Time Heals All Wounds
Summary: The day Tobirama died happens earlier, during Hashirama's time as Hokage when they are at war with almost every new village but years after Madara's death. Only he didn't die. He somehow ended up in a time not his own and met a familiar face he though gone forever. Can he get back? And what of his new friend?
Of all the things that were creepy as fuck, Senju Tobirama had to admit that that one was one of the fucking creepiest things he had ever seen and he'd once had to fight a fucking Kaguya and their screwed up bone Kekkei Genkai when he was only eight. It unsettled him more than anything else had ever managed. Not even the feeling he got from Kinkaku and Ginkaku could compare and those two were freaks, monsters, more so than the biju themselves could ever manage. And yet somehow, this fly trap plant had managed to trump them all with just that one grin directed at Madara.
It was sharp, it was excited, it was menacing and it was hungry in a way Tobirama could not explain.
And then the thing got even creepier in the blink of an eye. One second, it looked almost exactly like all the others and then in the next, a freaky, disgusting black substance crawled across half of its face and body and the thing was now white and black. Even the eyes were different, one looking human if not for the unnatural color, the other just a round, yellowish glowing dot. That eye alone managed to top the freakishness of the entire being, somehow. And don't even get him started on the mouth. It was something he'd only seen in the few horror movies he'd watched with Madara.
Overall, the creature was disgusting, ugly and freaky as fuck as well as emitting some seriously messed up vibes that had Tobirama's Hatake ancestry demanding he flee for his life. And to make it all worse, it had zeroed in on Madara immediately.
The teen in question stiffened at the greeting, but there was confusion still in his gaze. Whether he had any proper recollections of the thing - which had no doubt been the one to control him; not with the way it didn't so much as look away from the only Uchiha present - or if it was simply logical suspicion that had him reacting this way remains to be seen. Kurama, though, was moving to stand in between the two, his fur and tails bristling aggressively and that was all the clue any of them needed, really, to know that their worst fears have just come true. The creature knew Madara was alive and had created a trap they could not ignore. Not if they wanted Madara to be able to stay in the village. The suspicion for the attack on their borders would fall to him if he hadn't gone with them to fight for the village.
Tobirama grit his teeth. "Who are you? What do you want? Why did you attack us?" Better for them all to pretend that none of them have any knowledge of the thing's existence. He's not sure if they can properly surprise it but they sure as hell can try. They need to kill it and whatever source of this white humanoid army before they can be sure Madara and everyone else was safe from its wicked plans. Because if it wanted Madara, it was with no doubt the intention of taking down everyone else.
"Oh? Don't you know already? Madara looks different, though. So young. Whatever have you been up to, Madara?" Well, the thing just managed to get even creeper, what with talking with two different voices. Their eyes had never left Madara. The Kyuubi bristled more and even snarled like a caged animal, but the gaze didn't shift. Then, the grin widened, seemingly in pleased realization. "Oh? Could it be that you've bent time and space, the very reality of our world, to get away from me? You've even staged your own death! That had been a surprise. I thought I'd have to start all over again, but I'm glad that's not the case. Mother has waited long enough."
"What do you mean, staged his own death?" Toka demanded, latching onto that from that almost nonsense speech.
"Didn't you know? Madara here was too weak to resist me so he had decided to take his own life. Such a loyal Konoha shinobi, willing to die for you people who've never appreciated him. He didn't want to be appreciated by us, though. So rude. So he let us think we had him but he kept me distracted enough that I couldn't properly control his body. It's what ultimately caused his death. But he's back now! How, though? Must have something to do with the Sharingan."
"Would you please decide which one of you will be doing the talking? You're giving me a headache here," Tobirama grunted even as he both absorbed the information this being - these beings? - was giving them and at the same time trying to figure out a plan. It was confirmed, at least, that this was definitely the thing that had controlled Madara. The staged death part was concerning but he'll worry about it after the thing is finally dealt with and Madara is safe, preferably with his old memories so he can explain this mess.
"As you wish, Senju," conceded the dark side of the fly trap plant, though it's tone was distinctly mocking. "However, there is no need for any more talk. I am here for Uchiha Madara. The rest of you are inconsequential."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Madara replied immediately, body lax in a way that suggested he was seconds away from entering a fight. Tobirama could recognize it after weeks upon weeks of sparring with the teen. Madara was about to dance and he was serious, judging by the gunbai now gripped expertly in his hand. "Not today, when we are having such fine weather."
Despite himself, the white haired man couldn't help but smirk. Of all the things, Madara had to go and do that. After they'd just watched Pink Panther 2 just last night and the teen had cackled every time that code was used to checking for spies and bugs. He was probably the only one who knew Madara was planning something. Well, besides Kurama. And Tobirama had a good idea what it might be. He didn't appreciate the idea of Madara getting that close and personal with the thing that wanted to take him back as a puppet, but he would be ready to make sure he keeps Madara out of that thing's reach.
