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A/N: Complete updated editing with media on Wattpad.
In the privacy of her rooms, Eiko Hyuga pushed the shoulders of her kimono down to uncover her pale collar bone and the top of her chest.
She rubbed a bit of oil over her smooth white skin before unwrapping the waist, revealing her rounded stomach underneath. She placed her hand over her protuberant belly button and felt a small foot press back in response from within. She smiled despite herself. The baby was growing quickly. She was having to wear bigger and heavier clothes by the minute to keep her stomach concealed.Hiding this pregnancy had not been easy. Between her attendants, who were constantly attempting to be useful, and her duties as Lady Mito Uzumaki's binding seal partner, she barely made it halfway through before she started to raise suspicious eyebrows. Mito was the first to directly approach her about her unusual weight gain. Though she was certain it was Mito's husband, Lord Hashirama, who sent her to inquire.
Hashirama had been Eiko's closest friend since they were children, but as a married man, it would have been unseemly for him to have such a personal conversation with any woman other than his wife. And though Mito was currently Eiko's closest friend, both women were so formal and conservative in mannerisms that the conversation would never be initiated unless Hashirama insisted upon it."You have been taking care of yourself and eating well?" Mito asked Eiko earlier that day as they sat across from each other at tea."Yes mi'lady." Eiko replied, sipping her tea delicately. Growing up as heir to the Hyuga clan, she had learned all of the correct mannerisms of the elite families, but she was raised by her father alone without many women around. Therefore she grew up playing the competitive games of her male cousins and her closest friends, who were all rough boys and fierce shinobis.Eiko's long waist length shiny brown hair, delicate features, and brilliant white eyes, as well as her reserved and often shy demeanor, fit in well in Mito Uzumaki's tea room and gave the impression of sheltered privilege. But Eiko hated this time of the day the most. This was Mito Uzumaki's territory. The time that she and Mito spent training among the long eye kunoichi and juuken masters under Eiko's command was her territory."You and Tobirama have grown closer over the last few months," Mito commented, still fishing."Ummmhmm." Eiko replied, still not biting. She could tell both Lord First and Mito were concerned that Eiko's hidden pregnancy was a misstep of the younger Senju brother.While getting her into trouble before choosing to shirk his responsibilities was not completely out of Tobirama's character, Tobirama had kept Eiko at an arms length ever since she broke off her betrothal to him, which their parents had promised when they were children.Though the rejection had bruised his ego a bit, Tobirama was more than relieved to not have to marry Eiko or any woman. He was as much a wild and untamable spirit in life as he was on the battlefield. While growing up together, he neither considered Eiko delicate nor a woman at all and he had often spilled details of his perverted adventures in front of her. Needless to say, if they had ever gotten married, her bed would not have been the only bed that he slept in at night."Is that a good thing?" Mito asked suspiciously."We've always been close." Eiko replied wanting to giggle at her friend's line of questioning and the pink tinge of frustration that was beginning to spread from Mito's ears."Lady Eiko." Firmly, Mito put down her tea cup and reached across the table to take the Hyuga's hands. "We've noticed..."Mito paused as though considering her next few words carefully, and then she sighed, saying, "are you in trouble?"Eiko looked down at her stomach, which was well covered with a thick bundle of cloth. She squeezed Mito's hands and smiled hesitantly. She knew if she admitted that she was in a motherly way, she would eventually have to admit to the father's identity. And she was not sure how anyone was going to take that scandalous news. Instead she remained silent. Since they were sealed, Mito could feel the nervous energy that churned inside of Eiko. And with the nine tails sealed inside of her body, Mito had become very skilled at sensing negative energy in general."When I first found out that I was pregnant, I was filled with fear." Mito stated, comfortingly. Her and Hashirama's first son was born just a few months ago. Eiko had felt Mito's feelings throughout most of the journey. Often in waves of intense tenderness or apprehension through the binding seal.Since finding out that she was pregnant herself, Eiko had tried to keep her own feelings, controlled and deep within herself. Mainly by ignoring the state that she was in. But at night, the dreams took over, sending her back to that passionate night that would prove to change her life forever.Eiko had not even considered how restrained she had spent her entire life until he unleashed the hidden fire that burned deep inside of her. Her life was not full of contained refinement like Mito's life. And compared to most women during her time, she had been afforded a fair amount of freedom being the leader of her clan.Being able to break a betrothal between clans, choosing not to marry nor to be sealed to a man who she did not love, living her life as an independent minded woman nearing the age of spinsterhood. For the most part, this had been unique to her alone.But Eiko had spent so much time being in love with a man who did not love her in return, she never thought of things like lust, passion, or fiery impulsiveness. Everything that ruled his life.Eiko lowered her eyes. Now that one adventurous night had landed her in this sort of trouble. Despite her wish to have the sort of brash boldness that would allow her to announce her pregnancy and dare anyone to question whose child she was carrying, it was just not in her. Quietly, she replied, "Yes."Mito sighed, "I can only imagine what it feels like to be with child and alone."She leaned over the table and lowered her voice further to ensure the spying servants could not hear, even if they strained at the door. "You are, alone?"Eiko looked up at Mito and stated, "It's not Lord Tobirama's child.""Ok." Mito nodded her head, looking a little too relieved. Then she whispered, "Whose child is it? One of the Hyuga shinobi?""No." Eiko replied, cryptically."He's not a shinobi?""He is a shinobi.""Which clan?" Mito pressed further. Now that she had dropped formalities, she seemed unable to help herself."Ummm." Eiko nervously bit her lip, attempting to stall as long as possible."He's not an Izunaka is he??" Mito asked alarmed. The Izunaka clan was the only clan where traditionally the women led and it was rare for a man to find any respect unless he was truly fierce. The Izunaka men were more like concubines used to produce children. And they often had to live with their birth families or outside of the clan after being run off by their irritated wives.Eiko only wished he was an Izunaka. At least her child would be accepted by his or her clan if no one else. "No."Mito, however, did not subscribe to the matriarchal structure of the Izunaka clan and seemed more relieved than when she heard it was not Tobirama's child."Well don't tell me that he's an Uchiha." Mito laughed lightly as if the entire thought was completely ridiculous.She stopped laughing as soon as she saw the look in Eiko's white eyes. Mito's own brown eyes opened wide and she began to choke on the tea that she just drank from her cup. "This... what... really??"Though Mito Uzumaki was deeply in love with her own husband and thought he was the most handsome man in the world, she did have eyes. Uchiha men tended to be very easy on the eyes... from their large muscular frames, to the long and wild black hair and the battle scars that almost always seemed to be in the most well placed spots. But a nice view was about as close as any woman ever wanted to come to an Uchiha man.Mito was not sure how the clan had not already died off with the amount of time and energy spent in battle. Love was never a thought and was actually considered a weakness. Since arriving in Konoha a few years before, she had yet to lay eyes on an Uchiha woman, so she determined that they either looked exactly like the men or were meek pitiful things not fit for the light of day.It had only been recently that the clan started to tame its ways. Ever since the last leader, Madara Uchiha turned against the village and was named a rogue ninja. Mito thought about that name. Madara Uchiha. She looked at Eiko, who was still avoiding her eyes. Madara and Eiko had a relationship of sorts when he lived in Konohagakure. She certainly would not classify it as a friendship, but for Madara, it may have been the closest thing.He had asked Eiko to marry him several times before he left the village. Mainly as a political move against Hashirama since after the Senjus and the Uchihas, the Hyuga clan was the next largest in size and Eiko was their leader. But Mito had always had her suspicions that he harbored hidden affectionate feelings for her friend that no one was aware of... least of all, Eiko.Mito also suspected that Eiko was just pregnant enough to have conceived right before the Uchiha leader left the village. "Both Hashirama and I care for you deeply Eiko. We will do whatever it takes to help you."Eiko nodded.Mito looked deeply into Eiko's eyes, radiating sincerity and concern. "Just tell me who the father of your child is?"Eiko paused before taking a long deep breath. "Madara Uchiha. My husband."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Many years prior...One humid summer night, the moonlight streamed in through the open window of the small house, which sat on the edge of the Uchiha compound, where a young Madara Uchiha slept peacefully next to his younger brother, Izuna. The night cicadas called fervently into the tiny room, maintaining the rhythm of the night song that played in the young boys' sweat dreams. Madara dreamed of swinging swords and won battles, where as Izuna dreamed of their mother's strawberry tarts.Madara woke suddenly, sensing someone watching him through the window. He scanned the dimly lit room, stopping on the shaggy black head of his lightly snoring brother. Everything was as it should be and nothing was out of place. Pulling out a kunai from under his mat, he wiped the sweat from his brow before quietly moving towards the window. The spy must have been scared away by his movements because Madara noted the brush rustle in the distance as the intruder slipped away.Deciding he would follow the spy on his own instead of alerting his father, Madara climbed through the open window. There was no need for anyone else. He was a shinobi in his own right, and his senses were particularly acute for a ten year old boy. Not long ago, his father praised him for his prodigious talents and told him, he would be a great shinobi one day, once he activated his sharingan.Not use to praise from his father, who was a harsh and often cruel man, he puffed out his chest afterwards, determined that he would not die young like his older brothers. He would live and become a hero to the Uchiha Clan, protecting his younger brother from the likes of Senju scum.Madara stalked into the woods, following a newly laid trail through the brush. There were multiple of them. The spies must have been young. Children like him. They had left behind too many clues.He crept deeper into the foliage to make certain they were all gone, and came across a small encampment. He slipped quietly into some brush to see exactly who owned this camp. There was a ninja seated upright against a nearby tree. Madara guessed he was supposed to be the night watch though he had already nodded off to sleep. Madara sighed deeply... luckily for him. Because the camp appeared to be owned by a small traveling group from the Hyuga clan. He knew he would never be able to hide from the byakugan.Madara turned to go back home. The Hyuga clan was aligned with the Senju clan and they surely could protect themselves. But they were not a warring clan. There was no point in attacking them, when the odds were against him in numbers.Before he left, something… or someone caught his eye. Nearby the camp was a girl with long dark brown hair, and in the short black kimono and long pants worn by most kunoichi. She was facing away from him and loading an arrow on her bow. She knelt and eyed a target on a tree trunk, which Madara could not see from his position in the nightlight. She pulled back and let the arrow go… ZING!Madara wondered if she hit her target. The girl turned slightly, pulling another arrow from her back. He could see the engorged blood vessels surrounding her large white eyes. Fascinated, he crouched in the brush and watched her until she had used all of her arrows.As the girl stood up and began to move away, Madara slid forward slightly to get a better look at her. His heart began to race, thumping against his chest wall as he marveled at her beauty. He would remember her face and think about her often. But as he moved, she stopped and spun around, noting him watching her in the brush not far away.She put her hands up protectively and stared at the strange boy, hiding in the brush.Knowing he was caught, Madara stood up with the kunai still in his hand. The girl eyed him and then sat deeper into her fighting stance. Madara looked at the weapon in his hand and then he looked at her. He placed the weapon behind his back and smiled a wide and toothy smile at her before backing away.The girl just stared after him as he moved away and then he turned around to run back to the Uchiha compound, knowing the girl would soon alert the rest of her group. Three years later…A thirteen year old girl with long brown hair and white eyes sat hidden in the woods about a quarter mile from the river banks, watching two boys as they challenged each other in several playful yet competitive games."Byakugan." Eiko had stumbled across Hashirama and his friend as she made her way to the river from the Senju Compound where she was visiting with her father, the present leader of the Hyuga clan.Earlier that morning, she considered asking him, "Do you mind if I come with you today, Hashirama? I'd like to visit the river banks too."Hashirama might have smiled down at Eiko, placing a hand on her shoulder like he always did when he spoke to her. "Of course, it would be nice to have the company."But Eiko had considered too long and before she could ask, Hashirama was already out of the door and running with his short bobbed hair flying wildly behind him through the woods to the river."That boy! Always in such a hurry these days." His mother had scolded after him."Oh… he forgot his lunch. Would you mind taking it to him, Eiko?" The woman noticed her, as the quiet girl stood in the Senju courtyard looking after the boy who had just disappeared out of the gate."Yes, ma'am." Eiko took the package and then made her way towards the river. She had to use her byakugan to find him, and when she did, she was surprised to find that he was not alone.Another boy with long spiky black hair was playing on the bank with him. Eiko thought the boy looked familiar but she could not quite place where she had seen him before. She had never seen him among the Senju clan, so he must have been from another clan.The unspoken rule had always been to never ask another's family name when passing a stranger in peace. But that was never an option for Eiko nor the others in her clan, since their bloodline was given away instantly by their white eyes. It had always made them vulnerable, in addition to the fact that the Hyuga clan was no longer a traditional battle clan.The clan spent part of its time collecting and protecting valuable history and justus from around the world, part of its time acting as sensory ninja for their allied clans, and part of its time growing and trading vegetables and flowers. This was why a relationship with a strong clan like the Senju clan had always been important. There was even talk of Eiko marrying the second of the Senju leader's two sons, Tobirama. Though Eiko had always had eyes for the eldest son, Hashirama, he was already promised to another from the Uzumaki clan.Eiko waited until Hashirama parted ways with the strange boy, and then she shyly approached him. Her cheeks burning bright red, she quickly explained, "Your mother sent your lunch."Hashirama smiled down at Eiko and took the package from her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Thanks Eiko."Then he paused, not removing his hand and looking into her white eyes seriously. "Did you see the boy who I was with?"Eiko nodded quietly."He's name is Madara." Hashirama replied. "I'm not sure of his family name… but he's from another clan. Maybe an enemy clan… so it's best that we don't say anything about him to anyone."Eiko nodded again. Then she offered in a soft voice. "I'm good at keeping secrets. You can count on me, Hashirama.""I know. You're the best Eiko!" Hashirama plopped down on the bank and unwrapped the package. "Come on. Let's see what my mother put in here."Eiko sat down next to her friend and peeked over his shoulder as he looked in the lunch package. He handed her a portion of his rice and said, "Madara and I have become really good friends actually. Both of us imagine a world where children like our younger brothers won't need to fight and won't be sent to their deaths. You know I bet we can do it, Eiko… all there needs to be is an alliance between the Senju and the Uchiha clans."Hashirama had a tendency to say things around Eiko that he would never dare to say to anyone in his clan. She would listen and nod encouragingly. And sometimes like today, she got up enough nerve to actually reply in a full sentence."If anyone can do it, it would be you, Hashirama." Eiko smiled brightly at the boy.Just then a nearby bush rustled as Madara returned to the banks. "Hey! I forgot to tell you…"He stopped midstep, looking back and forth between Hashirama and the girl sitting with him by the river. He recognized the situation immediately. Narrowing his eyes, he pulled a kunai from his belt. "You… you're a Hyuga."As they both stood up, Eiko moved behind Hashirama, uncertain about this fierce looking boy in front of her. Madara pointed the kunai at Hashirama. "I knew that name sounded familiar… you're a Senju! An enemy to the Uchiha Clan!"Hashirama slid into his own fighting stance, also pulling out a kunai. "So I guess that means you are an Uchiha."Hashirama sounded more hesitant than hostile. He looked behind his shoulder at Eiko, who had activated her byakugan and slid into a juuken stance. He could not allow Madara to hurt Eiko, but he also did not want to fight his friend."Wait!" Hashirama said. "Even though we now know each other's clans, that doesn't mean we are not still the same friends, who met here every day on the river banks for the last few months.""What are you talking about?!" Madara spat. "It is our duty to protect our clans first! We are shinobi! This friendship means nothing."Madara and Hashirama dove at each other, exchanging blows back and forth across the river. Eventually as usual, Hashirama got the best of Madara, tossing him to ground and placing his kunai against his throat for a kill strike. But Hashirama relaxed his hold and moved away, letting Madara go.He backed up and grabbed Eiko's hand, pulling her a safe distance away. But before he disappeared into the woods, he said, "I will never kill a friend."Frustrated, Madara yelled after. "Hey! We are no longer friends!"Hashirama stopped again and looked back over his shoulder, smiling. "See ya tomorrow then?""Yea. Sure." Madara conceded, rolling his dark eyes and grumbling in frustration. Two years later…The brash and fire that was Madara Uchiha came charging out of the eastern woods on the western border of the Uchiha territory. He stormed onto the river banks with Akihito Uchiha following closely at his heels. Then he stopped abruptly, causing Akihito to run into the back of him and scowled, noting Eiko among the boys at the river’s edge again.“What is the girl doing here again??” Madara demanded as he looked down his nose at the small girl sitting quietly behind Hashirama Senju.He still had not bothered to learn Eiko’s name though he had seen her more than a few times in the company of his friend Hashirama. He called her ‘the girl’ because apparently she was the only girl who he knew, so there was no need to differentiate her from any other girl.It had been a year since Madara Uchiha, Akihito Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, Kazuo Senju, and Kiyoshi Nara started meeting at the river banks. It was an unofficial meeting of the Uchihas and Senjus. The next generation looking to form some sort of peace between the two war loving clans. Eiko usually tagged along with Hashirama when she came with her father to the Senju Compound to make the group an even number.Kazuo Senju and Kiyoshi Nara were Hashirama’s most trusted comrades, and the only ones other than Eiko who he trusted with his biggest secret. Both boys were loyal to Hashirama and would have given their lives to keep his secret, as he had risked his life for them multiple times in battle.Akihito Uchiha was less of a loyal friend to Madara and more of a subordinate who feared for his life if he ever dared to defy Madara. He echoed almost everything Madara said without fail, knowing if he disagreed, he would get a harsh beating later on. Ever since Izuna's death, Madara had become less arrogant and impetuous, and more mean and calculating. His skills had also grown by leaps and bounds, making him only second to his father in rite. Madara already garnered more respect than his elder by the age of fifteen just by fear alone. No one would have taken Akihito’s word over Madara’s word even if he chose to tell about the secret meetings.Madara had not officially agreed to be a part of the group. He loved his clan and his family, especially his beloved younger brother, and watching the deaths of his loved ones had never settled well with him. But fighting, weapons, and the blood and sweat of battle were all that he knew. It was all that he was good at. He even dreamed of it at night. So he had no love for the idea of a world with no war either. Still he showed up every week like the others. Mainly because he felt like he was the only grounded mind in a group full of daydreaming airheads.“Akihito and I will be paired off this time. So Kazuo, you take Kiyoshi, and Madara, you have Eiko this time.” Hashirama spoke with authority, but withered slightly when he encountered the look of death in Madara’s black eyes.“I’m NOT with the girl! She goes with a weak ninja like the Nara! I have Akihito!” Madara raged. Actual steam appeared to pour out of his nostrils.“You can’t spar with your own clansmen. That defeats the purpose of these meetings.” Hashirama complained.“Who made that rule?!” Madara demanded. Though this had always been the rule, Madara seemed to conveniently forget the rule whenever it was his turn to rotate to Eiko or Kiyoshi.“Eiko is the only one you haven’t sparred yet, Mad…” Akihito stopped mid sentence as the older Uchiha turned his death stare towards his subordinate. The fact that Akihito decided to disagree and side with Hashirama at that moment had set fire to a wild storm.“It’s fine…” Eiko said softly, trying to defuse the situation. “I’ll just sit out.”Akihito breathed a sigh of relief when Madara turned his wrath from his intended target onto Eiko, who had built up the confidence to speak at exactly the wrong time.“Don’t give me those tears! That victim act!” Madara turned his angry black eyes on Eiko walking up to her and swinging a punch to the side of her head. The punch did not connect as Eiko activated her byakugan and delicately danced to the right, sliding up to his left side with a palm strike to the medial portion of his shoulder. Gracefully she hit him once then twice in the time of a breath, knocking out two chakra points and weakening that arm.Feeling his arm go limp, Madara’s anger unleashed itself, bursting right out of his chest. He activated his sharingan and threw another blow into her chest. She dodged again but this time he saw the intended move coming and pivoted into her next move with a knee to her left flank, knocking her forward and onto the ground. Eiko rolled onto her knees and hopped gracefully to her feet, placing her hands up in front her face in a defensive position.Madara growled and directed another powerful punch towards her head. She moved so quickly it was difficult to differentiate her pivots from her strikes as palm strike after palm strike followed. Madara's body was knocked back further with each strike, trapped within range of the eight trigrams circle. He could feel himself weakening though Eiko was choosing non-vital tenketsu. His eyes moved as quickly as her movements, connecting just momentarily but long enough to place a genjutsu.Releasing the genjutsu, he suddenly disappeared from her right and appeared directly behind her in her blind spot. Yanking her by the neck and slamming her to ground, he directed a punch full force into her sternum. The blow would have been fatal if Hashirama had not stepped in, kicking him in the shoulder and sending him flying into the river with a SPLASH!“This is sparring!” Hashirama yelled after Madara, who was now thrashing around angrily in the water. “You could have killed her!”“We are NINJA!” Madara yelled back. “We’ve all been to war! Witnessed death up close! All of us EXCEPT HER!”Soaked to the bone with black hair dripping in his face, Madara thrust a finger in Eiko’s direction. “The GIRL! The HYUGA!… the ninja too good for battle! Why is she even here?!”It was unclear if he hated her more for being female or for being a Hyuga.Calmly ignoring Madara’s tantrum, Hashirama walked over and helped Eiko up. “You did well. No one ever beats Madara…”“Except Hashirama. Because Madara cheats.” Kiyoshi interjected, sounding bored. He yawned as Madara stared daggers at him, and then Kiyoshi shrugged in reply, not caring.“Naras! Hyugas! I don’t have time for this child's play!” Madara yelled. “We’re too old for this. Uchihas and Senjus meet in battle that’s it! I’m done with this!”Madara stomped a few steps towards the woods, before turning back and yelling. “Akihito!!!”The younger Uchiha looked at the others apologetically and then followed his older friend back into the forest.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Now eighteen, Eiko stood next to her father and watched as the shinobi entered through the gates of the Hyuga compound. Her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of Hashirama walking slowly next to his younger brother in full battle gear. He was now tall and muscular with long brown hair and skin tawny from warring in the hot sun.She wanted to smile and wave, but shyly caught her hand with her other hand, holding back. She pulled back even further stepping slightly to the left and behind her father as she locked eyes with Madara Uchiha, who entered directly behind the two Senju brothers.Since the day on the beach when he almost killed her, she had only seen him briefly across the battlefield while she worked as a sensory ninja for Tobirama’s unit. He had lost his father since then and officially took the position as leader of the Uchiha clan. A hollow ruthlessness consumed his black eyes now. She had always been slightly afraid of him, but now she potentially feared him. And apparently he had not forgotten her either as his eyes found her easily and did not move.Her father cleared his throat also noticing the Uchiha staring at Eiko. He spoke low so only they could hear. “What is that about daughter? Do you know Madara Uchiha?”Eiko shook her head quickly. The meetings with Hashirama were secret, and she promised him that she would keep that secret. So she had kept her promise even though now with the prospect of a hidden village to unite the two warring clans, this was not as dire a secret anymore. “No. I’ve never met him.”Her father narrowed his eyes at Madara, warily watching the young man as he shook hands with the other clan leaders who came to discuss the formation of the Konohagakure. When Madara finally approached, he bowed politely shaking Eiko’s father’s hand too. “Lord Hyuga.”“Lord Uchiha.” Her father responded. “I hope you will feel welcome within our home.”Madara looked over at Eiko before brashly stating. “I would feel even more welcome, if Lady Eiko might find time to show me around. This is my first time here, after all.”Her father looked back and forth between the Uchiha clan leader and his daughter. Was the Uchiha attempting to make a play for his daughter’s hand? He did know she was already promised to Tobirama Senju? But knowing Madara’s temperamental disposition along with the power he owned to back it up, Lord Hyuga only politely nodded and said, “Lady Eiko will certainly be at your disposal whenever you please.”Madara took Eiko’s hand and kissed it. She was not sure what to make of this new interest that Madara was showing her, but the way his eyes were undressing her was making her cheeks turn bright red with embarrassment. She stiffened slightly and attempted to snatch back her hand as unobtrusively as possible. “Lord Ma -Uchiha.”She almost smacked her hand over her mouth as she made the slip into the less formal name. Madara was the only one who caught the slip. A look of amusement filled his black eyes, and he held her hand just a bit too long.Then politely he backed away before turning to give his assistants a withering look, causing them all to promptly fall in line. Apparently only so much had changed. Eiko received an invitation later that afternoon to escort Madara around the Hyuga property. Of course, a trail of Eiko’s attendants followed along with one of Madara’s assistants, who she recognized as Akihito from the river bank meetings. He was taller and fuller in the chest, actually giving the appearance of an Uchiha man as opposed to the once beautiful boy. As young teenagers, she thought Akihito was the better looking of the two Uchiha though they were both handsome in their own right. But now at eighteen, Madara had matured perfectly into manhood where as Akihito appeared to be still deciding. Still she was glad that he survived Madara’s wrath because she had always liked Akihito.Eiko showed Madara the gardens where her clan grew vegetables and flowers. The vegetables were mainly for eating and the flowers were traded with the Yamanaka clan who were known for their florist carts which sold a wide range of blossoms throughout the Land of Fire. She showed him the libraries.Though as an outsider, he was only allowed inside the general library. Then she showed him the courtyard and the living quarters. He asked which house she slept in, framing it as an innocent question though his tone was anything but innocent.Eiko blushed but did not answer the question. Madara seemed to like this, a satisfied smirk crossing his face as he followed her over a small bridge across the pond. He looked back giving a scowl to Akihito and the Hyuga attendants, clearly signaling them to stop at the foot of the bridge until the two had made it all the way across.Madra stopped midway and stared off across the pond. Being polite, Eiko stopped as well and stood next to him silently waiting. He turned his intense black eyes to her, appraising the blue silk kimono that she wore for important company. He dropped the pretense of formalities and brashly said, “You look better in fighting gear.”Eiko looked down at herself, not quite sure if that was supposed to be an insult or a compliment. “I… I usually dress up for company.”“They should be flogged for dressing up a woman like you as a pretty doll.” He was leering at her again. It made her want to cover herself though she was already covered. As though waking up out of a thought, Madara moved his eyes from her bosom up to her face again. “Will you accompany me for dinner then?”“I…” Eiko was not sure how appropriate it would be for her to have dinner with a man who she was not betrothed to, but she also felt like she might insult Madara if she said no. And her father had specifically told her not to insult the Uchiha Clan leader in any form or fashion.Noting her dilemma, Madara waved at her attendants. “You can bring as many chaperones as you want. And tell your betrothed… it’s just dinner among friends.”Madara gave her his wiliest smile. Then innocently, he turned and looked around the surrounding area. “Where is Tobirama anyway?”Tobirama was likely with his brother making plans for the new village or amongst his own assistants drinking way too much sake. He certainly was not at all concerned about her. If she was ‘spoiled’ by the Uchiha leader, Tobirama likely would have put on a front of anger just because it was Madara, but then he would be relieved that he did not have to marry her after all.Finally, Eiko said, “Yes. I’ll come to dinner.”Eiko found Akihito at her doorstep just in time for dinner. She was not sure how he found her rooms. Her father was certain to place Madara and his assistants on the other side of the compound as far away from Eiko as possible, once he noted the Uchiha leader’s interest in his daughter.Akihito bowed to her. “Lady Hyuga. Please follow me.”Eiko nodded and followed him along with her five attendants towards the eastern side of the compound where Madara was staying. She was led inside of the house and then to the back where Madara’s suite sat. The Hyuga’s houses were all made up of multiple familial living spaces, so several families usually lived in one large house. This house was empty for the most part and used for guests. Madara was given one of the largest suites made for a family with many children.Akihito led her to the dining table where Madara already sat on a large pillow at the head. She went to sit at the other end but then was led by the arm to a seat next to Madara’s right side before she could sit down.Madara waved for the food to come and a large boar appeared. Eiko wondered where the atrocious animal came from. Madara and his party must have come with their own food. It was already strange that he chose to eat alone instead of in the main dining area where the Hyuga main family usually ate with guests.Madara saw Eiko’s wide eyes as she stared at the meat in front of her. He made a rumbling sound in his throat and said, “I forgot that the Hyugas don’t eat meat.”That was not exactly true. Eiko’s diet consisted mainly of grains, beans, green vegetables and fruit, but she ate fish for her evening meal regularly. And like most Hyugas, she would stomach fowl while traveling to other clans, but she had never even tasted beef or pork.He took a handful of the pork and tasted it. “Uchihas eat mainly meat… you should try it. It’s good.”Eiko felt like she might throw up, but she did not want to be impolite. She looked for a utensil to take some of the meat.“With your hands.” Madara instructed.Eiko reached into the meat delicately and plucked just a strand from the bone. She looked at the flesh curiously. It smelled horrible. Bringing it to her lips, she opened her mouth slightly.Madara watched intently before reaching forward and placing his large hand over her small hand. His hand was close enough that it touched her lips lightly. She felt the rough surface of his callused skin against the softness of her pink lips. He moved his hand just right, taking the meat from her fingers while at the same time brushing her lips so that she felt an electric shock run through her all the way down between her legs.Madara smiled at her, wickedly. “I’m just having a little fun with you, Lady Hyuga.”He watched her intently as though he knew exactly what she felt when his hand touched her lips. He waved at one of his assistants again, and this time they brought out a plate full of green vegetables, fruit, and rice. The plate was decorated with wind blossoms, her favorite flowers. “I asked your attendants what you would like to eat and what flowers you would like for your hair.”Eiko looked into Madara’s eyes shyly, not understanding.“I may be a brute.” Madara picked a flower up and handed it to her. “But I know if I ever have a chance of winning your heart, I have a lot of work to do.”Eiko took the flower, placing it in her hair. One of Madara’s assistants came up to her and scooped some of the food onto her plate, handing her some utensils.After they finished eating, Madara walked her to the door, just close enough that his hand lightly brushed her hand. Again she felt the electricity of his touch, which only became more intense as he turned towards her in the doorway of his suite and looked down at her. His wild black hair fell into his face slightly, making him look even less refined and more feral.He looked hungrily at her lips, but he only reached out and moved a strand of her hair from the base of her neck. She trembled slightly as she felt his fingers brush against her throat. “What do you feel right now, Lady Hyuga?”“I…” Eiko looked down shyly, her cheeks becoming bright red with embarrassment.His voice become huskier and deeper in response to her apparent shyness. “Dream of me tonight.”“I’m… betrothed to Lord Tobirama Senju.” She responded quietly and quickly moved away.An angry fire flared in his black eyes before cooling into a fearful coldness. “Tobirama has no idea what he has.”
