Disclaimer: All Naruto© characters and original plot story is owned by Masashi Kishimoto©. Shin, Shirowa, Inari and Kurowa are my own characters created to expand Kishimoto's original works.
Genre: Ninja, Drama, hurt/comfort, BS.
Rating: M. Chapters rated MA 18+ will be separately advertised as so.
Author's note: I will use Japanese words commonly known to the English fandom in times I deem suitable to help to try and keep the Japanese feel.
This - ~~~*~~~ denotes a time skip.
Prologue:
There were once five of us brothers. Shin, Shirowa, Inari, Izuna and myself, Uchiha Madara. From a young age, I had sworn to protect them all and later the entire Uchiha clan along with them. But now I see fate was against me, for it seemed the more power I had gained to protect them, the more I lost them. I am not one to reminisce and live in the past, but it would have been better if I had died by Hashirama's hand that day… The peace-lover just couldn't kill me!
Part One: Five Brothers.
Cling, Clang, Ching. Aaaaggggghhhh! Thud. "Niiiiii-saaaaaan!"
"You'll pay for this Senju! Katon!" Inari yelled in outrage. His small young voice growling as he charged enough chakra for the most Phoenix flower fireballs he could make. He was currently limited to 10 fireballs, however, this was enough to take out the young enemy Senju ninja.
Huff… Huff… "Hang in there brother, we'll get you a medic," Inari spoke between breaths after defeating the enemy Senju. He was kneeling beside his youngest brother, Shin, who lay clutching his stomach from a deep stab wound. "Izuna! Someone! I need a medic!" He pleaded loudly, hoping to be heard over the noise of battle cries and clanging of dozens of katana, blows of water, fire and other styles of Jutsu. To his dismay, no one came running.
"I-I don't…" Shin said softly, his voice shaking slightly, trying to keep his older brother calm.
"Where's… Shiro…wa..?"
Shin Uchiha was the youngest of 5 brothers born to Tajima Uchiha, Madara, Izuna, Inari, Shirowa and himself. In an era with the constant war among ninja clans, anyone who could fight was forced to fight, including children from the mere age of 5 years old. War was not just a regular event, but it had become a lifestyle, a way to make a living. Clans that did not have the manpower to fight out their own problems with another clan hired an allied clan to fight for them; in other words, clans were paid to fight. The Uchiha were regarded as one of the best fighting clans in the ninja world and the only other clan that could equal them were the Senju clan. As a result, the Uchiha and Senju fought each other frequently. Shirowa, Shin's older twin had always been the most supportive of his younger brother. He always had to help Shin in training when Shin could not keep up when Madara, Izuna, and Inari powered on ahead. It wasn't entirely his fault either…. their father Tajima pushed them all hard in their training, despite their age differences, in hopes that they would all learn quickly through experience. The two brothers were rarely separated from each other, except this time were they had become separated in battle.
"Stop talking, save your energy!" Inari retorted.
"…I…" Shin began hyperventilating and losing blood too fast.
"IZUNAAA!" Inari cried out at the top of his lungs. "Medic! Someone get me a medic!" Inari yelled again into the forest where the Uchiha and Senju clan members were scattered around fighting each other. Very shortly, this time, Izuna came rushing to their sides. His face his shock at the state of his youngest brother.
"Hurry take Shin to get help!" Inari pleaded. Izuna Uchiha was their second eldest brother, so he was stronger than all of his other younger brothers in both strength and experience. Izuna immediately understood that he had a greater chance of taking Shin out of the battlefield alive than Inari had. Without hesitation, he picked up his injured brother and fled. 'Mother might be able to save him if I got back home fast enough'. Izuna thought to himself.
"SHIN!" Shirowa jumped in the branches after Izuna. Izuna turned to see his other brother and stopped. "Hey is he- ugh!" The younger Uchiha had not seen a trip wire on the previous branch. A flock of kunai and senbon needles rained down on the helpless Uchiha.
"SHIROWA!" Izuna yelled. I can't carry him too! If I stay here they both die. If I leave, Shin might live but Shirowa still dies! What do I do? What do I do! "MADARA! TAJIMA!" Izuna called, hoping that either his older brother or his father would come to the sound of his voice and find Shirowa to help him. With his mind made, Izuna continued to run.
Before long, Izuna noticed the amount of pain Shin was suffering and just how much blood he was losing. Izuna stopped as soon as he was clear of the battlefield and placed his brother carefully down on the ground. "What are you doing?" Shin asked weakly.
"You are bleeding too much, I need to put this on if you are to make it home alive." Izuna pulled out a roll of bandages and began wrapping it around Shin's torso. He didn't bother lifting the shirt for now. Time was not on his side even for first aid. People frequently died from organ punctures and deep infections rather than the surface contamination, so first aid was rarely taught anyway. Once the wound was wrapped up, Izuna continued to sprint on home with Shin.
Sobbing was the first sound heard when Tajima and the remaining brothers returned home a day later. Their mother wordlessly pointed to the direction of the bedroom and looked away. The brothers entered the room and found Shin lying on his mattress with a white cloth placed over his head. Izuna was kneeling over him morning quietly. His eyes were red and puffy and he had a streak of dry tears down his cheeks.
