Ghost of the Branwen
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or RWBY
Chapter 4: His Biggest Fan
The sun had just begun to rise as a fist connected with a wooden dummy. Madara had awoken early in the day and begun to train before the sun could be seen.
He landed his final hit on the wooden dummy before walking back to the abandoned village they were calling home for now.
His mind was plagued with this Salem figure. Who was Salem? What was his or her goal?
While he had questions, there were no answers.
He highly doubted that his mother would have more answers. He wanted to know more about these relics and the maidens.
He needed more information…but the problem was where was he going to get it? How do you exactly get information about things this scarce and seemingly about a legend and someone who many people in the world didn't exist?
It was near impossible…unless he got in contact with the same person who gave Raven the information. So who was that?
However, today was an important day for him.
He walked to the burnt temple and entered searching for anything that might have survived the flames he spat out yesterday.
Most of the stuff was burnt including a statue of a monk. Madara wondered before he pushed the monk statue.
It was a total gamble but the statue started to move back towards the wall. "Ah, a secret passageway?" he walked down into said hidden passageway. "I see…what a greedy little monk."
It wasn't a passageway; it was more of a vault.
There was some good stuff down here but it was mainly lien. Madara smirked as he walked further into the monk statue's hidden vault. It seemed he hit the jackpot here.
It wasn't uncommon for humans to be tempted by greed. The fact there was a hidden area of the temple brought up some theories on why it existed.
Either it was originally used for sacrificial rituals back in the day or he was actually used for a vault.
It was quite lucky he saw the tiny part of the floor unburnt due to the push back of the statue.
Madara saw a skeleton at the back of the 'vault' which meant that this was also used as a safe room.
"Your not using it." He said as he picked up the lien in the safe room. There were also dust within the room and it seems that were some smaller bones from food that contained such.
"What was your goal?" he asked the skeleton not really expecting an answer. "You locked yourself under this temple. By chance were you hiding from Grimm and took all the dust that could have been used to fight it and the money and food the survivors would have needed to live after they might have survived the attack?"
"Hm? What's that behind you o man of the cloth?" he pushed the skeleton out of the way as he saw what seemed to be a stone tablet etched into the wall. His eyes morphed into the Sharingan as he read the tablet. "Interesting, very interesting indeed. This will help me my weapon."
Madara stood up as he picked up the dust and left the temple. He still had plenty of time to follow the stone tablet.
He jumped up into a tree and easily climbed to the top. "Judging from the tablet…ah, that way." He jumped from the tree onto another before he continued onto another one.
Madara soon came to a cave entrance that was covered with foliage making it look like it wasn't a cave.
He entered the cave as he looked around in the darkness, the only thing he had on him was his dust and the dust he recently picked up.
He was prepared for anything that might encounter him within the cave. "The cave is going deeper…" he noticed as he when deeper. His eyes widened as he saw something in the middle of the cave from the entrance.
From the small ray of light from above showed a beautiful white birch tree. A completely white tree with the few leaves also being white.
"So it does exist." He mused as he walked towards the tree. He offered the holy tree a small prayer to the tree before he got to work.
Swan leaned on his hammer with a bored expression. "Where is he?" he mumbled. "Today is the day he makes his weapon, but he is nowhere to be seen."
Raven was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed and arms crossed. "He knows that he would be making his weapon today." She said not bothering to open a single eye.
"Hohoho, he must be making his weapon as we speak." The oldest tribe member said.
"That is correct, Potoo." They all turned to see Madara walk towards them with his newly crafted weapon on his back.
Raven cracked open a single red eye. "So you made it in secret."
"Of course. Didn't want anyone see exactly what I was making." He sent her a smirk which actually caused Raven to smirk back.
"…HAHAHAHAHA!" Swan laughed uncontrollably at his weapon. "A fan?! Out of all weapons a non-folding fan!"
Madara took his weapon from his back. "It's a Gunbai." He told the heavy hitter.
The gunbai was a wide fan with tomoe on it and had a long handle with bandages wrapped around the base. It was white with a purple tint with a black border with the tomoe being located at the top of the gunbai the same colour as the border and similar to the formation of his semblance. It even had a hole in the bottom of the handle to allow a chain to be connected to it.
