Power is everything, and no other truth exists.
It was a jaded way of thinking; a self-serving mentality that Ikari would certainly lecture him over, but Madara was slowly growing desensitized to it.
He knew that he was supposed to be the strongest of his siblings and even head over shoulders above his fellow peers, but it still wasn't enough.
It just wasn't enough.
No amount of grueling training, mental fortitude, or complex Jutsu could help assuage his growing apprehension and uncertainties.
Once again, Madara found himself with his siblings seated on a familiar hillside overlooking the clan compound. He was seated on the same log he'd once kicked down surrounded by the same faces, and the same situation of avoiding the clan elders on their annual assessment…and yet his heart hurt.
The passing of the seasons had not come easy.
The same feeling of contentment and bonding shared on the first night the siblings had all gathered at once was lost. Half of them weren't smiling, and those that did, did so with strained features.
"Madara, can you teach me a Jutsu now? I want to be cool too."
It was that same phrase of the past, yet excruciatingly altered.
"You're the eldest so you have to dote on the youngest more."
Ikari didn't seem to register the impact of her words on the other two elder siblings nearby, but Madara certainly did.
Kei the second eldest, and Kagami the eldest had 'died' on a mission together rather recently. The clan had brought back their bodies, and Ikari, looking stricken and grieving, didn't hesitate in the slightest to activate her eyes while sobbing.
…And then the sobbing just stopped.
-It just stopped.
Any unbearable heartache, distress, or suffering she was drowning in at the sight of her loved one's dead vanished entirely.
It wasn't fair.
What a selfish sibling. She'd never know of this anguish.
Kei and Kagami's expressions were carefully blank while Kei punched a tree in frustration, startling Ikari who began looking around suspiciously for a ghost while inching closer to Madara.
Madara could only watch helplessly as Kagami walked over to Kei, placed a hand on Kei's shoulder, and slowly shook his head empathetically.
The two left a moment later, leaving Madara and Izuna utterly stifled. Things just weren't the same anymore, but if anything, Madara had mixed feelings. He beyond elated that his elder brothers were still alive, but Ikari's circumstances depressed him.
There were five of them in her eyes once…then four…then three, and now only two as four years had passed.
Her smile was just the same, just as radiant as before, likely because for her, it was the same.
Soon enough, maybe she'd start considering herself the eldest sibling?
The implications of this morbid thought weren't lost on Madara in the slightest.
Ikari's Mangekyo stared up at him; the starred pattern swirling ever so slightly; a glaring reminder of what he'd open his eyes to should he perform a careless move in battle.
He dreaded when his turn would come.
"Hey Madara," Izuna whispered while looking at their other brothers completely ignored by Ikari. Their previous interactions of the prior years only a figment of blurred memory as their silhouette's disappeared int eh distance.
"Yes, little brother?" Madara asked.
A flurry of emotion crossed Izuna's face while Ikari remained ignorant of everything while looking up at the moon.
Izuna hardened his features. "I don't want to be forgotten."
"Yeah," Madara balled his hands into fists. "Me too."
He didn't want to lose anyone either.
Fortunately, he hadn't really lost any of his siblings yet, but at this rate, it may only be a matter of time.
He had to work harder.
Damn Senju.
The fall of the coming season marked the beginning and the end of any notion of a peaceful upbringing Madara had desperately wished for Ikari.
It was a moment of celebration in all actuality, ruined only by happenstance and over eagerness.
Madara smiled fondly at his overexcitable sibling determined to succeed in her endeavors.
Ikari was jumping around animatedly, managing to run on her own feet without looking utterly exhausted from the strain of her eyes. She was older now at nine years old, and she was showing markable improvement in physical ability as the physical aspect of her chakra gradually grew in to her spiritual.
He was happy for her, and encouraged her by giving her an unimpressed huff.
It was his mistake, albeit, the location was in his own home in the main family.
No one should have been able to trespass in this private area.
In an attempt to brag about her improvements, Ikari picked up dulled practice kunai and shuriken and threw them at dummies in hopes of proving that she was good enough to learn a Jutsu now.
Obviously, she was unimpressive.
She missed the targets by a mile, her feeble arm strength not even enough to allow the weapons to reach their targets.
Her actions were done with much difficulty, but it proved that her condition had the potential of improving.
Madara was elated for her, but this quickly changed to horror when his senses alerted him of approaching clansmen. This was the main family house, and he knew only of one group of clan members that would have the audacity to intrude.
His mind went haywire, knowing that just because he could sense people coming didn't mean that Ikari could.
Were Ikari's senses comparable to his own?
Of course not.
She'd never trained once in her life.
He bolted onto his feet. "Ikari wait there's-"
He barely got the words out in a bid to stop her from drawing attention to herself but it was too late. Ikari got carried away after years of being bed-ridden driving her somewhat insane.
"Look! Look Madara! Look what I can do! The last time was just a fluke!"
Ikari directly began throwing the blunted kunai and shuriken again, grinning merrily.
NOOO! You fool!
Madara's complexion paled drastically, his gaze snapping to stare beyond Ikari's shoulders where a contingency of prideful shrivelled skin and bones paused in their steps and stood watching keenly.
Based on how she was raised, Ikari must think the family soft and doting when it was anything but in order to survive in these turbulent times. Even if they wouldn't take the decision of sending Ikari to war lightly, they were certainly going to train her to the point of breakdown if given the chance.
-Nine years Ikari eluded them. Nine years they had spent in frustration.
Tajima would no longer be able to hold them back anymore.
The eyes of the elders gleamed.
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious