First off, let me apologize for holding off this story. I kinda lost my muse for it. Even though I am almost finished with the story. It's been some months and I bet you all want to know what happens next.
Second, I know there has been going back and forth between characters in past chapters. I apologize for that one. Too much going one and it confuses people. As a note, I never clarified if any of this was following a timeline. It's really not and if some readers are not okay with it, I am sorry. I guess you can say it's an AU type of thing and I am writing for the sake of writing. There are better fics out there that are not this one and probably better.
Third, I write pretty much for myself and if people like my work, hey, you made someone's day. I am not angry or even sad really. I read reviews for my story and say to myself, how can I make this better? The timeline isn't right and I get that. Let a story be a story because we all write for a reason.
Blood.
The smell of blood and ash lingered in the air. The heat of the flames nipping at exposed flesh felt as if there were a stinging pain from within- itching and burying it's way deep inside of his body. He knew he was on limited time. His body was already breaking down. His muscles were trembling for rest. Everything within him was screaming out for the blind shinobi to stop this madness. But, Saif did not listen. He never listens to his body. Death was standing right before him. Breathing hard with sweat rolling down his brow.
Their bodies were seconds, minutes even, from giving out. They were on their last legs. This fight was almost over and both will die here. Though, death only had its eyes on one shinobi. It had followed close. Smelling the stench of blood. Smelling burning human bodies. Their charred remains blackened. It was rather disturbing.
If Saif could see his opponent, he would see a mess of black hair swaying against the heat of the wind. His armor dirty and cracked in places that a master smith would have to repair. Though, the blind shinobi was rather impressed with the Uchiha. He knew the power of the infamous Madara Uchiha. To fight against him once more to the death was but all of an honor. Saif knew he was not going to last any longer. His mission was a failure, but to feel deaths embrace was coming to slow. He was ready to die by the hand of the Uchiha leader.
To Saif, Madara was a black mass and chakra flowing through his body. A sight the blind shinobi was used too. All humans looked as such. Black masses and chakra. If he had sight, maybe he would see something more. Something more terrifying.
But, there was no changing it. This was his last stand. There was no getting sight. There was no seeing the world for what it is. The colors he's never seen. The beauty of the sky. Kakuzu had described such trival things to Saif when he was just a child. Such wonders sparked his training to gain sight. To work hard against the odds.
Here. He stood in a blazing inferno with no other way out but death.
Ive failed you.
He inhaled the smoke and slammed his foot against the earth. Using his strength, he knew that those with sight had a weakness. Releasing a large amount of chakra from under the soles of his feet, Saif disturbed the dirt beneath them. He would use the earth to build a wall around them,but the fire was enough to keep the Uchiha within his trap. Bending down quickly and slamming his hands to disturb more dirt, the blind shinobi closed his eyes and let his feet be his sight.
Using the smoke to cloak him, Madara cursed silently as the shinobi disappeared. Activating his sharingan, Madara's eyes were burning and becoming blurry. He just had a glimpse of Saif and lost him once more in the smoke. It was a game of cat and mouse, with Madara having to be the cat. His eyes searched through the thick smoke for Saif. He hated having to find his opponent and saw it as a waste of time.
There! Madara ran towards the black figure, only for the shadow to dissipate back into smoke. Madara clenched his fists in anger.
Saif appeared behind Madara quickly, which the Uchiha leader anticipated. Reaching out towards Saif with his hand, his hand was caught by string and pulled Madara down to the ground hard.
Madara coughed as the dirt and smoke mixed around him. Making it harder to breath. His lungs were burning and his eyes became dry. He would jump back, but there would be no place to land in safety. The fire had swallowed his surroundings and if he were to seek safety at the top of the hill, it would only put others in even more danger. He would have to endure the suffocating smoke and burning eyes.
He would have to fight with his eyes closed as the fire raged around them. It has been some time since Madara fought without using his eyes. In this time of dire need, Madara had to rely on his other senses. But his body was giving out quickly.