"Who are you going to test it with?" Raven asked as she had moved closer.
"Obviously the oaf who mocked it, it wouldn't be right to allow such behaviour to occur and I must show my 'partner' how wrong he truly is."
"Those are fighting words." Swan grinned as he raised his hammer. "You ready?"
"Of course. You're the one I want to test this weapon on."
Everyone cleared the area as Raven called the match. "Begin!"
Swan swung his hammer as Madara ducked and swung his gunbai and hit the side of Swan. "Ho! You can wield it like a mace." Swan said as both he and Madara jumped back. "I'll admit that that stung a little."
Swan went with a stab as Madara used the gunbai to block. "And as a shield too…?"
Swan kept swinging as Madara simply stayed on the defence. Swan raised his hammer over his head with both arms and slammed it down on the gunbai as Madara smirked.
"It's over." Madara said as the gunbai seemed to glow.
Swan found his attack nullified as Madara's gunbai converted aura into effects similar in wind dust or was it wind dust. Swan's attack was reflected at him suddenly and unexpectedly as wind sent him flying away.
After Swan recovered from the wall he crashed into he ran at Madara as Madara simply waved his gunbai like the fan it was and created a powerful gust of wind, strong enough to blow Swan away again and anything else that wasn't nailed down.
"It works perfectly." Madara smirked as Raven ended the match.
"So Madara's gunbai has the ability to nullify and convert incoming aura and possibly dust as well as his aura and possibly dust into wind dust and reflecting the attack back towards his enemy. It's durable enough to be used as a shield and strong enough to be used as a mace. He can also use it to generate gusts of wind with either the use of dust or aura, maybe even both…I wonder what else it could do." Raven thought as she saw Madara but away some fire dust.
"That's a shame." He slightly complained. "I was looking forward to create tornadoes of fire through fire dust."
"An interesting weapon you got there." Raven said.
"Thanks. It will surely take people off guard." Madara then walked to his room of the house he was currently sharing with Raven while they were here. "Now if you excuse me, I need to eat something."
"What a cheeky brat."
"You can say that again." Swan said as he walked over with his hammer. "Man now I know what it feels like when I attack myself."
"Go get some rest then." She told him.
"That's what I plan on doing."
As Madara ate some well needed food, he looked down at the white tree leaves from the white holy tree he used to craft his gunbai. He was glad he found it, but without the stone tablet, he assumed he might have found the tree by himself.
He recorded the information from the tablet as he remembered what the tablet said about the leaves. The leaves from the tree could be used to create medicine, and good medicine at that.
It was a shame that he had to leave the tree by itself when they moved once again, such a waste of good medicine materials, and weapon material it seemed.
He put the leaves safely away as he counted the lien and sorted out the dust he had obtained.
He would have to come back here whenever he ran low on those leaves if the medicine said to be created from it was true.
"…I'm treating myself Inarizushi today."
Five years have passed since the test with the gunbai as a fifteen year old Madara walked with Swan.
Madara had a change in outfit no longer wearing his long sleeved blue shirt and white pants but now wore a pair of black pants and gloves, with a white form-fitting shirt underneath a purple, high collared, long sleeve mantle that splits down the lower half and around his waist he wore a simple, light-purple obi and a belt and his gunbai strapped to his back.
Even his hair got a little longer as it was now around the middle of his neck rather than chin-length as it was a few years ago.
Madara currently had his Sharingan activated as he stared at a wall. "There in here. A majority of them." He said as he could see the aura of the people inside.
Swan swung his hammer which easily destroyed the wall. "Surprise!" he shouted as Madara ran past.
"What the-" the man who shouted that dropped dead as a large fan smashed his skull into another wall.
Madara dodged a few attacks as he retaliated while Swan just kept swinging his hammer and smashing all in his way.
One of the victims inside managed to get outside to call for help…only to see that the rest of the village was being attacked as well.
"B-Bandits…"
"That's right." The man turned around to see Madara as he threw the man over to Swan who slammed his hammer down on him.
As the bandit raid continued with more and more deaths, Madara looked up to the sky as Grimm flew above.
