A/N: Today is the two year anniversary of Uchiha MC! I had originally wanted to finish this story today but life, of course, had other plans. Although, in a way, this can very well be considered an ending of sorts… Enjoy!
The other members of the Shimura Syndicate from the previous chapter were Sai, Fu Yamanaka, Torune Aburame, and Shin. They were members of The Foundation/Root who served Danzo in canon. Except for Sai and Danzo, they are all dead.
When Obito finally pulled up into the clubhouse parking lot in the bullet hole riddled van, Izuna rushed out in front of the vehicle, frantically waving one arm while the other clutched a cardboard box full of the club's medical supplies.
He wasn't sure if the supplies within would be enough to help Sakura save Madara's life but, somehow, they had been all she needed to save his own.
All he asked was for another miracle.
If he could trade his life then for his brother's life now, he would do it in a heartbeat. Since the gods wouldn't grant him that favor, he would do anything in his power to help Sakura take their place and accomplish the impossible.
He couldn't get the sound of her crying out of his head...
Obito slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting him, Izuna able to hear his sudden expletive even through the closed windows as the vehicle jerked to a stop. Running to the passenger side, he threw open the door, tossing the cardboard box onto the floor next to his feet. He twisted his nose at the acrid scent in the cab, the Uchiha suspecting that the chemical barrels in the back had been punctured during the fire fight, as he pulled himself in and slammed the door.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, Izuna? What are you doing?" Obito interrogated, his gaze flicking between him and the box of medical supplies on the floor.
"We need to go! Drive to Madara and Sakura's house and hurry!" Izuna ordered, unable to hide the panic in his voice.
"Why the hell would we do that? Have you seen this van?" he scoffed in return, dramatically gesturing to the back.
"Madara is dying," Izuna choked out, Obito's eye widening, "He's dying and Sakura is trying to save him! I don't think she can handle this alone. She needs help."
Obito's eye narrowed as he turned to face forward, his gaze drifting down to the dashboard as his hand tightened around the steering wheel. He closed his eye, as if to think, and Izuna reached out to jostle him.
"What the fuck are you doing!? We need to hurry!" he barked, the frantic energy and fear within him rising with each second he knew his brother was bleeding out.
"I know someone," he returned vaguely, throwing the van into reverse and stomping on the gas and tossing Izuna in his seat.
The vehicle jolted backwards, clipping the edge of the gate, before he put the vehicle into drive, the tire screeching on the asphalt as he rocketed down the dark city street and towards the heart of town.
Tsunade sat behind her desk in her office, piles of paperwork she still couldn't bring herself to be bothered by scattered across its surface. Deciding the numerous tasks before her were better off as problems for tomorrow, she slid open the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a hidden flask.
Spinning in her chair, she turned to face the wall to wall windows behind her, looking out at the city lights. She twisted off the cap to her flask but before she took a swig, she hesitated. Sighing, she replaced the lid to her hidden stash, haphazardly dropping the container back into the open desk drawer. Instead, Tsunade stood, stepping closer to the window and staring out at the city.
Something was wrong. Something was leaving her on edge and she had learned better than to ignore her instincts. She had been right too many times before to ignore the twisting in her gut that stole everything but the anxiety lingering in the back of her mind.
Tsunade wondered if something was wrong with her family. If someone in the Senju MC was injured and that they were unable to turn to her for help because of her abandoning them. She wondered if she would be able to forgive herself if something was wrong - something where she could help - and she was unable or unwilling to stand at their side.
She wondered if she would be punished for turning her back on her family. If she would regret standing with her student and against the pointless war that found her and many other innocents a victim. She had been furious that Sakura - a woman she loved and considered her apprentice - had been hurt by her own family. Even if Hashirama hadn't sanctioned the attack, his continued war against the Uchiha may as well have been an open invitation to violence against anyone who aligned with their enemy.
It didn't matter what pretty dreams and hopeful feelings her cousin held in his heart when people were dying in the streets. It especially didn't matter when innocent people were caught in the crossfire of a war that should have ended decades previous.