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"You need to watch yourself around Madara Uchiha, Lady Eiko.” Telsa Hyuga, Eiko’s first attendant whispered to her as she removed the flower from her hair and undid the intricate knots that were required for the week’s occasions. “His intensions, while seemingly sweet and innocent, are rarely honorable. By reputation, he is a ruthless man who has destroyed shinobi, much less trusting and kind hearted than you.”Eiko ignored Telsa’s words. While her attendant was well meaning, she did not like being treated like a stupid child in her own home. Eiko did try to see the best in everyone, but she was no fool. She immediately knew Madara was angling for something.“It was very nice of him to prepare my favorite foods and find my favorite flower though.” She was not sure how he managed to pull the second part off. Wind flowers only grew in the autumn and it was still mid summer.Telsa ran her hands through Eiko’s long hair softly and said soothingly. “Lord Senju is officially engaged to Lady Mito Uzumaki, you know.””Eiko inhaled sharply. Her attendants and her father had avoided telling her the news for as long as possible. It was obvious how she felt about the Senju leader and everyone wanted to spare her that pain. But Hashirama was betrothed to Mito even before Eiko was promised to Tobirama, and he fell in love with her from the moment he laid eyes on the beautiful red head during a trip to Uzushiogakure a year back.“They will have very powerful children who could potentially fill the leadership of this village for decades to come. Madara Uchiha has been eyeing the position of the new village leader as well. If he were to be engaged… say to the heiress of one of the largest founding clans, would that not give him an advantage in the vote needed to be confirmed the next leader?”Eiko considered Telsa’s words for a moment. “Do you really think that is all Madara wants? My hand in marriage so he can win the village vote?”“I think you’re power… the fact that you will be our next leader… the mistress of the Hyuga clan whose loyalty never waivers… Madara wants to possess this.” Telsa replied. “I’ve heard many terrible rumors about Lord Uchiha. He is not a man easily crossed. He is also not a man with a soft heart… even for an Uchiha, he is hard and very calculated. I don’t believe he wants to love you.”Eiko looked down at her hands. She was happy to hear this. She thought about that sensation of electricity that coursed through her body every time he touched her. Her cheeks became rosy at just the thought of his fingers grazing her skin and that warm sensation began to develop between her thighs again. He had asked her to dream about him, and through no device of her own, that same night she had one of the steamiest dreams that she had ever experienced of a hot night in Madara Uchiha’s bed.If Madara really was after something other than just a political maneuver against Hashirama, she might not be able to fight him off forever. As for her heart, that already belonged to another. Madara might not ever love her, but that was ok because she knew with certainty that she would never love him. Madara was in a foul mood for the rest of the night. He had never wasted so much energy seducing a woman without receiving anything in return. It was not in his nature to give and particularly not to someone who he considered to be weaker than himself. He took and when he was done taking, he tossed the poor soul away.But Eiko Hyuga barely blinked at him that night. She was clearly embarrassed by all the attention he was showing her. But as far as whether he impressed her at all, he could not even guess and that was pissing him off.“Akihito!!” Madara roared through the door of his bed chamber. He needed a strong drink. The last time he spent this much energy on a woman and she did not end up in his bed chamber by the end of the night was... well that had never happened.Akihito was hiding in the small kitchen. He knew he was going to have a rough night when he saw Madara’s face after Lady Eiko left.He could tell his boss had used the jutsu on her. The one which made most women so weak in the knees that they almost passed out. Lady Eiko, as shy and reserved as she was, almost seemed immune to Madara’s usual tricks. There were also rumors that she had already given her heart to Hashirama Senju. And Hyuga were well known for not being swayed easily from love and loyalty. Both he and his boss had a long road ahead of them if Madara expected to win Lady Eiko’s heart. Akihito took a long swig from the bottle of wine before grabbing a glass and taking it to his boss.
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“Lady Eiko?” a voice drifted towards her from behind the door.Eiko pulled her covers further up over her head, wiping the tears from her face. She needed to get up out of the bed. She was now the Hyuga clan leader, and for her people, she had to put on a strong face, even in the midst of grieving for her father.Finally sitting up, she pulled on her silk robe and opened the door to Telsa.“Lady Eiko.” Telsa looked at her warily. “You have a visitor.”“Is it Hashirama?” Eiko asked moving past Telsa into the hallway. She was certain he would be the first to call after the news of her father’s death traveled to the Senju compound.“No… it’s not Lord Senju.” Telsa pulled Eiko back into her bedroom and then moved to the dresser to pull out a kimono for her to dress in. “It’s Lord Uchiha.”“What? Madara?” Eiko asked, shocked and confused.“Lord Uchiha has come to pay his respects.” Telsa held out a kimono to Eiko.Eiko stopped midstep, hesitant to reach for the kimono.“It would be rude if you did not greet him as the new clan leader, Lady Hyuga.” Telsa stated, though in her mind she wished she could find a way to keep Eiko hidden in her chambers.Eiko had not seen Madara since the week that he came with the rest of the clan leaders to discuss plans for the new village, Konohagakure. He had written several letters inquiring about her to which she always sent polite but short replies.Why was he the first to show up to pay his respects after her father’s death? Even before Hashirama? Though she knew her friend had been preoccupied lately with his blossoming relationship with Mito, she still could not help but feel a bit hurt.“It is a little unseemly for him to come even before your betrothed.” Telsa helped Eiko slip into the thin material of the kimono and then styled her long hair.Eiko did not know why she felt so nervous. She pinched her cheeks and brushed back the loose strands of hair that fell from the knots. “I am a clan leader now. That comes before any marriage formalities.”“That is true.” Telsa replied, feeling a bit better. She would think of this as two clan leaders meeting.“Just let the back of my hair hang long.” Eiko stated as Tesla began to run her hair through the back of Eiko’s thick hair.“But, Lady Eiko.” Telsa protested. She should wear her hair up in front of a man who was not her husband or lover.“It’s fine.” Eiko stated softly. “Madara has seen my hair out before.”He had seen it out and hanging down her backside when they were younger and no one was thinking about the differences between boys and girls. The first time she met him in the woods while she trained with her bow and arrow at night, she had her hair out, and it hung even longer then.Telsa tsked but she stood quietly and watched her mistress leave as she pleased.Eiko found Madara standing in the large courtyard inside the main family house. He had on a black kimono and loose pants with sword at his hilt. His long black hair was combed neatly compared to its usual wild freedom and he wore it back from his handsome face, closer to the neat style that Hyuga men sometimes wore. He looked the part of a clan leaders meeting, not too formal and not too casual.“Lord Uchiha.” Eiko greeted him, bowing to him.“Lady Hyuga.” Madara turned and looked her over appraisingly. His pleasure was apparent in his eyes. Then he took her hand, kissed it softly and bowed. “I came to pay my respects. I was troubled to hear about your father’s passing.”He turned to Akihito, gave him a scowl, and cleared his throat, causing the young man to move forward and say, “We brought some flowers and a gift to the memorial site, but we did not mean to disturb your house.”“We also brought some flowers for you.” Akihito handed her a bouquet of wind flowers and jasmine blossoms.“Thank you so much. But this was no disturbance. You are always welcome Lord Uchiha. Please come in.” Eiko moved to the side and indicated the door to the main house before she said, “You’ve come a long way. You must stay for dinner then.”“I’m just passing through.” Madara stated, looking down on her with intense black eyes. “I am on my way to meet with the Daimyo. To hopefully finalize the plans for the village.”Eiko nodded, understandingly. “Then at least come in for a drink and rest a bit.”“You are always so polite and kind.” Madara stated, the leer consuming his eyes again. “I think I will rest a bit.”Then he stopped and looked down at her lips before whispering, “I wonder…”Eiko took a step back, afraid she would lean into him reflexively. She knew exactly what he wondered, because she wondered the same thing. What did his lips taste like?She turned abruptly and walked back towards the house. “My attendants have prepared your favorite wine.”“So you remembered then.” Madara commented as he followed her into the house. Before they made it to the main sitting room, they were finally alone in the hallway since Madara slammed the door on Akihito and his attendants when he entered the house, and Eiko refused to allow her attendants to follow her out into the courtyard, directing them to prepare the house for the Uchiha.Madara grabbed hold of the obi at the back of her kimono and pulled her towards him. Eiko was taken off guard, as her body slammed into Madara’s hard body, causing her to drop the flowers. He leaned down pressing his nose into her hair and his lips close to her earlobe, so she could feel the warm caress of his breaths. His callused fingers curled softly around her throat again, and she felt the electric shock shoot through her body. A slight moan slipped from her lips before she could stifle it with her hand. He asked again, “What do you feel right now, Lady Hyuga?”Eiko whispered. “We should enter the sitting room…”“Is it pleasure?” Madara ran his fingers down below her neck to trace her collar bone. The feeling got more intense and Eiko could feel the warmth between her legs growing.She felt herself give in slightly, leaning back into his body as he wrapped an arm around her waist. He brushed his lips against her ear and said, “Marry me, Eiko.”Eiko opened her eyes, remembering herself and broke away from his embrace, moving away to gather the flowers up from the floor. She mumbled, “I can’t… I’m… Lord Tobirama.”She turned back to Madara but was caught in his all consuming gaze. A wiley smile was plastered on his face and he whispered, “Did you dream about me?”Eiko turned away again, stepping quickly through the next set of doors and out of the hallway. She moved around the small table and sat down, pouring the wine for Madara. Telsa stepped forward to take the glass and bottle from Eiko as the attendants should be doing this task, but her mistress was already handing the glass to Madara. “I hope this is to your liking.”Madara sat down in more of a flop than a sit and grabbed the glass, downing the wine in one gulp. “Perfect.”“But I’m not surprised.” Madara replied, eyeing Eiko who was still avoiding his gaze. “You will run a house well one day… as some man’s wife.”“As Lord Tobirama’s wife.” Telsa spoke up from her place next to Eiko. She had a strong feeling that she knew what might have happened in the hallway to make Eiko look so spooked.“Hum?” Madara scowled at the woman for interrupting. “You’re Telsa aren’t you? Lady Hyuga’s first attendant.”“Yes.” Telsa replied with disdain, staring just as hard back at Madara with her white eyes. “And bodyguard.”Madara threw his head back and laughed a deep throaty laugh. “I truly doubt Lady Eiko needs a bodyguard. When we were younger she almost beat me in a sparring match. Any woman who can pull that off is a force to be reckoned with!”Telsa narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t know you and my mistress were that well acquainted before you met months back.”Madara leered at Eiko again, causing her to turn bright red and then green as she realized that Madara might out their secret meetings as children. “Oh… Lady Eiko and I know each other very well.”“May I ask how?”Eiko placed her hand on Telsa’s hand. “Telsa will you please fetch another bottle of wine. I think Lord Uchiha is close to finished.”Telsa looked hesitant but then she stood up and moved off.Madara leaned over the table and whispered. “Are you trying to get me drunk, Lady Eiko?”Then his eyes fell to her hair which hung loose down her back. Absent mindedly, he said, “And trying to seduce me as well?”Eiko turned red again and stammered. “I…”She had hoped her hair would throw Madara off of his guard. But it seemed to be doing the exact opposite. He reached across the table and picked up a strand of her long hair. It was long enough for him to lean forward across the table and smell it. “Consider my proposal, Lady Hyuga. I know your father just passed and you are grieving. I don’t need an answer yet. I will wait for you. Just know I can give you everything that Tobirama never can.”His passionate eyes said it all. And Eiko could not help but to think about what it would be like to lay next to him every night as his wife. Madara let go of her hair.Eiko looked down at her hands and did not respond. Akihito ducked as a large knife was thrown across the room in anger, along with an empty wine flute and then two wooden plates.“SHE DARED TO SAY NO!!” Madara roared after Akihito finished Lady Eiko’s latest letter.He dropped to the ground to prevent from getting hit by more flying objects before picking up the scattered pages on the floor. He stammered, “Well… she did take the time to write a long letter.”“Why the hell do I care how long her ‘no’ was??” Madara demanded. “She was supposed to say yes!”His sharingan activated as he stared hard at his assistant. “Tell me why she said no!!”Akihito backed up a bit. The sharingan was one thing. Akihito had his own set of sharingan, of which he was very proud. But then there were those other eyes… the power unique to Madara, which he only used when he meant to kill. The eyes that were rumored to be cursed to fall into darkness, which was why his boss had traveled to the realm of the hawks in order to save his vision. He and anyone else who ended up under Madara’s sharingan feared that at any moment they may also fall into the path of the mangekyo.“At least she is no longer betrothed to Tobirama.” Akihito pointed out nervously. “She wrote that she broke it off… that is a step in the right direction. Don’t you think?”Akihito closed his eyes tight and waited for the other shoe to drop, as Madara considered his assistant’s words for a moment. Then he smiled, satisfied. “Yes this is good.”Even if he did not have Eiko yet, at least no other man had her… particularly not that twit, Tobirama. And the thought that his woman (as in his mind, Eiko was already his woman) was powerful enough to call off a betrothal to another clan made Madara just plain giddy. He held up the one glass left on the destroyed table and cheered, “More wine, Akihito!”
