五年後 Five years later

"Watch out!"

A ninja with black hair turned on his heels and –just in time- turned some more to avoid getting cut by a blade

"That's not fair Tobirama,"14 year old Izuna smirked. With a quick move he made the Senju fall onto his ass. He unsheathed his sword and held it at Tobirama's neck, "I win."

"You think so," and the Tobirama on the ground was gone. Poofed into smoke.

"What's that?!" Izuna looked around. That trick was new. It hit him a second later. Tobirama brought the dark haired teen down with a toss of his sword hilt to his knees. Izuna was too late to realize it.

"Die," the real Tobirama said and stabbed Izuna in the back.

"You…. Are an idiot…" Izuna coughed. And himself poofed into smoke.

When did he copy my jutsu?! Tobirama was twirling around, trying to find out where his opponent had vanished to.

"Idiot," was the last word the Senju heard. Tobirama fell to the ground, unconscious. His Uchiha rival had copied the technique, right when the Senju had activated it, and used it against him. This defeat would make Tobirama fringe for half a year afterwards.

But Izuna was very happy with the world at this point. He threw the stone he had used somewhere into the woods, smirking from one ear to another, "my win I'd say." He bent down and turned Tobirama around.

"If you were in my position, you'd probably kill the unconscious me, right? And as much as I'd love to finally end our friendly rivalry, I can't," he pulled out a rope and started tying Tobirama up, "because you know, I have my orders. And you don't want to mess around with my big brother. He likes his orders followed, you know?" The teenager threw the end of the rope over a branch and started pulling the Senju up.

"Look at you. Perfect hojojutsu," Izuna nodded, happy with his work, "well, let's find my dear brother." And he leaped into the woods.

It had been five years since the Uchiha brothers left Uzu no Kuni. Izuna was well known through the clan for his battle skills. Most people thought he was a good spawn. But to many, he was Uchiha Madara's only weak spot.

Madara, the heir, had grown up to be a strong, determined 18 year old. He had let his hair grow a little past his shoulders and was respected, as maybe also feared by his fellow clan members. Disobedience or disloyalty was punished harshly by him. But the ones who'd obey and fought for the greater good, were sure to have his acknowledgement. The only one who was more or less "allowed" to do as he pleased, was Izuna. And everybody knew how Madara adored his little brother.

Some days ago, a lord had asked the Uchiha for support: some other lord had hired shinobi to take away his castle. After the payment had been decided (and the Uchiha were a very expensive clan), they had sent Madara's team to defend the castle. Of course, the moment the other guy heard that his hired forces were fighting the Uchiha, he had shifted to the only clan, able to rival them in strength: the Senju.

And that's how Izuna ended up fighting Tobirama in the first place. Right now he was standing on top of a tree, watching Madara and Hashirama trying to hit each other.

"Are you done yet," he yelled over to his brother. Madara just avoided a water blast by jumping from tree to tree. Hashirama's attack finally died down and the Uchiha had time to actually notice his brother.

"If you look closely, you might be able to see that I still need a moment," he answered sarcastically.

"Don't forget," Izuna jumped some trees further to not get caught in the crossfire, "that we are here to protect these lands!"

"What do you think I'm doing?"

Hashirama didn't like it when Madara wasn't perfectly focused on the fight, "hey Madara! I'm over here! You both can talk later!" He threw some shuriken towards Izuna, to make him go away, but Madara caught them with ease.

"I am perfectly focused on you. Therefore: Don't touch my bratty little brother!"

"Madara!"

"Hashirama!"

"… Those idiots…" Izuna just shook his head and jumped into the direction of the castle.

If it wasn't for our little rivalry here, those two would really get along, he thought and quickly climbed upon the castle walls. From up there, he could see most of the surrounding countryside.

Another Uchiha quickly approached him, "Izuna! Good to see you. We have driven the Senju back and most fights have stopped. We have some injured, but since the Senju didn't send their most skilled shinobi, we can say it was a great victory!"

"It would be a great victory if we had won against their strongest forces," the boy corrected the other guy and turned around, "and those two are really overdoing it… again!"