"Yes, you're right. The weather is rather lovely."
"Tobirama, what the fuck?" Toka asked, looking as incredulous as everyone else was being, including the fly trap plant creature. It was frowning rather heavily at them.
"The weather does not matter and you do not have a choice. You will come with me either way. Mother waits."
The Uchiha shrugs. "Yeah, okay." And then he lunges at the black and white creature without hesitation, using his gunbai to blow away most of its support. He then, unfortunately, had to avoid a blast from particle release. The string of curses he released before whirling around on them were not comforting. "The Tsuchikage is being controlled. Get that thing the fuck out of him, now!"
"I'll deal with that," Hashirama immediately offers, understanding that Madara had a plan that needed Tobirama to succeed, therefore leaving the younger Senju open for backup. "Toka, you and everyone else deal with the Iwa nin!"
"We need to do something about the biju, though!" The naginata wielding kunoichi pointed out even as she signaled for what was left of their platoon to go with her.
There was a loud popping noise and a huge cloud of smoke that quickly cleared before a much louder voice answered. "Leave that to me." The Kyuubi was not the same size as its fellow biju and it looked ready to fight. One red, slit-pupil eye dated down to Tobirama for a short moment. "Keep him safe." Then, with a roar, the fox lunged straight for its siblings, knocking the Hachibi and Nanabi down to the ground with ease while the feline Nibi managed to escape and throw some sort of fiery attack at him. The bijus' fight might have been a thing to behold and tremble in fear of but Tobirama had no time for that.
Madara was fighting the white clone army as well as dodging the black and white thing's botched attacks as it tried to sneak up to him from behind. Tobirama focused in on his friend at just the right moment to see it attempt to take advantage of Madara's leap backwards while he had no ground under his feet to propel his movements and acted accordingly. He made a series of three hand signs and reverse summoned Madara through the marked kunai in the teen's arsenal, bringing the Uchiha to his side. Madara shot him a wild, delighted grin that their plan had worked, that the contingency could be used like this, before darting off into the fight once again. Tobirama wasted no time in following after him, glad he had had the foresight to pack his Raijin no Ken for the fight.
The less Madara had to focus on the Mokuton mutant bleached clones, the better were their chances of getting rid of their ultimate enemy once and for all. Madara was obviously the most motivated in this out of them all.
Tobirama found himself rather distracted throughout the fight. It was easy enough to fight most of the white creatures but some of them had some strange abilities that threw him off guard every once in a while. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't so focused on Madara's fights, as though he feared the teen will disappear if he doesn't keep an eye on him. Given that these things can phase through the ground, it's wasn't exactly impossible, either, but the Uchiha seemed fine and always ready to slash at any fool that tried to sneak up on him from bellow. He must have focused his senses to the maximum of his abilities as well as using the Sharingan to keep track of everything. Once, that ability of his had been unnerving and annoying as no Senju had ever been able to approach him in a surprise attack. Now, it was a relief.
Madara's opponent wasn't weak, either. It was fast, it was strong, it could use some jutsus Tobirama had never seen in that form before and it was intelligent enough to always keep Madara in sight, especially when the teen was casting jutsus. It had some form of Mokuton at its disposal but Madara got through it far too easily for it to be anywhere near as strong as Hashirama's, the Mokuton Madara had learned and trained to fight until it was an art form. Still, the best word to describe the bastard was slippery. It kept out of Madara's reach even easier than Madara did from its own and he sometimes still needed Tobirama's help for that. It couldn't predict Madara's movements before he could make them like the teen could, but as soon as it realized what was happening, it was slip away and try a different angle for attack.
And when Madara finally managed to hit it, the white side writhed and died while the black side just slithered away and found itself what was now apparently a new host. That didn't bode well, all things considered. Not for them, not for Madara. Tobirama could tell that the teen was trying to come up with a strategy to finish it off, but the thing kept getting away and it kept taunting.
"So much for the great Uchiha Madara," it said rather loudly after it managed to dodge a kunai. But Tobirama didn't need to look at Madara to know what it was and he abandoned the group of white clones he had been fighting to instead Hiraishin mere five feet away from the black thing's new host. It whirled around but wasn't fast enough to match Tobirama's speed and his thrust with the Raijin no Ken struck true, killing the white half and immediately making the black half detach itself from the electrified white clone. Tobirama had to use Hiraishin again, the target being the marker he had given Madara, when the black mass tried to lunge for him, tendrils extended in a manner that promised nothing good should it connect. Seeing as its new intended host - puppet - was unavailable, it quickly searched for a new one but Madara had been waiting for the opportune moment to gamble with this strategy that would work only once, had waited until all the white clones in their closest circle were eliminated and the others were busy enough to not be able to approach them. The black mass had no immediate clones to merge with and that left it open for Madara's attack.
