Madara Uchiha was already in a towering temper the day that Tobirama Senju confronted him outside the dark forest just outside the village. The day had started badly enough, with Madara waking up to a raging headache and no small amount of nausea- a result of too much drink the previous night. Madara knew that he should not have gotten drunk, but after digging up an old picture of his little brother Izunu, he had not been able to think of another way to forget his misery. He did not even have Hashirama to take his anger out on, for Hashirama was out on some peace talk or other.
"Peace talk, as if!"Madara thought angrily to himself as he stumbled through the village," most likely he's on some vacation, having a great old time!" This was hardly a fair judgement on his once-friend, but Madara was not in the mood for fair judgements that day-or any day, come to that.
As Madara walked, slouching, hands in his pockets and a sullen scowl fixed firmly on his face, he looked ahead and saw Tobirama ahead, standing below a particularly large tree, a bird perched on a branch above him. Madara wished that the bird would do its business right there and then, but he had no such luck.
"Madara," Tobirama said coldly, acknowledging him," what are you up to this morning?"
"I could ask you the same question," Madara replied equally coldly, suppressing a wince as the sound of both his and Tobirama's voice pounded in his eardrums," Looking for someone else's brother to kill?"
Tobirama ignored this comment," You'd better watch your step, Madara," he said calmly.
"So should you," Madara retorted," you've just stepped in dog poop."
This was not true, but it caused Tobirama to look down at his shoes.
"Very funny," he did not sound at all amused," you should be a comedian."
" So should you," Madara retorted," you never know, you might be very good. You'd certainly be a better comedian than as the Second Hokage... or the third... or fourth... or fifth. Well, you get the idea."
Tobirama squared his shoulders. "That's it," he said," I know my brother told us not to fight, but he never said anything about having to put up with these insults!"
His hand shot out in such a blur that Madara, whose vision was still spinning from the previous night, did not see it coming and found himself flying backwards through the air. On any other day, Madara would have been on his feet and fighting back before he had even hit the ground, but, on that particular day, he found himself rather drained of both chakra and of his usual fighting spirit and it took him longer than normal to get to his feet.
" By the way," Tobirama was already walking away," your hair is looking terrible. You should do something about it. It is, after all, your only good quality." He vanished, leaving Madara standing rather stunned. As Madara stood, the bird that had stood above Tobirama left its perch and did its business squarely on Madara's head.
Madara cursed." I hate Mondays," he muttered.
Later that day, Madara headed home, a strange feeling of despondency that was quite alien to his nature, still clinging to him. He paused by the mirror that stood by his bed and gazed long at his hair, which was indeed looking rather dull and flat.
"What does that idiot know about hair," he thought bitterly to himself," absolutely nothing. My hair is better than his any day."
At this, a thought came to him. "I know," he said to himself," I will go and make my hair the best, strongest most luxuriant hair in the entire world! All people, of all clans, will admire me while Tobirama will be a laughing stock! A joke! He will be put to shame! However, I'll have to find a suitable hair product."
Madara fell quite, lost in thought, which was a rather unfamiliar territory for him, thinking of plans to make his hair-care plans come true.
Early the next day, Madara set out on his journey, going through the forest, thinking of visiting another village which was reputed to have very beautiful girls-who had very beautiful hair.
As Madara was walking along however, he felt a sudden a gust of wind and the very air around him seemed to shatter with such a loud BOOM that he was almost thrown backwards, but was able to keep his balance, as he paused, peering ahead of him.
In front of him, he could see a shape of utter darkness in the otherwise bright, sunny day. Out of this darkness, which was growing steadily larger, two figures emerged.
One of the figures was a young man with long blonde hair that covered one of his eyes and the other was a short figured that at first seemed to be a very old, bent man, but, as he became clearer, Madara saw that he seemed to be made of wood.
"Now you've done it," the old man growled at the younger man, "Now you've blasted a hole in time itself!"
"Impressive, hmmph?" The younger man seemed delighted," My art is reaching levels as yet unexplored!"
"Your art is going to get us all in trouble," the old man muttered," we will now have to find a way to get back!"
"What did you mean?" Madara spoke and the two figures seemed to notice him the first time," you come though time? From the future? I would pay a great deal to go there."
An idea had formed in his mind. I bet, he thought, that in the future, they would have hair products better than any made these day. Also, I'm sure that knowledge of the future would make me a great deal more powerful. I wonder what happens to me?
"Well, it would take a great deal of money for me to send you there," the blonde man replied insolently and actually held out his hand.
Madara handed him a bag of gold and the young man took out a piece of white clay which he began to mould into the shape of a clock.
"Stand back," he warned, and threw the clay-clock away from him as hard as he could and there came another "BOOM!"
Once again, the very air seemed to crack as a black shadow appeared where the clay had exploded.