Steeling her determination, Tsunade refused to allow herself regret. She instead forced the feelings of remorse into anger, a far more palatable emotion.
She allowed herself anger that her family hadn't done everything in their power to save the lives of their loved ones like Tsunade did every day. Anger that she had been stuck picking up the pieces of their needless war like crumpled toys left behind by angry toddlers. Anger that she felt so damn helpless in the never ending bloodshed that surrounded her and that had surrounded her since the day she had been born into a family more stubborn than willing to live.
Even with her thoughts finally settled, the heat of her fury burning away the tinder of her doubt and instead leaving behind the ash of her disdain, she couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness. A sensation of urgency lingered at the edges of her perception, like she had forgotten something - or maybe that she had yet to realize something - that demanded her attention like the smell of smoke in the forest.
When the door to her office was thrown open, it felt more like the visitors she was awaiting had finally arrived instead of her private space being intruded upon by strangers.
Even still, Tsunade's expression was twisted into a scowl as she turned to reprimand the sudden intruders dumb enough to barge into her private space unannounced. She had expected trouble but, when her gaze settled on the Vice President and the Sergeant at Arms for the Uchiha MC catching their breath as if they had sprinted from their own clubhouse, she lost the fire in her lungs.
As much as she wished her instincts had been wrong, she knew when she saw the fear in their eyes that they were dead on.
"What in the fresh fuck do you want?" she growled anyways, "Did you lose your minds on the fun run here?"
"Madara's been shot, he's bleeding out," Obito gasped out, swallowing back his panting as he returned to his full height, "We need your help."
Tsunade blinked once, shaking her head to brush off her surprise. "Why would I help him? We've had an agreement, certainly, but I'm not his personal surgeon."
"Because if he dies, this war will never end," Izuna tried desperately, his words rushed and running together, betraying his panic.
"Do you think I'm so stupid that I don't know about your little doomsday plan? The entire city is holding its breath, waiting for your massacre. You say peace is in my hands while you all plot your genocide? I'm not so much a fool that I'd believe that garbage," Tsunade hissed, glaring out at the Uchiha who at least had the decency to look cowed.
"Then the truth: if you don't help and Madara dies, Sakura will never forgive herself," Obito amended instead, Tsunade's eyes widening at the mention of her student, "She's the only one with him and she's trying to save his life."
"She's-?" she tried before hissing through her teeth, glaring off to the side and spitting out under her breath, "Stupid brat!"
Sakura had only just recently graduated from medical school, she had just begun the specialized training she needed to become a surgeon. While she was an extraordinarily talented young woman - a doctor Tsunade knew would one day come to replace her as the most sought after in the world - she was not prepared for such a critical injury. More than she didn't have the years of experience, she didn't have the equipment needed.
"She'll be a single mother, forced to raise her daughter alone. Do you think she'd accept our help after losing Madara because of the club? Her daughter will never know her dad but they'll still both be in danger if Madara dies," Obito rambled before beseeching once again, "Please help."
"I will-" Izuna started before glancing to Obito and amending, "We will do anything."
"Anything is one hell of a bargain," Tsunade huffed in return, still frantically thinking as she scowled at the intruders in her office.
"Anything in our power, just hurry," Izuna pressured.
The silence between them lasted for a dozen heartbeats as Tsunade thought, her hands fisting at her sides as she truly considered the gravity of the situation; the gravity of what they offered her. She had turned her back on her family because of this war but, with the opportunity she had here… she could finally do something more than pick up the pieces. She could finally do more than try to force her family's hand in a desperate gamble that left her thoughts and her heart tangled.
"Tsunade!" Obito implored, breaking her focus.
"Fine, you reckless idiots! You want my help!? Then I have one condition: you make a treaty work," she finally answered, glowering at the Uchiha begging for her help to save their leader, "I'm not talking about one of those meaningless armistices from before where Tobirama being a jackass can destroy it in a night. I mean a real one!"
"I don't think-" Izuna started.