Madara had rarely used his most fearsome katon jutsu against the Senju back during the clan wars. As Tobirama had observed and explained as he and the rest of Konoha watched Madara decimate the allied armies of their enemies, Madara had never been able to go full on out because he had always had someone to protect. The sea of flames he now released would have swallowed up anyone on the battlefield should he have ever used it. Seeing as back then, his goal had been to return as many of his clansmen back alive to their home, using jutsus like these would be counterproductive, therefore, Katon: Goka Mekkyaku was a rare sight and as terrifying every time as it was the first time he had seen it spread across an active battlefield and swallow everything and everyone in its wake. When Madara stopped breathing out fire, it still lingered on the hot rock and hard earth before it finally let up, leaving the place even more barren than before. Had this been Suna, this whole field would have melted into grass. As it was, there were various metals shinning on the surface that Tobirama swore he was going to collect samples of. This was a good way to acquire materials for weapon smiths.
The black thing, however, wasn't dead, much to their disappointment. It was, instead, emerging from the ground, looking about the size of a child and very human-like. Except for its creepy eyes - yes, it now somehow had two - and freaky mouth. Tobirama would rather not think about it as a child-look-alike because he didn't want to traumatize himself. "Well, perhaps there is some of the old Madara in you yet. However, that hasn't been enough to save you the last time. This time, you will bring Mother back." And, as if on cue, the Hachibi extracted itself from where Kurama was keeping the biju in line and launched itself at the two of them. Madara didn't hesitate, forming the perfect Susanoo in seconds and meeting the biju head on, the two chakra behemoths meeting head on. Tobirama found himself blown away by the resounding shock-wave from the force with which they met, only just barely saving his spine and skull and all other body parts by coating himself in a thick layer of chakra as he flew through rows upon rows of trees. He grit his teeth all the same, as the move may have been inspired by the Susanoo but the volume of chakra he or anyone else could put into this could never match the defense that the Uchiha's strongest doujutsu provided.
By the time he came back to the battlefield, Kurama had went after the octopus like biju and dragged it back into their earlier skirmish, though Madara was now facing a vastly smaller form of one of Hashirama's wooden golems in a regular stage two Susanoo. Tobirama made a note to once ask Madara just how much chakra the Susanoo required in each of its forms because that thing was one fucking perfect technique. The things Madara could do with it seem limitless if only Madara were to have just as much chakra. He could guess why Izuna had never managed to preform this technique, especially if chakra levels had anything to do with it. Madara was second only to Hashirama and that was not by all that much. At least where those two were concerned. The difference was actually almost half of Tobirama's own chakra reserves, which was like four other jonin level shinobi.
He noted the exact moment that he lost track of the black thing as Madara focused on fight two golems now. Somewhere off in the distance, Hashirama was trying to subdue Onoki. Off to the other side, Toka led their shinobi to defeat the Iwa shinobi. Tobirama did a quick scan of the battlefield, trying to find that damnable sneak but it was to no avail. Especially not when he was rushed by two dozen of the clones. Deciding to answer clones for clones, he put his fingers in the appropriate hand sign and created half a dozen Kage Bunshin and they all engaged the other clones head on, Tobirama still keeping a lookout for the black thing.
But then it all happened so fast, as though in a single short flash.
One moment, everything was going okay and Madara was standing strong and solid on hard, undisturbed - relatively speaking, of course, given how the fight had progressed so far - ground, his Susanoo - now with six arms altogether - doing fine in fighting the wooden golems and keeping the white clones away from the base, and then the next, there was a vine surging from underneath the ground, grabbing Madara by the wrist and flinging him outside of Susanoo's protective shell. It kept dragging him further away until the teen was fairly flying over the ground. Tobirama, as soon as he realized what was going on, started forming the hand seals to reverse summon the Hiraishin marked kunai he had given Madara, only for it to appear in his hand without the Uchiha it had been attached to, reminding him of the strategy they had tried barely twenty minutes ago. He had never given Madara a second marker, something he highly regretted now.
What made the whole situation worse was that not only was there a stray Jiton attack headed Madara's way, wide enough that the speed at which he was being dragged probably won't been fast enough to get him out of the way, but Tobirama also saw the black being that had started this whole mess emerge from the ground and lunge for the boy.
"You are mine now, Uchiha Madara!"
And Madara wasn't moving, apparently too stunned by the whole chain of events happening so fast around him, just letting himself be dragged by the vine with his eyes wide, staring at the thing approaching him at high speeds with a hand aimed for his heart. Heedless of the danger, Tobirama felt his body move, using his speed for which he is so famed for, a hand of his own reaching out helplessly to his friend-
"Madara!"