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?

"Madara?"

"Hm?" He answered back even as he didn't look up or turn away from his small family shrine that Hikaku had up-kept since Madara had left Konoha all those years ago. He put away the incense stick he'd just lit into its proper place and picked up a rag to wipe the frame of one of the six pictures in his small shrine. Izuna's image, twenty four when he'd allowed Madara to pin him down for hours to paint it with the skill only a Sharingan user can manage, to capture every last detail of his beloved brother's face, smiled almost adoringly up at him. Izuna may have outgrown his old older-brother-worship many years before his death, but there had always remained a bit of that childish wonder in his smiles whenever Madara expressed just how precious the younger had been to him. Madara knew it was partially because Izuna had spied on him and had robbed him of his first friendship, of his best friend and of his dream, so he had never hesitated to show Izuna how much he was loved. This picture had been painstakingly painted just three and a half months before that fateful day.

The Uchiha was just grateful the sorrow and pain of losing him wasn't crippling anymore. He knew he was moving on. Has been for years, now, if he was to be honest. He will never fully get over it and he didn't mind that. He was actually grateful for that. It made him Uchiha. Izuna had always been what made him Madara.

His housemate sat down next to him and looked at the pictures with curious eyes. Tobirama had never met any of these people but Tajima. It was no wonder he'd be curious. "Tell me about them?"

Madara smiled, more than happy to. "You already know Izuna. He was nothing at home like he was on the battlefield, all poised and graceful and serious. At home, he'd founder around and was a happy brat. He never fell into drink or gambling, but he was a flirt. I think he would have liked Toka. He had a thing for strong women." He ignored how regretful Tobirama looked at that. This was not about regret or sorrow. "Jiro, my second younger brother," he continued, picking up the right picture of a shyly smiling boy. "He would have been a marvelous writer. Despite being so young, he was one of the best storytellers I've ever met. He used to put Ryouta and Takumi to sleep if our parents or I couldn't because of duties or missions, and he once managed to convince Izuna that there was a big moon rabbit colony on the moon and that they were spying on him to determine whether he was a good brother or not so they'll know whether to stuff vegetables down his mouth - at that age, Izuna hated everything and anything that wasn't coated in enough sugar to give him diabetes. Jiro would have been a fierce genjutsu master. Ryouta would have probably taken after me and my mother. He had been young when he died," he pointed to the picture of the toddler as he finished cleaning Jiro's picture. He'd waited until he had mastered the art before he dared draw the pictures of his family. "But he had already started showing our forceful personality. It was interesting to see him command tou-san around. And his twin, Takumi, could have been an artist. He knew how to draw before he died, probably better than I ever could without the Sharingan." It hurt looking at the two near identical three year olds. They had been ... far too young to have been dragged into the clan wars nonsense. Madara had never forgiven Tajima for his stubbornness.

Had he stopped thinking about his pride fir even just moment, Madara would have had all four of his brothers with him. Maybe not in Konoha, but he would have been happy regardless. Now, all he had left of his family was pictures and Hikaku.

"They sound like good kids," Tobirama whispered, breaking him out of his thoughts and memories. His voice sounded distant and he had a sorrowful, far away look in his eyes, staring into the far distance despite there literally being a wall right in front of him. "Kawarama was seven when he died. An Uchiha child hunting squad killed him. Or that's what Butsuma always said. Never mind that Kawarama should have never been out alone at that age. Not even Hashirama or I, Butsuma's perfect little soldier, were sent out at that age. Since the founding of Konoha, I've suspected foul play. I have no proof, but ... "

"Hm, it would seem only I've entered the active battlefield at such an age," Madara hummed to himself, putting back the dust-cleared picture before picking up another and cleaning that one, too. He remembered his first time facing off against the Senju. He had the element of surprise on his side since no one actually knew how brutally strong he was despite his age and size. And with the Sharingan ... "I was battle ready, according to our old clan laws, as soon as I awoke my Sharingan. Given I've already had it at that time but simply didn't use it-"

"You got your Sharingan that day at the river. You were not that young back then," Tobirama interjected and Madara chuckled a bit bitterly, even if amusement won over.

"Do you honestly think losing three brothers and my mother would cause less of a reaction than a broken bond of friendship? Come now, Tobirama. I am not Hashirama. To an Uchiha, family is everything." Losing Hashirama had hurt and had made him cold towards his father for weeks, but not even his best friend was above his family.

"But Tajima said- And Izuna!"

