Story Summary: Madara, because he's not an idiot, takes about four seconds to realize he's been turned into a furry beast. Looking at his shaking legs, the black fur bristled up in agitation, he understands that he has no idea how he got himself into this mess. MadaTobi Fox!Madara, SEMI-GRAPHIC VIOLENCE.
Story Warnings: Graphic violence, cursing, blood, amorality, war, death, the consumption of human meat by animals.
number 6! i think the last chapter was the first time i've ever successfully pulled off a cliffhanger lol. im glad people were surprised (on ao3 anyway lol).
shi-bi no kitsune
vi.
There's a voice in the back of his head. It whispers to him at all times of the day and night, the words dark and sinful as it warns him. You can't trust the Senju, it tells him. They are your enemy. They have killed so many of your kin. Your brothers are dead because of who they are; because of what they are. Monsters, all of them. How could you even think of trusting them? The dream you carry, the hope for peace; it is foolish. It will never work. You will work towards serentiy while the Senju plot behind your back. The Uchiha will never be equal in their eyes. Your dreams are hopeless.
It's a constant drumbeat in his head; the warnings and hateful whispers following him as he goes about his day. He starts to see things as well; visions that feel like fever dreams. His actual dreams are equally disturbing. He'll wake up in a sweat, distorted images of his own clan turning their backs on him, their eyes fulls of hate and betrayal. He sometimes sees blood pooling beneath bodies, a small figure piercing a sword through flesh and bone. The images are occasionally accompanied by nonsensical whispers, words that make no sense coming from voices he's never heard. A laugh far off in the distance. It sounds insane as it gets louder, a chuckle falling into a spiraling laugh that turns into a demented sob. Choking and short breaths.
More images eventually come, these featuring portraits of a pale woman with equally pale eyes. Every time he meets her gaze he feels small. There's a desperation eating away inside of him whenever he sees her cold and calculating gaze. Fear and despair come soon after, a biting worry that she's waiting for him; that she wants something from him, something that he doesn't even know he has.
He'll wake up with a shout, sobs clawing their way out of his chest and raw throat. He'll stare ahead, lost and confused as he tries to breathe through his cries. He spends weeks, months, like this. He hears dark whispers, dreams of even darker events, and soon enough he can't sleep. He slowly grows to fear his own mind and the events in conjures up.
It shows him Izuna, killed by Hashirama's younger brother. He can hear the words Izuna will utter to him, the hatred he holds in his heart for the Senju. His eyes burns sometimes. He will remember the dreams he has, the ones where Izuna plucks out his eyes and presents them to Madara, asking him to become stronger. His eyes burn and he cries at the crystal clear nightmares, fear clogging his throat as he chokes down a frightened scream.
He hides his nightmares from the clan. No one sees the downward spiral he is in. He smiles at the young children that greet him every morning. He teases Izuna good naturedly, laughing along with Hikaku as Izuna sputters in an embarrassed rage over a dry comment from Burūmūn's elderly mother, Yūki.
He sits through clan meetings with a stoic expression, nodding along to Hiroto-san's lecture, making sure to wink at Kazuko-san when she rolls her eyes at her fellow elder's stuffiness. He plays all the parts he usually does, keeps up with all the connections he has made through the years.
He doesn't allow them to see the way his mind is breaking.
Madara is having a particularly bad day when he comes home from a mission, clothes stained with blood as he informs their single healer, Mayu. that one of their youngest fighters, Yūto, has come back sans arm. There's a small chance that he'll survive, that Mayu can save his life, but Madara can't bring himself to stick around and find out.
Instead, he meanders around the compound, unseen forces whispering in his mind. He blindly walks forward as he exits the walls that keep them safe, following footsteps from a past full of longing.
He comes back to himself when he finally registers the familiar trickling of water that is seared into his brain. Madara looks around in a daze, finding himself standing in front of the stream that separates the Uchiha and Senju lands. He wants to muster up some type of melancholy reaction, but he is so very tired. Months of dark dreams and visions of a living nightmare. It is dark out, no moon to give any light, and the only thing that allows Madara to see is his activated Mangekyou Sharingan. Everything is eerily tinted red as he calmly sits down, knees tucked underneath him.