Izuna looked up slowly. Then exclaimed when he only counted two brothers. "Where's Shirowa?!"
Madara and Inari looked at each other. "He didn't make it," Madara replied.
"Tch! He shouldn't have died!" Izuna looked back down at Shin in disgust. Inari stood eyes wide and jaw hanging open. He had tried to follow Izuna home but had not been able to from Senju ninja intercepting him, forcing a fight upon him. He raced to Shin's other side opposite to where Izuna was kneeling.
"Brother… no, it can't be!" He held his brother's shoulders and shook them. "Not you too! Not you too! WHHYYY! You were supposed to live!" Inari wailed on, his words becoming slurred.
Madara, the eldest Uchiha son looked up at his father and noticed he didn't seem to be faltering.
"What do we do now father?"
Tajima kept his eyes on his youngest son as he spoke calmly.
"Tonight we give both Shirowa and Shin a proper burial. Then from now on we all stick together in battle, is that understood?" He announced to all of his remaining sons, who all nodded solemnly in reply.
"Father?"
"Yes, Madara?"
"Will you make the one who did pay? Will you kill him like they did our brother?"
"I will make sure they get their vengeance. You don't need to worry about that, now go get some sleep, the rest of you."
Madara made sure Izuna and Inari were asleep before he left. There was no way he could sleep peacefully tonight. Izuna and Inari were only asleep because they had exhausted themselves crying until they passed out. Madara slid the door closed as quietly as he could manage. He then jumped off through the trees to river nearby. The moon was full and bright, casting silver light in its wake. The young Uchiha child's shadow was almost completely eradicated. Madara reached the pebbled shores, grabbing a pebble and ditching down as hard as he could onto the other pebbles. The pebble hit the edge of the stream with a small splash and the flowing water continued on uninterrupted. Madara starred at the point where the pebble had entered, his eyes mesmerised by the flowing water.
It calmed down his rage... He stayed there staring at the silver water until he felt too tired to remain awake and he headed home again.
The battle with the Senju continued on. Tajima's strategy of having his sons battle in a closer group had been working well and Tajima was able to help defeat any enemy Senju's if he saw they were going to strike a vital blow to any of his sons. This lasted until Tajima encountered his rival Butsuma Senju. They were so like-minded that every battle they fought against each other ended up in a draw.
"So we meet again, Tajima!" Butsuma announced. He scanned the family."And you don't have all of your sons with you." He noted.
"Ignore them, you are fighting me," Tajima stated. On that note, their clash began. During the battle Butsuma considered Tajima's words, sparking an idea. He would try and foil Tajima by using killing another one of his sons. Butsuma pulled out a handful of shuriken and aimed above Tajima's shoulder, purposely missing. What is this all of a sudden? Tajima thought to himself. He returned the attack with fire style attack in which Butsuma easily dodged and used the dodge as an opening to jump towards the nearest Uchiha son. Without any hesitation, he threw multiple kunai down at the unsuspecting child.
"Inari!" Tajima threw his own kunai to intercept Butsuma's hitting all but one. One was all it took.
"Inari!" Madara, who was also nearby, called out. The eldest brother inspected his brother and found the kunai square in the back of the neck. Inari had died instantly. Madara gritted his teeth in anger. At least he died without pain... but I can't forgive any Senju for this! He felt the chakra in his eyes changing suddenly. He had finally awakened his Sharingan!
"Water-style, water jet!" Butsuma called.
Tajima was fuming and quickly released a fire style attack to counter the waterjet from Butsuma. A large, thick cloud of steam formed blocking sight completely from both directions. So this is how he planned to kill me? Tajima thought. Butsuma cut down through the steam with his long sword, but thanks to the Sharingan and experience Tajima blocked the attack time. Izuna overheard the commotion, quickly finishing his battle and jumped over to Madara, who had turned off his Sharingan again.
"No Inari! Not you too!" He sobbed. "Why? WHY?!"
Madara picked his limp brother, taking him home so they could bury him alongside his other brothers.
That evening, Madara made his way over to the river again, after putting his only remaining brother Izuna, to bed. He had started coming down to the river during any spare time he had. Every time, he picked up a pebble and ditched it into the river. After a while, he started skipping the stones to take his mind off the war, aiming to reach the other side. He then spent the rest of the time sitting and staring at the flowing water.
Madara felt something brush his shoulder and quickly snapped out of his trance. He jumped to his feet and whipped out a kunai in a battle stance ready to fight.
"Brother?"
"Izuna?! Oh, geeze don't scare me like that. I don't want to accidentally kill you too."
Izuna's outstretched hand was shaking in shock. He didn't mean to scare his brother like that. Madara put his kunai back away and sat down again. Izuna sat himself down beside him.
"We need to find a way to get stronger Izuna."
"But don't we need to unlock our Sharingan brother? Then we can do all sorts of things!"
"You are right Izu, we need to do whatever it takes to unlock the Sharingan! Then I can protect you, I swear my life against it! That is a promise."
Madara heard an unnatural rustling of bushes further down on the opposite bank.
"Let's go back home Izu. We're not alone here."
"Okay, brother."