"I'll bear the burden of your hated and we'll die together." Those words echoed through Madara's mind as he thought back to events of earlier that evening. The whole thing was remarkably similar to the conversation he had with Hashirama before their final battle at the valley of the end. A small laugh escaped his throat as he corrected his thought. The declarations were exactly the same. However, the First never could land the final blow to kill Madara. He could only weaken him and hope he never tried to attack the village again. After decades of living a revenge driven existence that had led to nothing but a near extinct clan and many failed attempts at gaining more power, Madara desired to shake things up once again.
-

After many years of bloody conflict, peace had finally taken root in the war torn lands that would give birth to the great ninja villages. Prosperity seemed to go hand in hand with the long desired peace but everything was far from perfect. Disagreements between the founding fathers of the hidden leaf village created the chaos that was now surrounding them. Hurried footsteps could be heard rustling through the trees in the bordering wilderness. Ninja were swarming all over the place, taking off in various directions in a flash, as if they were in a desperate search for someone or something. Among these shinobi, was the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. His dark hues showed nothing but determination but the rest of his features betrayed him and revealed that he was deeply troubled by the current events. 'Where are you….. Madara?' He thought to himself as he quickened his pace.

In the distance one of the shinobi came upon a terrifying scene and called out to their leader. "LORD HOKAGE! Over here, I found him!" The dark haired leader snapped out his thoughts and took off in the direction of the voice of his comrade. When he finally arrived his eyes widened in pure horror. In the middle of a field laid the body of the man they were searching for, the other founder of the village, Uchiha Madara. Quickly he rushed over to his rival's side, totally taken back by his condition. The Uchiha was lying in a large puddle of his own blood. The red liquid had even begun to stain his beautiful black hair. There was a rather large hole in his chest and his battle armor was cracked to bits. The rest of his body had minor scratches but that was the least of anyone's concern at the moment. At this very moment there was no time to waste, Madara would die of his injuries if something wasn't done.

Hashirama crumbled to his knees as he looked down at the dying form of his closest friend and rival. He felt totally responsible for what had happened. As the Hokage sat there in total horror blaming himself for everything his younger brother was trying to get his attention with little success. After several failed attempts at calling out his name, Tobirama took a deep breath and shouted, "HASHIRAMA!" Instantly the elder man spun around to see his white haired brother staring down at him. "Brother we need to act." Hashirama got out of his pity fest for the time being and then turned to his shinobi. "Quickly, get Madara back to the village for emergency treatment." The Konoha ninja didn't waste any time following their leader's orders and carefully retrieved Madara's injured body and returned back to the village.

The red light of the hospital emergency room shown as the medics quickly began to work on healing Madara's wounds before death could claim him. Outside the first Hokage was pacing back and forth looking rather worried. This younger brother looked up from where he was sitting and let out a small sigh, "Brother if you keep doing that, you are going to burn a hole in the floor. Madara is one tough bastard, I'm sure he'll pull through even with those injuries."

Hashirama stopped in his tracks and then turned to his younger brother Tobirama. "I'm well aware of Madara's strong will, Tobirama. The two of us have fought together on many different occasions and each time, even when his back was against the wall he wouldn't back down. It's just this whole thing is my fault. If I didn't…"

"Stop it, Hashirama. That Madara had it coming to him. You have a village to run and he was undermining everything we were trying to do. You have no fault in this." Tobirama stated trying to make his brother understand that he was not to blame. Even though it was true, Hashirama's expression didn't change. He still looked on with concern written all over his face. Madara was his best friend, even if the stubborn Uchiha wouldn't admit it, there was no denying their strong connection. "As his friend Tobirama, I should have been able to do more. What right do I have to be Hokage, if I can't even save one friend?"

The younger of the two wanted to say something in response but he was absolutely lost for words. Hashirama had always felt responsible when one of their comrades was hurt, even if it wasn't through his own actions. He treated everyone as though they were an extension of himself or a member of their family. There was no denying that he and Madara were having troubles. The two had never really seen eye to one on anything especially when it came to leadership. Madara had always lead his clan with a firm fist and intimidation while in contrast, Hashirama had chosen to go with a softer approach, treating everyone as equals. The Uchiha leader was convinced that the Senju were trying to take over and defeat them once and for all while they were enjoying the peace that they had gained with the treaty. This belief is what prompted Madara to leave the village and got him in the tough situation he was in now.

After what seemed like an eternity to the Senju brothers, the red light finally went out and revealed one of the medics. Hashirama quickly turned to him and started bombarding him with questions. The young medic let out a small laugh as he placed his hands out signaling to their leader to calm down. "Lord Hokage, everything is fine. Madara did sustain significant injuries but his condition is stable for the time being. However, he's not out of the woods just yet. He lost a great deal of blood and his chakra levels are rather low. We've gone ahead and given him several transfusions but it will take time before he's well enough to move about on his own."

"Has he regained consciousness?" Hashirama questioned, hoping he didn't slip into some sort of coma. The medic shook his head slightly but had a confident expression on his face. "He's resting comfortably now. You may sit with him if you want sir." With that Hashirama thanked the medical corp for all their hard work and joined Madara in the hospital room. The Hokage let out a small sigh as he reached over and took Madara's hand into his own, looking down at him with a sorrowful expression. Normally Hashirama wasn't this emotional but this was his best friend and rumored lover. His heart just couldn't take all this in one day. First Madara storms out of the village and then he nearly gets himself killed. Hashirama was still trying to think of a possible explanation for all this. Madara, like himself was on the top of the ninja world when it came to power. It didn't seem possible that anyone could have done this much damage.

Tobirama peeked his head in the door and as he entered, Hashirama turned to him and spoke in his usual voice, "Tobirama, I want you and a group of Anbu to investigate the battle site. Get me as much information as possible on the situation. I would also ask you to tighten security around here. There is a dangerous shinobi on the loose and if they could do this to Madara, god only knows what could happen to this village."

The younger brother nodded in response. "Right away, brother." With that he quickly exited the room to complete the tasks he was given. Hashirama then turned back to face Madara who was resting there rather comfortably. Tears started to form in his eyes as he rose Madara's hand, muttering, "I'm sorry… this is my fault."

"You've always been soft Senju." Suddenly came Madara's voice. The Uchiha opened his eyes and stared right at his eternal rival. His once peaceful expression turned to one of annoyance. Hashirama was shocked and then a look of relief suddenly came over him. "Why did you bother coming after me? Didn't I already make my intensions perfectly clear?"

The black haired Hokage lightly shook his head as he gazed down at Madara. "You still don't get it, do you? It's because I'm… I'm your friend Madara. No matter what you do to me I will always see you as such. Besides if I can't even save one friend, am I ever worthy of being Hokage?" Madara let out an annoyed tisk as he looked away slightly. "I'm just relieved that we found you in time. What exactly happened out there, anyway?"

The Uchiha turned his head and looked up at the ceiling trying to comprehend what just transpired a while ago. "As strange as it may sound, I was fighting… another me."

To be continued…

A/N: Hey everyone. I'm back with a new story. I know things seem rather confusing right now but I shall explain in more detail in later chapters. HashixMada is one of my favorite pairings and this is my first shot writing about them. Hope you all enjoy it. Please review.