"Izuna never saw it. I rarely used it before my chakra coils developed properly. It would be no use for me to hurt myself from forcing myself too hard." Madara, despite what many liked to think, knew how to take care of himself. He had been an older brother. He needed to be healthy in order to take care of his siblings. "Tajima, well ... If such things exist, my mother had been his soulmate. Her death left him rather distraught for a long while and he developed this obsessive need to watch me all the time. Izuna, as you probably noticed, takes after Tajima in looks. I may as well be a male carbon copy of my mother. Down to the hair, once I let it grow out." A silent tribute to his mother and a reminder to all those who had had a hand in her death that her legacy lives on, a reminder to the Uchiha themselves that Ryukyu's strength and fierce character lived on in him. "But for all that Tajima constantly watched me, he rarely ever actually saw me. He apparently forgot despite me glaring at the clan as a whole at the funeral. That day, Tajima was more focused on hurting and killing Butsuma than his own children, as you no doubt noticed, given the knife thrown your way."

"Fucking damn it," Tobirama cursed emphatically and Madara had to fight to keep a straight face when he said "Language!" The glare he got was glorious. "You really never get a break, do you?"

The Uchiha shrugged. "Some people are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them and then there are the unlucky bastards like me who fight and suffer for it every step of the way. I think my life was the only reason why I got the Rinnegan." The Sharingan sure as hell evolved only through the pain and sorrow of losing those you love. Izuna had been his breaking point but he had made a promise that he had had every intention to keep. He had preserved and kept going for his clan. Had he not pulled the stunt he had - leaving the village to recover from his grief, giving himself an entire new lifetime to get used to being shunned and mocked and spurned for being himself, as he had always been - he would have probably let himself waste away after the defeat of Zetsu, with whom the greatest threat to the Uchiha Clan in general went away. But he felt fine now. He felt no need to run or to just let it all go and end it.

For the first time in a very long time, he was both happy and content with his life.

Besides, he still had two idiot Senju to coral and one oblivious Senju to enlighten regarding the shift in their interactions that the albino either didn't notice or ignored, which just wouldn't do. Honestly! As Clan Head, Madara had to live in the Uchiha district, which was fine with him since Hikaku and Kagami had lived there with him before he left the village and they never moved out. Kursma appreciated the more space he got in the bigger house and Tobirama, too used to their living arrangement to let it change, had casually followed after Madara in the move, keeping his old house like a storage unit of sorts, much to Hashirama's dramatic wails about Tobirama and Madara stealing each other away from him. Madara found it amusing that not even that triggered a realization in the albino but didn't complain. He didn't want their arrangement to change, either, also quite used to their status quo.

The oblivious genius had settled in quite easily. Hikaku almost became overprotective after seeing a few of their interactions around the house but a flat look from Madara reminded him that, despite his physical age, he was still the older cousin of the two and now by an extra seventeen or so years, given he'd lived a whole new life. Kagami was overjoyed to have both his shishou and his sensei in the same house and Kurama still fascinated him. The kid also begged Madara every other five minutes to show him the Rinnegan, the typical Uchiha eye fascination shinning in his own curious eyes. Madara had taken up training him in the proper use of the Sharingan again - properly and officially - early in the mornings or late in the evenings when he didn't have training with the rest of Team Tobirama. The said sensei himself often stole Madara for the better part of the day, seemingly slowly - and not so subtly - integrating him back into the administrative works of running Konoha with his fellow founders. In the few months since he got his memories back, he found himself spending more and more time in his old office, often terrorizing everyone in the Hokage Tower into working more efficiently and with more competence. He apparently intimidated them enough that they feared not meeting paperwork deadlines, even of the paperwork that will never make its way across his desk.

Tobirama had sworn he'll find him a inarizushi cake one of these days, as apparently the workload had never run so smoothly.

People were still wary of him but the village brats flocked to him no less now than they had before, no matter what their parents might try to change that. In fact, they often insisted on bringing him to the Naka riverside or all the way to the Valley of the End, where the banks were full of rocks and then insisting he make Chibaku Tensei mini meteors as he told them about how he literally crushed Zetsu with them without actually making impact with anything, or he would sometimes use Susanoo to juggle six. Depending on the size of Susanoo, that was how big the spheres he made were. It was always a delight to see how awed they were each time he did this, despite it now practically being a weekly tradition with more and more kids there each time. It was also a delight to see nearly every adult that passes by all but faint when they see him playing around with two such powerful jutsus as if it were nothing.

