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?
The impact of the first meteorite seemed to be frightening enough for the people behind him, but Madara could only laugh in its wake, especially at Tobirama's pissy comments about dinosaurs. The man will never let it go that he had not had a chance to go to a museum or get a proper reading material on them during his time in the future, which only amused the Uchiha even more. The Senju needed to get his priorities straight, all things considered.
Madara was just glad that his friend - if Tobirama would even be willing to call himself that now that Madara's memories were all back and intact - didn't seem to outright fear him the second he showed his full new powers.
The Rinnegan hadn't exactly been a part of the plan, just like Senju Tobirama arriving on his doorstep hadn't been. Well, not his doorstep, but close enough, and especially not in the beat up state he'd been even after some healing time. It had kicked things into motion a bit faster than Madara had anticipated, since he had left a transcription seal on his Izanagi to return to him his memories by the time he reached his proper age. Tobirama's presence had moved his schedule up quite a bit, but the once again teenager wasn't exactly complaining. With the famed Senju and Uzumaki longevity, he would have kicked the bucket long before any of his Senju companions or would have at least looked truly hideous as a crazy old bat. At least they'll age at the same rate, appearance-wise, as he was now.
Stupid Senju.
Still, he stopped the laugh that sounded more like a cackle when he felt the fear behind him rise exponentially, if only for their peace of mind and to prevent anyone from doing something stupid like trying to stab him in the back. Madara found it funny that they feared him and yet didn't even know fully why. They had every reason to but only the Uchiha would realize that. Perhaps it is for the best that they not have even a hint of how much power Madara currently had or how much it could potentially grow. People already didn't trust him and feared him enough that they didn't dare look in his direction, not just his eyes.
Better not fan those flames just yet, since there was no need to.
The ground just stopped shaking when the second meteor struck. Madara was the only one able to see it - since there were no Hyuuga in their party - the Rinnegan giving him an even better vision than the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but one didn't need to see it to guess at the damage it had caused. The first one had no doubt been bad enough.
Too bad Madara operated on an overkill principle and this had been done mostly out of sheer spite.
No, Tengai Shinsei was not overdoing it.
Madara would do far worse if he had the time and didn't have the audience. No need to publicly showcase his cruelty, even if it was against an enemy like Zetsu.
"That should be it," he said casually as he let the remnant of his Susanoo fall. Anything in miles upon miles should be completely obliterated, well, outside of their dome, anyway. "Kurama, you can let up, now. I have to end this. The puppet show's been going on long enough."
"Just be careful. I don't know what to expect from Zetsu and neither do you," the great fox warned before letting himself unfurl from around the group of shinobi. Madara arched an eyebrow at the few holes here and there that had made their way through his perfect Susanoo armor and Hashirama's Mokuton. That would at least explain some of the wind. The shock-wave seems to have been stronger than Madara had expected. He looked up at his furry friend and tried to find injuries, but if there had been any, they were already healed or out of his sight. "I'm fine. A scratch here and there. Won't even be there in a few minutes."
Madara nodded to that, knowing to accept it and not bother the biju more. He and Kurama had too similar personalities for the fox to take any fussing without biting him. Madara wouldn't put it past him. So he let it go, didn't even check if the Senju were following him as he casually picked up the orange pithos and marched on right out of one of the lower holes in the domes. Hashirama was reluctant to let them up for a while, but did when Madara walked out because there was no point in holding them up, anyway.
Perhaps he regretted it when the aftermath of the jutsu was presented to them.
"Ah," the Uchiha breathed a bit happily, taking in the gigantic crater the Tengai Shinsei had created, the destruction of land around it and the dust clogging the air. No light was making through the dust cloud. It is as though night has fallen even if there was still quite a few more hours of sunlight left to the day. The roots of his small Mokuton jutsu have somewhat made it and there were random lumps of rock and earth standing up here and there. If there had ever been any healthy trees left, they were eradicated now. The dying waste of a forest this had been when they arrived had spread some, too, but Madara had no doubt Hashirama could fix that. And in the middle of it all were the two meteorites, one splitting the other open like a master marksman's arrows. You know, Robin Hood Style. It was a dramatic sight. Definitely worthy of Uchiha-levels of dramatic. "This brings back memories." It kind of looked like the now aptly named Valley of the End, that night he and Hashirama fought for the last time.
"Holy fuck," Toka breathed behind him and Madara couldn't help but smile serenely, utterly pleased with himself.
Still, there were things to do, leeches to eradicate - if there was anything left of Zetsu, but Madara wouldn't put it past the motherfucker. The thing had been around since the Sage of Six Paths a thousand years ago. There's no way he's underestimating that thing and risking all of this effort to be for naught. Still, he felt awfully cheery for someone who had just decimated a good portion of land and no doubt wiped all those white clones out in one jutsu. One enormous and overpowered jutsu, mind you, but Madara had never been known for doing things halfway. His blood was surging, his chakra was singing and he felt at peace at last, knowing his clan will finally be safe once he seals Zetsu away and then throws the fucking ugly orange pot into fucking space. He has hopes it will reach the sun and be burned there, but he's not patient enough for that. Amaterasu ought to do the trick.
So, cheery as he was, he made his way through, around and over the massive landscape damage he'd caused while singing to himself. The verse of War of Change seemed awfully fitting. "Wait. It's just about to break
It's more than I can take
Everything's about to change
I feel it in my veins
It's not going away
Everything's about to change."
Zetsu, somehow still half alive, still pinned by the receivers and still burning with Amaterasu's blessed eternal flames, didn't appreciate how appropriate it was. The chakra creature, already lethally pinned and set on the one fire that should have killed it in an instant, was in pieces from the force of the two meteor strikes. It would no doubt have been able to put itself back together had it been able to move, but Madara had been careful in the way he'd placed the receivers, blocking out tenketsu points and literally making sure Zetsu was properly pinned down with just this scenario in mind. Like he'd thought earlier already, it would be a pity if Madara had went through all that trouble only for Zetsu to escape. It was interesting that the parasite was still trying to wriggle free. Not that he'll be able to. Even if he'd managed to completely liquefy himself, the rods held true. Zetsu couldn't even shimmy properly, let alone escape.
"I'm impressed that you're still alive, Zetsu," Madara commented casually, looking down at his captive like he was a bug. Actually, he was worse than that. Zetsu was a disease, a curse on this world, and especially a curse on the Uchiha. Madara didn't know how, exactly, Zetsu started the war between the Uchiha and the Senju, nor did he care. All he knew too many of his clansmen had lost lives for this pathetic creature's goals and Madara was putting a stop to it, pronto.
The black being, little more than mush at this point, glared in loathing up at him. "It will take a lot more than you have to destroy me, Uchiha Madara. Mark my words, you will p-" He was, predictably, cut off when the Kohaku no Johei activated at his response to his own name and the big orange pithos sucked the black chakra being in, sealing him for all of eternity in a matter of seconds.
"Oops," Madara said sarcastically, even as he watched in satisfaction the big lid seal itself into place for its next use. Madara was quick to put it back into the storage seal containing the other Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths before anyone could accidentally activate the thing. As long as it had a chakra power source, it was dangerous and the Uchiha would rather not risk it. When it was done, he tossed the scroll once over his head, caught it and did a flourish, fancy little bow. "Let this day be remembered, forever and always, as the day you almost caught Uchiha fucking Madara."
"Are you seriously channeling your inner Jack Sparrow right now?" An incredulous Tobirama asked as he cane to stand next to the black haired teen.
"You gotta admit that the moment was opportune," Kurama, who was surprisingly content to drape himself over Tobirama's shoulders despite their usual relationship, commented with a vicious chuckle, which caused Tobirama to scowl at him for that reference. Well, at least these two were still trolling each other. Good to know some things will never change.
"What do you plan to do with it?" The Senju asked after he had glared a sufficient amount of time at the fox, pointedly looking at the scroll in Madara's hands. "That's one dangerous scroll you've got there."
"Hn," Madara agreed in typical Uchiha fashion, eyeing the storage scroll himself. Even without one of the Treasured Tools holding Zetsu, the scroll was indeed a very dangerous one. Tobirama, Madara and Hashirama will hardly be the last insanely strong people in the world, which created risk to the Tools being used and accidentally releasing Zetsu from his prison, if it were at all possible in the first place. Knowing Murphy's law, Madara knew better than to leave it with a 'what could possibly go wrong in the future?' mentality. It wouldn't even have to be a too far off future. Kumo had once been in possession of these tools and they knew Madara had them in a single scroll. A Jinchuriki would be more than strong enough to deal with these weapons. So leaving them be as they are was not an option.
There was really only one option.
"Amaterasu," he whispered even as he threw the scroll upwards, speared it with a receiver and watched it catch fire. Then, because he didn't want that thing anywhere near Earth in general, he let his chakra surge higher and watched as a - much smaller but still pretty big - meteorite started developing around the ablaze scroll, the destroyed earth and rocks at their feet rising to form the meteorite. With the receiver still inside, Madara made the thing, when finished, hurtle straight for the atmosphere and sent it into far space. He's not sure if he can actually direct it to go to other galaxies as far away from the Milky Way as possible, but if it would fall into the gravitational pull of Jupiter or Saturn, he'd be satisfied. Didn't Saturn actually have a satellite called Titan about that size? "Oh, shit. I think I just created a celestial body."
