"Thought Or Telepathy"
"Character Communication"
"Loud Speaking"
"Emphasis 'On' A Word."
Madara: A New Journey
As Madara opens his eyes, he notices that the atmosphere has changed. No longer is he in some metaphysical realm but a physical place. This place is unlike any place he's ever seen before.
Elegant dark wood construction - more modern than anything of his era - decorates the walls. Proportionately so, the floor is formed from sophisticated marble
A long and wide hallway stretches out in front, with no windows to be seen: paintings, luxurious statues, pillars, chairs, glass containers spread out with trophies and items decorate the hallway. An eery ringing can be heard reverberating through these halls as it changes pitch and tone with a certain creepy melody.
A low rumble shakes the floor almost unnoticeably like the place is breathing in and out. The distinct characteristic of being watched causes the hair on the back of Madara's neck to stand. Like a tiger ready to bounce on its prey, he remains vigilant for anything this place has in store for him.
He glances around to see that which he already knows, no path behind and only one way forward. With no other choice, he follows the path, discreetly observing the interior of the hallway.
Each footstep loudly echos off the walls as he makes his way. Many questions arise within his mind but his instincts guide him to concentrate. Something in this place is arousing his sense of danger.
Down unchanging twists and turns, he finally comes across something new. A pair of double doors presumably leading out of the main hallway are spotted. But alas, it proves just another decoration to be ignored as he tries to enter, it won't even budge. "Is this fake?" He wondered to himself only seconds ago.
After all, what could possibly have stopped him from opening some wood door? Nothing, that's what. His physical strength when enhanced with chakra is enough to move mountains and shape worlds. He ignored that door and those that came after, knowing that they're fakes made to taunt him.
Eventually, he comes to an end; an open pair of double doors this time awaiting. He pasts the doors to enter into a two-floor library with ledges and ladders to reach high up books and twisting stairs going up to the second floor. A lounge area in the center of the room, tables, and drinks sprawled about above elegant rugs.
As he takes one step past the doors, a draft of wind blows from the room to push against him slightly, pushing his hair around. The sound of a grandfather clock ticking away becomes public. "Hello?" asks Madara hesitantly in a low and small voice. Again in a more demanding tone, he says. "Anyone there?"
His voice bounces off the high ceiling to replay itself, but nothing outside that replies. Has Madara made a mistake? Unmistakenly, there is some presence in this library, as clear as day, something just beyond his grasp lurking in this room. No, he can't be wrong. "I said, is anyone there?!"
"QUIET DOWN!" Finally, the presence speaks in a voice that has both masculine and feminine undertones, like speaking in two voices, dark and demanding presence - both loud and quiet - causing Madara to rotate his head throughout half-expecting the presence to jump out.
But it had come from everywhere and nowhere and left as quickly as it had come.
It was as such that it felt an illusion of the senses, a delirium of what Madara expected to happen but didn't actually. His eyebrows scrunch up as he makes slow movements. He didn't feel malice yet but he, in fact, has felt nothing for that matter. "Where are you?"
"I'M HERE."
If he didn't feel so threatened he could almost laugh at a response like that, and what a ridiculous response it was, one that served to clarify it's location by zero. He takes two slow steps back momentarily. "Okay, you're here, where is here?" The door suddenly slams shut behind him as the being talks once more.
"HERE IS SIMPLY HERE, IT IS NOT THERE, IT IS NOT THEN, IT IS ONLY HERE AND NOW. BUT THESE ARE NOT THE RIGHT QUESTIONS, DISPENSE WITH THE INUTILE AND ASK THE CRUX OF WHAT YOU SEEK."
He hesitates as the next words may decide the outcome of this encounter. This being sounded grand and knowledgeable when it spoke like all is seen and all is known. He feels like he could ask any question and get an answer that is accurate within the finest detail.
"Is this fake?" Was the question he asked earlier, and in front of this sheer presence, that question seems so irrelevant.