Though, Kagami's Shimura teammate and Tsunade's little snake brat of a friend kind of creeped the fuck out of him with how fascinated they were with the Rinnegan. Madara always made sure never to mention just how powerful the his eyes were and always kept a wary eye on the two. Orochimaru was, at least, doing it because of scientific curiosity, that much was evident. Madara knew that spark in his eyes. He saw it often enough in Tobirama's to be used to it by now. Danzo just unnerved him. It got to the point Madara never activated the Rinnegan or even the Mangekyo Sharingan around the kid. There was just something off with that brat. Not that either Tobirama or Kagami noticed.

Summer was approaching again and it will soon enough be a year since his return. Time sure does fly when life is for once going smoothly. The civilians may fear him and the shinobi might be wary of him, but he had his clan, he had Kurama, he had Hikaku and Kagami, he had Hashirama, Mito and Toka and he had Tobirama. He didn't really need all that much more. The others can either get used to him or at least act civil. He really wouldn't care either way.

"Now stop changing the subject and tell me about your other brother." When he got a confused frown, Madara rolled his eyes. "Hashirama and you both mentioned you had two brothers, Tobirama. Tell me about the other one, about your mother. Preferably don't tell me about Butsuma, since he strikes me as a harsh father and I don't need the temptation to learn your Edo Tensei just to kill him over and over again."

Tobirama, thankfully, just snorted at his rather insensitive words. "Itama would have probably been a medic had our father ever allowed it. Until Anija came into his powers, the Senju were often of the opinion that healing and medicine was a woman's job, never mind that the Uzumaki had both men and women iryo-nin. A Hagoromo squad killed him when he was ten. I was eleven. You and Hashirama were thirteen, I think. I felt his chakra signature sputter out. Anija found him."

"Fuck, that's gotta be traumatizing," Madara said with a wince. He actually knew how traumatizing it could be. He'd been both: he'd felt Jiro's chakra signature dim in death and he'd been the one to find his mother, Ryouta and Takumi dead with a bunch of enemy shinobi littering his childhood home back in the old Uchiha Compound. There was a reason his Sharingan had activated while he had been so young. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about our dead family."

"My mother was Hatake Kira," Tobirama continued, as though Madara hadn't just given them a reasonable out of the uncomfortable and painful conversation. But, then again, have they not been confiding in each other, been each other's rock since their second first meeting? Why stop now? "I take after her more than I ever did after Butsuma, something I'm glad and proud of. She tolerated no bullshit and she was feared by the Senju, the elders mostly ruing the day they'd arranged the marriage and alliance between Senju and Hatake. My parents never really loved each other like yours did, but we're not Uchiha. Hatake are about devotion and Senju ... Well, honestly, I've never really quite figured out what the Senju were about. It was easier being a Hatake with my mother than trying to understand the Senjus I shared blood with."

"I think she and my Kaa-chan would have gotten along splendidly. Kaa-chan was not to be trifled with. She was actually stronger than father and Tajima took great delight in that. I think Izuna got his masochistic lady preferences from him." They both snorted before falling into silence, quietly missing and mourning their fallen family before it got stifling and Madara, who wished to never again be choked by that emotion, returned all the pictures to their proper places, bowed before getting up, grabbing his companion along the way and turning to drag Tobirama away from his little shrine. "I think there are other things we need to discus, Tobirama, of an equally personal nature."

A white eyebrow arched at that, but Madara was focused more on discerning where their family and friends were to judge how likely it was that their conversation will be interrupted and after how much time. He found that he was lucky, as Hashirama seemed busy in the office, Kagami was at the Akimichi dinner with his teammates and Tsunade seemed to be sleeping at her house with her mother and aunt sitting calmly a few rooms away, probably drinking tea. No one else seemed to be heading in the direction of the main house and while not the best sensor out there - that title fell to the oblivious man he was dragging along - he could still tell that no one was upset, panicking, angry or getting ready to fight. Kurama was even off entertaining some children at their usual spot, the little rugrats probably having found the biju when he had been enjoying some sunlight and demanding his attention, the tiny adorable tykes. "And what might we have to discus?"

Madara wanted to roll his eyes. Instead, he waited until they were in the living room - a neutral enough space for a discussion like this - before turning around, studying his companion for a moment before deciding that his friend was as much of an idiot as Hashirama was and just grabbing the taller man - he had to stand on the tips of his toes; damn the Senju Clan and their superior height and tree-like bodies - with both hands on either side of his face and hauling him down enough that he can comfortably slot their lips together. Tobirama went stiff in his grip, clearly not expecting that, and he remained stiff even after Madara pulled away after a moment, but he hadn't attempted to push him off not was he stepping away.