"I don't give a fuck what you think! You do whatever it takes to end this pointless blood feud and I'll do everything I can to save your president," Tsunade interrupted, "I will not stand to see my precious student torn apart by this war any longer and I will kill you all myself if her daughter gets caught up in your bullshit!"
Izuna and Obito turned to look at each other, conflict in their expressions as they considered her condition. They knew the severity of her proposition, of the only deal she would accept. They also knew that she knew they were men of their word. If they agreed, it was not something they could backpedal out of. They would truly be putting their lives on the line to save the life of their president.
"Do we have a deal or not?" Tsunade growled, folding her arms across her chest.
"Yes," Izuna gritted out, as if the word was dragged from his throat instead of spoken, "I'll do anything to save my brother."
Tsunade's expression softened before she nodded once and walked passed them, already striding towards the elevator in the middle of the medical surgical unit her office resided in. "Then let's get a move on."
The two Uchiha immediately found themselves at her sides, the two men towering over her but looking sheepish compared to the confidence in her steps. As she reached into her pocket to pull out her phone, the sound of her heels against the tile floor caused the nurses at one of the stations to look up from their charting curiously. When their eyes fell upon the two bikers at her sides, they looked to her in concern and confusion, something she calmed with a wave of her hand.
While Izuna rushed forward to call the elevator, Tsunade tapped on a familiar name in her phonebook and brought her phone to her ear. Her call was answered in two rings.
"Yes?" came Shizune's voice from the other end of the line.
"It's time for a home visit. O negative. Meet me out front, stat," she explained shortly before hanging up the phone, the elevator door opening before they all stepped inside.
The ride down to the ground floor was silent although she could feel the Uchiha's panicked energy as they fidgeted on either side of her. The gentle music of the elevator did little to settle any of their nerves and, when the doors finally slid open on the bottom floor, both men rushed out. She followed closely behind, the three of them walking through the lobby and stepping through dual sets of double doors.
Outside, the security guard Konohamaru was investigating an idling van out front, the enormously suspicious vehicle peppered in bullet holes and dripping a foul smelling liquid onto the asphalt. He opened his mouth to say something but Tsunade held up her hand, silencing and confusing him with the simple gesture.
Despite his hesitation, and two hard glances at the Uchiha at her sides, Konohamaru nodded once and headed back inside, passing by Shizune who ran up with a large cooler hanging from one hand.
"Here I was thinking you were giving one of your family members a chance," Shizune commented, raising an eyebrow at Obito and Izuna, "This is much more shocking."
"Consider me full of surprises," Tsunade sighed, glancing up at the security cameras before looking back to the van, "Why the hell would you drive this felony here?"
"No time," Izuna explained shortly as him and Obito rushed to the vehicle, the elder Uchiha stopping to hold open the passenger door for Tsunade and Shizune.
"Is this really a good idea?" Shizune questioned, openly eyeballing the leaking vats of chemicals in the back of the van.
"Let's fix this mess. Gods know these idiots can't," she answered, stepping inside.
The drive from the hospital to Madara and Sakura's home was nothing short of perilous. Obito drove like he was set on dying himself, the man taking turns and racing down streets wildly. Izuna was tossed from side to side in the back, unsecured by a seatbelt and unable to grip onto anything but the backs of their seats and the foul smelling barrels which threatened to topple with every turn.
When they pulled up into Madara and Sakura's front yard, Obito using the curb more than the brakes to stop the van, they were first greeted by the sight of Madara's toppled bike. The fallen motorcycle was lit in the hazy light shining outwards from the open garage, a dull light which illuminated their path.
Throwing off her seatbelt and stepping out the passenger side door, Tsunade rushed inside, Shizune following right behind and the Uchiha trailing after. Her eyes widened when she spotted a bloody handprint on the open door leading inside the darkened home, her gaze snapping to the floor where she found large, angry droplets beneath her feet.
Unwilling to waste a moment longer, she went inside, easily following the smeared trail of damp crimson on the wall which lead passed a warmly lit living room and into a hallway. She pressed onwards, passing by crooked paintings and a shattered picture frame, broken glass cracking further beneath her heel.