Before he can think of something to ask, the voice speaks yet again. "THE LEGENDARY MADARA UCHIHA AT A LOSS FOR WORDS? THE MAN FROM WHOSE LIPS FALL CONVICTION AND SACRIFICE AND OBSESSION...WITH ALL YOUR POWERS AND SKILL TO ACHIEVE GOALS NONE OTHER WOULD EVEN IMAGINE, YET BEFORE ME YOU HESITATES LIKE A CHILD."
Does this thing know who he is? That alone warrants his full attention. "Just what is this being?" If he's not careful things may get ugly, that's the sense he's getting.
"THAT IS A WISE QUESTION."
It's then that Madara realizes that even his inner thoughts are an open book but apparently that was the right question, and at this moment it's probably the most he wants to know.
"WHAT AM I?" The being pauses as if it has to put some thought behind its answer. "JUST THINK OF MILLENNIUMS MULTIPLIED BY EONS COMPOUNDED BY TIME WITHOUT END, I'VE BEEN AROUND THAT LONG. BUT IT'S ONLY RECENTLY THAT EVENTS HAVE ALLOWED US TO MEET. I AM YOUR ******************************"
"What did you say?" He could not hear the last word at all, faint static had masked any sound. Talk about an ultimate disappointment.
The beings let out a low thoughtful growl that rocks the library. "IMAGINE MY DISAPPOINTMENT WHEN YOU CANNOT EVEN HEAR WHAT I AM...THOU FALLS INCOMPARABLY SHORT OF MY EXPECTATIONS."
He responds with a face full of subdued confusion. "Disappointed..." He lingers onto the word as he looks into his past to see if he's ever encountered something like this before. His face contorts from confusion to rage. "Expectations?! That's cheap...who are you to be disappointed in me!"
A creak in the ground sounds from behind one of the bookshelves on the first floor. Through one of the glass panels in between, he snaps to the sight of light shining through, the outline of a person can be seen as it walks methodically out from behind the bookshelf, but what comes out, falls into a mist that twirls around in the room, swallowing it and him in its entirety.
There is no visibility in this mist once so ever, everything from before has disappeared so quickly: the ground, the walls, the low rumble, and the ringing. However, one thing remains as it makes itself known once more, aggressive and impatient this time.
"YOU LACK AWARENESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCE YOU FIND YOURSELF IN. AS I SAID! IT APPEARS YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND WHAT I AM, BUT WHAT I AM IS NOT SO IMPORTANT, IT'S WHAT I AM TO YOU THAT IS. I CAN BE ANYTHING...THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN..."
Arms form from the mist and wrap around Madara's neck in a light embrace from behind. He has no time to react, he turns around to see the most alluring and attractive female he's ever seen in his entire lifetime; her smile, her smell, her beauty, the perfection of this woman couldn't be described in words.
The smile that was once beautiful distorts into a disturbing visage as teeth transform into fangs, splitting her cheeks into a face wide smile. "...THE MOST TERRIFYING CREATURE..." The woman whispers in his ear in the same voice before dissipating into the mist around him.
Before he can even begin to process, his feet are snatched out from under him and dragged with an unparalleled force as he's slammed into a wall of mist.
He tries to grasp at anything, but the mist provided zero purchase to do as such. Eyesight is lost as he's drawn under the mist. When his vision returns he's deep underwater. "What is this?!" He says, glancing around. None of this made any sense.
He looks up to see the surface not too far away. Wasting no time, he rushes through the water as fast as he can in hopes of flying out. He dares not look down as the abyss beneath in the ocean depths leaks aura so foul and dreadful it could kill.
If this THING and its words are to be taken at face value, then what awaits beneath is something beyond imagination; the most terrifying creature supposedly, but what would that even detail.
A shudder goes down his back as he's just a fingers length away from the surface. The foul feelings coming closer until it has taken hold of his leg, stopping him cold.