Instead, the Senju's face went dazed before a light of recognition finally lit in red eyes. "Oh. Oh." The Uchiha Clan Head couldn't help but feel a bit smug for managing to get the ever eloquent Senju Tobirama flounder for words in general, let alone some that may be appropriate in their situation.

"Yes, oh, you insufferable Senju. About time you caught up with the flow. Even your idiot of a brother caught on months ago. Hell, his five year old daughter knows."

Tobirama's face only got even more dazed. "How am I even still alive? Kurama alone would have killed me at this point and I'm pretty sure that this would be the only time Toka took someone else's side over my own." Madara couldn't deny that and stay an honest man. The Senju kunoichi had been the most exasperated by her little cousin's lack of social awareness to realize that his and Madara's relationship had crossed casual platonic touch and dived right into old-married-couple-levels-of-causal-physical-affection-and-comfort and had been teasing the white haired man relentlessly, even if Tobirama continued to be oblivious to the end goal of the teasing and that had only frustrated her further. As for Kurama, he was getting his kicks out of watching how oblivious a supposed certified genius could be.

And everyone else? Those traitors had a betting pool going. They thought Madara knew nothing about it, but they forgot one very important thing: Madara was Tsunade's favorite. They should know better than to gamble in front of a child, especially one whom Madara was going to teach to be the best manipulator and long-term planner in the fucking world.

So what if Madara had oh so accidentally decided to choose a time when the ever unlucky in gambling Hashirama had placed his bets? No one has to know about it. Madara will just badger a few inarizushi treats out of his best friend. Hashirama will probably be more than happy to provide, anyways.

Madara just grinned at the Senju even as he settled his hands now around the broad shoulders. His own muscle mass was still going to need some work, but he'll have to wait until his body got older lest he stunt his growth or something. "I guess you're lucky that I like you so much and that they were willing to wait it out." Though Mito had threatened to lock them in a small room once, just to spare herself the idiocy. Or to win one of her bets.

Strong arms wrapped around him with an amount of confidence he wouldn't have thought the clueless man to have, but they never have really been shy about physical affection even when they were just beginning this strange relationship of theirs that had started off as the weirdest friendship since the Uchiha Heir met the Senju Heir at a riverbank. With anyone else, they wouldn't be half as comfortable as they were with each other, not even their remaining family. "Maa, I think I am lucky for far grander things, but thank you for waiting for me."

"You're surprisingly okay with this," Madara commented even as he canted his head up so their lips were centimeters away from brushing.

His companion snorted. "I've realized sometime after you left the village that there was a lot more to you than I'd wanted to give you credit for. After your death, I came to appreciate and miss you in a way I never would have thought would happen between us. When I met you again, live and well, all I could think about was how, this time, I will treat you better, the way you deserve. By the time Kinkaku and Giknaku crashed into our lives, I had already accepted that you've become important, precious to me. Before Asama's dickish move, I realized I was highly attracted to you and by your birthday, I realized I only wanted to cherish you. You should have realized that from how often I complimented you. It seems I've been flirting before I even realized I was doing it. And that's not even mentioning how I felt when we returned to Konoha. The fear that you might want to leave again had been crippling and watching you fight that thing had been the hardest, most terrifying experience of my life. We've already been living together for so long, Madara. Why wouldn't I be okay? Not much will change in our overall relationship, after all."

He then dipped down enough to capture Madara's lips in another clumsy kiss, given neither of them was much experienced in such matters, but it felt perfect to them. Madara wasn't sure which one of them groaned into the kiss, all he knew was that he wanted more, much more kisses in the future.

Just a few years ago, he had been plagued by madness of grief, had had to force himself to leave the village he had dreamed of with his best friend in order to save his own sanity and had ended up nearly a slave and the destruction of Konoha in the process. He had then sent himself to live through a similar, if much worse life in a different time and a new place just so he can prepare himself for his own return to save his world from a wicked, ancient evil. He still had wounds from both of those lives and he knows they will never fade. But time heals all wounds, eventually, even wounds of the mind and of the heart, and bearing some ugly scars will only be proof of his own will to survive, his own strength and endurance. Besides, it's not like scars have ever repelled shinobi before and he rather doubts Tobirama will ever mind.

Somehow, Madara thinks this is the perfect ending for them.