A/N: After researching Mountains' Graveyard a bit more, I had to edit a little at the end of the last chapter. Nothing major, just the layout of the hideout. Also, I might edit this chapter a bit later. I feel like some parts are a bit overwritten but need a few days' rest to be able to read with a clearer head. I'm sorry about that. Just couldn't wait to upload it!
I'll be including the review responses at the end of the chapter and emboldening the reviewers' names. Thank you everyone!
~S.S.
Mottled
-CHAPTER TEN-
-/-
Something seemed different in here. Madara supposed that his eyesight might be better now than it was 18 years ago. He would say he had better depth perception, but much to his own amusement, he was in the same predicament as before: blind in his right eye. So perhaps his rediscovered youth simply afforded him better eyesight. Still, he scanned the room carefully. His eye narrowed.
"So... Obito has done some renovating over the years."
The girl turned to look at him with a question in her eyes. He motioned grandly to the walls. "My cave was much cruder back then… It seems Obito smoothed out some of the rough edges." Rather than their former cavernous look, the walls were smooth and refined. The design of the tailed beasts still lined the walls near the tree in the center of the room, though the Gedo Mazo was long gone. The tree was still growing, still flowering at its top. The torchlight caught on the drifts of pollen in the air and shone in Sakura's eyes.
His eyes snapped to the side. He remembered a passageway that led directly into this room. His Zetsu minions had retrieves Obito through that passage, before Madara had moved the giant rock in the way, sealing it off. It seemed that Obito had unsealed it again… Now there was a proper doorway.
Obito had removed all traces of Madara from the massive room. His throne, bed, and wall of weapons were missing. He hoped Obito had merely relocated his possessions; after all, his chair had been especially comfortable. Frowning, he walked closer to the edge of the pit and peered down. "I see... the well is deeper than before, too..."
Before his death, the water sustaining the tree was a mere 20 feet below where his throne once sat. But now, peering even a little into the pit, there was clearly a chasm. The root of the tree had grown much, much longer. It startled him to realize that, in spite of the changes, this cave still felt like home... And that he felt his home was in a cave in the first place.
He heard Sakura's gasp. She was looking to one side, near the edge of the pit. She slipped away from his hold, running and dropping to her knees. He saw then what she had found.
A flak jacket, like the ones Konoha ninjas wore.
"Someone was here," she whispered. "But who? A prisoner of war?"
Madara honed in his senses. "I don't sense anyone else here. At least, no one who's alive."
Sakura stood and looked frantically over the edge. Madara came to stand by her, putting his hand on her lower back to steady her. Couldn't have her tumbling over the side now, could he?
He squinted down into the abyss. It seemed Obito had built stairs in the sides of the pit, leading down to the water's surface. He could make out Hashirama's clone, still locked into the tree trunk right above the water.
Without warning, his hand slid from Sakura's back and into her own hand. He tightened his grip. "Come with me."
"Wha-" Sakura had just enough time to tense up before they were jumping off the edge.
"AAAHHHHH!" her scream echoed in the chamber. In two seconds, it was over, and Madara had landed gracefully on the water's surface. Sakura had landed without breaking the surface, but she stumbled for a moment, visibly ruffled.
She glared at him and started to open her mouth, but he raised a finger smugly. "Ah! I did warn you…" he smirked.
She sniffed indignantly, but quickly she noticed the Hashirama clone they had landed near. "What?!" She gaped in unconcealed horror. "Is that-?"
"It was an experiment from my old age. I cultivated Hashirama's cells, and in turn, created the Zetsus from him. In a way, they are his children and my own creation as much as his brats with Mito. Obito used up my reserves, it seems…" His eyes wandered to the roots, both above and below the water's surface. "The limbs are empty. They used to hang like fruit from this offshoot of the Divine Tree…"
How unfortunate. With the absence of the White Zetsus, I will have to use the clone if I want to cultivate any more of Hashirama's cells. It will be a delicate process… though perhaps Sakura's medical knowledge could help. Hashirama's clone was as hard as wood, whereas the Zetsus had possessed the ideal cellular composition for bodily implants. The Zetsus' cells could fuse well with a human body. He wasn't even sure he could yet make an implant as advanced as the one Kabuto had given him… Though, again, perhaps Sakura could help with that…
"You mean the White Zetsus?" Sakura slowly seemed to be recovering from her awestruck state.