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Eiko stumbled over her kimono as she quietly made her way to the very first row of seated guests.How embarrassing! She thought to herself. She knelt down and took her appointed seat next to Madara Uchiha. She wished she could sit in the back, hidden among the less conspicuous guests. But it would have been unseemly for the Hyuga clan leader to hide in the back of such a major event. Truly she wished she could have missed the whole thing all together. But that would have raised even more eyebrows."Good of you to join us, Lady Hyuga.” Madara muttered at her in his all too often sarcastic and harsh tone. Turning slightly towards her in order to politely change his sightline, he furrowed his quizzical brow at her, examining her with onyx colored eyes. Then he sharply muttered, "I was waiting for you."Embarrassed, she flushed and smiled awkwardly under his appraising gaze, while trying to subtly straighten her disheveled kimono."I was... well... something held me up." Eiko explained, apologetically. The truth was that she had stood outside for about twenty minutes in the heat and the dust, before she finally resolved to enter the wedding ceremony."If you had allowed me to escort you, it might not have been so difficult to walk inside." Madara scolded, his tone softening a bit. "After all, this very powerful and adventitious match between Hashirama and his new bride must be kept in check somehow, don't you think?”Eiko remained silent and turned her white eyes away from him. Madara never seemed to think about anything but his ambitions. For a moment, she would consider that Madara might actually want to marry her because he had feelings for her and not just to gain the backing of her clan. But then he would remind her that this was not the case by hinting about his true intentions."I will never understand how Hashirama could overlook a woman as beautiful as you." Madara moved his hand slightly, so it just barely touched Eiko's hand until she moved her hand away quickly. Watching as Eiko's cheeks burned even brighter red, Madara smiled at her though the smile did not spread to his hard eyes. His smiles always reminded her of a wily cat watching a mouse.Madara was still angling for her hand in marriage despite the fact that she had continued to turn him down multiple times during the last two years. He claimed it was her beauty that he found irresistible, pulling her into dark corners to show her just how irresistible he found her. But Eiko was certain it was still only her power that he was after.After he discovered the nature of her true feelings for the first Hokage, Madara only began to pressure her even more. Using every possible moment to point out and remind her of Hashirama's agreement to marry Mito Uzumaki. And how that union would tip the scales of power even further in the direction of the Senju clan. If Hashirama could overlook Eiko's love and devotion for him for all of these years, wouldn't he eventually overlook the wellbeing and safety of her clan?"If we were united, you would always have the backing of the Uchiha clan." Madara had promised many times. Though his efforts were in vein, Eiko would not agree to marry Madara and particularly not as a strategic political move against Hashirama."What will you do after today?" Madara currently whispered in her ear, eyeing the young couple as their hands were joined together by the priest. "Now that your precious Hashirama is married, will you accept my offer?"Eiko sighed, keeping her eyes forward and attempting to ignore Madara."Think of it? The Uchiha and Hyuga clans together. Two of the great dojutsus bound as one forever." Madara smiled to himself. Now twenty, the Uchiha clan leader was even more handsome than he was two years ago. And he spent almost as much time trying to charm Eiko as he did scaring everyone else. She had begun to look for him in the village. Caring about what he thought and felt day to day. But something about the unsettling coldness in his black eyes still kept Eiko at arms length and prevented her from accepting a proposal.Madara had changed over the years. When she first met him that day at the river, he was hot tempered and fierce, but it quickly became apparent that he cared deeply for those he considered family or friends. She later remembered that he was the same boy who she met in the woods that night so many years ago. The boy who had watched her train and then had playfully smiled and left without attacking her. But the death of his younger brother caused Madara to become cold and calculating. His power grew by leaps and bounds, but he started to only care about his endless ambitions. He had already fought Hashirama twice to the death, and he only lived afterwards because Hashirama refused to kill him."I'll consider your offer." Eiko replied politely wishing the ceremony would end quicker, so she could get away from this place for multiple reasons. The first reason being Madara's advances.Eiko was not planning to consider Madara's offer. She had not considered any offer, and she refused to be sealed to or to marry a man who she did not love, after she refused Tobirama.The Hyuga clan no longer needed an adventitious marriage to ensure the Senju clan's protection, and as leader of the clan, there was no one to force her into a match. But the fact that she was so resistant to marriage only seemed to make her more attractive to Madara. After the ceremony ended, Eiko quickly gave her respectful congratulations to the couple.Hashirama and Mito made such a beautiful couple and they appeared to be very much in love with each other. Their happiness made Eiko feel even more guilty for the terrible jealousy that she felt in her heart.She had a dream the night before that she was the one marrying Hashirama, and he had looked at her with the love and adoration that were in his eyes as he looked at Mito. She had wanted to stay there in that alternate reality and not wake up to the real world that morning.After hugging the couple, Eiko found herself moving aimlessly back into the crowd, a gasp of pain stuck in the bottom of her throat. She stumbled to the door and attempted to slip out before anyone could stop her. Unfortunately, Madara was waiting for her in the entrance way.He leaned against the archway with his right foot propped up behind him and his arms crossed over his chest. “Leaving so soon?”Eiko attempted to hurry by him without saying a word, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. She did not struggle but allowed him to envelope her into an embrace. Inside his arms, she let out the sob of pain.“I’ll escort you home.” Madara said firmly, stroking his hand comfortingly through her hair. “You need not come and leave alone.”She nodded, burying her face into his chest. Seeing Hashirama and Mito together had been too much. Tears were welling up in the back of her eyes and she had to get away before anyone saw her breakdown and cry.Madara took her hand and led her back towards the Hyuga compound silently.One of the stipulations that Madara had insisted on and Hashirama agreed to was that the village extended from the land already held by the Hyuga clan. The land was neutral enough, and it set in the valley beneath the cliff side that he and Hashirama once dreamed of as the peaceful land where their younger brothers could grow old.Eiko held tight to Madara’s large hand as he led her inside the house and into Telsa’s custody. By that time, tears were already streaming down her face and the older woman wrapped Eiko tightly into her arms.“Thank you. I’ll take care of her.” Telsa nodded to Madara respectfully. He nodded back in return before leaving for the Uchiha compound. Akihito paced outside of Madara’s office nervously. He still had his boss’s letter to Lady Eiko in his grasp as she had refused to recieve him or take the letter from Telsa. What was he going to tell Madara? He surely was going to die this time.The Hyuga mistress had refused to see anyone for a few days after Hashirama’s and Mito’s wedding. And she had been refusing the Uchiha Lord’s visits for weeks. Madara was falling into a worse mood every time his visits or letters were rejected. He had fired all of his attendants and only Akihito remained in the Uchiha leader’s household.Between Lady Eiko’s rejection and the Uchiha clan’s refusal to back Madara’s challenge of Hashirama’s position as hokage, everyone including the clan elders feared for their lives and were giving him a very wide berth whenever Madara chose to leave his house.“AKIHITO!!” Madara roared through the door. “Get in here! And bring my cloak and sword!!””Akihito tossed the letter and went running for the summoned items. “Yes sir!”Reaching his hand in the cracked open door, Akihito handed the items into the room. Madara hissed through the screen, “I’m going out. Don’t let anyone in this room or inform anyone of my absence. Do you understand?”“Yes. Your secret is safe with me, sir!” Akihito squeaked.“Im sure it is, if you want to live another day.” Madara growled back, snatching the items and slamming the door shut.He threw on his cloak and sword before climbing out through his window and sneaking out the back of his yard and the Uchiha compound.Madara made his way across the village, hiding in the shadow to prevent notice. Then he scaled the wall of the Hyuga compound near the back, close to the main house. He was spotted by one sentry who had her byakugan activated to guard the Hyuga leader’s home, but he flashed his sharingan quickly placing a genjutsu, then knocked her out with the hilt of his sword.He approached Lady Eiko’s side of the house and opened her window. He had his attendants spy and draw a specific layout of the main house a long time ago, so he knew exactly where she slept at night.Swiftly he entered the window and shut it behind him. He found her bed empty and the room appeared unoccupied.Then suddenly a flash of brown hair and white robes appeared from behind some screens, palms flying as Eiko struck Madara several blows. He stumbled back as she was going for vital spots. Activating his sharingan, he caught her next strike and twisted her body into a hold, so her arm crossed the front of her neck. She tried to struggle, attempting to force her way out of his hold.Madara pulled her back against his body, restraining her tighter. He felt the fullness of her hips and buttocks against his growing hardness through the thin night gown. He took in the smell of her hair and then let his free arm fall just so his fingers grazed her right breast and nipple. He let the jutsu go through his fingers as he passed her nipple causing a wave of pleasure to hit her body. He felt her immediately tremble beneath his touch and relax. A soft moan fell from her lips which sounded almost like his name as her body pressed into him.Then he spat out the bit of blood from the internal damage that Eiko had done, before turning his face back into her neck taking in the scent of her skin hungrily and kissing it softly. He whispered in her ear, “It’s me, woman.”He let her go. She lingered a moment against him. Both of them enjoyed the feeling of her soft roundness against his hard angles. Then finally she moved away, turning back to look at him before placing her hand on the spot on her neck that his lips just touched.“You would’t receive me.” Madara stated. “I needed to see for myself that you were ok.”Eiko nodded. She hugged herself, realizing that she was near naked in her thin night gown. “Sorry… I thought you were… well I didn’t mean to hurt you.”Madara smiled at her. “I’m better now that I know you are ok, Lady Eiko.”Eiko sighed, sitting on the edge of her bed. She did not feel ok. She felt like her heart had been ripped out and there was now a huge hole set in the middle of her chest.Madara stepped forward. “Hashirama is a fool…”“He isn’t.” Eiko said firmly. “I’m the fool. I knew he was not mine, but I continued to allow myself to feel for him.”“And you still defend him.” Madara made a face like he had a vile taste in his mouth.Eiko stood up and took Madara’s hand. “Hashirama is a good man. He has been a good friend to both you and I.”“I don’t believe that.” Madara growled. “I don’t believe even you believe that.”Eiko turned away from him, letting go of his hand. “I can only accept your proposal if you let go of this vengeance and hatred you have for the Senjus. If you let Hashirama have the position of hokage and not challenge it…”She turned back and looked into Madara’s eyes. “If you are willing to do that… I will marry you, Madara Uchiha.”Madara’s eyes went cold. “Hashirama doesn’t deserve that type of leniency... not from me nor from you. I won’t do that.”“Then this is not about me and you… this is about you and Hashirama.” Eiko moved to open the door to her bedroom. Madara moved quicker, blocking her from the door.“At the beginning, I was just trying to win the village from Hashirama.” Madara admitted, looking down on her. “And I’m a hard and quick tempered man. I don’t admit to love easily…”He looked down further to his feet now, visibly struggling with something in his mind. “But… I can’t let you think I don’t care about you, Lady Eiko.”“Then do this for me.” Eiko begged. “Let go of everything you feel about Hashirama and marry me.”He reached for her, pulling her into him and kissing her hard on the lips.“Tonight.” Madara replied. “Right now.”Eiko nodded. She moved quickly for her cloak, throwing it over her nightgown. Madara barely let her get her cloak on before he scooped her up and carried her out into the night.When they reached the old Hyuga shrine, Madara harangued the elderly priest out of his bed threatening bodily harm if he did not marry them in record time. Eiko pacified her soon to be husband by requesting only the basic ceremony which took only a few minutes and then apologizing to the flustered priest for waking him.Once the ceremony was done, Madara carried Eiko back to her house. He whispered into her ear as he flew with her in his arms through the shadows of the village, “now, you’re mine.”In the quiet of her chambers, he removed her cloak and wrapped his large muscular arms around her waist, feeling her buttocks through the thin gown and kissing her deeply. His tongue slipped into her mouth and rolled over her tongue as he hungrily taste her for the first time.Eiko’s thoughts were a jumble. Her body could only respond to him. She pressed her breasts into his hard torso, her small hands reaching for the knot of his kimono to strip it away.Madara pushed her into the nearby wall, tearing off the rest of his kimono and then spun her around, so her back faced him up against the wall. He grabbed at her soft breasts through the silk nightgown as his mouth explored her neck and then her shoulders.He spun her again, picking her up so her legs wrapped around his waist and carrying her to her bed. He lay down on top of her, breathing hard into her neck. “What do you feel now, Lady Eiko, my wife?”He kissed her again, pulling her up to a seated position and removing the straps of her night gown. Embarrassed, Eiko moved her arms up to cover her naked breasts as the silk slid down around her waist. Madara caught her arms before she could cover herself and huskily said, “I want to see you.”Madara’s eyes took in the roundness of her large firm bosom, while placing his hands around her tiny waist to turn her towards him. His eyes pooled into an odd shade of crimson as he admired Eiko’s upper body. His large membrane visibly stood erect underneath his loose cloth pants. Madara smiled wickedly as he watched his new wife eye his cock fearfully. Her cheeks turned rosy red. Then he commanded barshly, while restraining himself from just grabbing her and taking her right there, “Stand up and let your night gown fall all the way off.”Eiko stood and let the silk slip to the floor, falling like water from her skin. In the cool air of the room, her nipples stood as erect as his cock. Madara rubbed at them as moved his fingers up between her thighs and into her warm folds. He fingered her as her juices ran down his hand. He asked again, he lust filled eyes intensifying. “What do you feel?”Throwing her head back against the mounting pleasure that rose between her legs, Eiko moaned loudly as she arched her back and pressed her pelvis into Madara’s wanting hand. Madara growled, barely able to contain himself. He took both of her breasts into his mouth running his tongue across her nipples.He continued to pleasure her until he felt her body spasm and he knew she was ready. Picking her up, he threw her onto the bed, mounting her. He thrust into her before she had time to protest and felt the warmth of her wetness surround him. He continued to move within her to the rhythm of her cries as she sang out her pleasure. His name. How much she wanted him. His undeniable skill. Anything and everything she would do for him. He lost complete control. Eiko woke up inside of Madara’s arms. She smiled as she felt his soft breaths on the back of her neck. Turning around to face him, she found that he was still wide awake and watching her sleep.Scowling, he looked away as soon as he saw she was awake too, and her smiled faded. She knew immediately what he was thinking. Anxiously, she said his name. “Madara.”But he only pulled her closer to him so her nose touched his chest. He said in a low voice. “I have to leave the village in the morning. I won’t put you in the middle of this, but I can’t allow Hashirama to become hokage without a fight.”Madara kissed her forehead. “I want to stay here… with you. But I can’t betray who I am. I can’t betray my brother’s death or my beliefs… not even for you.”Eiko sighed. She was not surprised that Madara had chosen the other path, on which she could not follow him. She knew he loved her. But he loved vengeance more. Just as she loved him. But she loved Hashirama more. She conceded. “I know.”“I married you... not because of Hashirama, but because you have always been the only woman for me, and no matter what terrible things I may do, you will be the one good part of me left.” Madara spoke as though to himself. Then he moved her hair from her face and looked into her eyes. “Eventually, I may fall so far that I deny it, but you should know I will love you forever.”She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, relaxing into the warmth of his closeness. She hoped even in the darkness that one day he may find his way back to her. '"I love you too. Always."By the next morning he was gone.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Eiko was seated on her bed with her head in her hands, contemplating what to do about this latest mess that she had gotten herself into, when the attack on the village came.The clash between Hashirama and Madara shook the entire village, damaging most of the front and the village square. It lasted for hours as the nine tailed beast, Kurama, went on a rampage almost trampling the entire village.Eiko and her long eye kunoichi archers were the first to respond, targeting the tailed beast from their stations on the newly built wall of the village. But when she saw who was behind the attack, she almost passed out where she stood.“Lady Eiko, are you ok?” Telsa placed her hand on her mistress’s shoulder as Eiko used the fractured sight to keep visualization of the fight between the hokage and Madara Uchiha.“I’m fine.” Her voice was thin. She was not fine. She had a strong hunch that she was pregnant and there was only one possible father. Her husband, who was now a sworn enemy to her village and who she was now bound to kill.She turned and shut off her access to the other byakugans. She would never be able to turn Madara in. It was better if she just focused on the tailed beast. “I need to get to Lady Uzumaki. She will want to seal the nine tails once Hashirama captures it.”Telsa took Eiko’s hand. “You know what this means?”Eiko nodded. “My father has taught me everything. And he was particularly careful with the sealing scrolls that we were able to salvage from the last attack on Uzushiogakure. I know what I have to do if Lady Mito is to become the nine tails jinchuuriki.”“Good.” Telsa replied. “Your father has taught you well.”Madara hid in the shadows along the street with his hood pulled down to cover his face. He was now officially a rogue ninja. If anyone, even an Uchiha saw him in this village, he would be hunted and captured.It had been two months since he set Kurama against the Konohagakure. The plan had failed horribly, and now, not only was he a sworn enemy to the village, he had also handed Hashirama and his Uzumaki wife, an immense amount of power.But in the last few weeks, his luck had changed. He encountered a friend, who reminded him of a tablet that he discovered in the southern forest once guarded by Kurama. The tablet was part of both an ancient Uchiha and an ancient Hyuga legend. While the Uchiha legend stated the tablet was only decipherable by the mangekyo sharingan, the Hyuga legend stated the byakugan saw half the truth, the sharingan saw half a lie, and the Rinnegan could decipher the tablet completely.When Madara first read the tablet, he discovered the secret to unsealing the mangekyo. After possessing Kurama, he found this to be the truth. So he traveled back to the tablet and deciphered it fully. The tablet provided an infallible way to defeat Hashirama, to take back his clan, and to take his rightful position as hokage. Though it was also possible that this plan might kill him first.He was at a fork in the road, and he was unsure which path to take. The power that sat at the end of one path was awfully enticing. It would be enough to restore the Uchiha name, and avenge the death of his brother and his clan. However, down the other path lay a long and peaceful life, and after the many disappointments that life had handed him, that also seemed enticing. But he had never been one to dwell too long on disappointment. His arrogance only allowed him to see a set back as a small bump in the road. Then he thought of Eiko. And he knew if she agreed to come with him, he would choose the second path.He had asked her to marry him too many times to count before he broke from the village. She said no every time, but in the end, she finally said yes. He knew she cared for him despite his political ambitions. But she was afraid of his harsh and sometimes brutal ideals. Maybe she was even afraid of him.If he offered her a peaceful life away from this village and their friend, Hashirama, who had managed to inadvertently cause her so much pain, he knew she would agree this time too.He caught sight of her as she walked past, carrying a basket of flowers. She was still beautiful, but a deep and permanent sadness had set into her white eyes. He grabbed her hand, causing her to drop the basket, and pulled her to him in the shadows.She opened her mouth to scream, but he stifled the scream with his hand, pushing the hood back from his head. He whispered, "It's me."Eiko still looked fearfully up at him, even after she saw who it was. But she relaxed as he looked deeper into her eyes, bringing his face down close so their noses almost touched. He whispered, still holding her against him. "I did not come here to fight this time. I came here because I want you to come with me… away from here. We can grow old together in peace, raise a family, maybe you can learn to love me like you love Hashirama… at the very least, I will live my life to make sure that you are happy."Her white eyes softened as she took in the sincerity and love that radiated from Madara's eyes. She remembered the boy that he use to be, and she placed her hand on his hand, signaling for him to move it. But then she looked to the ground, "I would come with you… but I can't."Sharply, Madara let her go and backed up a step. She grabbed his hand to stop him and said. "It's not that I don't want to… But I've been sealed to Mito and the Nine Tailed Fox Demon. Lord First will be able to find me anywhere and then he will also find you..."Madara took another step back and yanked his hand from her hand. Rage set in on his heart and cold hatred consumed his face and his eyes. Eiko saw this and the fear returned to her eyes. Quickly, she moved away too, picking up her basket, and running back out into the street."Hashirama." Madara growled angrily, clinching his fists until his nails cut into his skin. The Senju had taken his clan, his village, his reputation as a shinobi, and now, he had taken the one woman who Madara wanted... and he did not even love her.Because Eiko loved Hashirama, she had agreed to seal herself to Mito Uzumaki in order to suppress the nine tailed beast. Filled with fury, Madara turned to head out of the village and back south. He was going to make certain that Hashirama and all of his dreams burned. Six months later, Eiko opened her eyes and sat up in the bed sharply. She could feel a strong presence in the room. It was as if the window had been left opened, blowing out the night fires and letting in the windchill.“Did you know you were pregnant with my child before you sealed yourself to the Uzumaki?” An icy and deep voice rumbled from the shadows.Eiko rubbed her large stomach protectively and activated her byakugan searching the room. Madara stood in the shadows of the far corner. He had changed even more. He appeared like a wild animal and his chakra was ominous and dark. Something else about him was different. Almost like his body structure had changed. She could see he was doing something to himself though she did not know what.“Yes.” She answered softly.“What will you do with the child once he is born?” Madara demanded.Eiko looked up startled. “I will care for him and love him. I am his mother.”“He cannot stay here.” Madara stated coldly. “I will not have my son raised among Hashirama’s sheep. It’s bad enough that he has my wife.”He spat on the floor as if he had a vile taste in his mouth.“You won’t take my child!” Eiko cried, as Madara dove to the bed covering Eiko’s mouth and stifling her screams with his hand.Madara hissed into her ear. “That is MY child. You have no choice in the matter.”She struggled against his grasp but found it was no use. Not wanting to harm the baby, she relaxed into his arms until he moved his hand from her mouth.He moved his hand onto her round stomach, rubbing it softly through the thin cloth of her nightgown. The baby moved, kicking slightly in response. “I will come back for him when he is born. Don’t try and keep him from me.”Eiko turned to face Madara looking into his eyes. His black eyes were hollow now. There was nothing there. The rage and passion no longer mixed with the ice. He seemed completely inhuman. Sadly, she whispered, “What happened to you?”Madara ignored her and repeated. “I will come back for my child after he is born.”“Madara.” Eiko placed her hand on the side of his face. She moved closer to him and softly kissed his lips. He did not respond, but pushed her away. “Madara don’t do this. No matter how I feel about Hashirama and this village, I love you too. You’re my husband. Let our child go. You can have your vengeance just let him or her grow up in peace.”His eyes became red and then a deeper red, the pinwheel shaped pupil spinning. Eiko felt her mind grow dim. She placed her hand up towards Madara as she fell forward into him. “Madara, don’t… do this.” “We will just have to hide the child as soon as it is born.” Mito replied when Eiko told her and the hokage about Madara’s visit.Hashirama looked hesitantly between his wife and his friend. “Maybe I should find him. Reason with him…”“That has yet to work.” Mito replied curtly. “Eiko and her baby’s safety comes first. He is helpless and he needs his mother and a clan. He can’t just be out there with his renegade father.”Mito’s eyes were fiercely starring down her husband as though willing him to forget about his old friend.Eiko looked worried. “If I go with him, Madara will track us anywhere. But I can’t be parted from my baby.”“We’ll say he died right after birth and then send him to stay with my cousins in Kirigakure. Once he is old enough, he can come to visit with them. They will treat him like their own child. I can visit and keep an eye on him as much as possible, but this is the only way to make sure that Madara can’t find him.”Eiko began to cry. Mito moved to her and put her arms around the other woman. Then she looked over at her husband who was still thinking silently. “Hashirama? What do you think?”“Ok. But only for a year.” Hashirama replied. “At least, he must know his mother.” Eiko had her baby a few days later. It was a boy with a head of thick black hair and black eyes. She officially named him, Izuna Uchiha, after Madara’s beloved younger brother, though he was called Izu after he went to live with his adopted family.There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he needed to be hidden quickly before Madara got wind that he was still alive. Izu looked exactly like his father. His young face settling into a babyfaced scowl even after only being a few hours old.“Now my son and Izu will forever be cousins.” Mito said soothingly as she took the baby from his mother’s arms.Eiko weeped terribly as she watched Mito leave with her child. She refused to get out of the bed for days and when she finally did, she sat by the memorial that had been placed for Izuna next to her father for hours.That is where Madara found her when he finally returned to the village a few weeks later after hearing the Hyuga clan leader had her child.After Eiko revealed to Mito she was pregnant with Madara’s child, she told her that they had been married secretly right before he left the village. The village was abuzz with the news of Madara’s child. It did not take too long for it to spread to him in one of the outskirt villages where he was holed up.He did not hear about the child’s death until he actually reached the village. But there was nothing left in him to feel any way about it, other than more power had just slipped from his grasp.After confirming Eiko’s grief at the memorial site, Madara snuck to the Uchiha compound to find Akihito.Akihito found a wife soon after Madara left the village almost a year ago and had settled happily into married life. Madara found him in his backyard attempting to plant some grass and flowers.“Akihito.” Madara growled from the shadows upon seeing his old assistant.The hairs on the back of the young man’s neck stood up as he recognized the voice. He had been secretly worrying that Lord Madara would show up in his life again ever since he heard about Lady Eiko’s child.Akihito sat up straight and replied, “Lord Madara. So you’ve come back?”Madara stepped out into the light revealing himself to his old assistant. It was all Akihito could do to prevent from gasping at the sight of the old Uchiha leader. He was beginning to look like some sort of feral creature.“I came back for my child.” Madara stated. “But it appears he has died.”Akihito nodded gravely. “I heard. So very sad. And to such a kind hearted mother... Lady Eiko must be distraught.”“I’m sure she is.” Madara scoffed, unmoved. “Did you see the child die?”“I wasn’t there. No men are allowed.” Akihito replied, surprised by Madara's irrational inquiry. “Lady Mito was and some of the Hyuga attendants.”Madara grumbled something to himself.“I was especially disheartened by the news because my own wife is pregnant and will give birth soon too. Twins.”Akihito shrunk back a bit as Madara turned his death stare on him. “Why would you think I’d care about that??”He moved closer to Akihito, pressing the man back further into the side of the house. “If you hear anything else about the child, other than he is dead, you will come to me and tell me at once.”“Yes sir!” Akihito nodded sharply.Mito sat across the table from Eiko sipping tea. She was worried about her friend. Eiko had been terribly depressed ever since Izu was sent to Kirigakure, and she had been losing weight. She had large black circles under her white eyes and her thick brown hair appeared to be thinning. Mito reached across the table and placed her hand on Eiko’s hand though the woman barely appeared to notice. “I have news.”Eiko did not reply. She did not even move.