"Do I have to look down?!" This coward thought scratches into the back of his mind as he slowly drops further into the water at the hands of this whatever. But, Madara isn't a coward. The momentary cowards thought completely gone and replaced with utter willpower as he looks down.
His eyes widen at the sight of the tentacle-like limb that has his leg firmly wrapped up in its coil.
The limb grows bigger and bigger as he follows it into the blackness that obscures it. Suddenly, the limps tighten as it's once loose coils stretch like a loose fishing line being reeled in. He snaps down in the darkness as he sees the surface disappear all too quickly.
Perhaps he just forgot to check but in this situation, it has become all too apparent that his barrier isn't activated anymore, he can't even bring forth his Truth-Seeking Orbs, he can't activate his Rinnegan or use Limbo. He can't do anything to fight this monster! Why didn't he notice this sooner or is this only happening now?
This world definitely doesn't feel like some illusion, he's been thinking this for a while, yet it seems like his senses are either being manipulated as we speak or this thing is flat out warping reality to its will, clouding his mind and removing his power from existing in some fashion.
It's a scary thought either way, but he certainly hopes it's the former and not the latter of the two. The limb comes to a stop abruptly to slam him onto the ocean floor before retreating away, stirring up the sentiment as it agitates the water with its massive size and weight.
He slowly swims upright and winces at the invasions of slight pain. "That's not possible, nothing physical should be able to hurt me!" It just didn't add up, but hey, at least he doesn't need oxygen to survive and can still withstand this pressure.
This would certainly be an easy way to end his existence, so, this creature must not want him dead, otherwise, he'd probably be dead already. For that matter, the monster that brought him down here just up and left. "Where did it go?" Why would it just leave him after going to the effort of dragging him down?
Hell, it could be waiting in front of his face with mouth wide open for all he knows; the light has long since disappeared and without the Rinnegan he can't see at all. If he had to guess how deep he is now it be somewhere in the miles category, five or seven, maybe? Regardless, he can't see past his eyelashes.
If only he could use his Rinnegan, but apparently a lot of things aren't in the cards for him at the moment. If he could sigh underwater, he would. He ponders this conundrum for a moment. He could try swimming up, no, that would be pointless wouldn't it, without his powers. Then an idea comes to him.
With a motion of the hand, a powerful ball of light forms in his palm blasting away at the darkness. It appears that Ninjutsu isn't off-limits. Many techniques could have allowed him to create a powerful enough light to pierce this darkness, Gale style, Plasma style, both similar in nature types and are both combative releases.
However, underwater, combative natures aren't ideal because they'll react with the water in the surroundings, especially the lighting element.
The Yang nature, on the other hand, can be used to form a new element, Light style. Seeing how Yang and Yin techniques are next to impossible to develop for a standard shinobi and only ever inherited through generations, it has never been used in the history of shinobi.
With his new light in hand, the ocean floor becomes visible but only a meter in either direction before it fades back into darkness. He steps to the end only to have his foot drop further down. Without a doubt, the creature simply placed him on some sort of ledge before going deeper. "I can't sense anything in this forsaken ocean."
He only has one option, further down, but what lies further down could be much worse. This is a test, this "thing" is testing him to see if he's scared in the face of the unknown. Well, that "things" got a big surprise in store for it, if it thinks this is enough to scare him.
The sediment and the rock shelf break off as he peers over one last time.
He reminds himself of who and what he is. This creature is nothing compared to what he'll have to become in order to achieve his goals. In fact, this is probably just a fabricated world made by that being, if it's a test, then he'll just have to shatter the expectations of the tester.
He tosses the light down the abyss before diving after it as they both descend. The new abyss is much deeper. Having crossed another ten-miles with no end in sight. Each mile deeper reveals more of the creature's terrifying malice filled energy that blows up like a cool breeze.
When he reaches another mile deeper, something happens. As hard to tell as it may be, the squirming movements of large shadowy creatures perhaps in the millions just out of the range of the light form a pool, swarming around at super-fast speeds to get away from the light as Madara descends into it.