Standing up, the string around his hand had tightened. He could feel it cut into his flesh.
This is useless. I cannot breathe. I cannot see. He wants to weaken me. He thought as he heard Saif running towards him.
The blind shinobi attacked Madara with a forceful kick towards his stomach. Feeling the pain coarse through him, Madara flew back and skidded across the ground. Everything around him a fast blue of orange and yellow. Buildings becoming black as they were slowly becoming ash before him. Coughing up some blood from his mouth, Madara stood up quickly, but Saif placed his foot upon his armored chest.
Madara grunted in anger. This could not be happening. There was no way that he was losing. Even though the blind shinobi did not need sight to fight, Madara had to disable his opponent. The soles of his feet were the blind shinobi's eyes. If Madara could cut or burn the soles of his feet, maybe he'd have a fighting chance.
But, he was tired. The smoke was close to suffocating him to death. His lungs fighting desperately for fresh oxygen. His eyes had to remain close and fighting with them open would only dry and irritate them more.
"We both will die in the inferno." Saif spoke.
The string around his hand tightened even more. Madara clenched his teeth. Blood will forever be the taste in his mouth. His skin was burning hot. His organs were beginning to strain and threatening to shut down any moment. Saif could see how much Madara's body was working. He was fighting to remain alive.
"Feel death. Feel your eternal damnation!" Saif crushed Madara further into the earth. The dirt surrounding them was disturbed. Embers from the burning wood flew in the scattering wind. He could feel it hit his flesh. Death was near. Death was coming for them.
It was within the fire. Shifting into a form of a dancing flame. Saif and Madara could feel how intense the heat was becoming. Burning and eating everything within its path. Starving for more to consume. The smoke had blocked out the the sun. Blocking all sound but that of burning wood and flesh. Buildings cracked under their own weight.
Madara was holding on through clenched teeth. Every second passing by was one more foot closer to a fiery eternal rest. That drive to continue to push his body was what he needed. To think he would end up like this. To fight a shinobi who was blind since birth. The one whom stories have told. This boy had slaughtered his own.
"Pity that I will never be granted the gift of sight with your demise, Madara. You who have sight would never know the darkness I see. But, it grows so deep within. This shadow. This hatred. This monster that will haunt you forever." The more pressure placed upon his chest, the more Madara could feel his armor crack. His lungs were working harder and his ribs were feeling the pressure. His heart was racing hard.
Madara's thoughts were becoming clouded and blurry. The darkness that lay dormant within was coming out. Seeking into his mind like a shadow with red eyes and an elongated snout. A true monster that would scare the hearts of men. Saif swallowed remaining spit from his mouth as he saw this darkness. The true power that was inside of the infamous Uchiha leader. The reason Madara was considered one of the most feared.
"My death will not be caused by fire!" Madara shouted. The darkness had granted him strength to continue living. To finish the fight. It knew this was no the place of his death. All the anger that he held deep inside; the hope that he would see Tsubaki's face again was but a distant image that would burn inside of his memory.
Tsuabki. The healer woman.
"So, the monster loves a woman?" Saif lifted his foot and slammed it hard against his armor. Cracking it, with pieces shattering into Madara's chest. Saif could feel blood seeping from his foot, but the pain was not intense.
Madara could not die here! He could not be defeated by this shinobi. A true monster who hides behind his blindness. A shinobi who attacked innocent people. A shinobi who does not love. Madara's body was over working itself to recover quickly. The pain within his chest was but of many wounds that he has acquired through time.
"I am more than a monster. I am your death!" Madara's voice was low. It was threatening.
The flames around them had grown hot. Saif put more pressure upon Madara's chest, but the shinobi held tight against his ankle. A large amount of chakra was building fast in Madara's chest and it seemed to be glowing. This amount of power was dangerous for him. There was no possible way that Madara could still produce this power.