“Izu can come home.” Mito stated.Now a brightness formed in Eiko’s eyes as she turned and looked at the red headed woman for the first time. “How is that possible?"“Akihito… Madara’s old assistant. His wife just had twins. The babies were months premature. One of the children, a boy, passed unfortunately. But the couple has agreed to take Izu in the child’s place. No one but a few trusted attendants were present at the birth with me, so few are aware of the child’s death, I made sure of that. Akihito and Madara are cousins, so they look enough alike that no one will question if Izu is his child.” Mito stated smiling at her plan.Eiko smiled back. “Izu really can come home then?”“You still won’t be able to tell anyone he is your son.” Mito warned cautiously.“Yes.” Eiko stated in her soft voice. “But at least he will be nearby so I can see him grow up.”Mito nodded. “Akihito told us Madara visited him some weeks ago. He is convinced your child is dead and he knows Akihito’s wife was pregnant with twins. Izu will be safer here close to you.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Now nine years old, Izu quietly watched as villagers passed by in the bustling street. He liked to sort out the interesting looking people and imagine where they were headed or where they had just come from. Sometimes he would make up stories in his mind to fill in the blanks. Today he watched a tall dark haired man who reminded him of his father. Unlike Akihito, who had retired to domestic service long ago, he surmised the man was a ninja from his armor and the weapons strapped to his chest and legs. And based on the crest across his chest plates, he was from the Senju clan. The man was buying flowers from a Yamanaka flower cart. Izu wondered who would receive the man's flowers. A sick family member or perhaps a woman. Izu looked over at his twin sister, Kaiya, who was staring at him with an irritated look on her face.“Why are you always daydreaming brother??” She demanded. Kaiya never stopped to watch. She ran through life at full speed, only stopping to complain that he was taking too long. Then she slapped him on the back of the head and shouted, “Wake up!”Izu smiled and shook his head causing his hair to fly. His black hair was longer than usual, as it grew quicker than Akihito could shear it off, and it now sprout wild and shaggy around his pale face. He ran after her as she dashed into the street, giggling.“You can’t catch me!” She yelled behind her. A blur of long black pigtails rounded the corner and disappeared into the market place.Running after her into the market place, Izu began to have a terrible headache. He slowed down and grasped at his temple, barely stifling a cry of pain.Suddenly a set of soft hands was grasping his arms. He looked up and into the white eyes of one of the most beautiful women who he had ever seen. Her face crinkled into deep worry lines, and she pulled him into her arms, sweeping him away from the center of the market place and off into the shadows.“Izu?” She asked softly. “Are you ok?”He nodded, wondering how she knew his name. “I get these headaches all the time. My father says I'm ok... but they hurt.”“He's right. They are normal…” She stated. “But if you get them… you must hide your eyes for awhile so no one sees them.”“Why?” Izu asked confused.The woman led him away and towards a tiny pond set inside a small public courtyard. She showed his face to him.Izu sucked in a breath. One of his eyes was now stark white. Just like both of the woman’s eyes. She sat down next to him and said, “Your right eye is developing into a byakugan it seems.”She placed her arm around him and said, “Calm yourself and your breathing and your eye will go back to normal. But until you can control it, you need to keep it a secret.”“Who are you? And why do I have a byakugan?” Izu asked concerned. “I’m Uchiha… I should have a sharingan.”“You are Uchiha, and you probably will have a sharingan too.” Eiko replied. “But only in your left eye.”“Why?” The nine year old boy looked up at her quizzically.“I am a Hyuga.” Eiko stated. She placed her hand softly on the little boy’s face, smoothing out his wild black hair. “Hyugas have the byakugan.”The little boy scowled, his brow scrunching down into his round cheeks. Eiko's heart lurched. He looked so much like his father, she almost expected him to start yelling and throwing things.“One day you will understand,” Eiko held back from kissing his forehead and telling him that she was his mother.She had been watching Izu closely ever since the day that he returned to live with Akihito’s family. Everyday she followed him through the village to make sure he was safe. She began to worry once he started having the headaches.Those who were only part Hyuga sometimes developed the byakugan without the typical permanent white eye color of the clan. Most of the time when the byakugan started to become active, they would develop severe headaches and their eye would change to white without provocation.Eiko also knew if anyone (outside of the few who knew the truth) found out that Izu had one byakugan, his true identity would be obvious. Though no one spoke the rumors out loud, there were already whispers among the Uchiha clan that Izu looked just like the old leader.However Akihito would hear none of it, and corrected anyone who dared to compare his son to Madara. “He really looks like his namesake, Izuna... Madara's younger brother, actually. Our fathers were brothers, you know. So is it so strange my son looks like a cousin?”Eiko still feared Madara would figure out the truth and return to take Izu, so she stayed close to him. And when she could not, she sent Telsa.“You know I’m going to be part of the first class at the new ninja academy.” Izu informed her, proudly. “Both my twin sister and I were nominated from the Uchiha clan.”“A byakugan will really add to my skills.” Izu said confidently. Then he had a thought. "Do you think I might even get to learn gentle fist?"He had always thought the fighting technique unique to the Hyuga Clan would suite him much better than the heavy handed taijutsu that Akihito had passed onto him and Kaiya. Eiko smiled back just as proudly. She had gone straight to Hashirama after she heard about the new academy to make sure Izu was included in the children picked for the first class. She also made a note to suggest that Izu was allowed to spend some time training under a Hyuga Master. Kiyoshi Nara, Kazuno Senju, and Shin Aburame who also sat on the Konoha council were all aware of who Izu was and none of them wanted Madara’s son to be trained as a ninja. Though Hashirama appointed Eiko to the council, she rarely meddled in village business unless it directly related to her clan or the nine tailed beast. But she did attend that meeting to fight for her son.“He will have the bloodlines of two clans regardless of whether Konohagakure decides to train him or not. Two powerful kekkei genkai. And not only will he have a sharingan, he will likely also inherit his father’s skill with it... if that goes unguided...” Eiko stood in Hashirama’s office as the first hokage paced the floor.“I agree. Izu should not be punished for his father’s actions. And he is the perfect example of a young shinobi who would benefit from being trained by multiple clans as opposed to just one. I have accepted him in the ninja academy along with his twin sister who also has stood out from her peers.”Eiko breathed a sigh of relief. Isolating Izu to only the Uchiha clan would place him at even more risk of following in his father’s foot steps.Hashirama looked at Eiko warily. “If he is to be trained to use both the byakugan and the sharinagan, he will need to know his true heritage soon. First off the reason why he has both dojutsu will need to be explained. And in particular, why he needs to keep his power secret.”“If Akihito agrees, I can speak to him.” Hashirama suggested.Eiko opened her mouth to refuse."Despite our differences, I have always considered Madara my best friend." Hashirama continued before she could speak. "I couldn't save him... Let me do this for his son.""Ok." Eiko replied.A week later, Izu stared up at the new building that housed the hokage's office, and soon, the ninja academy. He initiated a step and then pulled back again. Kaiya pushed him hard in the back, so he stumbled forward a bit. "Hurry up Izu! Father said not to keep the hokage waiting!"Izu looked back at Kaiya and hesitated again. He was worried. "Do you think he is calling me into his office to tell me I'm no longer accepted into the academy?""If I'm still accepted, you're definitely still accepted!" Kaiya rolled her eyes. Despite the fact that Kaiya was the fiercer twin by nature while Izu could not help but be kind and gentle, he had always been more skilled than her at both taijutsu and ninjutsu. He had even begun to use genjutsu though he still did not have his sharingan yet. "You're starting to become as nervous as Father."Scowling, determined that he must buck up and enter the building, Izu began to make his way up the steps. He had to take each step slowly as his equilibrium was off. A few days ago, Akihito began to insist that he wear an eye patch over his right eye to hide his byakugan. His father had always been a very nervous man for some unknown reason. But after Izu started having the headaches, Akihito became unusually skittish. Sometimes he would just pop up in the middle of the village to make sure that Izu still had his eye patch on. He was constantly warning Izu to never speak to any strange Uchiha, especially if the stranger looked closely blood related. Izu was certain Akihito was going to have a heart attack after both his children were accepted into the academy, and oddly, his first response was to complain to their mother that Lord Hashirama was trying to get him killed. When Izu reached the hallway in front of the hokage's office, he found the pretty stranger from the market place, standing next to his father and mother. She was staring at him intensely with kind but worried white eyes. Izu smiled reassuringly at her. He hated to see her worried. "Hello again.""Hello, Izu." She saw an opening with his greeting and came over to him taking his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't get to introduce myself last time..." "Don't worry." Izu replied, softly, looking over at Akihito. "My father told me who you are.""He did?" She looked shocked and even more worried, but Akihito shook his head at her nervously. "I told him that you are Lady Eiko. The leader of the Hyuga clan." Akihito explained, quickly. He turned to Izu, and straightened his shirt. "You know no matter what is said today your mother and I love you."Izu looked back and forth between the adults staring down at him and nodded his head, confused. "Ok." Akihito nodded at Eiko and they escorted him to the door. The guards opened the doors revealing a large bright room.Hashirama stood up from his desk and moved around to greet them. For this occasion, he had dressed as causal and as approachable as he could get away with while at work. A sharp breath was caught in his throat as he greeted Madara's son. He had seen Izu before from a far, but up close his resemblance to his father was even more stunning. If it weren't for the eye patch and the fact that Akihito insisted Izu keep his wild hair as short and as neat as possible, Hashirama would have thought he had stepped back in time to the years that he and his old friend spent playing on the river banks."You must be Izu." Hashirama lowered himself down to one knee so he was eye level with the boy and shook his hand. "I am Hashirama."Akihito started at the use of the informal name but Hashirama only smiled a half smile and whispered to the boy. "Today we are meeting as good friends, so you can call me Hashirama... or uncle if you like."Izu nodded, hesitantly. He called most adults who he knew informally, aunt or uncle. But referring to the hokage so familiarly seemed a bit much even to a nine year old. "I am very good friends with your parents. We've known each other since we were children.""Really?" Izu looked back at Akihito, curiously. "You never visit.""He is the hokage, son. A very busy and important shinobi. He doesn't have time for visiting." Akihito inserted quickly, still not conditioned to kind and understanding leaders like Hashirama. "Yes. Akihito and I have known each other a long time, but..." Hashirama hesitated a moment. "I'm not speaking about him nor... Isa, your mother who raised you.""There is a reason why you have a byakugan... even though you have always been part of the Uchiha Clan, Izu." Hashirama stated. "Have you ever heard of the name Madara Uchiha?"One year later...Izu stared out the window of the classroom as their sensei attempted to explain the mechanics of body replacement technique.Ever since he was told about his true parentage, Izu had become even more introverted than before. Now he barely spoke even when he was out in the village with his sister and their friends. Kaiya made up for Izu's introversion by becoming more extroverted. She already had a well established rivalry with one of the other Uchiha in the classroom, Sashin. He was two years older than the twins and extremely arrogant. He hated the Uchiha twins as soon as he laid eyes on them. And he was certain they were the only reason why his younger sister, Ichioku, was not nominated to join the first class too. He never let Izu forget that even if he was Uchiha, he only had one sharingan.Izu's sharingan finally activated on the day that he found out Akihito and Isa were not his biological parents. Even though he was happy to have Eiko as his mother and to finally understand why he always felt so connected to the Hyuga clan, it did not make up for finding out that Madara was his father.Like every other Uchiha child, Izu knew Madara Uhciha's story well, even though the old leader broke from the clan long before they were born. The stories about the old Uchiha leader made Madara out to be even more monsterous than the real man. Izu started to worry that he might actually be half demon. But after he started to have nightmares about his demon father returning for him and then forcing him to do unforgivably evil deeds in his name, Akihito reassured Izu that he did not have to worry."You have Lady Eiko's disposition." Akihito stated after bringing Izu a glass of cold water. "I worry about you only because you are not strong enough to fight off Madara. I will never worry about you becoming like him. You are kind hearted to a fault. And I will always be so proud to be your father."Izu felt a hand slap the back of his head and he knew the class had ended. He looked up to find Kaiya standing over him with her hands on her hips. "Are you coming? Or do you plan to spend the night here?"He stood up and packed up the papers strewn over his desk. Placing the wade into a book, he followed Kaiya out of the classroom as she walked arm in arm with Ni Senju, her current best friend. Kaiya had already been through about three or four best friends since they started at the academy, dumping any girl who dared to cross the line and develop 'feelings' for her brother. Though Izu's best friend was a Senju and the hokage's first born son, Hishiro, the girls in the Senju clan were far less forth coming with any feelings that they may have developed towards the mysterious and good looking Izu because he was an Uchiha. Ni was also Hishiro's first cousin and Hashirama's niece. So Ni treated Izu like he did not exist. And since he had yet to utter a word in front of her, he pretty much did not exist to her. "You going with us to the training fields today?" Hishiro caught up to Izu and fell in step beside him."Nah." Izu shook his head. "I think I want to go fishing."Hishiro raised an eyebrow. "Sashin will be there. Are you sure you don't want to be there?"Izu hesitated. He really did not want to go to the training fields, and he had no interest in fighting with Sashin Uchiha. But he could not leave his twin to fight the older boy alone. "Alright."Izu followed Hishiro and the girls towards the training fields on the eastern border of the village. It was early afternoon, just after school let out and very few working ninja were using the fields. Sashin was already there and he was accompanied by two other Uchiha children. A large and round boy with spiky brown hair who looked like he could have been a grown man if it were not for the dull look in his black eyes. And a small and very pretty girl with long straight black hair and large and kind round black eyes.The girl was not in their class and Izu wondered why he had not seen this girl in the Uchiha compound. He surely would have remembered her if he had."So! You two decided to show up then!" Sashin yelled across the yard. He was a tall and thin boy with black hair that fell to his shoulders. He always seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, and his brashness reminded Izu a lot of his sister. "Yea. So what of it." Kaiya snapped back. "Did you really think we were scared of the likes of you? Sashin Uchiha?"The small girl looked back and forth between Sashin, who turned out to be her older brother, and Kaiya. "We are all Uchiha... why are we fighting amongst ourselves?""Well for starters, both of them are Senju lovers." Sashin sneered at Ni and Hishiro. Then he turned his intense glare to Izu. "And he isn't even really Uchiha." Izu walked away from the training fields back towards the compound. The fight had not lasted long. Izu placed both Kaiya and Sashin under a genjutsu not long after they started to yell at each other, in order to avoid the inevitable blood shed. Both of them were pissed once they finally figured it out and released themselves, but their anger at Izu gave them a common cause and finally ended the hostility between them.Satisfied that he had done his job, Izu slipped off as the others made plans to eat dinner at a local tavern. Ichioku was the only one who noticed when he left. She ran after him, catching up to him half way."That was impressive." She commented. "You're ten, and you can already use your sharingan like that.""I could use genjutsu before I got my sharingan." Izu replied, softly. He learned early on that using genjutsu prevented him from actually having to fight. And after he learned who his father was, he had no desire to be a part of harming anyone, even just in a sparring match. He seriously considered dropping out of the ninja class all together, and only stayed because of Kaiya. "I just got my sharingan a few weeks ago." Ichioku stated, sadly. "After my cat died..."She looked over at Izu's right eye patch. "Did you really lose your other eye in an accident?" Izu nodded. He never removed the patch any more. He now had control over his byakugan and would just activate it under the patch if he wanted to use his right eye. He told everyone at the academy that he lost his eye during a terrible accident, which is why he only had one sharingan."I’m sorry." Ichioku said, kindly. She took Izu's hand and squeezed. "Don't worry about my brother. You are just as Uchiha as the rest of us. I've already been asked to join next years class so he really has no gripe anymore. He is just jealous of you and your sister's skills."Then she paused for a second and asked shyly. "Maybe you can help me sometime... you know so I'm ready for next year?"Izu smiled down at her. "Sure. I can do that."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Eight years later...Eiko knelt in her personal garden as she shift the newly grown lilacs from their pots to the soil of the flower beds. It was a beautiful warm summer day, so she was more than wary when she felt a freezy chill upon the circling breeze. Its icy fingers tickled her spine causing her to shiver involuntarily.When his shadow fell upon her, she did not look up, but she removed her gloves and activated her byakugan, taking in the totality of her surroundings.She could feel Mito’s alarm through the binding seal as the Uzumaki sensed him too. She could not communicate directly to Mito but she could speak to Kurama. The nine tailed fox was not usually a reliable source of communication, but he hated and feared Madara more than anyone or anything so he would take this particular message.”Why are you here??” Eiko demanded still not turning around.”I come back to the village from time to time to make sure things are as I’ve left them.” Madara stated obscurely.”You haven’t been back since our child died.” Eiko countered. “Mito has learned to control Kurama’s senses since then. So she would have sensed you here in the village. That was eighteen years ago.””And, if my child lived and was hidden somewhere in this village by you and those crafty Senjus, he would essentially be a man by now and a very powerful shinobi. I’ve come to see which Uchiha fit this description.”Eiko sighed and began to dig again. “Our child is dead. Look until your heart is content, you will find nothing.”Madara paused. He seemed taken aback by the sincerity in Eiko’s voice. But Eiko has been practicing this particular lie for almost two decades. She no longer even felt the irrational guilt.She took from his reaction that Madara had returned for a reason. Maybe a rumor had reached him. Maybe he was just curious about her and fishing. Maybe he never believed that Izu died in the first place. But due to the type of man and shinobi that Izu had grown into, Eiko was no longer concerned about Madara finding him. She knew her arrogant husband would walk right past his son and never even notice how much they resembled each other.After Izu graduated from the ninja academy, he spent two years on a four ninja team led by Eiko’s younger sister Eiji Hyuga. Hashirama and their allied villages had come up with a ninja ranking system by that point, and Izu was one of the first to sit the chunin exam when he was thirteen. Not long after that, the First Great War broke out, ending fourteen years of peace. And much to the disappointment of his clan, Izu left the battlefield all together, choosing to apprentice under Mito Uzumaki as a medical nin.Kaiya, his twin, however became more and more proficient with her sharingan as well as taijutsu and kenjutsu. This was mainly because, though Izu left fighting on the front lines, Hashirama still required him to continue to train with his sister. Only Kaiya, Hashirama, and Eiko knew of Izu's true power since he actively shunned it. Izu refused to tell his parents about any of his secrets, knowing it would only cause Akihito more anxiety. And the rest of the Uchiha clan regarded him as a painful disappointment. He mainly stayed hidden in the village hospital or the medical tents while in the feild.”That maybe the case. But I plan to see for myself.””You came here to cause me more pain then? By reminding me of my only child’s short life.” Eiko asked. She stood up now and turned to look at Madara. Her face, though still beautiful, had matured and hardened slightly. Madara had his own hood thrown back now. His black eyes still as cold and unfeeling as the last time she saw him. Strangely, nothing at all about him had changed a bit. Though he was nearing his mid forties like Eiko, he did not appear to have aged a bit.This scared Eiko because it confirmed that he was dabbling in the forbidden. And that only made him darker, adding to the power of his other eyes. She knew all too well how much fear those eyes already inspired though he had never attempted to use them against her, even when she disagreed or refused him. He did not even wield them now.”Pain is part of life.” He replied coldly before turning to leave.“Wait.” She reached out and touched Madara’s arm. ”Mito knows you are here. I’ve asked her to give us a second, and then I promised you would leave.””You shouldn’t make promises for me.” Madara narrowed his eyes at her.”You are still my husband.” Eiko walked past Madara. “Come with me to our child’s grave.”Madara stood where he was for a second and then he followed her to the Hyuga memorial, watching her as she knelt down next to the small stone that represented their baby.He felt nothing as he stood there but for a fleeting moment he wished he could feel something again... anything for his child and his wife."What happened that night after you brought Kurama here to attack the village?" Eiko turned and looked up into Madara's eyes again. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared back down at her, emotionlessly. "Hashirama said he thought he killed you.""He did try to kill me." Madara sneered. "Unfortunately for all of you, I lived anyway. You of all people are very familiar with my endless persistence.""He said he stabbed you through the chest before he told Tobirama to get rid of your body." Eiko stood up and approached Madara again. She inspected his unnaturally young face. "How could you possibly live through that? Why haven't you aged like the rest of us?""I'm immortal." Madara stated. "Is that what you want to hear?"Eiko shook her head, worry etched on her face. "Whatever you are doing to yourself Madara... I can tell it is painful.""Like I said. Life is painful. And the truth is... Hashirama did fatally wound me, but he never checked to make sure I was dead. As usual, Tobirama was even more reckless. He just dumped me in the woods to bleed out. A local farming couple found me and nursed me back to health before they figured out who I was." Madara explained. "At the time I still loved you. I lived only to come back here for you. I was going to give up everything for you."Eiko looked down at her feet then. A pain struck her heart. "But I had already sealed myself to Mito and Kurama...""That careless action is what sealed our fate... You forsook our love and for absolutely nothing. Because Hashirama is still not yours and his dream is about to fall apart. Hatred and pain will always be the only thing that drives this world. It overrides love every time." Madara stated. The wave of anger and hatred rolled off of him slamming into Eiko and causing her to take a step back.Eiko attempted to move toward Madara again, but he grabbed her arm and squeezed causing her to halt. "Don't be naive. You no longer mean anything to me. I could kill you where you stand."He thrust her arm away, allowing her to scurry back a safe distance. "But I won't waste my time... on you or this village, because Hashirama's beloved peace is already over. The tide has turned back to war. He will soon realize that I was right. And my hatred will ensure that I live long enough to make certain this world becomes what it should be." "A hateful world." Eiko retorted."This is already a hateful world. I plan to give it the slumbering peace that it requires."”I'll leave now before your second is up.” Madara stated, turning away. Eiko placed her hand over the bruise that formed under his powerful grip and moved to walk him out. But Madara disappeared quickly without another word.When she turned back to the memorial site, she was surprised to find flowers lain across the front of the stone. A bunch of windflowers arranged with care. Izu stood in front of Hashirama’s desk. “I’m assigning you to train a team of young ninja who just graduated from the academy with special skills.””The team will be the first tactical squad, who reports directly to me and will be assigned missions only known to me and perhaps a select few on the council.” Hashirama drummed his fingers on his desk. “I know your distaste for battle, Izu. But I also know many of my elite ninja have benefited greatly by training next to and under you. Your sister, my sons... just to name a few. Besides, you're one of the few whose skills are diverse enough to be able to handle a team like this. And no one realizes who you truly are... it gives us an advantage. This team, and future teams like it, will be important in ending this war and preventing any future wars.””Who are my students then?” Izu asked, sighing. He had a feeling that the hokage was going to eventually require something from him other than his medical skills and the secret training sessions with his twin sister.”Danzo Shimura, Kagami Uchiha, and Torifu Akimichi.”“They will need to know about my other skills in order for me to fully train them.” Izu stated skeptically. "Which would mean that they would be privy to my true identity."”I’ve picked these three young ninja because they have the type of personalities that will allow discretion and secrecy. They will all be able to live in the shadows like you... it is a burden that they are suited to handle.Also, Danzo’s best friend and class rival is Hiruzen Sarutobi. He is the very talented grandchild of my late father's younger brother. Following a year on a genin three-man team, Hiruzen will apprentice under Tobirama. I foresee Hiruzen becoming the third hokage after my younger brother. And Danzo... and his team that you will train, will lead the unit that supports him. That is my ultimate plan."Izu nodded. Hashirama continued. "This is very important not only to establish a sect of ninja who are able to work in shadow and outside of conventional means, but to also connect the Uchiha clan back to the village's center of power. We need to fix what Madara has broken. This will be done through you and Kagami, and hopefully will be passed down to your children and grandchildren. Having Uchiha ninja in this very important position, who hold the secrets of the village will allow them to feel a part of it. To show them, that they are trusted comrades."Puffing out his chest, Izu thought that Hashirama always had a way of making his ideas sound very desirable. That he, Madara's son, could potentially be the one to correct the damage that the old leader had done to the Uchiha's relationship to Konohagakure, was a chance that he could not turn down. Izu stood in the shadows of the academy basement hallway and watched his new team of students.They did not look like much. After reading the portfolios that Lord Hashirama provided on each of them, he had expected three fearsome men. Instead he got three scrawny kids. Well Torifu was far from scrawny... short and pudgy was more like it. The special equipment that the hokage granted to each of them barely fit the Akimichi kid, and there was already a large food stain on the front of his armor. Despite his size, Torifu had a kind and quietly unassuming demeanor to him. It would make him a dependable teammate if nothing else.Izu already knew Kagami Uchiha well. He was his cousin and his mother’s sister's only son. Though they were six years apart in age, Kagami had spent a large portion of his earlier years following Izu and Kaiya around the village. He was quite an observant kid, but he had always kept quiet about any mischief that he caught them doing.And last was Danzo Shimura. Based on the interactions that Izu had so far witnessed, though the dark haired boy quietly kept to the back of the room, Danzo had already established himself as the dominant one of the three. The other two boys always deferred to him in the end. Izu was not sure how he felt about this dynamic, particularly since the Shimura kid was already scowling, perturbed that Izu was late.”Well, here goes nothing.” Izu sighed and adjusted the half mask he wore over his right eye. Then he stepped into the room. “Hello. You three must be my new team.”All three boys looked their sensei over, each giving a totally different reaction. Kagami smiled brightly and hugged Izu. “Cousin! You are our team leader? How fortunate!”Torifu’s eyes grew wide with apprehension as he realized his team leader was an Uchiha, and a strange one who wore a mask. He just nervously mumbled, “Huh hey..”Danzo continued to scowl as unimpressed with Izu, as Izu had been with his team. He mumbled, “How’d Hiruzen get the hokage’s brother? While I’m stuck with not one but two lousy Uchihas.””Alright. Let’s introduce ourselves. We’ll each tell one thing we like best, one thing we like least... and because of the nature of our team, we’ll each disclose one important secret that no one else knows about us.”Izu looked at Kagami. “You start, Kagami.””Wait. Isn’t the team leader supposed to start?” Danzo complained.”Team leader’s perogrative. Kagami starts. I go last.””Great example you’re setting.” Danzo grumbled. He thought, who is this guy anyway?Izu ignored Danzo and motioned to Kagami, who was looking confused back and forth between his new teammate and his new team leader. “Well I like fishing the most. I like cleaning up under my mother’s watch the least. And my biggest secret is...””