any more deaths. Each night, the anbu and Uchiha policemen had patrolled their sectors of the village.

"We will continue to guard tonight." Tobirama informed the captains of each division.

"Yes sir!" They replied. Putting their masks on, they dispersed to tell the rest of their squads, leaving the two leaders in front of the Hokage Tower.

"We need to find a way to get more training in." Nina said to the taller man. The members had only been sleeping during daylight hours which had reduced their training time. She was concerned that less training would hinder their progress.

"It could become a problem if we don't." Tobirama agreed, arms crossed.

Suddenly, a loud voice called out.

"Nina!" A lively Izuna landed in front of them. "Nii-san wants you to know he'll be increasing the police presence tonight."

Nina nodded.

"Good, thank you." She offered a small smile.

The Uchiha's eyes flashed to the Senju next to her before leaning closer and whispering.

"What's this about? Why is the police force getting so involved?'" He asked curiously.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you yet." She told him, receiving a chuckle.

"It's ok, I understand. Well, I have to go, take care!" He called, speeding away. He could feel the Senju's glare on his back the entire time.

"You know," Nina said as she turned to enter the tower, "He's not a bad person." The tensions between the younger Senju and the Uchihas had not diffused since the founding of the village so many months ago.

"Believe what you will." He said, frowning.

Nina sighed at his stubbornness, opening the door to Hashirama's office. She wasn't even halfway through the door when-

"I got it!" Hashirama exclaimed, slamming his hands on his desk.

"What?" Tobirama asked, stepping past Nina to see what his brother was going on about.

"Nina! Remember the mission you went on a month ago? The one with the mysterious masked clan?" He asked hurriedly, only pausing to see her nod. "Well I think I found the clan!"

"What does that have to do with the attacks?'" Tobirama interjected flatly, only to be shushed by his brother.

"I'm getting there. So the clan is called the Adachi clan and they are, or rather, were skilled earth users. Their leader was Hatano Kazan, the first son of Hatano Seiwa who was a prominent clan leader a while back." He pointed to a name in the book in front of him. "But around fifty years ago, Kazan was removed from the clan, something about being 'unfit to lead', and he disappeared for two years. Later on, however, he was discovered to have become the leader of a rouge group after changing his surname to his mother's maiden name, Adachi. Since he was a skilled earth user, he had passed his abilities on to his followers and soon they had grown to become a clan." He paused to take a breath. "So around twenty years ago, Kazan was killed, leaving his eldest son to the position of clan head. His son turned out to be quite the leader, expanding the clan even further through his own... means. His clan was the one you fought, but I don't think he was there. He was probably with a few other clan higher ups someplace else, meaning he's still out there."

The two were silent, trying to process the information Hashirama just threw at them.

"...so you believe the Adachi leader is behind the killings?" Nina asked.

"Yes, and the report you gave for the mission where you encountered the clan said the bodies looked like they had animal-like injuries, right? They could be the same ones that our victims have!" It was possible, Nina hadn't actually seen the bodies of any of the four recent killings, but the word 'mutilated' would describe the corpses from that mission quite well.

"He's an earth user, so tunneling underground could be why we haven't detected them." Tobirama thought aloud.

"And his chakra was mixed in with everyone else's." Nina added.

"Right, so we just have to focus our attention on chakra movements in the ground and it should be much easier to find him." Hashirama let out a breath, slumping back into his chair. Tobirama glanced at him, shaking his head.

"You look exhausted. Go rest." He told him.

"There's still work to be done. I know you two haven't been sleeping either, same goes for Madara." The Senju stated, leaning over the large history book. "I can manage."

"None of us are married or have children to think about." Nina stated, closing the book on his desk and picking it up. "Mito would be upset if she knew you weren't taking care of yourself."

His face visibly paled at the thought of a certain angry redhead.

"Ok, ok. I'll take a break." He said, quickly standing up.

"We'll tell Madara and the anbu members." She said, stepping out the door, Tobirama behind her.

"You're convincing." He commented when they reached the base of the Hokage Tower.

"They have an interesting relationship." She said, remembering all the times she had seen the mighty Hokage cowering in fear of his wife's rage.

"Is that not what all women do?" Tobirama asked mockingly, earning a glare for his question.

"You go inform the anbu, I'll tell Madara." She waved him off.

"Alright."

An hour later, Madara was caught up on the new developments and the four were in a small meeting, discussing what their next move would be.

"Since most of the guards are Uchihas, and therefore fire users, we must rely greatly on tactics and taijutsu when facing the Adachi clan." Tobirama stated. "I believe the various skills of the anbu shinobi will raise our chances at success."

