A Thousand Years

The Academy

"Nonsense. Living that long is impossible for any human." Nina retorted.

"Exactly. That's why I'm here to ask you how you did it." Hana took a step closer. "I have a deal for you. I have men stationed everywhere around this village, they're all armed with a certain jutsu that will encase the villagers in a permanent tomb. Those in the tomb will die of suffocation, a slow, painful death. My men have been told to carry out this jutsu on my command. Tell me everything about yourself and I'll order a retreat, no one will be harmed."

Nina remained silent, eyes locked in a blank expression in contrast to her racing heartbeat.

"How did you find out?" She asked slowly.

Hana's smirk widened.

"When searching through the history books my grandfather had collected, I found a few odd coincidences. The first one was in an Hatano history book dated around two hundred years ago. You certainly gave my ancestors a scare, destroying that mountain."

Nina closed her eyes, the image of the said event coming to mind.

"During a battle with the Uchiha..." She sighed.

Hana paused for a second, just staring at her.

"So it really is you." Her voice softened ever so slightly, "I was right."

Nina stared back at her cautiously.

"You've finished his work." She chose her words quickly.

The redhead's eyes softened.

"I did" She said proudly, eyes momentarily turning away from Nina.

The next thing she knew, a kunai was pressed against her throat.

In a flash, the woman formed an ox seal and a loud noise was heard from outside, something like a flare bursting.

"That's the signal." Her eyes grew large and wild. She grinned maliciously. "They'll die soon, they'll all die."

Nina cursed under her breath, swiftly flicking her wrist. Blood splattered against the green wallpaper.

Rushing outside, she watched as clay walls shot up out of the ground, forming domes over each compound. She saw Hashirama out of the corner of her eye.

"What happened?!" He shouted.

Nina's jaw clenched.

"I was too slow." She said through grit teeth. "Help me find a way to break these things."

They both tried jutsu after jutsu on the earthen barrier, to no avail, it was stubborn.

Suddenly, Nina froze in the middle of a chain of hand seals.

"Wait." She said, realization dawning on her face. "Hashirama! Dig tunnels into the ground! We'll get in the same way the Adachi did." Nina formed a new chain of seals and pressed her hands against the ground. Dirt pushed itself away and a tunnel was formed. Hashirama used sharp wooden poles to drill a path into the ground.

One at a time, tunnels were dug and the domes were destroyed from the inside, which was surprisingly easy. The pieces of what had been an unmovable tomb were now been shattered and moved outside the village. Madara had showed up halfway through the cleanup. He was thoroughly confused, evident by his expression. After burying the bodies of the fallen shinobi, both from the village and not, it was almost as if nothing happened.

By dawn, the village looked as it did before, perhaps a little dustier.

"When the first group of children graduate, we should split them into squads and put them under the training of a reliable shinobi." Tobirama suggested.