...I’m afraid of spiders.” Kagami shivered involuntarily at the thought of the insect.”Good. Torifu?””I like food.. all types of food. Particularly my mother’s cooking. I hate when people call me fat!" Torifu growled and slammed his right fist into his left palm. He actually looked formidable for a second. Then his thoughts wandered back to food and his face lit up with love. "My biggest secret is my ultimate food stash. It's by far the largest food stash -ever! And it's buried behind our house so my mother can't find it.””Ultimate food stashes? Spiders?” Danzo scoffed. “What kind of ridiculous secrets are these?””Danzo?” Izu prompted continuing to ignore his complaining.Danzo looked as though he did not want to answer. Finally giving in, he rubbed the scar on his chin and crossed his arms over his chest. ”Fine. I like beating Hiruzen in sparring best. I hate losing to Hiruzen in sparring least. And my biggest secret is I plan to beat out Hiruzen Sarutobi and become the third hokage one day!!””Well that was intense.” Izu commented, as Danzo looked like he was imagining himself ripping poor Hiruzen to shreds. “Ok it's my turn. Let’s see... I like reading, and peaceful and leisurely days in the village. I dislike war and fighting...""Wait. Aren't you a ninja?!" Danzo demanded."Yes. And like all good shinobi, I live my life to achieve peace not further war." Izu replied. "And it's my turn now... so don't interrupt."Danzo humphed and clamped his mouth shut."Anyway, because we are now a team, I am going to let you all in on my biggest secret.. But just as I plan to keep all of your secrets like my life depends on it, you must do the same for me.”Izu lifted his mask revealing his right eye. It looked black and average at first. A second later it turned white and began to bulge slightly into a byakugan. His left eye turned crimson and spun into a sharingan.The mouths of all three boys dropped open. Even Danzo looked dumbstruck. “I thought you lost that eye... in an accident” Kagami stammered. “How do you have a sharingan... and a byakugan?”Then all three boys had the same thought at once. There were still rumors and legends floating around the village about the mysterious child of Eiko Hyuga and Madara Uchiha, even though the child supposedly died at birth.”I believe you may have already guessed the answer. My father’s name was Madara Uchiha and my mother is Eiko Hyuga.” Izu answered the question for them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Now twenty one, Izu lay flat on his back within a crawl space underneath the floor between his two subordinates, Danzo and Kagami. After three years working as black operatives, all three were especially skilled at being completely still for hours, no matter the circumstances. Dust fell into their faces, irritating their eyes and their noses as the occupants of the house moved back and forth above them, but none of the hidden ninjas moved an inch. They barely even breathed. With his byakugan activated, Izu watched through the wooden planks as Tobirama, Hiruzen, Homura, and Koharu, who made up Konoha's team seven, spoke only slightly less than hostile terms with a team of four ninja from Kumogakure. As the hokage's brother, he had come as emissary to speak with Kumo's head ninja about the many conditions of the current peace treaty that had already been violated.A temporary alliance between the current seven swordsmen of the mist and the infamous gold and silver brothers had begun in the midst of rumors of a secret arms deal between Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and a mysterious backer who went by code name, 'The Eye of The Moon'.A year ago, peace talks occurred between the five great nations during which the First Hokage distributed the other eight tailed beasts, who Hashirama managed to capture using intel from his tactical team. It seemed as if the five great nations finally found some common ground and could possibly end the first great war. However, both Kirigakure and Kumogakure remained wild cards. Kirigakure had already carelessly lost the three tails to some unknown source, and Kumogakure, not satisfied with the two tailed beasts given to them, had already attempted to steal the seven tailed Chomei from the single smaller hidden village included in the peace talks, Takigakure.And with the rumors of both nations attempting to arm themselves further through some unknown backer, the stability of that temporary peace was already crumbling fast.Each of the unscrupulous organizations from the two nations made themselves "useful" by facilitating this deal. It was easier for them to maneuver in the shadows while the official representatives of both nations continued the farce of peace. Even if the organizations were caught, their nations could denounce the groups, stating they had nothing to do with the treachery.Inside of the house, Tobirama growled, "No deal." He motioned for his team to move out.Just as team seven turned to walk out of the house that sat within the neutral territory between the land of fire and the land of lightning, Torifu's bird calls sounded from the trees outside in the surrounding forest. Izu signaled for Danzo and Kagami to move left and right, while releasing the genjutsu that he had placed on the Kumo ninja within the house. The two ninja secured their signature red and white wooden animal masks and rolled out from underneath the house.Commotion sounded outside of the house as the ninja of the Kinkaku force, who lay in wait to ambush the Konoha team inside of the house, attempted to fight multiple of Kagami's mirror clones as Kagami fled to the brush. The clones copied the image of their attackers, creating a distraction by reflecting any jutsu back at them in equal measure. Another set of bird calls sounded as Danzo grabbed and bound the intended target with one of his curse seals. Centuries ago, the Shimura clan broke off from the Uzumaki clan taking many of the traditional secrets of curse and binding seals with them. Danzo was already the most proficient at using the seals in the village.Meanwhile, Izu moved a small plank to reveal the hole that they had cut into the floor earlier. Releasing a smoke bomb, he pulled at the legs of the Kumo ninja, who stood confused inside of the house searching for the members of Tobirama's team, who had just disappeared right in front of their eyes. He placed a paralysis genjutsu on each of them as he pulled them through the floor, knocking them unconscious. Pushing the floor board back into place, he tied them up with the hidden mists' trademark bandages and left them in the hole. Escaping to the back of the house, he made his way through the forest to meet up with the rest of his team.An hour later, the real Tobirama and the current team seven showed up for the meeting with the four Kumo ninja only to find the surrounding forest abandoned and the house empty. They heard a rustling sound underneath the floor as they turned to exit the house. After searching awhile, they finally found the loose floor board and discovered the enemy ninja still tied up underneath the house. Danzo removed the gag from the mouth of the young woman who sat bound by his curse mark underneath the tree a few miles from the meeting house. "I say we use the serum now... why waste more time?""No." Izu replied from his perch in the tree branches above. He searched through miles of the surrounding woods with his byakugan, feeding the information back to his sharingan in order to analyze the positions of nearby shinobi and predict how much time they had before they needed to move on. "We have enough time. We will question her first. If she refuses to cooperate with Torifu, then Kagami will try, and then... only if both fail... will we use the serum on her.""We don't torture anyone unless we absolutely have to." He looked sternly at Danzo. Izu felt like he was having to remind his student of this more and more often. Danzo saw no issue with using even the most unscrupulous methods to obtain a positive outcome. The kid was way too good at this job. "The hokage has given explicit orders that she is to be kept alive and unharmed. This is an intel gathering mission not a termination. We always give our captives the chance to talk."Still not looking convinced, Danzo reluctantly stood up from his quarry and let Torifu move closer to the girl.Adjusting the bo staff at his back and removing the animal mask from his face, the chubby young man pulled out a sack of corn chips and began to stuff his face. In between bites, he casually asked the young woman some questions as though they were having a nice chit chat. " So we were told that you are Ginkaku's daughter. Your name is Goi, right?" He received no answer, but Torifu continued, undeterred."And you are his current right hand, as well? Pretty high up in your father and uncle's organization I am sure. Which would mean that you are likely the one who was leading that team of Kinkaku force ninja who just attempted to ambush the first hokage's brother and his team. Am I right??"The young woman just silently looked back at him with lavender eyes. She still made no attempt to answer. But Torifu only smiled kindly in response. "I really don't want you to have to be poked an' prodded by my comrades. If you just answer my questions, we can avoid all of that."The girl continued to stare at Torifu. She had long silver hair like her father though her features were human and not fox like. While he chomped away, Torifu admired her, thinking to himself that she would have been pretty if she was not so dubious. Absentmindedly stuffing more chips in his mouth, Torifu looked back at Kagami and shrugged. The Uchiha with the curly black hair moved closer and crouched down in front of Goi. Torifu pointed at his comrade and said, "This is Kagami. He is an Uchiha. He is also very good at finding people's weaknesses and uncovering their deepest secrets. Obtrusiveness is his specialty. Very violating -I wouldn't suggest it."Goi narrowed her eyes at Kagami. She finally spoke as she moved her sharp lavender eyes back to Torifu. "And what is your specialty? Eating?""Oh no." Torifu smiled at her again. His red cheeks becoming a deeper a red, as he thought her voice also sounded very nice. "My specialty is to make people feel very comfortable. I make friends easily. I'm by far the better choice here. We should be friends."Ignoring Torifu, she nodded to Danzo, who had been standing underneath the tree that Izu sat in, watching quietly. A hint of apprehension formed in her eyes when she looked at the hard faced teenage boy with the scarred chin. "And his specialty?"Torifu looked over his shoulder at Danzo. He raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Pain. Unfortunately, his specialty is pain."Turning back, he flashed his smile at Goi and then said in a soft and kind voice, "but I'm sure we don't have to go there. Do we, Goi?"Goi spat at Torifu and scoffed. "Do you really think I'd fall for your tricks..."Abruptly, her head tumbled forward as she fell under Kagami's genjutsu. He said, "My turn."Kagami was able to use portions of the Yamanaka secret technique in combination with his visual genjutsus, in order to push his victim into reliving hidden memories, even those placed behind memory blocks, while inserting himself into the visions to watch. It was not nearly as precise as his master, Kimo Yamanaka's psycho mind transmission, but his ability to manipulate their emotions while in the genjutsu allowed him to manipulate the victim into subconsciously divulging deep haunting secrets relatively quickly.Kagami pulled himself out of Goi's memories after about ten minutes. He shook his head at his sensei. "No good. She has so many memory blocks and traumatic memories after living with a father like Ginkaku that her mind is just a jumble of crimes, abuse, and humiliation. It would take days to sort through all of this in order to get to the information we need and a Yamanaka would do it better."Izu sighed. They only had minutes to retrieve the information and leave before anyone realized they were present. And no Yamanaka was cleared for a black ops mission. Goi was far too dangerous to transport back to the village. There was no other choice. He looked down at Danzo, who was now looking up at him coyly. "Do it before she wakes up out of Kagami's genjutsu."Pulling the vials from his medical bag, Izu handed them to Danzo. He had spent months working on these serums, using his time away from the team in his lab instead of in the hospital. The serums worked in conjunction with Danzo's curse marks. The first as a truth serum which could eventually loosen any tongue though the side effect was immense pain if the subject attempted to resist. The second was a hallucinogen that allowed Danzo to manipulate the victim's thoughts and feelings towards himself to the point of irresistible loyalty. It was only temporary, but it worked powerfully well. The third serum wiped the victim's mind completely clean of any short term memories. So after they released her, she would have no idea that Izu and his team ever captured her. But the side effect was that if she encountered them again, she would likely fear them without knowing the reason why.It only took Danzo ten minutes to retrieve the needed information about Ginkaku from Goi. But she was screaming in pure agony by the end of the interrogation. Her silver hair was drenched with sweat. Izu leaned over her and wiped her damp forehead with a cloth, before giving her a sedative to ease her pain. "Give her the third serum now, it will allow the sedative to work quicker. We'll be gone when she wakes up."Danzo placed another curse mark on Goi before making some hand seals and injecting her with the third serum. Her eyes rolling back into her head, she passed out again from the sedative, the curse mark, and the serum. Izu set the unconscious girl up against a nearby tree and sighed. "There has to be a better way."Standing up and brushing off his pants, not terribly concerned about his victim's wellbeing, Danzo replied. "Why does it matter to you what happens to scum like her? She and her men would have killed Lord Tobirama if she got the chance. She'll be fine... eventually."Kagami and Torifu looked at the girl's limp body and then looked at each other with appropriate skepticism and remorse, but neither disagreed with Danzo. Izu stood up too and scanned the forest with his dojutsu. He knew he should correct his student, but speaking to Danzo was like talking to a brick wall sometimes. "Come on. We have to go. There is a group of kiri ninja about to cross our position."A few days later, Izu sat on a bench near a pond at the edge of the village and watched the moon's reflection ripple across the surface of the water. He did not know how long he could work this job. He knew how important the tactical team's skills were to the hokage and Hashirama's quest for peace, but the type of missions that they were forced to do in order to achieve that peace came with a hefty price. He had been feeling even more guilty than usual since the last mission. Mainly, because there was no doubt in his mind that Goi was just a victim of her sadistic father, Ginkaku. But also, because he knew that he could have easily been her... if he had not been so well protected by his mother. If Madara had ever gotten his hands on him, he would have been out there doing unspeakable things in the name of his father, too. This made watching her pain while Danzo ripped her secrets out of her mind, even more intense and unbearable. "Are you ok, Izu?" A soft voice drifted towards him. He looked up and into Ichioku Uchiha's large black eyes. He had barely spoken to her, since he graduated from the academy. She worked under Kaiya from time to time, but Izu did not have much contact with the front line battle units, particularly now that he was working black ops. He wiped his face. He definitely did not want her first sight of him after so many years to be of him crying. "Just tired... so many sick and injured. And the war seems to have no end."Ichioku sat down next to him and took his hand in her smaller hand. "I never told you this... but I'm glad you left the front lines to work among the medical nin."Izu frowned. Ichioku had always been a strange girl. It was one of the reasons why he had been able to connect to her while he was shunned by most of the other Uchiha. "Really?""I would've been so worried about losing you, it would've distracted me from my own missions. Knowing that you are here and I can return to you when I'm finished out there, has been what kept me going even in the worse circumstances." Ichioku explained.Turning towards her, Izu smiled down at the small woman. He took her other hand and said, "I never knew you cared that much.""Of course I do." Ichioku leaned forward, resting her head against his chest. This took Izu by surprise. He had always had a crush on Ichioku's kindness and beauty. She reminded him of his biological mother. But he never in a millions years thought she would feel the same way... not about him. As Izu wrapped his arms around her shoulders, the warmth of her petite frame soothed the worried thoughts rolling through his mind and he relaxed into the embrace. It crossed his mind for a second that he should warn her that he had too many secrets. That she probably needed to stay as far as possible from him. But Izu just could not bring himself do it. He had always had a soft spot for this particular kunoichi and her presence felt so good and light next to him, when everything else felt so heavy and dark. Eiko sat around the council table with Lord Hashirama, Tobirama Senju, Kiyoshi Nara, Kazuno Senju, and Shin Aburame. Eiko had only attended this meeting at the request of Hashirama. She was curious why he had specifically asked for her to come."You could have warned me that you were sending in that team of yours!" Tobirama roared across the table at his older brother after Hashirama revealed who was truly behind the attack on Kumo's head ninja's escort. Tobirama often forgot that Hashirama was actually the hokage, particularly when he was included in the council meetings. This time, he was especially irritated that he was not privy to who was on Hashirama's tactical team, which meant it could be anyone. He was mainly suspicious of the council members, narrowing his cat like eyes angrily at each of them. Eiko was the only one, other than Hashirama, who knew the identities of the members of Izu's team. Hashirama had only allowed this after it became apparent that the more treacherous actions of the team were weighing heavily on Izu. By nature, Izu rarely talked about anything personal to anyone, but for whatever reason, he did tell his biological mother almost everything."It was important to keep the actual mission from as many people as possible to ensure it appeared as real as possible." Hashirama was use to his brother's short fuse, so as usual, he chose to ignore the outburst. "I don't like acting as a decoy!" Tobirama snapped."I understand, Brother. But the mission was a success." Hashirama offered, attempting to pacify his younger brother. "We have the location of Ginkaku's hide out and the location and time for their next meeting with this anonymous backer, Eye of the Moon. And even better... none are aware we have the information yet."Tobirama leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest unable to come up with a response. Hashirama looked over at Eiko. "I plan to send the team in again to attempt to identify and if possible terminate this backer... But there is a good chance that in the end this will lead us back to an old comrade."Shin Aburame leaned forward. "Who would that be?""The only old comrade who would work with our enemies against us." Kiyoshi Nara surmised before Hashirama could.After the meeting ended and the others left the council chambers, Eiko lingered behind to speak to Hashirama. She asked, hesitantly, "Do you really think that Madara is the anonymous backer?""I'm pretty certain." Hashirama replied. "But I have no proof as of yet.""You can't send Izu to kill his own father." Eiko set her mouth determinedly. He had asked her to attend the meeting for a reason. This was the reason. "He will do it because he is loyal to you and this village. But no matter how he feels about Madara, Izu will either get himself killed or the guilt will eat him alive afterwards."Now Hashirama looked uncertain. "I know. But as an Uchiha, Izu could get closer than anyone to Madara -if he is the backer.""I've been loyal to you and all of your dreams since we were children, Hashirama Senju... through everything... even against my own husband. Please don't do this to my son." Eiko's eyes burned like fire. Taken aback, Hashirama had never seen his old friend look this way. Her fierce expression reminded him of his wife.He quickly nodded his consent. "If the team is able to identify and locate the anonymous backer, then I will take care of him, myself. It should be my burden to bear. I'm the hokage. And I made the mistake of not killing Madara the last time I had the chance. I am the only one who can make sure it is done. And I will make sure it is done this time."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Curiously, Izu watched Danzo as he walked into his lab. The young man strolled through the space with his arms crossed innocently behind his back. Danzo was never innocent. He had been snooping around for awhile, attempting to figure out the secret to the modifications of his curse seals. Passing by and examining the benches, Danzo commented, "You have a lot of stuff in here, Izu Sensei."The truth was that Izu discovered early on that the use of his own DNA could suppress certain powers of the curse and binding seals. He was not quite sure why until he used a sample of Eiko's DNA by mistake, which had an even more powerful effect. Borrowing samples from other volunteers, he eventually discovered that Hashirama's DNA had powerful enhancing effects on the curse seals. He could use the two interchangeably to enhance or suppress certain aspects of the seals that he wanted to manipulate. He surmised this likely applied to other jutsu as well, perhaps even to chakra in general. The discovery had very useful applications but it also could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. He gave the information to Hashirama, who agreed it should be kept under lock and key. And as far as Izu was concerned, Danzo was the last individual, who should have access to this information. "What do you need Danzo?" Izu set back to work, hoping this visit was a quick one. "The hokage has already left with our intel. There is no need for us to make contact with each other until he sends back word.""There's word." Danzo handed Izu a scroll. Izu frowned. That was quick. He unrolled the scroll and read the letter. Hashirama sat with Tobirama and his escort team, in a large crowded pub within the Village Hidden by Rain. This village, set right in the middle of the five great nations, had become the designated spot for the five kage summit after the first meeting was a success. "Are you certain the meeting with the backer is supposed to take place during the summit?" Tobirama whispered to his older brother suspiciously.Hashirama gave him a look. "My team's intel is always good.""Did they identify the backer?" Tobirama pressed on. He had been questioning Hashirama ever since they left the village, but Hashirama had been relatively tight lipped. Tobirama felt as if something was off. "No." Hashirama sighed. "As far as we know, it's not Madara. The tactical team has picked up chattering of an odd appearing shinobi with pitch black skin and yellow appearing eyes."The bar keep came by and placed the drinks on the table. Hashirama leaned forward to grab his cup, but Shikuna Aburame, one of his escorts, reached for the cup and placed it to her lips. "We can't be too safe."She took the sip and then rolled the liquid around her tongue. Handing it back to Hashirama she said, "It's ok.""Thank you." Hashirama took back the cup and began to drink. Tobirama took his cup and began to drink as well. "If thats the case then let me handle this." Tobirama stated. "You go to the meeting. I will take my team and hunt the backer while he is in this village. Hiruzen, Koharu and Homura are ready."The three younger shinobi all nodded from their perches around the table. Hashirama gave his cup an odd look, not responding to Tobirama's request."Are you ok brother?" Tobirama asked concerned, the feeling of dread in his stomach becoming stronger. Hashirama shook his head and smiled. "I'm fine."Alarmed, he looked up from the table and around the tavern. His eyes stopped on a shadowy figure near the door. A set of yellow eyes flashed his direction. Frowning he stood up before whispering. "Fan out. The target is here.""Wait... what?" Tobirama asked, as Hashirama moved to the follow the shadowy form out of the tavern.Making it out into the street, Hashirama stood in the usual downpour of Amekagure, searching the street. He switched to sage mode attempting to pick up some sense of his surroundings. His sage mode faded quickly, and he felt himself weakening. It was a strange feeling. Something he had never felt this strongly before.Tobirama came up to his side. "There is something wrong. Isn't there?""Don't worry about it. Protect the team and keep your eye out for the anonymous dealer. But do not approach. I'll take care of him." Hashirama said sternly. He grasped the hilt of his sword and moved forward into the street in the direction that he had felt the odd presence. Hashirama stopped and turned back to his brother. "You will be the second hokage... Keep your comrades close... All of them -even the Uchiha. Most importantly always protect the next generation first... they are the village. And please tell Mito and my sons and grandchildren that I love them.""Are you planning to die today, Brother?" Tobirama asked after him.Hashirama continued to walk on. He casually raised his hand back at his younger brother. "Oh... and keep that creepy kid, Jiraiya, away from my Tsunade... I don't like the way he looks at her." Rounding the corner, Hashirama stopped and took a long deep breath. Something was definitely wrong. He leaned back against a nearby wall. He felt incredibly drained. Laying his head back, he felt the shadows around him move, taking the form of a body behind him. A deep voice whispered into his ear. "You are a hard man to get to... but finally patience has paid off. I knew you would follow the eye of the moon. You always come after your greatest friend and rival eventually. All I had to do was dangle him right there in front of you.""Who are you?" Hashirama breathed."I'm an old friend too." The deep voice rasped. "I've been watching you since you were just a young boy. You and Madara together. Each of you is very valuable alone. But the two of you together is far too dangerous. Of course that means, one of you has to live and the other has to die. Guess which one you are?""How?" Hashirama continued to feel weaker as the black arms wrapped around him constricting his body."There is a certain substance which is only effective against you." The black creature explained with eery patience. "I've been feeding it to you for awhile now. But you just drank a large amount of it in that drink you gulped down. Its effects are only temporary. But they last just long enough for me to kill you. You won't be able to heal yourself this time, Hashirama."Hashirama felt the creature's arms rip into his back and out the center of his chest, creating a fatal wound. "It's only me... everyone else lives? Right?" Hashirama asked as he coughed up blood and dropped to his knees."Oh yes. Everyone else is safe... for now." The black creature smiled down at him maliciously. Eiko held Mito tightly against her, as the woman sobbed into her shoulder. They were standing inside of Hashirama's office after being called out of their beds by Tobirama in the middle of the night.When they found him sitting at the hokage's desk with a grim look on his face, Mito immediately stopped in the door way and signaled her attendants to stay outside. She pulled Eiko inside the office and slammed the door. Turning to her brother in law with a scary fierceness, she demanded, "What is this about?!"Before Tobirama could open his mouth, Mito was screaming. Eiko had to grab her and restrain her to her body to calm her down. She ran her hand through the woman's long bright red hair, no longer neatly set into the tight buns that Mito usually wore. Even she had never seen her friend this vulnerably emotional, despite the fact that they shared most of their feelings through the binding seal. When Tobirama finally said that Hashirama was dead, Mito's face actually turned fox like. It was all Eiko could do to help her suppress Kurama from taking over completely."Who was it?" Calmer, Mito moved away from Eiko and stared daggers back at Tobirama. "Who killed my husband? Was it Madara?"Eiko sucked in a deep breath as they both stood there waiting for the answer. Tobirama shook his head. "No one saw it happen, but we are pretty certain it was not Madara. Hashirama went off on his own after Kumogakure's and Kirigakure's anonymous backer. He seemed to know something was going to happen to him because he officially named me the second hokage before he left. He also said to tell you that he loved you.""And you didn't go with him?? Why wouldn't you go with him??" Mito was yelling again. Eiko rest a hand on her arm. "Mito... Hashirama would have told Tobirama to stay away if he thought it was that dangerous. He would have wanted to protect everyone else."Mito collected herself, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Sorry.""Its ok." Tobirama was looking down at his hands with a mixture of guilt and frustration."Where is his body? Can I see him?" Mito asked, weakly. Tobirama stood up and crossed the room to Mito then. He wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. He took a deep breath and said, "They took his body. We were only able to recover his sword and his head band."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mito Uzumaki lay the tiny infant in Izu’s arms. “It’s a healthy boy... Kaiya asked that his name be Futoshi Uchiha.”Gazing at Izu and the infant sadly, she placed her hand on the head of the two year old boy who sat next to his father looking up suspiciously at the small squirming bundle.“Can I see her now?” Izu asked inspecting the fingers of the infant in his arms. “Before you take her away?”