"Yes. You fought them during the war, correct?"
"We did. But… you're mistaken when you say you cultivated them." She bit her lip immediately, abashed at correcting him.
"Hmm?" He raised an eyebrow. "Am I?" What would she know about the White Zetsus' creation?
"Black Zetsu told us that they were Kaguya's original victims, back when she first cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, hundreds of generations ago," Sakura told him. "He said that she kept them alive within the Holy Tree, and they eventually became the White Zetsus she used in her armies."
So, that was why they were so perfect as limb transplants. They were once human, after all.
"Then… Black Zetsu was tricking me, even then…" Anger flashed through him as he thought of the ingrate. "He made me believe I had created White Zetsu from Hashirama's cells. He made me believe I had created him from my very own will, but all along…"
"You might have enhanced the White Zetsus," Sakura piped up. He glanced at her. If he didn't know any better, he would say she was trying to make him feel better after having been played for a fool. "Or Obito might have. Who knows? As for Black Zetsu, he told us that he was Kaguya's son. She created him with her last burst of chakra before her sons sealed her away inside the moon."
Sakura's words troubled him. "...But it was the Ten Tails who was sealed inside the moon. That was what the tablet read… And I should know: I retrieved its body and summoned it here. The Gedo Mazo was its empty husk!" He motioned to the softly glowing flower atop the great stalk in the room.
"Black Zetsu altered the tablet. He told Naruto and Sasuke that. If Naruto's clone hadn't been keeping us safe when they confronted Black Zetsu and Kaguya, then we wouldn't have known this, but-" She shook the memory from her head and gave him a severe stare, one that translated despite the darkness of the pit. "Black Zetsu decided that, as Indra's descendents, the Uchiha were the key to making his plans come true. So he manipulated you through the stone tablet. One of the truths he revealed was that the Ten Tails wasn't just the Divine Tree rampaging to steal back its chakra – it was Kaguya herself, merged with the Divine Tree, bearing all the power of the 'Ten Tails'. So really, the Ten Tailed Demon was the Rabbit Goddess."
"But then... weren't her sons aware that they had sealed away their own mother? Just where did they think she had gone?"
"I don't know. That's a good question, Madara."
He frowned at her attempt to patronize him.
"He altered the tablet hoping that someone would recreate the power of the Sage of Six Paths, because that was the key to bringing Kaguya back. He needed it to be the descendants of Indra and Asura specifically, and he knew that Indra continued to reincarnate within the Uchiha clan... And that wasn't all he did." She bit her lip again. "He said that he led Kabuto to your corpse. That was why you were resurrected."
Madara didn't say anything else. His eye flickered up to Hashirama's clone. Had Hashirama known that the tablet told lies? But Hashirama couldn't read the tablet. Nevertheless, he remembered their meeting there, that night when he had left Konoha and Hashirama behind forever. Would things have been different if he had listened to Hashirama? If he had stayed, instead of chasing a dream that was ultimately false?
The realization left a bitter taste in Madara's mouth. So much so that he didn't bother to warn Sakura. Instead he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close.
"Mada-"
And as he jumped straight up, flying forth from the pit, he relished in her screams once more.
They landed on the ground, and he wasted no time in taking her hand and leading her to the doorway he'd seen before. Like the gentleman he was, he opened it and escorted her through. Let us see where this guides us next…
Sakura's skin was tingling as they ascended the dim corridor. Somehow, in reaction to the torch downstairs, the other torches in the hideout had all lit themselves simultaneously, though they maintained a low level of light. A fire jutsu, perhaps? She shouldn't have been surprised.
Shadows flickered and danced on the walls and across her face. A chilly hint of breeze brushed across her arm, and it felt like fingers. She drew closer to Madara, close enough to feel his long hair press against the side of her face and shoulder, warm and strangely comforting. It made her want to bury her face into his mane and hide, let it shroud her from the world.