"Grimm!" one of the women fighting off the bandits said before being tackled by a Beowolf….before being ripped to shreds.
A Beowolf was a Grimm that resembled a wolf or werewolf. It had a bone-like mask with red markings, an angular head with prominent ears, as well as bone-like spikes protruding from its arms, backs, and knees. Their hands and feet were also tipped with long, sharp, white claws. Their glowing red eyes left visible trails of red light as they moved and small black smoke emanating from their bodies.
Soon the Nevermore from the sky came down and landed in front of Madara while letting out a large deafening screech.
The Nevermore was an avian that had features resembling those of several other bird species, it resembled birds like condors and ravens. It had a mask-like, white bony structure overlaying the upper front of its head and four red glowing eyes, two on each side of its head which on the headpiece had a dorsal spine or fin.
Interestingly, it two claws 'fingers' extending forwards from the outermost wing joint.
The Nevermore that landed in front of him was a large one.
As the tribe killed off Grimm, Madara stared at the Nevermore who roared at him. "I wonder…if I can do it now? Take full control…"
Madara looked the Nevermore into the eye as his Sharingan spun as the Nevermore went to attack before stopping abruptly.
Madara watched as the Sharingan or what looked like the Sharingan appeared in the four eyes of the Nevermore. The Nevermore moved its head back as Madara smirked.
The tribe had finished killing the Beowolves as they watched as the Nevermore stopped its attack on Madara and moved back as the villagers of the town who survived fell to their knees or put their hands up.
Raven's eyes widened from behind her mask as she watched her son completely tame a Grimm with his semblance.
"He did it." She said. "It seems like those days of non-stop training worked."
She had watched her son train with his Sharingan as if he was trying to accomplish a set task and now she knew. That meant one thing now.
The tribe could use Grimm.
Madara looked over to the survivors as his Sharingan faded leaving his normal red eyes. "Everyone form a line of the ground." He commanded as everyone stood and walked towards him as his gunbai was held firmly in his hands.
"Caracara." As soon as he said the name of the assassin, all those in the line dropped dead from shuriken and kunai to the back of the head.
"Another successful raid eh Madara?" Cuckoo asked the youngest member. She then looked up at the Nevermore. "…Its safe…right?"
"Yes." He nodded at both questions. "However what I fear is that it will die due to captivity."
"And of course moving with Grimm especially with that size will give us away if we are not careful."
Madara waved his hand as he commanded the Nevermore. "You can specifically sense my aura, correct?" he asked the large avian creature in front of him that simply cawed positively. "Good, then take to the skies and live until I flare my aura and hatred."
The Nevermore flapped its wings as it followed Madara's orders as it flew off in a random direction.
"Okay everyone, get to work!" Raven ordered as everyone begun moving to loot the village. "Except you." She said as she gripped Madara's shoulder.
"…" Madara glanced at his mother who took her mask off.
"You've gotten stronger." She said as Madara could hear a little praise in her tone.
She let go of his shoulder as she looked in the direction of the Nevermore. "To think that you'd be able to control a Grimm with your Sharingan…" Her eyes turned towards them. "However, was this part of your plan?"
"Whatever do you mean, mother?"
"Did you release your negative emotions to a whole other level while this village was releasing negative emotions as well?" she asked with a slight upwards twitch of her lips. "Or was this something you wanted to do when you see the next Grimm?"
"If you did plan this, did you intentionally choose the Nevermore to control or was that too pure coincidence?" Rave broke her glance away. "Then there is how you sent that Grimm away, Grimm are attracted by negative emotions but you said sense aura before. I must say sending it off was a good idea since they do die in captivity."
Madara crossed his arms, closed his eyes and smirked. "Why thank you, leader." He said with sarcastic mirth. "While Grimm can sense negative emotions that doesn't mean that they cannot sense aura despite not having any at all. It's just a hypothesis but that Nevermore I controlled gained tomoe in its eyes similar to my semblance. I doubt that it gained my semblance due to it having no soul, but it might have gotten the ability to see aura or just my aura and maybe my aura would be the only coloured one or it might just be the only aura it can see."