“In just a moment.” Mito replied. “They are cleaning her up.”Wiping tears from her own eyes, Eiko nodded “thank you” to her friend and took the infant from her son. “I’ll watch the baby and Toshito. Go say good bye to your sister.”In the last five years, not only had the first war raged on, but tragedy had struck the village, not once but multiple times.After Lord Hashirama Senju's suspicious death, the anonymous backer, code named Eye of the Moon, slipped back into oblivion. Tobirama took over as the second hokage and sent the tactical team to successfully assassinate the first raikage and the second mizukage in an attempt to cripple both nations.The second hokage then went onto expand the black operatives unit, adding a torture and interrogation force and an analysis team. Tobirama's ideals were much darker and more paranoid than his brother's, which alienated many of those who were deeply loyal to Hashirama. Soon he began to use the ANBU units to spy on their own comrades, in particular the Uchiha clan with whom Tobirama had always had a tenuous relationship.Despite Tobirama’s demands that Izu stay on and continue to lead and train the black ops teams, Izu was among those who refused to be a part of this expansion. He retired to his lab and married Ichioku, passing the mantel onto his students. They had a son, Toshito Uchiha, before Ichioku was killed with her brother, Sashin, at the third kage summit, where the second hokage was almost assassinated too.Now Izu’s sister, Kaiya, who later fell in love and married her long time rival, Sashin Uchiha, just passed away giving birth to their first son, leaving Futoshi an orphan after only being hours old.Since both Akihito and Isa were getting up in age, Izu agreed to take the boy and raise him with his own young son. And over the years, the three became almost inseparable to the point that eventually no one really remembered which boy was Izu’s actual biological son.It was not until Tobirama was finally killed in an ambush by the Kinkaku Force, right after naming Hiruzen Sarutobi the third hokage, that the first war ended. By this point, Izu had fully isolated himself and his family from the life of a working ninja. His house and lab lay on the outskirts of the village within the Uchiha compound and he only entered the main village to visit the Hyuga compound and the hospital from time to time.News from his old life only filtered back to him through Kagami who appeared at his front stoop from time to time. Kagami always brought his wife and infant with him under the pretext of visiting cousins, but he really came for Izu’s advice as his old sensei.“Lord Third has given almost complete control of large sections of the black ops over to Danzo.” Kagami offered one day as they stood alone together out on Izu’s patio. “And Danzo has not changed a bit since the time that we worked under you.”Izu raised an eyebrow. Hashirama’s initial plan had come to fruition. But he was certain that the first hokage was not fully aware of how devious Danzo could be. He was also not sure Hiruzen Sarutobi had the disposition necessary to control Danzo. “Danzo came to my lab again, not long ago. At the time I wasn’t sure what he wanted... but I knew he was fishing for something.”“Your experiments helped enhance Danzo’s powers in the past... he’s looking for more of that.” Kagami replied. “He must be desperate if he dared come to you.”Izu scoffed, “Danzo has been snooping around my lab for years. He is resourceful. He’ll find another way now that he has the hokage under his thumb. I’m more worried about you. You need to be careful. Between the growing hostility that Lord Tobirama left between the village and our clan... and whatever fate hands the village under Lord Third and Danzo, you are going to be stuck in the middle, Kagami.”Kagami nodded. “It would be helpful if you came back. You are the only one who Danzo ever listened to... even when he disagreed.”Izu shook his head. “Danzo never listened to me. He just patiently waited for me to get out of his way.” Eiko sat on the banks of the river watching as Izu patiently showed Toshito and Futoshi how to fish. The two young boys were now eleven and nine. They truly looked like brothers and Uchiha, with thick shaggy dark hair and quizzical black eyes.Though Toshito was Izu’s true son, Futoshi looked and acted more like him. He was often so quiet, one forgot he was there. Toshito, on the other hand, was loud, boisterous, and much more confident than he was skillful. But underneath it all, Toshito was far too kind hearted whereas Futoshi could be calculated and fiercely competitive, not caring who he embarrassed in the process.Both boys finally started at the ninja academy a year ago. Toshito, just barely made it into the class though he was about to turn ten, whereas this was the second time Futoshi was accepted, since Izu refused to let him start the first two times that Lord Third nominated him for the class.Eiko could tell that even though Futoshi was only blood related as a distant cousin, Izu was just as worried about him turning into Madara Uchiha as he was his biological son.He breathed a sigh of relief when Toshito developed a sharingan in both eyes and only seemed to demonstrate the average skills of his mother. But he still held his breath as Futoshi had long surpassed his own mother and grandfather and seemed to be more like his distant cousin in ambition than anyone wanted to believe.“You are still just a kid. You need to enjoy it and act like a kid, Futoshi.” Izu attempted to suppress this by forcing Futoshi to do regular kid like activities instead of spending all of his time honing his ninjutsu, like he always did when left to his own device. So here they were today, out fishing much to Futoshi’s dismay.Eiko was not sure why she picked that day to go with them, but it was a clear spring day without a cloud in the sky so anyone would want to be outside in the nice weather. “Izu! I’m going to go for a walk down the banks!” She called back towards her family as she strolled down the river, further away from the village. Izu only gave her a half nodded not taking his eyes off his two students, who continued to get themselves tangled up in the fishing lines. She came upon some bushes with wild blue berries growing and decided to stop to pick some for her two grandsons. After she filled her apron with berries, she became aware that she was being watched. She continued to pick berries, activating her byakugan to subtly assess her situation. She was fully surround by at least ten ninja. They were Suna ninja. Eiko was fully aware that Konohagakure and Sunagakure were currently embroiled in another conflict, which had ended the decade of peace after the first war. So the fact that ten of them lay in the brush, watching her was an unsettling feeling. She had to keep them there and away from the children down the river with Izu. Dropping her apron full of berries, Eiko spun to meet her first attacker knocking away his knife strike and pressing the butt of her palm into the center of his chest. It was a signature kill strike passed through the daughters of the main family. A gentle motion with just enough chakra forced into that one point to contort the chakra network around the large arteries behind the sternum, sending blood forcefully into his heart and causing cardiac muscle to rupture. As the ninja stumbled back to his death another two entered into her range. She stepped wide into her juuken stance, using the eight trigrams sixty four palms formation to target as many vital points as quickly as possible. But there were too many attackers and these were not ordinary ninja. They wore turban like cloths over their faces and they were highly skilled at working together as one, almost like her own clan. Only one more stepped into the trap, the rest found the range of her attack and kept outside of it.Slowing back into her gentle fist stance, Eiko waited for the next attack. She had used up a significant amount of chakra just for her first two attacks.The remaining six charged her at once. She found herself cover by attackers, until they had her restrained. Eiko let them capture her as she concentrated and opened her tenketsu as wide as possible expelling blasts of chakra from several different directions. Her attackers were sent flying as she collapsed to her knees exhausted. Eiko could feel Mito realizing the danger through the binding seal. She would send help. But it may have been too late. Because now more of them came, finally overwhelming her. A bag was forced down over EIko's head and her arms bound behind her back as she was pushed roughly to the ground.Her captors grabbed her legs dragging her behind them like a rag doll. Between the rough handling and the lack of air in the bag over her head, she felt herself close to passing out. Then abruptly she was dropped and she could hear some sort of struggle outside of the sack. It occurred so quickly, she wondered what had happened. Then she felt herself being picked up and carried.Whoever picked her up, did so gently, so she was certain it was a friend. She called through the sack. "Hello?? Who are you?"She got no answer in return and only found herself adjusted like a doll, so that her bound arms were thrust around a neck and some shoulders. She could feel the tense muscles beneath her embrace, so she knew this was a man. She just wished she could take off the bag over her head to see exactly who had saved her.Eventually, she found herself being placed down on the ground. The man helped untie her wrists and ankles and then removed the bag from her head. She sat up and turned to see who it was, but he had already disappeared that quickly. She was inside a dark cave... more like a hole in the ground than an actual cave. But she was not alone. He had moved away but not too far. She could see his outline in the shadows just feet from her. She got up on her knees and squinted though she recognized the form almost immediately. He still had not changed much. Though they were both in their late fifties now, Madara still appeared closer to Izu's age of thirty five and not much older than he looked when they were married. His hair remained stark black where Eiko’s hair was graying slightly. Only the forming bags under his eyes gave away his true age. He turned away quickly as she moved to see him, grumbling over his shoulder, "Are you ok... Lady Eiko?""Madara. Thank you for saving me." Eiko stood up on her wobbling legs and attempted to move closer to him. He asked more forcefully, "are you ok? Did they hurt?""Yes... I'm fine." She continued to struggle towards him though her head was still woozy. "How did you know to come? How did you know they had me?"He turned back towards her and watched quietly as she approached him, but he made no offer to help her when she stumbled. She could tell from the look on his face that he had been watching her with Izu and their two grandsons at the river banks and that was how he knew to save her. He looked undecided, as though he was struggling with something in his mind, but he did not look angry or even hostile. There was more life in his face at that moment than she had seen in a long time, and when a resigned look fell over his eyes, it drew her even closer.“You aren’t dead then.” Eiko stated bluntly to fill the silence. There were several rumors of Madara’s death over the years. This last one had produced a body which Eiko witnessed with her own eyes. She hated to think what exactly disturbed his false grave and brought him back from the dead. “Everyone believed you were actually dead this last time. Why did you not stay dead?”“So this how you greet the long lost husband who just saved your life, Lady Eiko?” Madara sneered at her, attempting to appear annoyed. But he finally closed the space between them, grabbing her around the waist to prevent her from falling forward and inspected her closely in the dim light.She could feel his cool breath against her skin as he stared down at her in the dark. He moved his lips so they grazed her forehead, commenting offhandedly, “Even after all these years, you are still as beautiful as that night that I first laid eyes on you.”Eiko ignored Madara’s comment, keeping her white eyes averted from his intense black eyes. “You did not come back to the village after Hashirama died... why now?”Madara looked away and out of the cave mouth. “I've heard rumors that you spend a significant amount of time with that Uchiha family currently on the river banks.”“That is Akihito’s son. He is the same age as our son would have been had he lived... I like spending time with him and his children.” Eiko lied defensively. Madara's face remained unchanged and she could not tell if he believed her. She had a feeling he did not.Pushing back away from him, she gave him a long hard look. “Though both Hashirama and Tobirama are gone, there are still those of us who remember you clearly -like Mito and myself. Don’t think we will just let you meddle with the village.”“You seem to be under the false impression that Hashirama and Tobirama were the reason why I've never attempted to meddle in the issues between the Uchiha clan and the village.” Madara moved closer again, so he was looking straight down at Eiko. She saw something human flash through his gaze then. He placed a hand on her cheek and stroked it softly. “I told you once that you will always be the one good part left of me. I wasn’t saying that just to say it.”“You’ve said many things to me to me over the years. Most of them too terrible to repeat.” Eiko replied defiantly, not allowing her racing heart to show on her face. But not pulling away from Madara's touch either.“Some of it was true... most of it was not.” Madara stated, hesitantly. He had been expecting her to shrink away from his touch and was taken aback when she did not.Now Eiko narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, tears starting to fall from their edges. She demanded, “Why are you saying these things to me now?”“I’ve known about the problems between my clan and the village for awhile now. I also know you have been keeping secrets from me... about our son. I won’t promise to stay away forever, but I don’t plan to do anything about it while you still live in the village.” Madara replied. He looked at her as though it pained him to do so. “I can’t do anything about it... because of you.”As his voice trailed off, he let his hand fall. But Eiko grabbed it, enveloping his large hand with her smaller hands. “Madara, it's not too late. You can still turn back."He shook his head at her and his face hardened again. "You are the only one who believes that, Lady Eiko. Your heart really doesn't ever waiver, does it?""No it doesn't." Eiko replied, adamantly. Madara turned away and walked towards the mouth of the cave. "I will make sure you make it back to the village safely and then I will leave again. Tell the Uzumaki that before she starts ringing alarm bells."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The bell rang to the gate outside of Izu’s lab. He lifted his head up off of his desk, having fallen asleep on a pile of papers while working late at night again.He found a plate of food sitting next to him wrapped in cloth. Toshito must have left it on his way to meet his genin team. Futoshi was already away on a mission with his own team and now his house would be empty for the next week with the exception of their house cat, Dango.As a result, he wondered who could possibly be ringing the bell.Standing up to stretch, he made his way to the gate and opened it to find Hiruzen Sarutobi standing there with a young boy who looked about Futoshi’s age. Izu knew the boy but only because he had been such a topic of conversation in his own house.For years now, Orochimaru had been Futoshi’s rival for best in class. Neither boy was well liked and both were fairly sullen, spending most of their time figuring out ways to out do each other. But Orochimaru seemed even more troubled than Futoshi who still had Izu, though both boys had lost their parents young.Orochimaru’s mother came from a small clan originating close to the realm of snakes, the Ryuchi Caves, and these shinobi used many jutus that incorporated summoned snakes. Many in the clan looked like the snakes that they worked with. Orochimaru looked even less human since his parents died a few years back.Since graduating from the academy, Futoshi had not stopped grumbling about how he would have been on Lord Hiruzen‘s genin team if he was not an Uchiha. And the fact that Orochimaru’s late father’s family originated from the Senju clan only added to Futoshi’s gripping. Izu was beginning to worry about Futoshi's ideas about being an Uchiha in Konoha, and the fact that under Tobirama, the entire clan had been relicated to the outskirts of the village did not help matters. Hiruzen smiled at Izu hesitantly. He had a pretty good idea of the hostility between Izu’s son and his student, yet the soft spot he held for this particular young shinobi led him to Izu’s door step for this favor anyway.“I believe you know Orochimaru.” The third hokage indicated the quiet child standing next to him and looking at his feet. “This is Master Izu Uchiha, Orochimaru. He is the scientist I was telling you about.”Izu held out his hand for Orochimaru to shake. Orochimaru looked at it for a second before taking it.“Orochimaru has an interest in learning about medicine and research.” Hiruzen explained. “I was hoping you could help us with that, Izu sensei.”“Sure. Please come in.” Izu opened the gate to let them by. But the third hokage just pushed Orochimaru forward before saying. “I have some business to take care of but if you wouldn’t mind showing Orochimaru around.”Izu nodded and then led Orochimaru into his lab. He sat down and indicated a seat nearby. “What interests you about science, Orochimaru?”Looking up from his feet finally, Orochimaru stared at him with snake like eyes as though deciding what he should divulge. “I want to learn the secrets to life and death.”“Ok... well that’s a pretty ambitious goal." Izu considered the statement. Orochimaru had his lips pinned as though he had no plans to expound any further."How about you start by sorting out those samples over there for me, first.” Izu pointed across the room. “If you make a good enough assistant in here maybe we can set up some of your own experiments.”Orochimaru nodded and followed Izu across the room to set to work.
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Eiko lay in her bed and stared up at the sad faces that looked down upon her.Other then following the news of Hashirama's death, she had never actually seen Mito Uzumaki cry. But her old friend, whose hair had somehow darkened as opposed to whitening, sat crying over Eiko's bedside. Patting her hand, Eiko said, smiling weakly. "We only have so much time. Don't spend it crying, Lady Mito. I want to feel happy when I pass from this world to the next."She looked over at Izu who stood solemnly with her two grandsons, Futoshi and Toshito, now both in their twenties. Her great grandchildren played at the bottom of the bed. Fugaku with his long brown hair and the scowling face which he inherited from his father and his uncle. And Omi with her bright black eyes and mane of wild black hair, so similar to her great grandfather's hair. She reached out a frail hand and pat Fugaku on the head. "See. My children know exactly what I need."Mito looked up from Eiko alarmed as she felt another presence nearby. She locked eyes with Eiko who replied, "please let him come. He won't stay long. I promise."Izu looked back and forth between the two elderly women. "What is it?"Sucking in a sharp breath, Mito stood to her feet and took the hands of the young children. "The children shouldn't be here. Since neither my Tsunade nor my poor lost Nawaki were able to give me great grands yet, I'm just going to have to spoil these two. Come, let's see what I can find that is sweet and bad for you."Futoshi stepped forward as though to protest, but Izu stuck out his hand stopping his son. "Let Fugaku be spoiled for a second. He is about to lose his great grandmother."Looking sternly at his father, he grumbled, "I won't let you soften my son the way you attempted to do to me. You have Omi for that.""Futoshi, come closer to me." Eiko called softly.Futoshi moved to Eiko's bedside and took her hand, squeezing it softly. She looked into his stern face and said, "Futoshi, please don't work so hard. I know you are the leader of the Uchiha clan now. I was the leader of the Hyuga clan before my great nephew took over, so I know how very busy you are... but remember to hug your son from time to time."Futoshi nodded, looking resigned at the older woman in the bed. Eiko had always been the only person who could soften Futoshi's hard edges. "Ok, Lady Eiko."Toshito approached next, tears streaming down his face. He knelt next to her and threw his body across her in a hug. "Lady Eiko! This is so sad!"Eiko patted his head, softly. "Toshito, I leave it to you to take care of everyone. You inherited my disposition more than your brother, so its important you make sure to share your big heart with him and his family too."Toshito sobbed as he moved away, herded out by an annoyed Futoshi. Now Eiko was left alone with Izu, who stared down at her with his one visible eye. He knelt by her bed and removed the mask from his face. Eiko placed her small withered hand on his cheek. "My beautiful, beautiful son. Everything has always been for you."Izu pressed his face into her hand. "You are the only reason I was able to become who I am now... with sons and grandchildren. You gave me two parents and a sister. You made sure no one treated me differently because of my father. I love you, Mother."Eiko smiled, tears falling from her white eyes. He had never called her, Mother, before. "Thank you, Izu."A dark figure appeared from the shadows behind Izu and an older man, now slightly gray, appeared behind Izu. Eiko looked up at him. For the last day, she had been clinging to life, waiting for him to come to her. Now finally he appeared. His name slipped from her lips. "Madara."Izu stood up and turned to face his father. The alarm on his face was apparent as he moved defensively to shield his mother. But the other man ignored him, passing by to kneel down at the bedside. Madara took Eiko's hand and placed it to his lips as Izu just stood quietly and stared in shock at his two parents together."I'm no longer beautiful, yet here you still are." Eiko chided Madara. She blushed slightly as his eyes turned into his trademark leer. "Who said you are no longer beautiful?" He moved his hand to her long white hair, picking up a strand and smelling it. He pulled a small white flower from inside his robes and placed it in her hair. "You still smell delicious, just like wind flowers."Eiko looked sadly at Madara. She placed a hand on his face. He was still aging unnaturally slow, but she could tell he was sick. He appeared to be dying himself. But even after death, she felt she would never see him again. "You still have not truly come back to me. Have you?""You always had the most important part of me. I left my heart here with you when I left the village." Madara replied sternly. "You still have it. So keep it safe on the other side."Eiko coughed weakly. She closed her eyes and smiled. "Be here with me then... when I go."Madara leaned forward and placed his head on her chest. She ran her hand through his long thick hair. "I'll tell your brother what a powerful shinobi you became..."As though drifting off to sleep, Eiko's spirit left her body, passing to the other side.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Akihito sat on his back stoop and enjoyed the feeling of the warm sun against his skin. It was all he could enjoy of the day since his eyesight was almost gone. He was just glad that he was still alive to enjoy the feeling of the sun. There were several years in his youth when he was not certain he would make it past twenty muchless to eighty two.Ever since Eiko’s death and then soon after, Toshito’s death, he had seen less and less of his grandson, Futoshi, and Futoshi’s son, Fugaku.But Omi and her mother, Mikoh, came over almost everyday to check on him and to make sure he was eating. And today for the first time in months, Fugaku came with them.He was so happy to see Kaiya’s grandson that he insisted that Mikoh and Omi get him up and into a chair in the yard, so he could see Fugaku’s progress with his shuriken training. Of course, he could only see a few inches in front of him in any detail, but he still happily cheered Fugaku on -at all the most inappropriate times.Though at twelve, Fugaku had Futoshi’s disposition for the most part, he played along with Akihito, thanking his great grandfather for his praise. He knew Omi would pester him for days if he was not nice to Akihito, and she might tell her friend, Mikoto. Secretly, he had a crush on the kind and pretty girl for years.Fugaku crossed the yard to pull out the shuriken from the target, while Akihito continued to shout, “Great one, Fugaku! That accuracy scares me!” As he reached the edge of the yard, he noted a shadowy form standing where Akihito’s old vegetable garden now sat overgrown with bushes.Squinting to see better, he moved towards the shape with his sharingan still activated. He slipped a kunai into the palm of his hand as he came upon a man standing in the shadows with a white striped mask over his face.“Who are you??” Fugaku demanded. “What are you doing in my great grandfather’s yard?”The man did not answer. He just stood there inspecting the kid in front of him.“Fugaku?? Is there someone there? Who’s come to visit?” Akihito called across the yard attempting to stand up out of the chair.“If you want Akihito to live another day, you will tell him no one is here.” The man said in a low voice.Fugaku looked behind his shoulder at his great grandfather. “It's just the post, great grandfather, don’t worry about it!”He turned back to the man in the mask. “What do you want?”“I’m an old friend of your family,” The man explained as though that cleared everything up. “You are Izu Uchiha’s grandson are you not?”“Yes.” Fugaku confirmed hesitantly. Futoshi was not the most forthcoming with information about their family. As far as Fugaku was concerned, both he and Omi were blood related to Izu. Futoshi refused to speak of Kaiya or his father, Sashin, and he barely acknowledged Akihito. Fugaku knew Eiko Hyuga was Izu Uchiha’s biological mother, but he had been warned by his father not to speak too freely about his grandfather’s true heritage though he was never told why.The entire subject interested Fugaku immensely but he feared his father too much to ask any more questions. And he was certainly confused to why this stranger had taken an interest.The man in the mask changed the subject, examining Fugaku's eyes. “You’re very skilled with the shuriken. I bet you are one of the top students in your class.”Fugaku puffed out his chest just a bit. “I am the top student.”This was not exactly true. He had been sharing the spot with Minato Namikaze for years. But at the moment, he chose to erase his rival from his mind. He continued bragging a bit arrogantly. “I’m sure you know that my father is the leader of the Uchiha clan, so he expects me to be the very best. Besides, with my sharingan, I pretty much have the edge on everyone else. They say I’m just as much of a genius as Sakumo Hatake, the white fang. He was the last prodigy to pass through the academy.”The man in the mask nodded. “I have a way you can be even better than the white fang. One day you might even be the best in village… the first Uchiha hokage. Now wouldn’t your father be ecstatic about that?”“Really?” Fugaku narrowed his eyes at the stranger. A way to bypass Minato? “Who did you say you were again?”“Meet me tomorrow at the river banks and I’ll tell you more.” The man in the mask moved back into the shadows as Omi came out on the porch.“Fugaku?? What are you doing in the bushes!?“ Omi yelled across the yard. “You were supposed to be watching great grandfather!”Grumbling, Fugaku looked over his shoulder at Omi, wanting to yell that he never agreed to watch Akihito. “I’m coming! I lost one of my shuriken!”Sitting in the hokage’s office across of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Izu looked around the old room.He had been here several times over the last few years in an attempt to warn the third hokage about Orochimaru’s strange behavior, but it had been awhile. The place had changed quit a bit since the first time he entered this room with his parents and Eiko Hyuga, so Hashirama Senju could tell him the truth about his parentage. Now they were all gone and time had moved on without hesitation.Izu came to realize soon after promoting Orochimaru from his lab assistant to running his own autonomous experiments that he had found himself another very deceptive student. But this time, he felt the situation might be worse. Danzo’s goals were always honorable despite his unscrupulous methods. Orochimaru, however, only cared about enhancing his own power, particularly his power over life and death.For whatever reason, Hiruzen seemed blinded to this fact. Ever since Orochimaru's parents died, the third hokage had treated him like one of his own children. Though Izu could not truly blame him. Hiruzen surely felt the same way about Izu and Futoshi.“The rift between the village and the Uchiha clan has only grown larger since your son took over as clan leader.” Hiruzen informed Izu. “It has come to the point where no one outside of the Uchiha clan is even allowed to enter the compound without permission from Futoshi or his police captains.”“I’ll talk to him again.” Izu stated, absentmindedly. At the moment, he was more worried about something else. “Mito has been gone from the village for awhile now. Are there any plans for her return?”Hiruzen frowned. “No. Actually, I’ve gotten news that she plans to stay in Uzushiogakure permanently. She has found a young girl there among some cousins who is more than suited to become the next nine tails jinchuuriki. I believe they plan to make the transfer soon. Then the girl will be sent here to live.”Izu frowned. Uzushiogakure like Amegakure had been the central point of many of the conflicts between Konoha and the rest of the world. The village had been attacked and destroyed more times than could be counted. Over the course of the first two wars, the members of the clan were often kidnapped and experimented on for the power in their bloodline. Most of their relics and fuinjutsu techniques had to be removed from the island and secured within Konohagakure. Many of the residents long ago fled to other villages to take refuge among other clans.At first, Izu did not understand why Mito insisted on going back to her home village after his mother died. She was sealed to the next Hyuga clan leader immediately after Eiko’s death, but she refused to stay in the village to develop that relationship any further. He thought maybe she wanted the presence of the nine tails to protect what was left of her old village. But later, he received news that she had been looking for a replacement jinchuuriki, and he knew she went back there because she wanted to die.Selfishly, Izu felt very vulnerable after Mito left Konohagakure. She was the only one who could sense Madara’s presence in the village. Though Madara had supposedly died again soon after Eiko’s death, the old Uchiha clan leader had faked his death so many times, who knew if that was actually true. And with all of the problems between the Uchiha Clan and the village, Madara could find much to manipulate.Four years later, a fifteen year old Mikoto clutched a basket of home baked bread to her chest as she walked hesitantly across the Uchiha compound towards Omi’s house. She stopped and coughed, having just recovered from another bad bout of sickness, and considered turning around to head back home. She had been dreading this evening ever since Omi insisted that she was much better and needed to come for dinner. She knew that Fugaku often ate dinner at his cousin’s house because as police captain and clan leader, his father worked late, and she was not looking forward to crossing paths with the arrogant young man.He made her nervous. She could not help but to admire his good looks and intelligence. But when he did choose to acknowledge her, he always glared at her with a stern and unfriendly look in his black eyes, and she could tell he judged her as inadequate. Both he and his father adhered to the high standards of the Uchiha clan almost to the point of fanaticism. And Mikoto had never been the most skilled or the healthiest Uchiha in the clan.On the other hand, Omi Uchiha was very much her father’s daughter, therefore high standards meant little to her carefree ways. She was always cheerful and optimistic. This attracted Mikoto to Omi almost as much as it irritated Fugaku. Therefore Mikoto surmised by association that she likely irritated Fugaku too.Omi opened the door for her friend as soon as Mikoto reached the doorstep. She took the basket from her and warned in a hush tone. “Don't make a fuss, but he’s here." Mikoto stopped in the doorway and looked as though she wanted to turn around and run immediately. Her eyes opened wide with regret. In a soft voice she whispered, “Maybe I should come back tomorrow, Senpai.”"I know you don’t like him much... no one does. But he's agreed to be nicer.” Omi grabbed Mikoto's arm and drug her into the house. "Besides, he has been looking forward to this dinner since I told him you were coming. He got here almost an hour ago, he was so nervous.""Really?” Mikoto asked, skeptically. Omi had a tendency to embellish. "That doesn't sound like Fugaku. He's usually so... irritated."Omi smiled back at her, slyly. “You do realize, my cousin is only that way because he likes you.”Mikoto shook her head, defiantly. She had been around boys who liked her, and Fugaku Uchiha was nothing like them.But Omi insisted that Fugaku was so socially awkward when it came to the fairer sex that he did not know how to deal with his feelings for Mikoto. So instead he just glared at her and made rude remarks.