The corridor sloped upwards, possibly- hopefully- to another exit, and she followed him readily enough. It puzzled her, this willingness to follow Madara into this lion's den. Yet this place felt haunted, and Madara felt so alive by contrast...
There were a few rooms branching off from the corridor. When they came to the first one, she heard Madara make a slight noise of exclamation. Could it have been... joy?
They were in a bedroom of sorts. There was a strange bed, with pristine white sheets and comfy mattress… but the base of it was made of thick roots. Against the back wall of the room was a throne made of wood, as if carved from the trunk of a tree. The seat even looked like an actual stump. Was this Obito's wood jutsu, or Madara's?
Madara was standing near a wall of weapons, running his fingers over the handle of a huge scythe. When she got closer to him, she could see him smiling a little. Was this a sentimental weapon of his? She knew he loved his gunbai, but the kama seemed to be precious as well. She vaguely remembered reading about his exploits in the Warring Era, and his fight against Shodai… That's right. He used to wield the gunbai in tandem with his kama: defense and attack, chained together. How much bloodier would the recent war have been if he'd brought his kama with him? If he had, he would have been the Grim Reaper incarnate... She winced. Madara must have heard, because he glanced at her over his shoulder. His good eye gleamed.
He perused the room for a few more moments before pulling them out, continuing them along. As they walked, he inhaled deeply. "Hmm. If I didn't know any better, I would say it smelled of snakes in here. Has Obito been having questionable houseguests over in my absence?"
Sakura stiffened. True, Madara had said they were the only ones here now, but... Could Orochimaru have found this place? And if so, would he be coming back?
"You told me that Black Zetsu led Kabuto to my corpse, correct?" Madara's jaw tightened. "It is likely he led him here, considering that I died here... I would imagine that Obito would have buried me someplace close-by. There was something snakelike in Kabuto's tone when I spoke with him. Subtle, but... as expected from one of Orochimaru's associates, I suppose."
"I heard that Kabuto had integrated Orochimaru's remains into himself," Sakura suddenly remembered. "Naruto said it was trying to take over his body..." She shuddered. "Kabuto is seriously evil. I honestly don't know who's more twisted: him or Orochimaru."
The next room they entered could have been an impromptu kitchen of sorts. It had a rudimentary set of burners, knives, bowls, and a preparation counter. But instead of dishes or food, Sakura saw that there were beakers, buckets, herbs, specimen jars, and materials that seemed like they were more for experiments. Her skin prickled; she didn't want to imagine the kinds of things that had been on that counter... But she knew she would need to eat sometime. How long would they be staying in this creepy hideout anyway? She was already eager to depart.
They were continuing their ascent when Madara stopped suddenly. She would swear that his hair was tingling.
"What-?"
"There is a doorway here," he spoke in a rough growl. "Obito has hidden something here. It is time we learned the rest of my apprentice's secrets."
He turned abruptly to the rock wall. Sakura looked for anything special about it, but nothing stood out. Madara, however, was tracing the wall with absolute certainty.
"Stand back," he told her, and she complied, not taking her eyes off him.
Madara's hands moved too quickly for Sakura to follow. He smashed his palm on the rock, and a ripple of chakra went out. Then, slowly, an invisible door in the rock wall began to open.
"Huh?! How did you-"
"Obito was my disciple, remember? I taught him these seals. I taught him everything before I died."
They stepped into the room, holding their breaths.
It was worse than Sakura could have ever imagined.
Eyes. An entire wall of Sharingan eyes, staring blankly, hollowly, forever preserved. Forever watching.
"So…" Madara began coldly, "Obito did take part in the massacre of our clan. And from this evidence, it would seem he benefitted quite readily from it."
Sakura's body wobbled. A wave of nausea swept over her. She tried to turn her head away, but she was frozen, ensnared. Her back hit something hard as she stumbled. An operating table.
"My own apprentice. Did what I taught him count for nothing in his mind? Did his loyalty to our clan disappear?!" Madara's voice became mocking. "Rin, Rin, Rin, always Rin! Is that why he killed our family? For her?! Because he thought he could bring her back through our spilled blood? I would spit on his corpse, if indeed he left one behind…"
"He didn't," Sakura whispered. Or she thought she did. Her thoughts weren't entirely clear anymore. "Kaguya killed him in another dimension, with her Ash-Bone Killing Jutsu."