"That's your biggest concern?" An incredulous Toka asked when she walked up to them.
"Well, it is a rather big concern," Madara pointed out, making the kunoichi shake her head. She looked So Done with the two time travelers.
"Whatever. So, do you remember everything now?" The question nearly threw him off, but Madara had known it would come eventually. He hadn't exactly been subtle about his regained memories. "Because if you remembered because of this shit happening, I owe Mito a load of money. Please don't tell me a near death experience was the cause and was actually somehow Tobirama's fault."
"Excuse me," the youngest Senju present sniffed at the insinuation of those words. Madara just smiled serenely at her, like an utter troll.
"No, it wasn't a near death experience. And no," he continued before the kunoichi could celebrate. "It wasn't because of Tobirama, either. It was because of myself. I've arranged quite a few contingencies regarding my memories."
"Ha!" They all nearly jumped at the white haired shinobi's exclamation. "I won all the bets! Take that, Mito! So much for Uzumaki luck against Hatake logic!"
Madara could only shake his head at the ridiculousness of his precious people. "Did you say in your bet that my memories would manifest in the form of my past self that critiqued typical Senju-blindness to common sense? Or that it was my Sharingan that had revived me and rewrote reality so I would exist in a different time and place? Or how about that you were a dumb accident that shouldn't have even been there and had accelerated the process, which ended up with an adult in a teenager's body? I had contingencies set in place for everything but of course the Senju just have to be extra that way. I should have known to put in a few contingencies for you since you so love messing with laws of nature." The Senju at least seemed a bit flabbergasted at the things Madara just said, so that was pleasing. Satisfied, Madara turned fully to the Senju he had just berated, crossed his arms and arched a pointed, expectant eyebrow at the scientist. "Well?"
To his credit, the now older - and that was a bit disorienting and confusing and something that will need getting used to now that he knows his own true age - man didn't need long to understand what Madara was asking for with that one question. They had, after all, talked about it relatively recently.
So Tobirama took only about twenty to thirty seconds to straighten up, his arms flush besides his body and bow respectfully and formally. "Uchiha Madara-sama, I, Senju Tobirama, extend my greatest apologies for all the wrongs and hurt I've done upon you. I cannot apologize for striking down an enemy, a rival, a skilled shinobi who had endeavored to do much the same to me, but I am apologizing for being the reason behind your grief and loss. I am sorry my enemy had been your brother, may he rest in peace."
"Tobirama," Hashirama whispered, whether to interrupt or burst into tears, the two did not care. Madara's purple eyes were focused on Tobirama and Tobirama straightened, meeting his gaze without flinching. The way his head was just slightly tipped forwards was still respectful but it would seem Tobirama had finally realized the significance of eye contact for an Uchiha.
"And I apologize for my ill treatment of you since Konoha's founding and fir the way that may have spread to others. I am sorry for the trouble I've caused you and I know no amount of apologizing will ever make up for it, but an apology is all I can rightfully offer. I put myself at your judgement and in your mercy."
Madara stayed quiet for a while, just staring down the murderer of his brother, the man who had more often than not spurned him before he even opened his mouth and had, yet still, offered him respect despite a lack of trust. In the last weeks before he had left, their interactions had been one of the two extremes (for them, at least): either they were literally seconds away from tearing each other's throats out with their bare teeth or they were almost polite to each other. The last two days were literal chaos, as Madara had been preparing to leave and Tobirama had been grumpy after several sleepless nights of science and experimentation that had not gone so well, so they were almost toxic towards each other. And yet, Madara had left the village with a few fond memories of this bleached bastard to accompany him in his long nights of travels under the full moon.
People would have never thought that the two of them would be capable of having such moments as for them to be fond memories, but people also tend to forget that Madara had signed the forms that transferred Kagami, his only apprentice and pupil, to not only Tobirama's team but his care. If there had been no redeeming moments between them, Madara would have never done that.
Besides, another thing people usually forgot was that the Uchiha were naturally extremely perceptive, with or without the Sharingan. Even while grief clawed at his sanity and the oppression in the village nearly choked him, Madara had seen enough of Tobirama to know that the Senju was not a heartless killer and was more than just the White Demon of war. Just like there was more to Madara than just the devil spawn of the Uchiha, there was more to Tobirama as well. Living with him for almost a year, both in the twenty first century and in Konoha, bickering and debating and badgering with each other, teasing and playing, getting to properly know each other had opened both of their eyes to each other properly. They both had a clean slate, a fresh start: Madara, without any memory of the man, and Tobirama, forced to reestablish everything he'd known and find new context to each word once spat in his face. It had been healing for them both.
And it had lodged the younger idiot Senju into Madara's heart rather irreversibly.
Perhaps now, they might have a chance.