“At least he talks to you. I've never seen him even speak to any other girl.”“Are you sure you are not just saying that so I’ll stay?” Mikoto asked suspiciously. Omi was several years older than her and was already engaged to an Uchiha boy named Zenzo. Both Mikoto and Fugaku were often recruited to tag along as chaperones.But it was too late for further protests. Omi had already drug Mikoto into the sitting room where Zenzo stood talking with Fugaku. Both boys turned as the two girls entered the room. Zenzo, a tall and lanky teenaged boy with short spiky black hair, smiled brightly as he met eyes with Omi. But Fugaku’s frown deepened when he noted Mikoto standing next to his cousin.“Mikoto is here! Time to eat!” Omi grabbed Zenzo’s hand now and pulled him towards the dining table.Fugaku stood for a second and waited as Mikoto passed by him. At sixteen his brown hair was a shade darker, and he had inherited his family's strong and handsome features, which seemed to permanently rest in deep disapproval at everything around him. Mikoto nervously gave him a half smile and said, “Hello Fugaku.”He grunted a greeting in return and then he followed her into the dinning room.Omi and Zenzo led the conversation over dinner as both Mikoto and Fugaku buried their heads in their plates.“Did you know Mikoto got first in her class for shurikenjutsu when she was at the academy?” Omi was bragging in an attempt to include her friend and her cousin in the conversation.“It was the one skill that I was always good at. So I just practiced very hard.” Mikoto stated modestly.“Don’t you think you should be good at more than one skill?” Fugaku scoffed looking up from his plate.“We can’t all be you, cousin.” Omi scowled at him. “Besides, Mikoto is also very skilled at cooking. And it appears you agree since that is your third helping of her bread.”Fugaku’s cheeks became slightly red tinged as he set the bread in his hand back down on the plate. He mumbled, “she does ok.”Omi stood up. “While Zenzo and I clear the table, you two should go out on the stoop in the back. It’s supposed to be a very nice evening.”“Oh no. I can help.” Mikoto hopped up quickly, taking Fugaku’s plate with her plate off the table. Omi reached across and snatched the plates back.“Zenzo and I will do it. You go outside with Fugaku.” Omi narrowed her eyes at Mikoto as though daring her to say no.Mikoto sighed and stood up, delicately brushing off her skirt. Quietly she followed Fugaku outside on the stoop and then stood there awkwardly.Fugaku stood next to her scowling at the night sky with his lips pinned. The moment was uncomfortable and awkward, but Mikoto could not help but enjoy being out in the cool evening air after being enclosed in her bedroom for over a week. Then she began to shiver and cough."I'm sorry... cough cough... I'm just getting over a cold... cough cough." Mikoto tried to stifle the cough but that only made it worse.As he turned to the girl in distress, Fugaku forgot his scowl and a flash of fear past through his eyes. He knew Mikoto's sickness was much more than a cold. "Maybe we should go back inside.""No... not yet. It's so nice out here." Mikoto replied finally getting a hold of herself. "I haven't been outside in over a week." "Well... At least take my jacket then." He quickly pulled off the light jacket that he wore over his shirt and gently placed it around Mikoto's shoulders. "Thank you." Mikoto smiled gratefully up at Fugaku and pulled the jacket tighter around her.After another five minutes of uncomfortable silence, Fugaku turned to Mikoto and commented, “I like to walk to the pond... the one near the center of the village in the evening sometimes. You can see the night sky the best from there.”Mikoto looked at him surprised. She was certain he only studied and trained. The fact that Fugaku actually enjoyed something so extracurricular, seemed unimaginable. “Really? It is very nice there.”Fugaku looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Would you like to accompany me to the pond... now I mean?”“Yes.” Mikoto nodded happily, relieved that he was actually being nice to her that evening.He walked out of the yard without bothering to wait for her. Mikoto scurried after him trying to keep up. “Can you slow down just a bit, Fugaku? Your legs are a lot longer than mine.”“Do you always walk so slow?” Fugaku asked bluntly, but he slowed his pace a bit.Flustered Mikoto replied, “I like to enjoy my walks through the village. At this pace you’re missing everything.”Boldly Mikoto grabbed Fugaku’s hand and held onto it, in order to make him slow down even more. “Let’s enjoy the walk. Me and you, together.”Fugaku did not respond, but he did not pull his hand away. Instead, he looked into her face as she smiled at him. His eyes softened slightly as he nodded back awkwardly and slowed his pace even more, allowing Mikoto to easily fall in step by his side.As they passed out of the gates of the compound into the main village, they came across Kushina Uzumaki, walking with a blond shinobi named Minato Namikaze. They both were in the class above Mikoto like Fugaku. But Mikoto's friendly nature had allowed an acquaintanceship, while Fugaku had never directly spoken to either one.Mikoto waved a cheerful greeting and called, “Hi Kushina! Minato!”Minato smiled shyly and only waved back, but Kushina yelled a reply. “Hey ho! Mikoto! Fugaku!”“Great night ya know!” Kushina paused just for a split second as her eyes met Fugaku’s stern scowl. He did not wave. He did not look friendly at all. She sneered at him and then grabbed Minato’s hand and kept walking.Mikoto stopped walking, forcing Fugaku to stop as well since they were still holding hands. “Why do you always have to be so mean Fugaku Uchiha?? We were just saying hello.”Fugaku looked disdainfully back at the two shinobi as they walked away. “Do you know who and what she is? And he’s a Namikaze. Not much better.”Mikoto did not like or understand Fugaku’s prejudice. He got it directly from his father without any clear reasons of his own. During the time before hidden villages, the Namikaze clan, like many of the other small clans in the village, were absorbed into the Senju clan with only a few of the stronger shinobi keeping or readopting their original clan names. “They are both very nice people as far as I am concerned.”“You’re Uchiha. You should take more pride in that.” Fugaku narrowed his black eyes as he spoke sternly down to her. “No woman of mine should be associating so openly… with them.”Mikoto pulled her hand from his hand. “Well good thing, I’m not your woman then.”Fugaku’s face turned slightly red. “But I thought…”“You thought wrong. And you can just walk to the pond by yourself.” Mikoto took off Fugaku's jacket. He attempted to refuse it, but she shoved it into his chest before turning on her heel and angrily stalking back to the Uchiha compound.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Months later, Omi sat by Mikoto’s bedside holding her hand as she slept. Her fever finally broke, and she was no longer coughing up blood. For the first time in days, the teenage girl was resting comfortably.Since Mikoto activated her sharingan as a child, she had been sick often. The sickness even affected her vision to the point where she was supposed to wear spectacles. But Mikoto refused to wear the glasses and worked around her poor eyesight, hardly ever using her sharingan to keep her eyes from growing worse.While the rest of her peers left for the war, Futoshi ordered Mikoto to stay with the retired shinobi and the children of the clan who were still too young. Despite her eyesight, Mikoto was one of the best at shuriken throwing and her ninjutsu was better than Omi’s ninjutsu, so her friend could see it weighed on Mikoto heavily to have to remain behind. Omi guessed this may have caused her illness to become even more of a burden as Mikoto seemed even smaller and frailer now.Since returning home, Omi came to sit with her friend often, but Fugaku showed up at her house every day without fail. He refused to actually go inside, stating it was better if Mikoto did not know he was there. But he left flowers and fruit and several other small trinkets for her on the front stoop.“This is just plain silly.” Omi complained to his back as he stalked home that evening. “Mikoto would be happy to see you. And she wonders who is leaving all of that stuff at her house. I think she thinks it’s me trying to cheer her up.”Fugaku shook his head. Ever since that disastrous night several months ago when Omi attempted to set them up, Fugaku had it ingrained in his mind that Mikoto disliked him. Mikoto apparently thought the same about Fugaku because she refused to speak to Omi about him again. In Omi’s mind this clearly just showed how much they really did belong together.“Is she getting better?” Fugaku asked, a worried look etched across his face.Omi nodded. “Grandfather says she will be able to get out of the house tomorrow.”She looked at him, slyly. “I plan to take her to Grandfather’s lab. He believes he has discovered a serum that can help her illness. I’m telling you this, just in case you might happen to want to visit Izu’s house tomorrow.”“Really?” Fugaku frowned, ignoring the last part of Omi’s statement. Mikoto was getting sick more frequently lately.He had often heard his grandfather speak of Mikoto’s illness. Izu claimed that she likely would die young. He said this happened when an Uchiha’s sharingan was too powerful for their body. It was unclear whether this was because their dojutsu was more powerful than an average Uchiha or whether they had less chakra than an average Uchiha. But either way, it was as if their body was rejecting their eyes.This had happened multiple times in Mikoto’s family. None of the Uchiha on her father’s side lived past the age of twenty five. Fugaku just hoped his grandfather had actually found a way to help her.“So you are going to stop by, then?” Omi inquired.Fugaku only glared at her and walked away. She sighed and followed after him.The next day, Omi and Mikoto made their way to Izu’s house. He welcomed them warmly when they rang the bell at the gate.“Come in! Make yourselves comfortable.” Izu pulled out two chairs for them in his lab. He smiled down at Mikoto who looked better but still sickly. “I’ve been working on this for a long time, but I think I have found a serum that will prevent your body from rejecting your eyes.”Mikoto smiled back at him hesitantly. “Are you sure it works?”Raising an eyebrow, Izu said, “Not really. Obviously, we won’t know for certain until you take it. But I can promise you even if it doesn’t make you better, it won’t make you worse.”“So what does it do Grandfather?” Omi asked squeezing Mikoto's hands.“It inhibits many of the side effects of the dojutsu. It appears that the problem is your sharigan’s uniqueness in combination with having smaller chakra reserves than the average Uchiha. Your bloodline has the potential for many abilities that the Uchiha clan has never seen before... but because your bodies do not have the power to support them... well its a limitation to the dojutsu's power. The serum won’t restore your eyesight. But it will prevent it from getting worse and it will prevent the damage it has been doing to your body.” Izu stated. “I’ve been testing it for a few years now and I don’t see any other residual side effects. I think we should try it, Mikoto.”Mikoto nodded in confirmation. Fugaku sat on the river banks quietly and only looked up from his book as the stranger appeared. He stood up to greet the man in the mask. “Izu is going to use it on her. The serum... I mean.”He narrowed his eyes at the man. “This better not hurt her.”The man scoffed. “You have been injecting yourself with the prototype for years and you are ok. What makes you think it is going to hurt Mikoto?”“She is…” Fugaku looked away and scowled. “Delicate.”“I’ve spent a lot of time and effort on you.” The man sneered. “Don’t throw my goodwill away on a woman.”“Mikoto doesn’t even like me. Much less see me in a romantic way.” Fugaku retorted.“Yes. But you have feelings for her.” The man in the mask surmised. “That’s why you volunteered to test the serum, in order to save her life. There was once a woman like that for me. And she prevented me from doing what I needed to do.”“I told you not to worry about it!” Fugaku snapped. “Once Mikoto is better, she will find someone who will make her happy and I’ll keep out of the way.”The man in the mask paused for a second and his body language said he was skeptical. But he also appeared to be resigned to continue down this path with Fugaku, so he said, “visit your grandfather soon. Find out if the serum was a success.” Izu narrowed his eyes across the work bench at Fugaku. “The serum is working… very well actually.”“Are you finally going to tell me where you got that scroll from?” He had been extremely worried about his grandson ever since Fugaku appeared with an old scroll which gave the recipe for a formula used to contain the side effects of rare sharingan. Izu was skeptical at first and refused to buy into Fugaku’s discovery particularly after Fugaku refused to divulge how he even obtained this information. And after he found out that the main ingredient in the serum was Madara Uchiha’s DNA, he considered burning the scroll altogether.But he possessed some of Madara’s DNA to replicate. A bit of his hair that Eiko kept in a locket which she left for Izu when she died. Still Izu was hesitant. He had a feeling that Fugaku's mysterious source might have dark intentions.But Izu had been treating Mikoto’s family illness since he became a medical-nin. It was a terrible and very painful disease in the end. He could not turn his back on a potential cure.And he saw that his grandson had strong feelings for Mikoto. It was highly possible that she and Fugaku might marry one day and then his great grandchildren would suffer this disease too. His dear friend and old student, Kagami, had a son who was already married to one of Mikoto’s cousins with the disease and their children would also likely be at risk. Finally, he broke down and began to test the serum. Adamantly, Fugaku demanded to be the human test subject before Mikoto. He showed up to Izu’s lab everyday until his grandfather finally agreed.So far it had no effect on him whatsoever. That still did not mean it would work or even remain harmless to Mikoto, but Izu felt confident enough to give it to her.“Are you at least going to tell Mikoto that you are the reason she is getting better?” Izu asked kindly. He still wore his half mask but his hair and eyebrows were now gray. Despite Izu's initial opposition to the matter, he was extremely proud of how selfless and caring Fugaku had been towards Mikoto. Maybe he had not completely failed with Futoshi.”No.” Fugaku stated bluntly. “And you better not either. Neither she nor Omi can ever know... promise me, Grandfather.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Cousin, you are a genius when it comes to ninjutsu but you are a complete dunce when it comes to women.” Omi shook her head at Fugaku as they lay low behind a large rock five years later. They were positioned deep in a swamp in the land of rivers behind enemy lines heading back towards Konoha’s occupied territory. “Can you concentrate on the situation at hand and quit lecturing me about Mikoto?” Fugaku growled at his cousin. Omi pat him on the back in response. “I’m happy. I want you to be happy too. You’re like my completely unwanted little brother. And let me tell you, Cousin, marriage and parenthood is wonderful. You should try it.”“By the way, how is… what's his name again?” Fugaku looked around the rock searching for the best path.“Obito.” Omi replied, dejected. “My son’s name is Obito.”“Yea, right.””He’s great... not that you actually care.” Omi rolled her eyes. They had been on this mission for two weeks now and she had reminded Fugaku of her son’s name three times already.“It seems pretty quiet here. Are you sure this is where Zenzo said to meet them?” Fugaku asked, changing the subject.“I might not be as smart as you, but I’m not stupid.” Omi replied. She moved further out of their hiding spot. “It looks clear. Let’s move closer.”Fugaku signaled for her to follow him as he crossed the open area and slid behind another rock. Quickly, he moved again but this time he stumbled across something as he made it to the next rock. He hissed back at Omi. “Wait!”Digging into the pile of leaves next to his position, he came across a set of legs and arms. He climbed up to look over the rock and was confronted with a river bed sprinkled with bodies. He activated his sharingan and scanned the area before sliding back down and closing his eyes. “Omi don’t move. It’s a trap.”He heard her voice waver. “What do you mean? Where is Zenzo?”Fugaku had not seen Zenzo’s body but this was definitely his unit. Fugaku recognized the body that lay next to him. “I don’t know. But we need to get out of here.”“I’m not leaving without Zenzo.” She hissed back at him. She began to crawl towards the next rock behind which Fugaku lay.“Omi. Don’t move any further.” Fugaku hissed at her as Omi slid next to him. She spotted the body of their comrade and then she began to panic. He grabbed her hand. “Calm down. We have to think clearly to get out of this. The enemy who killed them is still in the area. There are several nearby in the trees. They will likely spot us if we try to cross the river bed. But if we go backwards, we will run into the enemy behind us.”Fugaku shook his head. The plan had been to lead the enemy behind them this way to meet up with Zenzo’s larger unit who would ambush them. Apparently, Zenzo’s unit had been ambushed themselves. He was going to have to take the chance to escape across the river bed back towards Konoha’s base. “Omi… hang on to me.”Fugaku made hand seals and bit his thumb placing his palm flat on the ground. A large hawk appeared out of a puff of smoke, swooping down and picking them both up before tossing the two shinobi onto its back.Several shuriken flew from multiple different directions targeting the bird as it flew up into the sky. As the bird made its way safely above the fray and Fugaku directed it south behind Konoha’s front line, he felt Omi collapse forward into his back.Omi choked and coughed behind him. Finding a safe spot, Fugaku landed the bird and then pulled his cousin off to the ground to inspect her. A shuriken had slice right through the front of her flak jacket into her chest. She was coughing up blood now.“Omi…” Fugaku removed the jacket, looking around panicked for anyone in the area. “Omi! Stay with me.”He picked her up in his arms and began to run back towards the base. As Omi’s head lulled forward, she said, “Find Zenzo… I want to be buried next to him.”“You’re not going to be buried anywhere. You are going to live.” Fugaku replied angrily.Coughing and choking again, Omi smiled dazedly, “You’ve suddenly become such an optimist...”“Just rest. We’re almost there.” Fugaku continued to scold her.Omi ignored him. “Remember to tell Obito that I love him. And don’t let my mother spoil him too much... he's such a sweet boy...”“And… please finally tell Mikoto that you love her… before it’s too late, Cousin.””You can tell them everything yourself...” Fugaku growled defiantly.But Omi’s head had already fallen all the way back as she passed out completely. Tears fell from Fugaku’s eyes as he carried his cousin into the base and handed her to the medical nin.The shinobi took Omi inside the medical tent, but after he lay her on a cot and examined her, he looked up at Fugaku with empathy and said, “She’s already gone. There is nothing we can do.”Fugaku turned away and walked out, his vision not only blurred with tears now but seared with pain. He stopped after only making it a few yards and bent over as the pain became unbearable.From with the agony, he felt a hand on his shoulder and a kind voice asked, “Are you ok?”He collected himself as best her could and looked up, encountering the blue eyes of Minato Namikaze. Fugaku sneered. “Senju…”Angrily he turned to walk away again but the pain hit him knocking him to his knees.Minato helped him back up. “I don’t think you are ok. I’ll take you back to the medical tent.”“No. I promised my cousin that I would find Zenzo Uchiha’s body.” Fugaku knew this was crazy, but after letting Omi die, he had to do something. “Besides, I’m fine.”The pain subsided a bit and he moved away from Minato. He already knew what was happening to him. The man in the mask warned him this might happen one day. He said it required a loss greater than the loss that activated a normal sharingan. It required the loss of the closest and most trusted person in one’s life. Omi had been there since the moment he was born. Despite their differences, she knew him better than anyone, even his own father.As he stumbled back out of the base, Minato followed him. “Well I’m coming with you then. You can’t just wander off on your own.”“You don’t need to come.” Fugaku stopped and looked at the other man. Realizing he was never getting rid of Minato. He said, “Could you just report to the hokage that Zenzo’s unit was ambushed and Omi Uchiha is dead. I am the only one left.”“You won’t be if you go back there alone.” Minato replied. “So I’m still coming with you.”The blond shinobi looked off into the distance and said firmly but softly,“And don’t attempt to put me under your genjutsu. I know that trick.”Fugaku scowled. Minato had been avoiding his eyes ever since promising to accompany him, and Fugaku could not use genjutsu without eye contact like his grandfather. Besides, his eyes were still killing him. There was no way he was going to make it back without help. “Fine. Don’t slow me down.””You don’t have to worry about that.” Minato gave him a half grin. A few months later Fugaku stood quietly in the back of the large Uchiha meeting house. He nodded greetings as each of his clan members entered.”You need to move up front and stand up straight by my side.” His father Futoshi appeared suddenly beside him.He was a few inches shorter than Fugaku and his frame was thinner. His black hair was graying which made him look more distinguished but only slightly less than intimidating. Still Fugaku withered like a scared child under his father’s gaze, following him obediently to the front of the hall.As they reached the front, Futoshi leaned over to him again. “Keep your mouth shut and watch. Don’t screw this up like you did with your cousin’s death.”Fugaku flinched slightly turning his pained eyes to his feet. He had felt an enormous amount of guilt over Omi’s death. Only made worse as his father continued to hang it over his head as a clear indication of Fugaku’s inability to live up to Futoshi’s standards. “I am the leader of this clan. Any harm that comes to one of its members is a direct reflection of my own failures.” Futoshi often lectured Fugaku harshly. “As my son and the next leader of this clan, the same responsibility rests on your own shoulders.”Fugaku took his father’s words to heart though he did not often agree with his father’s methods of protecting their clan.When he looked up from his feet again, Fugaku came across Mikoto. She walked into the hall next to another Uchiha young man. He felt his heart lurch in response. She never came to these meetings. She must really care about that young man if she agreed to come with him.Feeling a snarl of anger and jealousy rise into his throat, he glared daggers at her as they caught eyes. Mikoto looked away quickly, and grabbed the young man’s hand pulling him towards two seats.He spent most of the rest of the meeting staring at Mikoto while pretending not to. He only caught half of what his father said. Most of it was the same gripes about the village and none of it held his attention until his grandfather, Izu, appeared in the back of the hall with Kagami and his son, Anoto, and his grandson, Shisui.They never came to these meetings either. In fact his father had all but posted up their pictures around the compound stamped with the label, ‘local pariahs’ underneath. He could see Futoshi tense up as soon as he noticed the group enter the hall.Futoshi ignored them for the rest of meeting, even when Izu attempted to speak. After it ended, Futoshi made a bee line to his father’s side. Fugaku knew what was coming so he did not stay to watch the fight. He stalked out of the hall ignoring Mikoto as she attempted to speak to him outside.He kept walking until he was out of the main village and at the river banks. It was there that he felt himself being watched.”What do you want?!” Fugaku demanded, but he stopped and waited for the man in the mask to appear by his side. He had not seen the stranger for awhile now. Even after all these years, the man still refused to take off the mask or give his name.Close to the beginning of their encounters, he figured out the man was Uchiha. Despite the mask, it was apparent that the man was disfigured and crippled, so Fugaku figured he was an Uchiha who was presumed dead during the war and just never returned to the clan for some reason. Maybe for the same reason why Fugaku considered not coming back after Omi and Zenzo died.As an arrogant young boy, Fugaku had liked the fact that the man only appeared to him to divulge his secret power. It made him feel special. So he kept their meetings a secret. But he also had a strong sense that the man was dangerous. And he never planned to tell the masked man when he actually achieved the mangekyo.“I’ve come to see your progress.” The man stated falling in step with Fugaku.”There is no progress. I’m still the same. I couldn’t even save my own cousin.” Fugaku lied gruffly.”That death... it did not change you at all?” The man sounded disappointed. “I could show you how to use your new power if it did. I can tell you how to keep your eyesight.””I told you nothing has changed. Everything you told me was crap... find someone else to bother from now on.” Fugaku figured like every other forbidden power connected to the sharingan, if he did not use the power, he would not lose his sight.Besides, he had other more important reasons to change his mind. If he did use the power, his father would discover it and try to use it against the village. And after all these years at war, Fugaku finally understood the view point of Mikoto and Izu and every other Uchiha who opposed his father’s methods. People were good and bad regardless of what clan they came from. Their village had enough enemies in the world. It would always be better for everyone within Konohagakure to be allies rather than enemies.The war had changed Fugaku greatly. Losing his best friend and cousin had quelled a lot of his pride and arrogance. And then Minato Namikaze had risked his life to help Fugaku find Zenzo Uchiha’s body so he could be buried next to his wife. Fugaku would never forget that. Minato was now a trusted comrade and he would proudly fight by his side any day.The man in the mask scoffed. “I guess I’ll have to choose better next time.”As Fugaku watched the stranger melt back into the shadows, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He spun to find Mikoto behind him. Frowning down at her, he said, “What are you doing here?””I came to make sure you are ok. You ran out of the meeting hall so quickly.” She explained hesitantly. She still had that edge of apprehension in her eyes every time she looked at him. He did not like it. He wanted her to look at him the way Omi had always looked at Zenzo.”I’m fine.” He knew his abruptness did not help but she made him feel so awkward. He grumbled. “You should get back to your boyfriend.”Hurt entered Mikoto’s eyes as she nodded and turned to walk away.Inside Fugaku’s head, he heard Omi scolding him again for pushing Mikoto away and not telling her, his true feelings. She slapped him on the back and demanded. “Would you please just tell her you love her already!!”This time he listened, reaching out for Mikoto’s hand wrapping his fingers through her fingers.Surprised Mikoto stopped and looked back at him. “Fugaku?””Wait. Don’t go yet. I... I’ve missed you.” The words slipped out before he could stop them. “Before she died, Omi told me I should tell you how I really feel... how I’ve always felt.”Mikoto just stood staring at him in shock. “About me?”Fugaku swallowed hard and looked as though he might lose his dinner all over himself. ”It might not matter now... after all these years. It’s probably too late but I lov..”Before he could finish, Mikoto had thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him. She wound her fingers through his long brown hair as he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her tight his body. They fell back against a nearby tree as she opened her lips to accept his tongue.Every thought and feeling he ever suppressed, came to the surface as he pulled the shoulders of her dress down kissing her neck and her bare collar bone.For a second, it passed through Mikoto’s mind that they were outside in the open for anyone to see. But then Fugaku's hand cupped her small round breasts and his lips reached her nipples as the top of her dress slipped to her waist and her thoughts collapsed into a jumble of lust and pleasure. “Why did you just make love to me?” Fugaku asked hesitantly. He had assumed wrongly in the past he did not want to assume wrong again.”Because I love you too. Why do you think I’ve turned down every other man in our clan, Fugaku? I only accepted Yu’s invitation tonight so I had an excuse to see you.” She said softly as she lay her head against his chest. Their naked bodies wrapped together with only the strewn clothes covering them sparingly. “Every time you left to go back to the war, I felt as if my heart was being ripped out of my chest. You make me so mad and so happy all at the same time.”Fugaku kissed the top of Mikoto’s head. “I should have listened to Omi a long time ago then. I just didn’t think you felt anything back.”Mikoto looked up into Fugaku’s stern face and giggled. “I thought the same about you. I thought you hated me.””So then you will marry me?” Fugaku asked abruptly.Nodding at him, Mikoto relaxed into his arms. “I will marry you.