"I can't tell where you end up," the blonde man grinned.
As Madara stepped through the black shadow and disappeared, the young man turned to his rather wooden partner."I reckon that's the last we hear of him," he grinned, uttering what was probably the most utterly incorrect statements in the worlds history.
Madara felt himself falling through blackness. He could hear nothing except a roaring in his hears and he could see nothing except blackness and he could feeling nothing at all, neither cold nor heat. After what might have been minutes or hours, Madara felt himself land.
Looking around, he realised that he was in the same place that he had met the strange pair, but the trees looked slightly different. They were definitely older and there was a great deal of graffiti scratched on them, a lot of which was very rude indeed. Indeed, as Madara looked closer, he saw the words," Senju go home-Madara," scratched onto it.
"I haven't written that-yet," he thought and grinned. It seemed likely that he had indeed travelled to the future.
Madara decided to go and see what the village was like and turned around and headed back through the forest, but, as he did so, he came across a pale faced, slimy looking man with long dark hair bending over a pot.
The man looked up and smiled a distinctly snake like smile.
"You are seeking something, are you not?" He hissed.
"How do you know?" Madara demanded," Who are you?"
" I am called many things," the snake like man hissed," but you can call me Orochimaru. And I know many things!" He spoke in an impressively mysterious way. What he did not tell Madara was that the "many things" he was named was usually along the lines of "snake face" "villain" "creep" and many other ruder names. Who also did not tell Madara was that he knew that Madara was looking for something simply because he had never come across someone wondering through a forest who wasn't looking for something.
" I want vengeance," Madara said angrily," there is a man I want put to shame! I can't kill him-yet, but I hate him. He insults me!" He fingered his hair as he spoke.
"He spoke mockingly of your hair?" Orochimaru noticed this gesture," I understand. Those of the Uchiha clan do not take well to insults."
Madara started, forgetting that he was wearing the Uchiha symbol on his clothes," How do you know my mission? How do you know my clan?" He gasped," What powers do you possess?"
"Many," Orochimaru grinned an evil grin, " and I can help you. Come with me."
He turned and led Madara deeper into the forest until they reached a cave.
"My humble home!" Orochimaru cackled.
The cave was filled with shelves containing books, poisons and more than a few body parts kept in jars. A half dissected body lay on a table that took up a great deal of space.
"Here we go," Orochimaru moved past the poisons and medicines until he came to a shelf labelled."Hair care products."
"This will make you the envy of your village, Uchiha," he cackled," but there is a heavy price. If you take this product, I will own your soul!" He cackled.
"Forget it, snake breath," Madara snapped," I'll pay you gold. If you don't accept that, I'll take it by force!"
"By force, eh," Orochimaru seemed to hesitate at this. He did not want to mess with a member of the Uchiha clan. Well, not when he was so unprepared, anyway.
He looked down and fiddled with the bottles.
"Take this, then," he handed Madara another bottle," it will be just as impressive as first. There will be no charge."
"Glad to hear it," Madara growled," now, can you get me back to my time?"
"If you go to that hill there," Orochimaru led Madara out of the cave and pointed," you will find young Deidara. I'm sure he'll help you."
"Deidara?" Madara asked.
"The blonde man with the rather explosive temperament," Orochimaru replied.
Madara nodded and headed toward the hill, where he did indeed find Deidara and his short partner as well as another two men, one of whom greatly resembled a shark and the other who looked as if he might be from the Uchiha clan.
"You should not do this anymore," the Uchiha man spoke in a cold voice as Deidara moulded another clock after being paid a handsome sum," time travel is dangerous."
"More dangerous than our other activities, hmmph?" Deidara grinned," But this will be my last time. It takes up too much energy to be any fun."
Madara stepped through the shadow and felt the falling sensation again, until he landed back in the forest.
Madara hurried back to his house and immediately applied the hair product, which felt immensely soothing. Outside, the sun was setting and Madara lay back in his bed and fell asleep.
When Madara awoke the next day, he immediately felt that something was wrong. His head was cold and felt rather sensitive. Cautiously, he raised his hand and touched his head. To his horror, he felt only bare skin where his hair should be.
Madara leapt out of bed and gazed slowly into the mirror. He was bald! The snake man, Orochimaru, had tricked him!
Madara gave a roar of rage so loud that it caused the entire village to shake and Tobirama, who was on the other side of the village, to spill his tea.
"I'll get him!" Madara growled. "I don't know how ,but I'll get him!"
But how did one get revenge on someone who might live many thousands of years in the future.
Madara thought back to a tablet he had read and had almost forgotten about. A tablet that told of how one could alter reality itself by creating a dream world.
A light came to Madara's eye," I'll get revenge on Orochimaru," he told himself," and on all who wrong me!"
He grinned. His Eye of the Moon plan had began!