"Hmph. Rewarded as a traitor deserves."
Just how many eyes, how many deceased, were here with them now in this room?
"…With these eyes, Obito could have resurrected the entirety of the Uchiha clan." Was that her own voice saying this? "If he had, he would have won the war for sure. So why didn't he…?"
An army of Uchiha, each with undead Sharingan in their Edo Tensei eyes—Did Madara's body smell when he was resurrected at first? Did it bother him? Could he feel the maggots crawling beneath his flesh?—How could they have fought the returned deceased for so long—?
"Hmm. Remember, Kabuto was merely an associate of his," Madara's deep voice broke into her racing thoughts, "and it was Kabuto who was in charge of the Impure World Resurrection jutsu. If Obito were smart, he would not have trusted him with all of his secrets." He looked at her. "It is highly probable that Kabuto did not know of this room at all, nor its contents. Perhaps, no one did. Until we discovered it."
Those eyes…are all watching me. She turned away.
On another wall was a bookshelf filled with scrolls. She went over, picking up the first one atop the pile. Or she tried to; twice, the scroll slipped through her fingers before she could finally hold it steadily to open it. It appeared to be blank, but she had this feeling—
"Madara…" she held up the scroll anxiously.
"Hmm?" Madara came to her side and took the scroll. He examined it carefully for a moment before laying it open on the operating table and making a series of unfamiliar hand signs. "Unseal."
There was a poof of smoke. Sakura was glad she hadn't eaten breakfast this morning. As it was, she tripped backward over her own feet and had to catch herself on a cabinet.
"I see," Madara muttered. "It has been a long time, but he looks the same as when he was a brat... Shimura Danzo, I believe?"
Danzo's corpse lay in front of them, a blindfold wrapped over his eyes. His skin was sunken and grey, and while the body didn't smell, it was clear that death was slowly claiming his features. Sakura didn't need to touch him to know that his skin would be cold as ice. One of his arms was missing, but that wasn't what made Sakura stare in alarm.
At the edge of his shoulder, his skin changed, becoming hardened and brittle and brown, just like…
"Mokuton," Madara muttered. "So, he was trying to unlock the power of the Rinnegan as well… unless…" He traced a finger over the corpse's bare shoulder. "Eyebrows?"
Sakura looked closer before feeling horrified and sick once more.
"So…" Madara frowned. "He had an implant of Hashirama here too. Did Kabuto do this to him?"
"It could have been Kabuto or Orochimaru, or something they worked on together," Sakura mused shakily. "Orochimaru was the one who originally got his hands on Shodai-sama's DNA… or his corpse. After all, he was the one who resurrected Shodai-sama, and ran those experiments—"
"Experiments, you say?"
Sakura blinked, horrified. Captain Yamato… It took remembering Orochimaru's horrific experiments when he worked to recreate Shodai-sama's special powers to realize... to her knowledge, Captain Yamato still hadn't been found. Last she had heard, he had been captured by Kabuto. Which meant that Captain Yamato might be here somewhere!
"The flak jacket..." she whispered out loud. "It must be Captain Yamato's jacket that was by the edge of the pit." She gasped in horror. "What if they killed him?! What if—" Tears filled her eyes.
"Hmm? Who is this Captain Yamato?"
"He is one of our team captains." Sakura began to shake violently. No, no please. Not him too, not another comrade! "Kakashi is our sensei, but Yamato temporarily took over for him this one time… He's a former experiment of Orochimaru's. He has Shodai-sama's wood release powers." Ordinarily she would have refrained from telling Madara such a thing, but at this point, Yamato might not even be alive anymore. "Kabuto captured him at the start of the war. No one's seen him since."
But it's been a week since Madara captured me, she realized. Maybe... maybe someone's found him by now... Maybe he's...
"Oh? If he has a rare mokuton, then he probably isn't dead yet. It would be terribly foolish of anyone to kill what is, for all intent and purposes, a living reincarnation of Hashirama's powers. At least, they would have taken advantage of his gifts before disposing of him."
"I think that was his flak jacket in that chamber," Sakura repeated blankly. Her head was too full suddenly.