He pierces the swarm as they struggle to stay out of the sphere of light. White fangs and snarly expression flash in the dark as the creatures stir the water with their massive building-sized bodies and not long after, they're in every direction, following him down in hopes the light vanishes.
Madara didn't say a word, not that he could. These creatures appear to be afraid of light, they definitely want to tear into his flesh, but even if a couple come at him, the one whose flesh would be torn apart would be on the other hand.
And is if one of them took offence, it rushes at him, ignoring the light entirely. He tears apart the creature quickly as guts spill into the water, which only seems to seed the hunger on the swarm as more and more enter the light. "This isn't good." He says, glancing around before taking off deeper, much faster this time.
These overgrown sardines, however, are very fast it would seem. The ones from behind that have tasted the blood have rushed after him. He shreds through more and more of them with little effort, not even stopping his mad dash deeper.
The idea is that the ones below haven't smelled the blood and won't be as hungry, the ones above will have to swim after him through the large swarm. This will slow down the rate at which the attackers increase, but if he can't find an end to these things, then eventually it will pile upon him.
Fifteen miles. Twenty miles. Fifty miles! Just how deep is this chasm?! Millions didn't do these creatures justice, not even billions would be a fair number to count how many of these things he's seen, let alone how much he hasn't.
He's being attacked relentlessly, thousands at a time. If only he could use his Susanoo or Limbo, but he can no longer keep up with the attack and his speed has dropped. He's lost the gamble. A creature actually manages to break his defence through the blood and gut filled water to bite into his arm with its massive fangs.
He quickly cuts this one in half with Gale style, paralyzing and continuing to cut through thousands of others. "If that's how you want to play..." He slaps his hands together and pours a Tailed Beast worth of chakra into another style, Ice style.
When he relaxing his hands all he can see is ice. He created an orb of solid ice so thick that it extends miles out in either direction with a little pocket space in the middle for himself. The corpses of the fish stuck within darken the ice with their blood. "This should buy me some time."
Time is indeed all this would buy, although far away, the fishes on the outside have already started to tear into the chakra reinforced ice at a frightening rate, like ants building a nest, passages have already been formed heading to the centre.
But the ice still continues to drop further down, slowly, but it certainly feels more comfortable than being swarmed by monsters.
While he has time, it may be worth trying to talk to that thing again. "Hey, if this is your form of explaining who you are, I'd rather not know at all. I'm getting rather fed up with beings like you." First, the reaper attacking him and now this thing, is he some sort of deity shit magnet or something?
He waits but all he hears is the sounds of the ice. A frown appears on his face, seems like this thing either couldn't or wasn't in the mood to... "DO THE GOLDFISH FRIGHTEN YOU?" It says in an incredible ton of mockery.
Madara spits on the ice in front of him. "Enough with your meagre jabs...what is the point of this, why am I even here if you're disappointed?"
"THIS...WELL...THIS IS JUST FOR MY AMUSEMENT." The entity gave a low chuckle that rocks the inside of Madara's head causing him to clutch it. "BUT THAT WHICH THOU INSINUATES, HOLDS TRUTH. THE REASON I AM DOING THIS IS JUST TO SHOW YOU MY POWER"
Still massaging his forehead, he replies. "That's funny, I don't remember ever asking about your power." There's a long pause of silence before the entity speaks up again.
"YOU ASKED THAT QUESTION AS SOON AS YOU WILLFULLY ENTERED MY DOMAIN. MY POWERS ARE ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT I AM. NOW, CAN YOU ANSWER MY QUESTION...WHAT AM I?"
"An asshole..." He says quickly in a dead-serious tone. He releases a long sigh before continuing. "I'm not suited for crudely conceived riddles, some kind of God? That usually seems to get things like you off, or maybe the same reaper of death playing tricks on me?"