"And to maximize the chance of finding the person, we need to evenly distribute our sensory ninja throughout the village. There has to be a good range of people with different chakra natures around each sensory as well, just in case the Adachi bring backup." Nina said. There were a number of skilled sensory shinobi among the anbu and the policemen, not to mention all four of them could also act as sensors.

"Alright, we'll redistribute the sectors and see where tonight leads."

The village was split into eleven large areas and assigned to specific people: one sensory type per area along with six to eight anbu and policemen.

The night was calm.

Then came the explosion.

"Get three of the others and go check it out." Nina commanded the shinobi closest to her. He nodded and swiftly went to find his comrades. The source of the explosion seemed to only be one sector away, on the edge of the village. She could see streaks of debris and smoke. The night was at its darkest now and the lack of vision could either become their greatest obstacle or most valuable asset. Almost immediately, Nina began hearing loud yelling and clashes of metal in the distance. Jumping on top of a tree, Nina saw bursts of fire coming from the direction of the explosion, the earth rumbled under her feet. Suddenly, an Uchiha shinobi landed next to her.

"Lord Madara and Hokage-sama have sent men to combat the enemy. They request for you and Tobirama-san to stay at your current posts." The man sped away once the message was delivered, presumably to inform the younger Senju.

'It should end soon enough.'

She landed back onto the ground, going to inform the three other guards in her sector about the situation.

One of the anbu came into view. She couldn't remember who it was as the person wore a mask.

"Wolf," She addressed the person by their anbu name, the animal on the mask. "Ignore the combat you hear in that direction." She pointed towards the sounds of battle. "Stay in the sector until further notice."

The person nodded.

"Understood, commander." The voice was feminine, she realized it was one of the two kunoichi who had been accepted into the anbu.

Nodding at her briefly, Nina turned and headed to find the remaining three.

After informing the last guard, Nina returned to patrolling.

The sounds of battle could still be heard.

'They must be trying to capture him alive.' Nina thought. They would certainly be able to get some valuable information from interrogating the man.

Suddenly, a flare shot up and burst into a red spark. That was the signal the guards were told to release if they encountered trouble. She instantly bolted in the direction of the flare.

Nina's eyes narrowed at the person crumpled on the ground, blood splattered on the gray wolf mask. Quickly kneeling next to the injured woman, she examined her wounds. Fortunately, they weren't life threatening.

"Who did this?" She asked, gathering chakra in her hands and beginning to heal the wincing anbu. She noticed there was a trail of blood behind her.

"A green mask... I think he... was an earth user..." She said between breaths. "They snuck up behind me, I wasn't... paying attention. It was my mistake." Her gaze fell to the ground. They stayed silent for a few moments before Nina pulled back her hands.

"Your leg and chest have been healed enough for now. Go straight to the hospital and get them treated properly. They went that way, yes?" She gestured in the direction the woman came from.

The anbu nodded and watched as her commander darted away.

The darkness still lay over the forest which made vision difficult, especially when looking for a person that was deliberately concealing themselves. The leaves cast odd shadows over the ground, keeping Nina on edge. Suddenly, a faint, unfamiliar chakra source dashed past her, no more than twenty feet away. She focused in on it, trying to speculate the person's chakra reserve to get a glimpse of what she would be going against. They were heading towards the center of the village.

After a minute of chasing the person, she finally found them nearing the village's central buildings. The masked figure suddenly noticed Nina and snapped their head towards her. Green eyes locked with black ones.

A barrage of kunai were thrown at the white haired shinobi, piercing the air where she stood a moment ago. The masked enemy felt a presence to their left as something wrapped around their torso, restraining any and all movement. Lifting her hand cautiously, Nina reached for the mask but quickly pulled away when the person's skin began glowing red hot. Flames crept up from inside his body.

She jumped back immediately, wondering what kind of technique this was. Adding more vines to keep him restrained, she only stopped when she noticed he was not struggling even though his hands were free. She realized that the fire was not to burn the branches, but rather himself.

A suicide technique. She made no attempt to put it out, knowing it was likely impossible to extinguish this kinjutsu.

The man was soon nothing but an unidentifiable black mass.

She did find one thing odd, however. Why was the man so quick in using the forbidden technique if it ended in his own demise? Nina knew there must be something that he knew he wouldn't be able to keep hidden if interrogation came into play. That means the enemy held some information that was, quite literally, worth dying over.

Something clicked in her mind.

Sprinting towards the neighboring sector, the one Madara was in charge of, her thoughts raced a mile a second, going through all the possible ways this would end. She could only hope the number of shinobi they ended with would be the same as what they started with.

A familiar Uchiha came into view.

"It was a diversion." She blurted out, landing in front of him.

"What?" Madara questioned, eyebrow raised.

"How many people went to combat the intruders?" She asked hurriedly.

"There were more of them than we thought, maybe half of the anbu and policemen." He said calmly. "What was a diversion?" He frowned. The look on her face told him this was serious.

"The explosion. There are other enemy shinobi in the village, they've snuck in and are going around killing the guards still on patrol." She took a breath, watching his reaction. She then went on to explain how she saw the red flare and her encounter with the masked shinobi. He seemed to believe her, his expression hardening with each word. "Go alert all the guards about the situation. Those two must have already sensed the intruders." She told him, referring to the Senju brothers. There was a flash of annoyance across his face before he nodded and both of them raced away.

Upon finding Hashirama, Nina saw he had just begun fighting two enemy shinobi, both wearing the same mask as the one she had seen. She needed to speed the battle up. Tossing two kunai, they pierced the men's necks before they noticed her. Hashirama turned to her and nodded in recognition. His expression made it clear that he knew something was wrong.

"Intruders somehow snuck into the village without being detected." Nina frowned.

"That's what I suspected. Who else knows?"

"Madara and probably Tobirama. I'll check with him, you go to the Hokage Tower, it's a good vantage point."

A second later, she was again on the move, this time to find the white haired Senju.

After having found Tobirama and meeting up with Madara, the three made a plan. Tobirama would form water clones and guard the compounds, making sure no civilian was harmed. Madara and some guards would block off the boarder of Konoha to ensure the intruders could not escape. Nina, being the fastest, and the rest of the guards were tasked with finding the enemy shinobi and eliminating them. At this point, the sun was around four hours away from rising. They needed to find the infiltrators before then or they would retreat and the entire night would have been pointless.

One by one, Nina found the masked men, they all had the same kinjutsu and were all quick to use it when cornered. This gave her the idea that there was a mastermind who had not yet showed himself, someone these shinobi were protecting. She estimated that at least half of the intruders were taken care of by now.

Then they disappeared. After twenty minutes passed without crossing any masked men, Nina knew something was off. It was as if they had all suddenly retreated, even though sunrise was not for another few hours. Puzzled, Nina decided to head towards the Hokage Tower. If any part of the village was going to be attacked, it was the tower.

The lights were off, and from outside, it looked like no one was inside. After a quick check of the perimeter, Nina stepped into the building and up the stairs. She noticed there was an oil lamp lit in one of the central rooms.

"Hashi-" She narrowed her eyes at the figure sitting at the center of the room.

Definitely not Hashirama.

The person was cloaked and had documents spread out on the floor, only illuminated by the dim glow of the lamp.

"How nice of you to come here, I was about to go out and find you." The voice was smooth, and more surprisingly, female.

"I don't believe we've met." Nina responded calmly, trying to figure out who this person might be.

"We haven't, but now we can." The woman's smirk was evident in her tone. She removed her hood, revealing a young, pale face with dark red hair and poisonous eyes. "My name is Adachi Hana. You may know my grandfather, Adachi Kazan." The smirk was faded, replaced by a menacing stare. "I know you. I know you well, Miss Nina. I know who you are, I know why you're here, I know more than anyone else."

Nina was now on full alert.

"Let me tell you a story my grandfather told me. When he was around twenty, he had gone on hunting with some of his men. Night had fallen and they were about to head home. On their way back, my grandfather had gotten separated from his men. He wandered around for a while, not being able to sense the others, when he suddenly realized something; the moon had turned red. Now, the blood moon was not an unknown event and he had seen many before, but he felt something was different this time. His feet seemed to have a mind of their own, and next thing he knew, he was standing in the edge of a field. At the center was a strange symbol etched into the ground. Standing on that symbol was a woman, surrounded by a red light, seemingly performing a ritual of some sort. He knew that there was something wrong about the woman but couldn't describe it. The next day, upon returning home and telling his clan, he was promptly labeled as insane and disowned by his own family." The woman's dark green eyes did not break contact with Nina's. "For the rest of his life, he searched and searched, but he never saw the strange woman again. He began to actually go insane, he couldn't rest until he found out who she was because he knew in his gut that, not only she was hiding herself for a reason, but also that if he found that reason, he would have made one of the greatest discoveries in history. Ancient manuscripts littered his room and he would pour over them day and night, looking for any clues as to the existence of this woman. No one he ever told believed him, his own sons didn't even believe him." Her glare became angry. "But I did. He made me promise that I would continue his work and find the woman, and so I did. I've spent the last ten years of my life searching for her." A triumphant smirk spread across her face. "And I've found her."

Nina stared at the woman, expression carefully kept blank.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, I am no such person. I have read about Adachi Kazan, your story must have taken place over fifty years ago, and as you can see, I would not have been alive back then." The lie rolled off her tongue smoothly.

Clearly, Hana did not believe her in the slightest.

"Mm, but you were." The woman put two fingers under her chin. "Because according to my research, you've been around since the first blood moon, almost a thousand years ago."