It's quiet, he vaguely notices, his mind foggy from sleep deprivation. It's quiet and there's a shadow twisting and moving across the stream from him, black tendrils inky as they make their way from the tree line. Madara stares at the black mass, silent as the whispers grow louder with its approach. Madara sees wide yellow eyes, the glowing orbs shining with malice as the approach him.
And suddenly, Madara can't take anymore.
He draws the katana that is strapped across his back, his usual gunbai having been left in his room before he had departed on his latest mission. He takes the handle in both of his hands, meeting the yellow eyes of the darkness in front of him. The black mass has stopped moving, angry whispers telling Madara that he is being weak, that he must stop this. That he must be alive to see the end of the Senju clan.
Madara sneers at the hallucination, his red eyes glowing as he stabs himself in the chest, pain racing through his nerve endings. The whispers stop abruptly. There's warm blood pooling underneath him as he falls forward, landing in to the rocky ground face first. He can't breathe, choking on his own blood, but he feels at peace. No more whispers. No more dark mutterings from his own messed up mind. Only silence and a numbing wave of tiredness.
It's been so long since he's been able to sleep.
Madara closes his eyes and stops breathing.
"When did you find him?" Hashirama's devastated voice brings Madara back to the present, breaking him out of the memories that had ensnared him. Tobirama is standing stiff next to his brother, his brow furrowed as he too listens to the new Uchiha clan head.
"Almost a week ago," Izuna says, grief in his voice. "A patrol found his body laid out in the water. We suspected an attack at first, especially given the location where we...found the body. After our healer took a look at him, however, we we forced to face the truth. My brother took his own life. We still don't have any clues as to why he did it."
There's a solemn silence after Izuna cuts off, both clans not finding the right words.
Hashirama looks destroyed, openly crying at the news of his old friend's passing. Tobirama just looks confused, like the information he has gained doesn't quite make sense to him.
"I wouldn't usually share such private information," Izuna finally breaks the heavy silence, staring blankly at Hashirama, "but I wanted to get the questions of 'why seek peace?' out of the way. We don't know why he did it. We never will; but all I can think about is the last time I spoke with him. He was getting ready to go on a mission and we were arguing as he got ready. He told me that he was tired of fighting all the time and that he wanted peace. I laughed in his face. I told him his dream was foolish and that he should give it up. He looked so startled after I said that. He had seemed haunted by my words. He left right after, no time for me to even think about apologizing. My last words to my brother had be scorning his life's dream of making peace with the Senju. I'm the head of the Uchiha clan now, Senju, and I will do everything in my power to make my brother's dream a reality."
Madara wants to cry at the guilt that layers over Izuna's words. Madara hadn't even remembered those damning words. Izuna wasn't at fault for Madara's actions. The whispers and the hallucinations were at fault. The sleepless nights as he was haunted by visions of death; they were at fault. Never Izuna.
"I think it best if you and your party come in," Tobirama finally breaks the stalemate, nudging a teary Hashirama. The Senju line breaks open, creating a pathway for the Uchiha party to enter and make their way into the compound.
Madara wants to stick around and see the two clans take the first steps towards peace, but he can't bring himself to watch his dream become a reality. Instead, he waits until the last Uchiha steps inside the walls of the Senju compound and then he darts out from beneath his bush, streaking past a few startled shinobi and escaping out into the surrounding woods. He thinks he hears Tobirama shout his name, but he doesn't dare stop.
He runs until he splashes across the familiar stream and once more stands in the place where he met his supposed death.
There's no blood now, he absentmindedly notes. There's no sign or hint that a man committed suicide in this exact spot, driven to take his own life by hallucinations. Madara doesn't know how he ended up in the body of a nogitsune when his original body is dead. The body that he stabbed in the heart. The same one that would've been burned to ashes per Uchiha tradition.
"You're so focused on the 'How?', when you should really be asking 'Why?'."
shorter than usual, but we end on another cliffhanger!