"Who knows… I don't sense anyone living in the base with us. It's possible he might have sunk down into the waters below, but it's unlikely. Letting such a valuable specimen slip away would be very careless indeed. And anyway, it does no good to worry. You cannot do anything about it regardless."
That's true, Sakura wanted to say. Whatever has happened, it's too late to change it now. Like these eyes... Sakura looked sadly at the drawers. These contain the remnants of the Uchiha clan... And it reminds us that we cannot go back in time to stop the Massacre. There is no undoing what's already been done. She gritted her teeth, trying to keep the tears at bay.
Madara stepped closer to one of the shelves. There were more scrolls on them. Sakura hastily turned away. No doubt they contained more bodies. She didn't want to see who they were.
As Madara busied himself with the scrolls, Sakura finally gathered her courage and looked more closely at the eyes on the wall.
They were all in the stage of their active Sharingan, she noticed. There were names under each specimen. Many of the drawers had two eyes in them, though some only had one. She began to read the names.
At first, none caught her eye. Until she saw 'Mikoto'.
"This is Sasuke-kun's mother…" she whispered to herself. Mikoto's drawer only had one eye in it. Sakura didn't know why this bothered her so deeply… She hadn't read any police reports, since she didn't have access to that kind of thing… But why would Sasuke's mother only have one eye in her drawer? What would have happened to the other one? It could have been lost during the Uchiha Massacre, but… Somehow, this didn't sit right with Sakura.
She perused the drawers for several more minutes and didn't recognize any more names, until she came to the last of the macabre collection.
There was a smaller row of drawers. Sakura didn't know what it was about them… Maybe it was the golden writing on the front, instead of the usual black penmanship. But she could tell that there was something different about these eyes…
She stepped closer to examine them. The first one confused her utterly. No name. Just a single phrase: "The real one." There was nothing inside. But on the front of the drawer was a drawing of a series of ripples. She frowned. The pattern reminded her a little of the Rinnegan. But what did it mean? The drawer was even slightly ajar, and a little of the preserving liquid had sloshed on the sides. They were still slightly damp.
It was as if someone had been here recently and taken what was inside.
Sakura felt cold. Though she strained her senses, she couldn't determine anyone but herself and Madara nearby. She moved on to the next drawer.
"Shisui the Teleporter," she read. The drawer was empty. She squinted to see if she could spot anything inside. Nothing. In fact, the drawer didn't even have the usual murky preservation fluid. It was pristine, sterile.
Weirded out, Sakura moved on to the next drawer. "Wicked-Eye Fugaku." Fugaku… Fugaku! Wasn't that Sasuke's dad?! Both eyes were there, in a normal Sharingan state. But there was a drawing on the front of the drawer under Fugaku's moniker: a thin three-bladed shuriken design, with a spot next to each arm. The pattern of threes, all in a circular design... Could this be the design of a Mangekyo Sharingan? Did this mean Fugaku had one?
"Itachi the Clan Killer." She felt a shiver go through her. Itachi's drawer was empty too, but there were still preservation fluid inside, and Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan was drawn on it. So that meant… Itachi's eyes had been here.
Next to Itachi's drawer was a final name: "Sasuke the Avenger". Like Shisui's, his was empty and sterile.
"What's this?"
She turned to see Madara standing over a bucket off to one side. Knowing she would regret it, Sakura joined him to see what was inside. Yet another pair of eyes greeted her. And this time, Sakura felt a shock of recognition.
These eyes…
There was a pattern in the center of the pupil, like a red six-petaled flower. Sakura hadn't seen this exact pattern before; after all, Sasuke's eyes were already losing their light when they had met near the Samurai Bridge. But she recognized the form they had become, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan: it'd had the exact same pattern as this, except with Itachi's own pattern swirling in the middle.
"These were Sasuke's original eyes," she told Madara. "Which means that Obito was the one who transplanted Itachi's eyes into his. So Sasuke really did it after all."
"…I thought he would only do that if he were losing the light."