"Please, come back!" Sakura begged from a room down the hall, her voice nearly unrecognizable through the agony that drowned her words, "You promised! You can't leave me!"
They rushed down the hall and into an open doorway, coming to a stop in the threshold as they witnessed the scene before them.
Tsunade's heart dropped into her stomach.
There was blood everywhere. On the doorframe she lingered in, on the wall, on the shower door, and in the bathtub. It stained the thin cotton robe haphazardly wrapped around her student, splotches of blood so thick they looked ink smeared across the pristine white. A dark pool, smeared by Sakura's hand and foot prints, slowly grew beneath a motionless Madara.
Stained medical equipment was strewn across the tile floor, evidence of a drastic attempt at an emergency surgery. A desperate gamble by a novice surgeon that had failed and that had been abandoned.
Sakura straddled Madara's waist, her hands folded together and pressed against his chest as she performed compressions on his body. Her begging was broken not only by the jerky movements of her CPR but by her open and uncontrolled sobbing. With each press of her folded hands into his unmoving chest, the pool of blood beneath them both grew.
Hearing them enter, she stopped to turn to face them, her expression holding nothing but desperation and sorrow. Her cheeks were soaked in tears that cut a gruesome path through a splash of crimson on her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was red with exertion from not just her tears but her compressions. Her nose ran freely and her entire expression was twisted in with a kind of torment Tsunade had never seen.
Her hands were soaked in blood.
When Sakura looked up to Tsunade, finally meeting her eyes, she was small like a child.
"P-please," she choked out through her tears and Tsunade was already lurching forward.
Grabbing Sakura by the arm, she pulled her off of Madara's body and to her feet, pushing her in the direction of Obito and Izuna. Reaching out, Obito grabbed Sakura by the arm, steadying her as she tried to stand on shaky feet.
"Get her out of here!" she commanded as Shizune rocketed to her side, dropping her cooler on the floor and already pulling out two units of whole blood from within.
"Starting two IVs," she declared, tearing open fresh IV tubing and hooking it up to one of the bags.
As Shizune worked, Tsunade took Sakura's place, resuming compressions at twice the speed Sakura had been able to accomplish in her exhaustion. Madara was already cold beneath her hands and, with each press against his chest, she could feel warm blood splash against her inner thigh, leaking from a clean incision centered around a bullet hole in his abdomen.
"No, I need to help! I can't abandon him!" Sakura cried out, trying to pull herself from Obito's grasp to return to Madara's side.
"I said get her out of here, now!" Tsunade commanded, not looking away from her patient as Shizune ripped open an IV starter kit and expertly threaded a catheter into the major vein in Madara's throat.
Obito struggled as Sakura fought, the Uchiha losing his grip on her before Izuna lurched forward to grab her in a bear hug and pull her away.
"No, get off of me! He needs me- let me go!" Sakura roared, thrashing against them like a wild animal trying to protect her mate.
Her cries as they dragged her away tore at Tsunade's heart strings, the elder woman able to recognize the familiar desperation and fear in her voice. Sakura would do anything to save Madara's life, she had done everything she could. It was because of her that the man wasn't stiff beneath her hands. It was because of her that Madara had even a fraction of a chance to live through the night.
Sakura had done more than enough. Her and Shizune - the two most skilled surgeons in the world with decades of experience and ten thousand patients between them to prove it - would take it from here. The fate of the war, the fate of her family, the fate of the woman she considered a daughter… all of it was in her hands and within the man dying beneath her. She would be damned if she would allow it all to fall to pieces.
To save them all from this continued war that had already taken so many people she loved... To save Sakura's daughter from sorrow of never knowing her father... To save Sakura from the life of mourning that Tsunade lived every day after she had lost Nawaki and Dan…
She would do anything.
Nothing.
Darkness. Silence. A weightless and senseless nothing.