The forest where Madara and Hashirama were fighting was on flames.

"You have grown strong Madara," Hashirama laughed as he ducked away under a fireball.

"Don't expect me to give you a compliment back."

Madara quickly formed hand sings and sent hundreds of small flames at the opponent. The Senju easily avoided them, until he spotted something in the woods.

"Oh my Tobirama!"

The tree on which Izuna had put the Senju, was already on fire. The white haired boy was awake, but unable to move a muscle. Madara smirked. This was definitely Izuna's work. He didn't stop Hashirama when he leaped down to get his little brother.

"Sorry Madara, but I have to get him out of here and I'm afraid we won't be able to continue this little fight later. Therefore: Gokurosama deshita!"

"Don't treat me like a work collegue," Madara shouted, but Hashirama just laughed as he vanished with his brother over the shoulder.

"How is the situation," not five minutes later Madara arrived at the castle. He looked into happy faces. They told him about their victory.

"But I'd say it's not perfect."

"And why would you make such a snappy comment, brother," Madara turned around to see Izuna sitting on a hay stack.

"Cause we were supposed to protect the castle AND it's lands. You burned down the whole east side." The younger one grinned and slid down the stack.

It wasn't a big deal in the end. Someone was sent to put the fire out, the group collected their payment and together they left the castle behind, after a peace treaty had been signed between the parties.

The main Uchiha camp had just recently been erected in the north-east of Hi no Kuni. Centered, with all the other tents surrounding, was the commanding tent. The others had been erected after a certain schemata: the highest ranked ones and most trusted, strongest allies were allowed to have their tents very close, while the rest had to find some other place to stay.

Izuna said his goodbye when they reached said camp. He wanted to see how his pupils were developing, one of them being their cousin Haruou. Usually it was Madara's duty to train and discipline the young ones. But not long ago, his father had called him into his council, to have his eldest son take on more responsibility. Madara was strong, respected – everything a leader needed to be. Even with kindness mixed into the way he trained the young ones. And his brother.

The only other person he would maybe treat kindly, was Mito. But the she was still living in Uzu no Kuni. They wrote letters. Well, Mito wrote letters and Madara didn't find the time to answer even one of them. But he had read them all and Izuna had discovered, that his brother was actually having a small box where he kept them.

After Izuna had left, Madara went straight for the command-tent. There was a report to hand in. He shoved some cloth out of the way and entered. Six people were standing at a wooden table, discussing a map with different colored pins on it. Madara's uncle, one eyed Akira, was the first to greet his nephew. His wife Yumi (she had just recently re-joined the fighting squads) gave him a welcoming smile. Madara didn't know the other four, but one: His father.

"So you are back," Tajima straightened his back, "how come you are here and your brother is doing your duty again?"

"I'm sorry father. I am here to hand in my report of the last mission at the Kikyou casle." He tried to stay calm. His father would try anything to render him useless on the council, "may I ask what you are discussing?"

It was Akira who answered: "On this map, all of the Senju's known camps are marked. We plan to overthrow them once and for all."

End of Chapter 9

Welcome back!

Yes, I know. I'm 7 months late. But a lot of things happened and I just didn't really have the time to update. I'll try to do it more regulary from now on again.

With this chapter the more serious part of the story begins. Madara is now 18 and his father doesn't like him at all. With the first 8 chapters you got to know the characters and their relations between each other - now everything will change. You will see Mito again ;) pretty soon I think!

Please leave me a review or send me a PM with what you think about this chapter - did you like it? Did you not like it? Are there things you want to see in the future? Thank you for reading until here.

Just one last thing, a little promotion for my other story: If you have finished the original Naruto manga and are looking for a "New Generation" fanfiction, I may suggest you try my own creation: "Finding Papa". I started it the day Naruto was over, so it has not much in comon with Gaiden, like there is no Mitsuki. But other than that... Please give it a chance :) (Update every Thursday)

See you next Sunday and I wish you a great week!

Your Usagi

Review Answers:

Ita-chan18: Thank you very much for the review! I am now continuing to upload every week. I finally have some more free time at hand. Please go on reading and enjoy the story! See you next week, Usagi