"I don't know if they are connected through my eyes or how far the range is but I think that it's because of my eyes that it might have gotten the ability to see my aura and be commanded by me."
"So you're saying that because of your control over them with your eyes, that Nevermore might have gotten some ability to be connected to you in some way such as aura or possibly an unknown connection with your eyes to know when you will call upon it." The tribe leader put her mask back on.
Madara nodded. "I believe so." He said. "The Nevermore is connected to me someway through my eyes. If I call upon it, it will come but how it will know when I call upon it as I said before is unknown. I don't know if there is a range or the eyes will let it know and draw it towards me. It might as I said before use my aura or maybe some other connection through my eyes."
Madara still had his eyes closed as he thought about how the Nevermore will return if he called for it. Did it have the ability to see through his eyes? He doubted it.
He wondered if the Nevermore did indeed get the ability to see his own aura out of everyone else's with a possible large range. However it could have simply been drawn back towards him due to his tomoe in its eyes.
There was a lot to learn.
He would know more when he called it.
"However to answer your other questions, who knows." He smirked. "However, wouldn't it suit a Branwen to have a bird?"
Madara felt a hand pat his head once but when he opened his eyes he was alone with Raven walking away. "Maybe you should test your theory now?" he heard Raven offering an idea.
Madara rolled his eyes as he went off to test his theory in a more secluded location.
Madara was now alone in a clearing as he flared his aura and waited a bit.
"…Was it a failure?" he wondered before he saw a shadow overhead.
From the sky the Nevermore landed in front of him as the Branwen extended his hand at the large bird as it nuzzled into his palm.
His Sharingan spun with new found energy. "So it can be activated without my semblance." He mused before he hopped on top of the Nevermore's back. "Let's fly."
The Nevermore flapped its wings before it took to the sky. "…It's…quite nice up here." He said standing on its back.
The world was truly beautiful from this view.
It was a shame that the people who roamed this land were anything but.
The sight was beautifully stored in his mind as he began to take notes on calling his Grimm.
"I can flare my aura to call a Grimm that have my tomoes in its eyes. It has seemingly no range and my eyes can control them completely from a monster that won't hesitate to kill humans to a common house pet." He continued his mental notes as they continued flying. "I don't know if I can choose which one if there is more than one but it does have some time before they come to me…I need to find a way to call the Grimm with less time for their arrival."
"I believe when I flare my aura with the intention to call it, the tomoes in the eyes respond with my aura and draw it towards it so it knows where I am." Madara waved his arm as the Nevermore changed its direction. "So a completely controlled Grimm will show my tomoe and my aura will 'summon' it from at least any range."
"I wonder how I will make them come to me quicker? I need to work on that."
Madara looked down from the Nevermore. "Hm?" he wondered as while he had his arms crossed jumped of the Nevermore head first to the ground below. "Be on standby." He said as the Grimm flew away.
As he flew from the sky, he didn't bother to move from his crossed armed pose. Only when he got closer to the ground did he flip around before crashing into the ground.
Dust picked up from his rough landing as he straightened his posture as he looked at two people around his age who were coughing due to the dust.
The first was a male with long black hair tied into a ponytail that ended midway down his back. There was a magenta streak on the left side of his hair and his eyes matched said streak.
He wore a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming went down to the right side of his torso and formed a black collar with a black long sleeved shirt and light-tan pants with black shoes.
The second was a female with short orange hair and turquoise eyes. She was wearing a collared black vest that ends at her waist and under the vest are two layers of clothing, coloured red and light-blue respectively. She also wore a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm.
She had matching fingerless gloves on each hand and sported a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh. Her shoes had a mix of pink and white with pink laces and armour that begun in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist.
As both the dust and the coughing faded they both looked at the one responsible who just had his arms crossed. Madara seeing their looks decided to greet the two strangers who were his age.
"Good afternoon."
Madara gets his weapon, his Gunbai…which wasn't that surprising…but he controlled a Nevermore and met the two survivors of Kuroyuri.
In terms of pairings, I don't really have one for Madara…yet…if I do. If I do then maybe the rarer a character is or similar personalities or polar opposites? I don't know.
With the Mangekyo abilities, I do have two in mind with a third being undecided.