Then a sound - a rhythm - slowly growing louder, growing from the darkness until it was a whisper. It was so familiar yet so alien, his consciousness grasping for a memory of the pattern… Breathing. Not his breathing, the air felt too much like spiderwebs in his chest to be as soft as the song slowly pulling him from the dark like a lifeline.
Pain greeting him next. It was muted, barely hidden just beneath the surface of a blanket of numbness, but it was pain nonetheless. Warmth followed, tied to a weight against his side. His sluggish mind caught on the strange duality of dulled pain at one side but the comfort of warmth at the other, dragging down his ascent from the dark like an anchor.
His confusion grew as senses returned at a snail's pace, his mind swimming through the tar of unconsciousness as he struggled to breach the surface; crawling closer and closer to the light behind his eyelids that were heavier than he knew how to lift.
The stench of blood. The burning scent of bleach. The smell of floral soaps.
Sakura…?
Memories now. The blur of streetlights and street signs, of houses and hallways, of smooth skin and then smooth tile. Too bright lights followed by too dark everything. Soft words, lies, then screaming, crying, begging. He had broken a promise… or did he?
When Madara finally gained the strength to open his eyes, he immediately shut them against the too bright room that greeted him. Even when he adjusted to the light it took far longer to clear the blurriness that still clung to his vision.
He was in his and Sakura's bedroom, the patterns in the popcorn ceiling ones he had woken up to countless times before. Muted sunlight drifted in through the closed blinds, lighting up the room in a soft glow.
His confusion only grew as he tried to search for the missing pieces between the half formed memories in the bathroom and whatever was happening now. Searching for answers, he turned his head towards the warmth at his side, the simple movement as if he was fighting through tar.
A tuft of pink hair met him first, Sakura's forehead pressed into his shoulder as her head rested on the pillow. She was curled against his side, her rounded belly pressed against him and her small hands clinging to his arm. Even with his vision blurred, he could see the tear tracks on her flushed cheeks.
He found the strength to lift his arm, wanting nothing more than to wipe away the lingering traces of sorrow on his wife's cheeks. An unfamiliar weight held onto him, his sluggish gaze drifting over to the thin tubing laced beneath the skin on the inside of his bicep. Following the lines, he found two plastic bags hanging from a nail haphazardly embedded in their wall. One was small and half full of blood, the other much larger and clear and nearly empty.
Madara knew there were words printed on the front of the bags but he could not read them. Even if he had his glasses, he wasn't sure if his leaden mind could understand what was written, although he could understand the meaning of the droplets slowly funneling into the tubing that lead into him.
He understood the meaning of the dried blood in the shape of fingerprints on the bags. He remembered the sight of crimson in the shape of his own hand prints on the walls, the shower door, his wife's belly…
He remembered. He had been shot.
Madara's gaze drifted to the floor, his eyes catching on a waste basket next to the bed. Empty IV bags, some with traces of a russet liquid within and others clear, peeked over the edge alongside rags stained the familiar color of dried blood. Shredded fabric he thinks is denim laid deeper within.
Looking down, he realized he was dressed in clean clothes. A fresh shirt and a familiar pair of lounge pants were on his body, although he could not remember dressing himself. Reaching down, he grasped the edge of the cotton shirt in clumsy fingers before dragging it upwards, revealing a gauze patch taped over where he knew he had been shot.
Madara stared at the clean bandage, amazement slowly growing within him as he realized he was alive. He was alive and his wife had somehow saved him. Even in his exhausted state, even with him mind still in a fog of pain and narcotics, he couldn't help but smile. He began to chuckle at first, baffled by the fact he was alive when he should have been dead, before his amazement grew into outright laughter. Even with each raspy laugh dragging a fresh wave of that muted pain from his abdomen, he couldn't stop.
He had cheated death.
Sakura startled awake, his half mad laughter waking her from her sleep, before jolting up in bed to stare down at him. When her eyes met his, he smiled up at her, his wife immediately glaring down at him in reprimand.
"What the hell are you smiling about?!" she scolded, her voice scratchy from crying and her tone lacking the edge even her words couldn't seem to hold.