"REAPER OF DEATH?" The being hums out lowly, searching its most indefinitely long memory. "OH, THAT ILL-CONCEIVED THING. NOTHING MORE THEN VESTIGES OF A POWER THAT WILL BELONG TO US." The being finishes with a not so subtle lick of venom in its last words.
Madara's eyes narrow to a fine line. "You just said 'us'...there is no us, I want nothing to do with you. Unless you stop this nonsense immediately." He's been observing the situation, and that word put all the pieces together; he's needed by this thing in some way for something, that gives him leverage.
"HA, HA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Within an instant, Madara is thrown to the top of his ice pocket. "What?" He's no longer in the water, but in the air, plummeting down. The ice splinters around him, flying corpses of fish being released into the air, spreading away from him as he continues to fall towards a black mass of seemingly infinite size.
It pulls him in as his eyes feel heavy, his mind goes blank, his limbs go numb, and his consciousness fades out as the black mass below grows closer and closer.
You, Madara Uchiha, are a failure. You struggled against the fate of the world only to ultimately aid it, and now when you seek more power. You claim to want nothing to do with me but I am your salvation, your guiding light that will aid you in the fight against fate.
Do you seriously believe you can do without me? Why would you, without me, you will never escape the boundary conditions of this world and your path will be preordained to repeat itself. But perhaps you still don't understand what I am, exposing you to more of my power won't help anymore, it's up to you to take the steps.
"Madara!"
"I love you...don't leave me"
"Lord Madara, even you couldn't kill that many Senju"
"I hate you!"
"Don't go!"
"He killed his own brother for those eyes, what a monster."
"Kin killer!"
"Traitor, we'll never trust you!"
"You should leave, the Uchiha no longer needs someone like you in the way of peace."
What's this? Oh, I see, the voices of your past, is it? Fitting, that one so burdened is hunted by the past, all men that love eventually are hunted by something, but you, the one who loves the most carries the most burden upon your shoulders.
You hide it well, the regret, the pain that makes up your heart. It must have been hard, it takes more than a man to do what you've done so far, all but you would have given up halfway. But, you should have nothing to regret, I can take away your pain, so cast it aside and understand what you are!
"No!" Madara wakes up laid out in an ocean of blood. A red sun shines down from the horizon, illuminating the blood that runs down his bare lean torso as he rises. "My regret, my pain, it is who I am, it is what has kept me going and it will be what keeps me going!" He says this with a look of glazed overconfidence.
He takes his first step forward, the blood splitting apart to reveal the black rock beneath as he heads towards a singular mound littered with corpses wearing armor the same as his old set, blades stabbing into each corpse in various fashions, some hung up with entrails dangling down.
He passes an arc leading onto a staircase that looks to be formed naturally from the flow of blood that washed down the rock.
He slowly walks to the plateaued top. As he takes the final steps he says in a neutral tone. "I do understand what I am, I am, Madara Uchiha, a bitter defeated loser, the failure of the past world, the monster who killed countless. I know what I want to be, the saviour of the world, the one to defy fate."
This resolve and ambition...perhaps this will do, after all. This is the first time I've felt I misjudged. Very well, all you need to do is take the final step and our fates will be bond together forever. Together we'll surpass fate and change the world.
Madara sets his foot one more step before coming to a halt. A katana, stabbed into the top of this mound with nothing near it lays before him.
Unlike the other blades, this one is spotless, shining along the edge, splitting the red sunlight down its sharpness. "Say my name..." The being finishes these last words with hesitated breaths as he takes hold of the blade with his left hand. The blade is uprooted from the ground with a swift tug.
He holds it out in front of him, pointing it at the red sun as he closes his eyes. His false form that has been manipulated since coming to this place reverts into his true body, his horns reappear in their full crown as his Six Path's cloak forms around him and his third eye symbol reforms.
He opens his eyes, revealing white fogged-over eyes. "You are...Kyōka Suigetsu."
Madara: A New Journey