"He was. He was almost completely blind at one point…"
"And yet these have a Mangekyo design in them as clear as day. Why…?" It seemed Madara had a guess. Curiously, he scooped a little of the preserving liquid from the bowl and onto his gloved fingers. He rubbed the liquid and then brought it to his nose. That was when Sakura noticed: this liquid was thicker than the preserving fluid, and it had a whitish color to it.
"White Zetsu's cells…" Madara murmured, astonished. "So, Obito has discovered how to restore sight." With that, Madara reached up to his own face. There was a squelching noise, and Sakura blanched. An eye dropped from Madara's hand and into the bucket. Madara's blind right eye. But he hadn't made any sound of pain…
"Sakura… If you would…"
As if pulled by invisible threads, Sakura walked to Madara. He had one of Sasuke's eyes in his hand, and he raised it to his empty right eye socket. She didn't know why she felt the sudden need to give the eye a new home...
"Do the honors."
Don't do it! something screamed at her. But she had no choice. Her hands, trembling, rose to Madara's face. Cupping his cheek in one hand, her other swiped over his right eye socket, attaching Sasuke's optic nerves to his own.
There was a hiss, as the power of the eye met with that of its new owner. Sakura's hands fell suddenly, and a haze took over her brain. What had she done? And why did she feel this way?
She looked up at him questioningly. Had he put her in a trance of some sort? She flinched and looked around. Had the room itself?
Madara opened his right eye. A new design was forming.
The red flower was shrinking, and around it, three black tadpoles were forming, caging the flower in the center of it. Slowly, the flower's petals turned black as well.
Sakura knew with absolute dread and certainty that she was watching the creation of a new Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
For a moment Madara stood still, mismatched Mangekyo Sharingan shining from each eye. Then, he smiled.
"Better."
Sakura took a wary step back.
Madara smiled down at his right eye, now floating and bobbing in the White Zetsus' cells. "Perhaps this mixture will be able to restore the vision to my original eye… Or rather, Izuna's." His face softened minutely. "It would be a shame to lose my beloved brother's sacrifice."
Sakura felt dizzy. Rinnegan, Sharingan… new powers, new hatred… What if Madara somehow took on the hatred within Sasuke's eye… Would it undo the work she had done to free him from his curse?
She turned away hastily, towards the shelf with the scrolls. They were laid out tidily now instead of in a pile. Immediately, her stomach lurched. Madara hadn't opened any others since Danzo, but he had managed to reveal the labels on them. She now knew who was inside of each one. Itachi… Nagato… Wait, wasn't Nagato the Akatsuki leader Pein's real identity? Naruto had told her that. He had told her everything after their fight, the way they were both disciple students of Jiraiya, how Nagato in his dying breath wanted to believe in the peace Naruto sought… So if Nagato was here amongst Obito's scrolls, then could Jiraiya be as well…?
She turned her face away, not wanting to read any more names. Her heart hurt just with the few she knew.
Something orange caught her eye. On another shelf was a cracked mask. The original mask Obito had worn as 'Tobi'. And next to the mask…
Sakura picked up the small blue object. It crinkled in her hands. A paper flower. The one Konan wore.
The petals were flecked with blood.
Sakura felt very cold. "Obito… killed Konan?"
Madara looked over at her casually. Her back was facing him, and her shoulders were trembling. "Who is Konan?"
"She was the village head of Amegakure. She was Nagato's right-hand woman and part of the Akatsuki… until Naruto defeated Nagato." Her hands began to shake. "If Nagato's body is here, and her paper flower, then that means she's dead. And that means…" Her eyes widened. "Amegakure has no leader."
Madara's eyes narrowed. "That means that a new nation now has a motivation for war."
"Exactly," Sakura breathed. "And he killed her for what? Possibly threw all of Amegakure into chaos for what?! For a pair of eyes?!" She turned to Madara, the flower still in her hands. Her teeth were gritted, and there were angry tears in her eyes. "When Nagato died, she took him with her and hid him, along with his Rinnegan. Obito must have come for them."
When would it stop!? Just how many skeletons were inside of Obito's closet? Sakura wanted to get out of here. It felt like the walls were closing in. Too many bodies in here—
By contrast, Madara seemed entirely too calm, something she was beginning to hate him for. "That would explain how the eyes made their way back to me."