"I love you so much," he answered, still smiling, as he looked up at her.
At his words, Sakura immediately lost hold of the anger she had tried to cling to, her expression twisting in a much different way. Fresh tears bloomed in her eyes as she reached up to hide her face, Madara using what little strength he could muster to pull her back down against him.
She readily returned to his side although she was cautious, giving the wound in his stomach a wide berth as she settled against him. Struggling to move with the IVs still in his arm - and in his throat as he came to notice with muted discomfort - he rolled to face her, delicately wrapping his arm around her. Burying his face in her hair, she hid hers against his chest.
"Don't cry, sweet hellcat. Gods, I love you. I'm so lucky to have you, don't cry…" he whispered into her hair, succeeding in little other than making her cry harder. His heart ached as she broke down. She had never cried like this before and Madara was unsure of what to do except hold her as tightly as his heavy body would allow him to.
"I thought you were going to die…" she sobbed, her broken words muffled against his skin and clenching his heart in his chest, "I couldn't stop the bleeding. I felt your heart stop..."
"I'm here still…" he tried to comfort.
"If it wasn't for Tsunade and Shizune…" She took a shaky breath. "If it wasn't for Izuna and Obito bringing them..."
"If it wasn't for you, my love." He nuzzled her hairline, her arms tightening around him as much as she would allow.
"I couldn't save you," she argued weakly, a fresh wave of tears soaking his shirt.
"But darling, you did. It was because of you I'm alive," he answered, unable to restrain the smile in his voice. If it wasn't for her that night, he knew he would have died. He never thought he would have survived the rush to get to her side, let alone the night. He knew without a doubt that Sakura had done everything to keep him alive until Tsunade had arrived.
It was because of her he was alive.
"Never do that to me again," she commanded weakly.
"Anything for you," he whispered into her hair, Sakura sniffling gently.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
It was during a recovery that Madara was surprised to find was much more difficult than he had anticipated - and he hadn't expected much, considering the frequency of Izuna's complaints during his own healing - that his officers came to visit.
During the first few days, it was to check and see that he was okay. Izuna and Obito only left his home to gather changes of clothes and to bring back food, insisting that they remain not just to protect him but to support Sakura.
The rest of his club had been inconsolable until they saw he was alive themselves, a steady stream of visitors filing into his bedroom to give their well wishes and gifts to aid in his recovery. The trio - Itachi, Izumi, and Shisui - were the first to drop by and they were considerate enough to bring him a present to help pass the time during his hazy recovery: a new ninja video game for his ancient NES.
Kagami came the day after with medical equipment in tow, followed by Inabi, Yashiro, and Tekka who carted in dozens of bags of groceries. It wasn't long before the rest of those in his branch of the club dropped by, many bringing supplies for the baby - although an amused Sakura had to remind everyone she wasn't due to be born for another four months.
Even Uruchi dropped by, gifting them with a loaf of fresh baked bread and a number of home made pastries. Even in his medical inebriation, he was happy to find out that Fugaku and Mikoto remained none the wiser, neither having been informed of what had happened.
Madara had been told that other members of the Uchiha MC - those who operated other branches of the club which were scattered across the country - had wanted to come visit but Izuna had put his foot down after Sakura had apparently put her foot down to him. With tensions still running high between the Senju and the Uchiha, it was better if the clubs didn't make any cross country trips and leave their homes unguarded.
Or at least he had thought until Izuna and Obito - finally deciding that Madara was lucid enough to be caught up - told him about what had happened during his past week of recovery.
It was during one of the few times that his house was empty that they decided to sit down and talk seriously over the events of the last week, the trio settling in the living room.
First, they had filled in the blanks between the firefight with the Shimura Syndicate, his frantic drive home, and his waking up in his bedroom a day later. They told him that Sakura had picked up his phone while Izuna had been trying to call him and had told him what was happening. That Obito had made a desperate gamble and brought Tsunade and Shizune to his aid. They told him that he had died under Sakura's hands, that she had attempted an emergency surgery that had failed, and that it was only because of the medical legends that he had survived at all.