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mikoto proudly handed Izu the infant in her arms, wrapped in a warm blue blanket. "We've named him, Itachi, Grandfather."Izu looked down at the squirming infant with wild black hair and big black eyes. This reminded him of the first time he held, Futoshi. He had lost his remaining son only months before Itachi's birth. Now Fugaku was the new clan leader. Sighing, Izu looked up at Fugaku, who stood quietly behind his wife. He had his usual scowl on his face but his eyes were livelier than usual. Now wide with pride as he looked upon his grandfather and his son. Fugaku would be a far better and fairer leader than his father, but between Hiruzen's leadership over the village and Futoshi's leadership over the Uchiha clan, Izu was not sure how much Fugaku could turn the current climate around. "You will need to give him the serum as soon as Itachi develops his sharingan in order to avoid any of the side effects." Izu reminded them again. He doubted he would be around much longer himself. And definitely not long enough to see this young one activate his dojutsu. But he had made enough of the serum for generations to come in preparation for his death. He secured the medicine in the small Uchiha clinic that he ran and then he destroyed all of the rest of his life's work. That serum was the only legacy that Izu was truly proud of. It was all he meant to leave behind when he passed. Though unfortunately, that may have no longer been a choice.For years, he stored samples of Hashirama's, Eiko's and Madara's DNA in his lab, planning to keep them for future use. But not long ago, he realized that he was missing portions of his samples. After that he destroyed them all. He was certain it was either Orochimaru or Danzo who had taken the samples. He gave this information to the third hokage, once again warning him of the dangers that surrounded them. And Hiruzen looked concerned this time, stating he planned to look into it. But Izu had his doubts. Now that he was nearing eighty, he was too old and too tired to do much more about it. So he left it at that. He left behind many other concerns however. The first being the still mysterious source of Fugaku's serum. The serum had saved many Uchiha lives without any foreseen side effects. But Izu worried that there was another reason why this cure was suddenly put out into the world. At his age, Izu often forgot his concerns before he could express them, but he had managed to confront Fugaku about this particular secret multiple times. "Don't worry Grandfather. I've taken care of it. The man, who gave me the scroll, is long gone." Fugaku always replied absentmindedly. He knew the hidden reason behind the serum. But whether or not other Uchiha suddenly started to develop the mangekyo eyes of the old leader was not high on his list of priorities at the moment. Particularly when the rift between the Uchiha clan and the village is what occupied his thoughts most days. He was happy to hear whisperings of Hiruzen's intensions to retire soon. And even happier that it seemed like Minato Namikaze was the likely first choice for a replacement. If anyone could repair the tensions, it would be him and Minato.But the man in the mask was far from long gone...Months later, Madara crouched in the bushes watching a young boy who wore oversized goggles on his head as he played with a bubbling baby on the river banks. He recognized the boy as one of Izu's great grandsons. The oldest one who descended from Izu's oldest son. The baby was likely Fugaku's child. He had heard that the young man was now married to the woman, who he injected himself with the serum to save. He was now the leader of the Uchiha clan and raising a healthy son.Frowning, Madara realized that he had given Fugaku the same choice that he had so many years ago when he decided to leave the village and left behind his own wife and son. Only Fugaku had chosen right. Fugaku had rejected power and vengeance and had chosen love instead. Now he had the life that Madara would have led, and Madara could not help but envy him for it. After all these years, he still regretted leaving Eiko behind to pursue this dark path to power. And his regrets were the only human characteristic left about him.That... and his inability to enter the portion of the Uchiha compound where his son's house sat. Even though surprisingly Madara never bothered to notice before, but Izu looked almost identical to himself. Still, he inherited enough of Eiko's gestures, expressions, and characteristics that Madara could not bare to lay eyes on his son anymore. So he kept to the river banks, the outskirts, and the western half of the compound where Izu rarely ventured these days. So today was the first day that he was able to identify Obito. He followed and watched the young boy for awhile. How he gently played with his younger cousin on the river banks, allowing the boy to climb on him and pull his hair. Then he watched as Obito returned to his grandmother's house, stopping along the way to help anyone who happened to cross his path in need. Not long after, he was joined by a pretty young girl from another clan, who Obito called, "Rin." He followed behind Rin often, obviously in love with her though she seemed not to notice.Not a particularly impressed with Obito's skills, Madara was beginning to think his great great grandson was a bit of a dunce, and he spent half the day rolling his eyes at the boy's predictable blunders. Obito reminded Madara of his old assistant Akihito. An annoyingly big hearted fool with more confidence than brains (though, Akihito turned out to be much more devious than Madara once thought), Madara had chosen Akihito so long ago as his right hand, not only because he was a cousin, but also because he reminded Madara of the boy who he use to be before he lost his younger brother. Madara was further drawn to Obito for this reason and he continued to keep track of him over the next few months. Not prodigious like Fugaku, Futoshi, or Izu, Obito was an average kid in every way possible -skill, smarts, looks, and personality. But he had an enormous heart which seemed open to everyone... even those who were not that particular about being included, like his comrade, Kakashi Hatake.Obito was much more like his mother, Omi, whom Madara had overlooked for Fugaku for all of the wrong reasons noted above. But Madara had learned a few things during his experiment with Fugaku. First, it was a lot harder to break someone who was already skeptical of love. And second, skill and ambition had nothing to do with the power of the mangekyo sharingan. A big hearted fool would always unleash much more power from the dojutsu than a cold hearted genius. So this time, Madara chose more wisely.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Half crushed and near death, Obito stared blindly into the darkness of the rock grave that surrounded him. His right eye was now completely destroyed by the avalanche, and his left eye was gone. It was now transplanted into Kakashi.'I'm going to die now.' Obito thought, resigning himself to the fate. 'Kakashi take care of Rin...'Suddenly he felt something slithering over his body, encasing him, pulling him from the darkness.A light and whimsical voice came to him, "Not yet. You still have a second life to live Obito Uchiha."Obito passed out from the excruciating pain as his body was drug out from under the layer of rocks.Four Months later...Obito woke up to find himself in a dimly lit cavern. The ceiling was made of a complicated network of tree roots. He could not move. He could barely expand his lungs to take a breath. His entire body was encased in something that restrained him to complete stillness. But finally, he could open his eyes. And now, he could see out of both eyes. What was happening to him?A face appeared above him. At least, Obito thought it was a face... there was only one eye and it was just a hole. There was no actual eye inside it. The face was white and in a complete spiraling pattern. There was no mouth nor a nose. The creature did have a voice. It was that same whimsical voice, which had pulled Obito back from death. "You're awake! Yay!"Obito wanted to ask, "who are you?" He opened his mouth, but only a raspy grunt came out."We are Tobi and Zetsu. And we were sent by a friend to help you." The strange man spoke in purals even though he was the only one present. "You are very special, Obito. We have been watching you for a very long time… Well, at least since you got that talented eye of yours."The strange man put his long white finger too close to Obito's right eye. He sighed. "Soon you will meet him... the one who has been waiting for you. But for now you need to get stronger. There has been a special set of items built from us. From our very special DNA. One day, he will need you to recover the parts and put them in order. But to do so you will need to be strong enough to defeat the leaf and their soon to be new hokage, Minato Namakazi… I believe you know him well, The Yellow Flash? Hum?"Obito just stared back at the creature, not able to do anything else."Oh that's right... you can't speak." Tobi laughed gleefully. "Oh well. Rest now, young Obito. You have much more recovering to do."Three Months later...Obito was finally released from his bondages and allowed to sit up. The entire right half of his body had been reconstructed in the time that he spent in this underground cavern. This was the first time that he had enough freedom to actually sit up and look around.The two creatures, who had brought him back from near death, were presently gone. Zetsu, who was half a blob and half an actual man, was the gentler of Obito's caretakers. Though he often playfully teased Obito, he genuinely seemed concerned about his patient's well being and would sometimes sit by Obito's bedside for hours, giving him news about the outside world. White Zetsu said he had eyes and ears everywhere, so Obito was kept abreast of everything, even of his old teammates back in Konohagakure. Sometimes but rarely, White Zetsu would appear in a complete form with his right half coated by the black right half of a man. Then Zetsu would appear much more serious and distant, sometimes ignoring Obito all together. On the other hand, Tobi, or as Obito had begun to call him, Guruguru, was a jokester. He was sarcastic to the point of condescendingly mocking Obito at times. Obito tried not to let it hurt his feelings too much. And in some ways, Obito actually liked Guruguru better than Zetsu. Guruguru's constant needling reminded Obito of his old friend, Kakashi."Obito, come here…" There was a new voice coming from the shadows. A deeper and less friendly voice. Obito had heard this voice before, but it was like a distant memory sitting on the periphery of his mind.The teenager moved to the edge of the bed, squinting into the darkness. There was an outline of a form which appeared to be human and completely inhuman all at once.Hoisting himself up from the bed, Obito propped himself on his unsteady feet and dragged himself over towards the form. It was a man. He had long black hair with streaks of gray. His body or what was left of it appeared to be growing out the wall of this cavern that had been Obito's home for so long. The roots that made up the cavern walls were as much a part of the man as his head and his one arm. His face was ravished and almost unrecognizable as a human face. The only feature that was distinguishable as part of a man were his eye sockets. Two empty black sunken holes in the midst of a horror."Obito… can you hear me? Can you see me?" The voice asked him. It appeared to be coming from the deformed man. But it was not actually coming from his mouth, but from somewhere inside of him.Obito opened his own mouth, and used his weakened voice to answer. It came out hoarse, scratchy, and barely audible at first, and then it grew a bit stronger. "I hear you. Are you this… thing?""You see my terrible plight." The voice moaned. "What I have had to sacrifice for this hateful world…""What happened to you?" Obito frowned, gaining the confidence to move just a bit closer to the thing that spoke to him."The rinnegan." The voice moaned. "I have learned it is the key to saving this world from itself. You know better than anyone that this world needs saving. You have lived through war. You have been its victim. Because of me, you were barely spared from death. I chose you… from the many Uchiha who could have taken my place. I chose you, Obito."The voice sounded urgent now, maybe even angry. "And I saved you for a reason!""Who are you?" Obito backed away again. He did not like the tone that the voice was suddenly taking. It felt as though at any moment that creature would reach out and possess him."Madara Uchiha." The voice returned in a calmer tone. "Have you ever heard of that name?"Obito whispered, "Madara."He was an Uchiha, so of course he had heard that name before. It was a name that was often mentioned in whispers followed by guilty looks from the adults of his clan. No one spoke openly about the old leader, but everyone knew he had once tried to tilt the balance of power from the Senju leadership towards the Uchiha clan. After the day that Kakashi spilled the beans about the unspoken rule which would have prevented Obito from ever realizing his life long dream, Obito learned Madara was the reason why there would never be an Uchiha Hokage."Yes. I know the name." Obito replied quietly."So they still speak of me then." The voice replied, satisfied."What happened to you? Everyone thinks you are dead.""I am dead." The voice replied. "I died a few years ago after I used my own body to bring about the rinnegan."Obito knew the rinnegan was a rare dojutsu which had not been seen for thousands of years. There were rumors about a way to activate the rinnegan from a sharingan. But these stories were regarded as myths and were nothing anyone bothered to replicate. "That's how you ended up like this?""Yes." The voice moaned. "I am a sage. And my death, as you can see, was nothing but poor and pathetic. It was my fate to not receive a sage's rebirth or to cross over into the Pure Land, but to be reborn on mortal earth… unfortunately, the truth about an unworthy death is not quite as glamorous as the myth. I died and my consciousness was reborn in this same deformed and decaying body. This is my hell. I am forever chained to this terrible existence. My zetsus have kept this body intact as much as they are capable. That is why I need you."Obito stepped back again. "You need me?""Yes." The voice hissed. "We can share your new body. The way a jinchuuriki shares their body with a tailed beast. After returning from limbo all that is left of the true me is just a large mass of formless chakra. Allow me to be sealed inside of you. An extension of my will can preform the jutsu for us. Then I will share my power with you. Together we can save this world and you can realize your dream of becoming hokage."Obito took another step back. He shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."The voice came at him with the harsh and angry tone again. "I saved you for a reason! You owe me, Obito Uchiha."Obito turned to run, but the voice cried, "Wait! I have something that you desperately want."A portion of the wall of roots opened like curtains to reveal a small compartment inside. Another voice cried out from inside the darkness. "Help me…"Not really understanding, Obito stopped and turned back. That voice was very familiar, and it pulled at his heart strings. "Rin??"Madara's voice spoke again in his calm and soothing tone. "Did you think your life came without a price attached? But this state that I'm suggesting… it would only be temporary. If you cooperate, in the end you will have your body back and everything that you want, Obito. Including your girl.""Why do you have Rin?" Obito demanded, ignoring Madara's promises."I thought you may need an incentive. I know what it is to love a girl like Rin. It can be the most powerful and the most damning thing all at once." The voice replied cryptically. "So I had White Zetsu lure her here."Obito moved to walk towards the compartment where Rin was held, but the wall of tree roots slammed shut."She is dying." Madara stated, harshly. "After I faked my first death, I implanted Hashirama's cells in my wounds in order to mature my sharingan into the rinnegan… his overwhelming power is the reason my body is in this state. I was just barely able to keep my physical form stable by merging with this tree. And poor Rin is nothing compared to me. While it took years for me to become this, she will end up like this in hours… and her death will be much worse. But… there is a way to suppress the process, Obito.Not long ago, an infant lived after being injected with Hashirama's DNA. He is the only one to have ever lived through the process, and recently he has shown that he is able to manifest some of the hokage's power. I could help Rin. It would not take much… since she was only injected with a small amount of Hashirama's DNA. It's up to you, Obito. What are you willing to do?"Five days later...Rin woke up in Obito's arms. His face peered down at her with concern. Every night, he brought her up out of the cavern underneath the roots of Madara's tree and into the night's fresh air, waiting for her to wake up. When she did finally open her eyes, she sat up and grabbed him, pulling him to her so tightly that he began to choke."Obito! It wasn't a dream! You are alive!" She laughed happily.Obito relaxed into Rin's embrace. He rested his head on her shoulder, enjoying his close proximity to her. His wild black hair was now longer and to his shoulders. He wore it in his face to hide the terrible scars over the right side of his face. Miserably, he answered, "Yes. I'm alive."He did not know how long that would last. Ever since Madara's chakra had been sealed inside of him, he had been losing longer and longer periods of time. First it was just a few minutes, where he had no memory of anything that he had done. For the last couple of days, it had turned into hours. He had a feeling eventually Madara would permanently take over.But losing his own life was worth saving Rin's life. He was supposed to be dead anyway. Soon after Madara promised to help her, she began to turn into something horrible, right before his very eyes. The zetsus finally gave her the injections that Madara promised, after Obito agreed to the sealing. White Zetsu's mysterious black half sealed Madara's chakra inside of Obito with a kinjutsu called a sage's unworthy death: chakra release and seal. Now she was back to the beautiful girl that Obito remembered. He wrapped his arms around her waist. Just this one single moment was worth everything.Rin pulled back from the embrace and placed her hand over the scarred portion of his face. Now she looked at him with concern. "Why did you stay away for so long?""I almost died." Obito explained. "Some… people helped me… the same ones who helped you. I've only just recovered.""So you're coming back with me now?" Rin asked, hopefully. "Everyone will be so happy to see you… Minato sensei and Kakashi and your grandmother… Minato Sensei is going to be the new Hokage soon.""I can't go back." Obito interrupted. He did not know how long he could keep Madara at bay, but he knew once the elder Uchiha took over, he would be dangerous to the village.Rin frowned, looking disappointed. "Why not?""It's a long story." Obito sighed. "But it's better if I stay away.""Then I'll stay with you." Rin said determinedly. She took Obito's hand and squeezed. "We can go somewhere else… together.""No." Obito shook his head. "Minato and Kakashi will be looking for you. They can't be drawn to this place. We'll spend tonight together and in the morning, you should go back. I have to get far away… alone.""But, I don't want to leave you again…" Rin protested.Suddenly, Obito leaned forward and kissed her. He did not know what possessed him to do this. He half expected her to draw back in disgust. But Rin did not flinch. She shifted forward slightly, applying just a bit of pressure in return as their lips touched.As they broke away from the kiss, Obito frowned and asked, "Kakashi?"He had always thought she was in love with his best friend and teammate. All those years ago, she appeared to chose Kakashi over him, so he had entrusted his sharingan and her safety to his comrade. But now, Rin only smiled and said with certainty, "You."Obito looked down at his hands now. He did not want to be selfish. She needed to go back.Rin asked, again. "so you will take me with you, then?"Obito nodded quietly, placing his cloak around her shoulders as she leaned into his chest. They were up near the top of Madara's tree, in the branches under the starlight. He rest his chin against her head taking in the scent of her hair. He never realized just how much he had truly missed her.'Obito!' A voice called to him from deep inside of himself.Obito found himself pulled into a strange world. The ground was uneven and made up of odd cube like shapes. The sky was almost the same dull gray blue color as the ground and there was no sun. "Where am I?""Your mindscape is strong and well defined." A man stood in front of him. Long black hair grew like a lion's mane around his sharp pale face. He knew instantly that this was Madara. The true Madara before his body became so deformed. He narrowed his black eyes. "Your own personal alternate dimension."Madara continued, "Obito, I have been merciful. I've given you some time with your girl. Now we must get things done. I have to take possession now."Obito frowned. "That was not the deal."Madara laughed cruelly. "Did you really expect me to tell you the truth? I'm stealing your body and the jutsu only works on a willing host. I'm sorry, but I had to trick you. Your Rin cannot live. She knows too much.""What?" Obito demanded. He struggled to take back over from Madara, but the elder Uchiha was too strong."It's useless to fight it. This is my body now." Madara stated, walking up to Obito grasping him around the throat with his right hand and choking him. "I chose you because you were strong enough to survive becoming my host, but you're not strong enough to resist me. You can't win."For a second, Obito resurfaced, finding his way back to Rin. He opened his eyes and pushed her from his chest and out of the branches of the tree before yelling, "Rin! Run!" Rin landed on her feet just barely catching herself as she fell from the tree. She had been asleep, but was abruptly woken up from a wonderful dream by Obito's warning.She did not know what she was running from, but if Obito told her to run away, she was knew it was something bad.Then a couple of white creatures appeared at her flanks, they were laughing and running along next to her after appearing from out of the ground. More of them came. She ducked and ran to the right trying to get away. Coming to a grove that dead ended, she stopped and turned around, setting her feet and pulling a kunai into her hand. The woods were quiet now, but she could still feel herself being watched."Rin?" Another familiar voice came from above. She looked up. It was Kakashi."Thank god. Kakashi." Rin smiled up at him.Kakashi hopped down next to her and uncovered his sharingan, looking around for the enemy she was preparing to fight. "Where have you been? We've been searching for you for days. I finally tracked you here.""It's a long story." Rin replied, breathing hard after running. "There is someone after me.""Who?" He demanded.A tinkle of whimsical laughter came from the woods again. Now Kakashi turned, looking around and activating his chidori. He yelled, "Who is there?!""It's just us." Several Mist Ninja appeared like ghosts from the woods. They approached slowly, surrounding the two leaf ninja in the grove.As Kakashi and Rin turned to stand back to back, Rin began to falter. Her brow became soaked with sweat and she began to cough. The adrenaline of fight or flight was catching up to her. She vomited up wooden splinters, as the wood style took over her insides."Rin?" Kakashi looked over his shoulder in concern but was distracted by the oncoming attack. He hit the first couple of attacking ninja with his chidori.Rin's anguished screams became louder as Kakashi pivoted and slid around her, attempting to protect her."I… I..." Rin stammered as she stood up from where she crouched on the ground. Wooden shafts had begun to burst their way out of her back. Driven by intolerable pain, she shifted into Kakashi's path as he went for the next mist shinobi. His lightening cutter went straight through her heart. She gasped and spit up more blood before sighing with relief as the terrible pain subsided and death began to take over. The rest of her body began to change around Kakashi's arm, turning to wood and growing roots that planted themselves into the soil."Rin?" In shock, Kakashi pulled his arm out of the tree that was once Rin. All that was left of her was a small imprint of her face. Paralyzed, he stood there and looked at her, a tear fell from his eye. "Rin."Now pain gripped Kakashi's left eye. He fell forward, hitting his head against the tree trunk and knocking himself out. Obito found himself in the real world again as Madara leisurely made his way to the fight. The younger Uchiha came to, just in time to witness Kakashi's chidori go through Rin's chest, and then, the wood style took over the rest of her body, turning her completely into a winding oak tree.At Madara's request, Guruguru had molded his body into an armor like shape around Obito's body. He laughed lightly, and said, "oops… I guess we didn't give her enough of that injection."Anguish tore its way through Obito's body. The pain that hit his right eye did not even come close to the pain that ripped apart his heart.The mist ninja had turned to look at him, believing he was Madara and waiting for instructions. None of them were prepared when Obito appeared amidst them, grabbing a sword and slicing through the closest three ninja in a fit of rage.He took control of Tobi's wood style, shooting wood shafts through multiple opponents at once. The mist ninja attempted to fight back but none of their blows met their marks, passing through Obito's body as if he were a mere shadow and not a solid form. Meanwhile Obito cut through them without hesitation until no one was left alive.Obito let go of the bloody swords in his hands and stepped over Kakashi's unconscious body, dropping to his knees in front of Rin. He bent his head and rested his right hand upon the imprint of her face. A mournful sob released from his body, and then, he was no more.
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Sometime after the Fourth War...Defeated, Madara sat very still on a tree stump within a catacomb. The vision of black zetsu humiliating him on the battlefield as Kaguya Otsutsuki took his body flashed through his mind over and over again.His head bent down in shame and his eyes remained closed to the world. He could smell the rotting earth surrounding him. He could feel the worms and maggots as they fed off his flesh. Thousands of unbreakable roots attached to his body and held him prisoner miles deep underground in his own personal hell. But none of that was what tortured him. There was something much worse than this pathetic existence that haunted him. Betraying his best friend, turning his back on his village, leaving his wife, threatening to steal his son, breaking the will of his own great great grandson and destroying his clan. It had all been for not. The entire time, he had been nothing but a pawn in someone else's game.If he had become the powerful god that he meant to become, it might have made up for all of his regrets. It might have been worthy of the sacrifices that he made... giving up the life that he would have had if he had chosen right, and instead he chose love and his Eiko so many years ago.But now he had nothing... less than nothing. Only this hollow grave to spend eternity. He was no longer sure how long he was down there. Maybe a few hours... a few days... perhaps years... or even decades now. It did not matter. The darkness was endless. The emptiness was endless. His torture was endless.Intermittently he heard himself moan. But that was all that changed. Everything else stayed the same... unmoving. A hellish stillness. Rotting slowly with time. Death surrounded him but would not relieve him of his pain. And still nothing changed... it endlessly continued to stay same... until suddenly, it did not.Madara smelt the wind flowers first. At first the smell was light, he was certain he imagined it. Than it became more intense and he was certain that he was starting to hallucinate. There was no way possible that this far down he could be smelling actual wind blossoms. But the smell persisted and he thought, what is this?Not long after, he felt a hand on his shoulder. The fingers and palm were soft and warm. The touch was familiar. For so many years, he had missed it. Longed for it. But he did not turn around, afraid that the vision would fade and leave him here alone again."Don't be afraid." Her voice whispered to him. It sounded like the wind or an echo. Not quite there in the physical world, but still he heard it. "Open your eyes, Madara. I'm here."Madara opened his eyes and slowly lifted his head. It took awhile to be able to move his neck as he had held his head down for so long. The roots grew up out of the ground and wrapped themselves around his neck to prevent him from moving further. She was behind him but he could not turn his head. His voice came out raspy and quiet. "Where are you? I can't see you." Her touch moved to his cheek as she moved around him to his front. And there she was, standing in front of him in a flowing white gown. Her brown hair flowed down her back in a tangle of several white wind flowers. Looking just like she did the night that he married her. He heard himself moan again. This time in pure agony. Was this vision here to torture him further?"How are you here?""You told me to keep your heart with me. So I've kept it safe and close to my heart, on the other side. It's allowed me to watch you here from the Pure land. All of your regrets, and bitterness and cruelty. And in the end... you endure the harshest punishment imaginable." Eiko looked sadly at Madara. "All of this for your younger brother who you loved so much. You've spent most of your life punishing yourself and those around you because you failed to save him."Madara nodded and looked away from her. "I deserve this. I know. This is not cruel enough for everything that I have done. I abandoned you and our son. I've destroyed my own great great grandchildren. Even my beloved clan has been completely decimated as a result of my meddling... the sharingan will die out with the last two Uchiha. And for what??"Eiko pulled his head back up, breaking the roots and forcing him to look at her with tearful black eyes. She wiped his face. "As usual, you think too pessimistically, Husband. Don't worry. My love for you was always pure enough and strong enough for both of us. That is why I'm here with you now. And your boundless obstinance was always pure enough and strong enough for the Uchiha clan. It won't die out. All the power you sought has always been there in that purity. You'll continue to persist in the world through your descendants. Sasuke won't allow the clan to end."Madara sighed. He looked down at his rotting hands and wished he could raise them and touch his wife again."Will you turn back now?" Eiko asked sternly, in her soft voice.Madara looked up. "What do you mean?""It's still not too late for you." Eiko replied hesitantly. She had a pleading look in her eyes as though asking him to come with her. Was this a cruel joke? He was trapped here. The roots that fastened him to this catacomb were proof of that... he was not even really dead. Just something half way between. "How? How can I...""There is still the one good part of you left." Eiko reached into Madara and pulled. "Me."Madara's spirit began to emerge from his rotting body but the roots grew quickly, attempting to fasten it back. But Eiko was stronger. She continued to pull and the growing roots continued to break. His spirit came loose finally, and she wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him against her. Hungrily, he wrapped his arms around her essence finally able to hold her again. The roots continued to try to pull Madara back to his body, but the two lovers ignored them, entangling their bodies together. Eiko looked up at her husband and smiled, "Now it's time to see your brother again and finally meet our son.""I didn't think it was possible. But you're even more beautiful as a spirit than you were as a woman, Lady Eiko." Madara smiled down at Eiko with his trademark leer. He leaned in and kissed her on the lips as their spirits floated up and away together. The EndA/N: So... I had to give it a somewhat happy ending... sue me ;-)Thanks for reading!