Saif kicked Madara in the side of his face with his free leg, but Madara held it tightly in his grasp. The blind shinobi could almost feel his bones cracking from the pressure. The circulation of his blood became hot. Saif was beginning to panic as this was not a good position to be in. Trying to force his legs to move would risk breaking a bone. Madara grunted loudly and pushed Saif to the ground where the soles of his feet were exposed.
Breathing in the smoke of the fire, Madara knew this was his only chance to weaken Saif. If he wanted to survive this hell, Madara had to take risk. Even if it meant being in the flame itself, he had to burn the flesh off Saif's feet.
It only took a few seconds to release the flame from his mouth. The stench of burning flesh will be a constant reminder to his senses. How the skin would turn red and how boils will emerge from the high heat. Madara would never forget the sight of Saif's pained face and angered scream as he tried to stand on his feet.
"Bastard!" Saif yelled. Everything had not gone as planned. His mission may have been a failure, but Saif was meant to kill the Uchiha leader. The gods have forsaken him. They have lead him astray. Damn. Damn!
This inferno is your grave, Saif.
Madara tried to open his eyes to finish this fight, but his eyelids would not budge. The smoke was too much for his dry eyes. Moving to his side, he could hear the cracks of his armor falling to the ground. His hands shaky. Feeling pain everywhere in places that were wounded. The fire was getting closer to them. In just a few minutes, they would be engulfed by flames.
…
Saif knew this was his end. His chakra was diminished and his body would not move. He had already lost so much world around him was going black and death was painful. He could hear Madara move and gasp for breath. The soles of his feet had become charred and useless. The blind shinobi was angered at being incapable of moving without crawling. His eyes opened. There was nothing to see but feeling the pain of drying eyes.
He felt sorrow.
His life was nothing more than images of black and blue. The world described to him was beautiful. The sounds of creatures he will never truly see. Those whom he had lost. Saif never felt comfort frkm anyone. Not even the feeling of being loved. His own people disowned him for being blind. But the only person to ever see him for more than a blind boy was the woman who gave him life.
Her voice singing to him was his only comfort in a dark, cold world. With her long dead, he had nothing. He was a tool to be used until his last breath. That is what Kakuzu said to him one rainy day. A tool with an ability that so few can not use. Saif was once more alone in the world.
His body was shutting down. His organs giving out and his heart slowly beating. Beside him, he heard Madara Uchiha kneel by his head. This was it, he thought. This is how he was going to die. A small smile was placed upon his chapped and bloody lips. Death was coming at last to him. He could almost feel its embrace.
"All I wanted in life was to see." He spoke.
"To see what the colors of the world hold. To see faces. To be able to recognize myself in the reflection of water." He balled his fists at his side. Everything had been taken from him. A young man lost in a big world where survival was limited.
The sound of the flames burning the remaining buildings into char was replaced with the soft hum of a woman's voice. Saif could feel someone holding his frail and battered body against their chest. Their voice calming him before death took him.
Saif inhaled deeply the smoke. His fingertips touching something that tickled his skin. The wind felt fresh and cool against his skin. His body no longer ached. Saif could feel his legs moving against the field of reeds. The texture around him was not of solid dirt but of the reeds that his people believed in. Where one would go too when they died. The stories of the field of reeds was told to him by his mother who was humming the song to a lullaby.
Saif felt tears falling. For the first time in his life, he did not have to fight. He did not have to feel. His life was constant. He killed his own people. He was born blind. But, as he felt the reeds against his hands, he could see something shine over the horizon. For the first time in his life, he could see the sun and the clouds in the blue sky.
Welcome home, my son.
His chest stopped moving.
Madara has never seen such a serene look upon a dying shinobi's face. Forcing his eyes to open, he had seen Saif's last moments. Accepting ones death was hard for some, but this was the life in which a shinobi lived. Madara no longer felt anger. He no longer felt the darkness inside of him. His body was shaky, but he could make it out of the fire alive.