They told him something he already knew: that if it wasn't for Sakura, there was nothing Tsunade and Shizune could have done. The next bit of news, however, was something he hadn't expected.
"The Shimura Syndicate made a move on the Senju."
"Danzo attacked the Senju as well?" Madara questioned seriously, perking up in his seat as Izuna nodded once in confirmation.
"Danzo attempted a similar deal to the one he tried with us. He was a bit more successful with the Senju. He took down a handful and nearly killed Tobirama before they were able to escape," Obito explained before adding on with a deep scowl, "He took advantage of the escalating war and our dash for supplies to spring his traps on both of us. We were too blinded by each other to see what was happening around us."
"Do we know what his goal was in this?"
"Likely the same as it's always been for him: power. He used our feud as a perfect in to try to off both our families and take Konoha for himself. And he very nearly succeeded," Izuna scoffed, his expression no less furious that Obito's, "Everyone has been dodging his assassination attempts ever since. No one has been safe, not us or the Senju. He's trying to clean up the mess he left for himself after revealing his hand too early."
"How are tensions between the clubs?" Madara asked seriously, concern over his family mounting at their new foe.
"Nonexistent. Since you've been out, we've been directing everyone to retreat from all of their operations and to avoid the Senju and the Shimura. It appears the Senju are doing the same. They flee on sight and there have been no confrontations anywhere in any of the cities," Izuna answered, "It's been silent, aside from Danzo's periodic assaults."
Madara leaned back into his seat, the sharp ache of his healing wound a grounding force as his thoughts swarmed. A thousand emotions swirled within him - rage, shock, concern, anticipation - but one stood above all others as it cleared the fog of his fear: excitement.
He smirked, his reaction confusing both his brother and his closest friend, before he huffed out a disbelieving laugh.
He couldn't believe his extraordinary luck.
Not only had he been blessed with the love and passion of a woman like Sakura, not only had he survived a fatal wound destined to take his life, not only had the Shimura single handedly made an enemy of the entirety of Konoha in one fateful night…
Danzo had given him the chance he needed to end the war.
Sakura had once asked him, after he had revealed the reality of the war and his life to her, what he was doing to end the fighting. She had asked why he hadn't stopped it as the president of the Uchiha MC. He had explained to her that he lead his family, that he didn't rule them. That he couldn't force peace and that he was waiting for a reason to end the war. That he needed a catalyst for change.
After decades of bloodshed, he believed he had found it: a common enemy.
It may have cost him a bullet to the chest and a brush with death but the reason he needed - the catalyst he had so desperately been searching for for so many years - had placed itself directly it his lap. He couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it, finding it somehow hilarious that the solution he had spent so long clawing for had instead presented itself to him as it on a silver platter. He couldn't stop the almost giddy laughter in the same way he had been unable to restrain his amusement when he had actually woken up instead of remaining in the darkness of death forever.
"Care to share the joke with the rest of the class?" Obito pressed, raising an aggravated eyebrow at him, and Madara just continued to laugh, overwhelmed by disbelief and excitement.
A/N: When Obito and Izuna rushed into the hospital to talk to Tsunade, a couple nurses chased after to help Tsunade. When they instead heard her screaming at them, they noped right out of there and instead waited to see if she would call for help (as if the terrifying doctor ever needed it).
When I first wrote the outline for this story, I ended it with Sakura having saved Madara's life. With the severity of his injuries and with her lack of real world experience (not including Izuna and a handful of other injuries the club brought to her), it made more sense for Tsunade and Shizune to come to her aid. Also, I really enjoy writing Tsunade and her relationship with Sakura in this AU. However, if it wasn't for Sakura, Madara would have been long dead when help arrived and she very much saved his life.
The reason that Madara's injury was so much worse than Izuna's in previous chapters is because Izuna was hit with a .22 (a small, thin bullet) that only grazed a vein and Madara was shot with a 9mm (a much larger bullet) which severed an artery.