"Back to you?" Sakura's panicked thoughts halted at his comment. She furrowed her eyebrows. "You mean… No… Those Rinnegan were Nagato's."
"They were mine. They were something I left to Nagato after I awoke them, in my advanced age."
"But… how?"
"Oh? You want to know that story? But that would be telling." Madara grinned. "I will tell you this: they were originally Izuna's eyes. You know what happened there. I managed to awaken the Rinnegan at the end of my natural life. I won't tell you exactly how… a lady of your intellectual prowess should be able to figure it out. I implanted them into Nagato, and when I was resurrected, Obito had somehow retrieved them. And you've just supplied how."
"So there was only ever one pair of Rinnegan. All this time…" That makes sense. Madara can deactivate his Rinnegan at will into the Sharingan or even his normal eyes. Only an original wielder can do that. Kakashi-sensei couldn't deactivate Obito's Sharingan because of it. But still… She had thought maybe Nagato had his own pair. To know that the eyes responsible for destroying Konoha during his invasion weren't even his own…
"Yes. Izuna's eyes changed the world."
"You know, Madara…" Sakura started forward, clutching the blue flower tighter. "Those eyes didn't just cause harm. Nagato used the power of the Rinnegan to resurrect our entire village, after he had killed so many people. He brought hope back to us when he did that."
"And this very Rinnegan-" Madara pointed to his left eye, "resurrected me as well. It is the one Obito had when Black Zetsu forced him to use that jutsu." It's also the one you swallowed, he thought with a grin.
"You and Obito didn't have to use those eyes for war." She began to smile timidly. "You don't have to now. They could be used for peace." Suddenly, her smile fell. "Wait a minute… If both Nagato and Obito used the resurrection jutsu with those eyes… Then why didn't they lose their light?"
"The jutsu kills the castor, but not the Rinnegan itself," Madara explained. "These eyes could be transplanted and used many times over, so long as they're not destroyed."
Sakura flinched. "So you could have used your eyes in another person's body to resurrect your brother, and then still kept the eyes for yourself afterward." And that person... You would force them to cast the jutsu, sacrificing them in the process.
"I still could, if I wished."
Sakura looked at him in sudden horror. He merely stared back. "You're not planning on using m-me for that, are you?"
Madara guffawed quite suddenly. In the eerie light, in full view of the Uchiha clan's eyes, the sight was unnerving.
"No, of course not," he said, his face retaining a sudden cheer. "For one thing, in order to do such a thing, you cannot use just anyone." He gave her an amused look. "I hate to tell you this, but your blood simply isn't strong enough to handle it. I chose Nagato in large part because he is an Uzumaki. His blood, or an Uchiha's or a Senju's blood, might be the only ones powerful enough to handle the Rinnegan. For another thing-"
"So only someone like Sasuke or Naruto could handle it," she muttered. She turned away to put the flower back on the shelf, as well as to hide her sudden pout. "Of course, it's always got to be those two…" And all their powers, she thought sourly. Of course she was proud of her boys, but it was so hard keeping up with teammates who had bijuu powers and Sharingan and Rinnegan and…
Rinnegan.
Slowly, that single thought crystallized in Sakura's brain. Madara was speaking, but she couldn't hear it. For one long, terrible moment, everything finally made sense. Blood. Power. Love. War. Sharingan. Rinnegan. Betrayal.
Sasuke has a Rinnegan in his left eye. Madara could use that…
"…To resurrect Izuna," she whispered.
"Hmm?"
"You're planning to sacrifice Sasuke, aren't you?" And you're planning to use me to get to Sasuke.
Madara didn't answer. She couldn't see his face, turned away as she was, but she felt the room temperature drop ten degrees.
Her muscles quivered. "I WON'T LET YOU!"
CRAAASH!
The sentence hadn't even fully left her mouth. All around them were splinters of wood. Her actions were so unexpected that Madara, for all his alertness, hadn't even seen them coming. One minute she was peaceful albeit scared, and the next
She had thrown both of them through the table in the center of the room.
Jagged bits of wood showered down on them as Sakura pummeled Madara's face. She wasn't saying anything now, just grunts of rage, and her wild eyes frighteningly large…
BANG! CRACK! BAM!
Amidst her savage assault, Madara was able to drive her back with a well-placed kick. She flew backwards into the wall. SMASH! Glass rained down from some unfortunate specimen jars. She was already on her feet, then leaping for him, her intentions positively murderous. No hesitation at all.
He grabbed her wrists, spinning them around, but using chakra she propelled them through the laboratory's invisible door. The rock of the wall cracked and crumbled around them as they burst into the hallway. They rolled over, and he was immediately on his feet, and ready. She was already on the attack.
He caught the briefest glimpse into her eyes, though she wasn't directly meeting his gaze. Her expression was completely empty of everything but pure, unbridled wrath. Haruno Sakura… had well and truly snapped.
"MADARAAAAA!"
-/-
A/N: Aaaand, there we go! A little more action in our future. :D Now for review responses (apologies if I'm kinda awkward in my responses; I'm socially awkward in general, hehe):
AxellaSumire - Thank you. :) Once Madara's past was revealed in canon, I loved his complicated personality. Like you said, he really is so much more than a war maniac... I like what you said about how he listens to Sakura. I wish more people acknowledged Sakura in canon.
Mokki Takashi - He'd probably hug you back. ;) I don't think he's a cutter, but he definitely has a masochistic streak! Definitely considered having Sakura build up an immunity to poisons... After all, if Sasuke could in canon, then why not Sakura? Poison will be important in the future...
Blissangel91494 - Sakura definitely needs a hug with all the turbulence and WTFery Madara introduces to her life! XD Wonder if Madara will give her one... ;)
shellly.c - Aww, thank you. :) I hope I won't disappoint!
orangana - At this point, let's just say Sakura is in a very vulnerable position with a man who's been manipulating people for far too long. But then again... don't count our Cherry Blossom out just yet! ;)
zulfi - Thank you, my friend. So is that an official vote for more fluffy moments between the two of them? ;)
Cindy M 19 - I sincerely think Madara gets a kick out of trolling people. First Obito, then Sakura. XD Their reactions amuse him a lot more than he'll ever let on!
LisbethMegalomania - Thank you! Please let me know if you ever find the development too slow or too fast; I've been trying to make the pacing steady on purpose and can't always tell if I'm hitting it right. I'm glad you're liking the pace so far! :)
shadow miko - Aww, thank you. :) I'm sorry this last update took so long. I'll try to be faster with the next chapter.
AFangirlLife - Thank you. :)
Guest - Not planning on abandoning this story, no worries! ;) We'll get to the end, though it'll be a while.
Lily - He really can be nice in his mercurial way. :) Hashirama definitely brings it out in him... and now Sakura a little too. He's hard to write at times: I don't want to make him too nice, yet he's not totally cold either. And thank you for the suggestion about making folks' names in bold! :D You're right, it makes it a lot easier to read! Ja ne :)
Teyona - I'm so sorry for the ending of this chapter, when their closeness got somewhat dashed. I dreaded doing this to them. :/ I wasn't sure whether to have Madara show mercy on her or not for the notes and clothes scraps, but it seemed right somehow... He's strangely chill at certain moments (like when Hashirama told him he'd deal with him later, and then he sat patiently to wait for Hashirama to fight him). Heh heh... I love his unpredictability.
JigokuShoujosRevenge - I think Madara would probably have seen Sasuke as a worthy successor to his cause, like Obito, has Sasuke joined their side. True, unfortunately Sakura wasn't sneaky enough, and Madara is unusually perceptive... Not to mention there's "Manako". ;)
Guest - Aww, thank you! :D
Illuminated - Your comment cracked me up! I could just imagine it and was sorely tempted to put it in... Ahh well XD
AlexisHGriffin - "A bastard and a gentleman"... I love that description of Madara! :D Trying to find the balance for Sakura - strong in ways that canon zigzagged, but not so super-powered that development is missed. Your feedback helps me see she's on the right track, so thank you! :)
tsubaki-apple - Thank you. :)
Thank you all again for your reviews and the time you've all taken to leave me encouragement. It means a lot to me. :) And thank you to the folks who are following and favoriting! Over 200 followers! That's more than I ever could have hoped for. Til next chapter, everyone!