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 7! its been sooo long! im so sorry its taken me so long to update again. ive been working on a big bang fic and ive just recently finished it for the most part. i dont know when this will get updated again after this, but know that it wont take 8 months lol. optimistically, look for the fic to officially continue/be completed in may!

shi-bi no kitsune

vii.

Madara has never seen the man before in his life. He knows he's never met this mysterious man before. And yet, the longer Madara looks at him, the longer he stays in his presence, the surer he is that the man is undeniably familiar.

The man is tall with incredibly pale skin, deep wrinkles set into his face. He is older than Madara with a strong jawline. His spiky pale brown hair almost reaches his shoulders, a braided lock resting in front of his left ear. He wears a goatee, an odd sight to Madara who doesn't see many men with facial hair. While his looks had been only slightly odd up to this point, the white pupil-less eyes and the horn-like protrusions extending from either side of his forehead quickly put to rest that idea of this being a regular human.

While all of that is deeply disturbing to Madara, it is the red marking on the being's forehead that draws his attention and fear. It is no less disconcerting than anything else about his appearance, but something about the marking strikes fear into his heart. There is something about the marking that makes his inner animal want to run away as fast and as far as possible.

The man, the being, is dressed in all white, his a full length kimono decorated in a pattern of six black magatama around a high collar, the necklace hanging around his neck a similar design. The being looks human-ish, but he is so clearly not human that it gives Madara the chills. He looks like he made an attempt to hide his otherness and then failed.

"Why were you driven to suicide?" the man asks, his gaze unnerving as he looks down at Madara's agitated form.

Madara glares back, frightened and suspicious. He is stuck in the body of a fox; does this man expect him to be able to answer?

"From the day you were born and every day after, you have been watched," the man tells him. "A dark being has followed you, planting whispers of future harms in your unsuspecting brain."

What the hell was he going on about? Madara wondered. Who the hell is this guy?

"I am Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo," the man answers his unvoiced question, surprising Madara. "You might know me better as Rikudō Sennin."

The Sage of Six Paths?! Madara gapes, eyes widening as he takes the man in once more.

"We don't have much time, Uchiha Madara," the Sage tells him, "I am here to tell you of the circumstances surrounding our situation. Once your have what you need, I will no longer interfere."

Madara eyed the Sage up and down, suspicious, but oh so interested to know what the man was going to tell him. He should demand proof. He should, but he finds that he wishes to know what fate has brought him far more.

"Long before you were born, my mother was sealed away. I feel no need to go into detail of her wrongdoings; simply know that it was the only thing that would stop her. Shortly before she was locked away, she created a creature. The leech known as Black Zetsu is my mother's will given form. Its goal is to get its creator released from her prison. To do this, it has manipulated many to reach its goal. Once, it manipulated my oldest son. Indra had his faults, but he would never have turned against his brother if it had not been for Black Zetsu and his meddling."

Madara listened intently, entranced as the Sage continued with his story.

"For generations Black Zetsu has sought out the descendants of Indra. He has twisted them into doing his bidding. For generations he has perpetuated a war between the Uchiha and the Senju. The Senju, for they are the descendants of my youngest son and my successor, Asura. The Uchiha because they are the descendants of the led astray Indra.

"The beast that drove you to suicide was the leech known as Black Zetsu," the Sage confirmed the creeping sense of realization that was overcoming Madara.

The black shadow in his dreams, Madara thought. The whispered voices that spoke of betrayal and future loss.

"Yes," the Sage confirms with a sharp nod. "He had underestimated you, Uchiha Madara. He thought you too much like your previous incarnation. He believed you were destined to be as twisted and dark as Indra had become under his guiding hand. He hadn't seen the flicker of Asura's spirit in your heart."

Madara stares at the Sage with wide eyes, his heart racing. He was the reincarnation of Indra? That was why this Black Zetsu had tortured him so?

"Indra would have fallen to the dark whispers," the Sage told him, his intent. "Asura would have rather killed himself than do anything to hurt those he cared about."

A flash of memory, the moment when Madara drove a sword into his own flesh, appears in his mind.

"You might not have noticed it at the time, but you were close to a breaking point. You could have gone either way. You were being constantly bombarded with hate and mistrust. If you had met your own dream of peace, you would have eventually sabotaged your own dream because of Black Zetsu's whispering.

"I saw this come to pass. You would've survived your suicide attempt. You would have fought to convince the others that you were better. You would've come to an agreement with Hashirama and the rest of the Senju. Years from now your dream would be a reality and you would have turned your back on all that you held dear."

If I would've survived, Madara wondered, then how did I end up dead and in the body of a nogitsune?

"You survived because I willed it so," the Sage explained. "You have a darkness inside of you, a holdover from Indra. I simply waited until you were no the brink of death and then I took that darkness and used it to transform your spirit. The body that your clan found at the river bank was simply an empty shell that I left for them to find."

Can I ever turn back? Madara wondered, desperate for an answer.

"You may only turn back when Black Zetsu is no longer in a position to manipulate you."

How am I supposed to stop him? Madara asks in his mind, bitter at the idea that he would be stuck in the form for the foreseeable future. I'm a fox!

"No," the Sage responds harshly, his voice booming out. "You are a shi-bi no kitsune. You are no simple beast, Uchiha Madara. You are the manifestation of the darkness that Zetsu created in my son, the illness that lingered within him until his death, the anguish that haunts the Uchiha clan's every step. You have four tails; you are a personification of death. You are now an embodiment of a disease that spreads and leaves one scarred, a burning cold fire that rages before cooling and killing all emotion. You are the only thing that can kill Black Zetsu. Do not doubt yourself."

Madara watched, flabbergasted, as the Sage disappeared abruptly, his final words echoing in the silence that he leaves behind him. Madara, unable to do anything in his shock, simply turned and blindly stumbled back to the Senju compound, mind racing.

The Sage of Six Paths had felt the need to interfere with Madara's fate, turning him into a kitsune with the powers of death. He made Madara into the very thing that would kill the demon that had chased him to attempt suicide. The Sage turned Madara into a weapon to defeat his own personal demon.

Madara, filled with confusion and disbelief, snuck into the Senju compound and unashamedly made his way through the darkened hallways. It was probably well past midnight by this point, the moon only a soft glow as Madara padded silently towards the man he was looking for. Curled up on his bead, Tobirama's chest rose up and down as he slept silently in his moonlit room.

Madara hopped onto the bed, slipping underneath Tobirama's slack arm, curling into the man in search of some kind of comfort.

"And where have you been?" Tobirama muttered sleepily, his red eyes slipping open to peek down at Madara.

"Out," Madara replies with a grunt, only stopping when he realizes how tense Tobirama as become. He blinks for a moment, his mind struggling to realize what exactly has just happened.

Had he just spoken out loud?

Madara blinks, looking up to meet Tobirama's incredulous gaze, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I—," Madara choke out in a raspy voice, desperately trying to force more out of his throat. He doesn't sound like himself, his voice distorted by his size and shape, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He could talk again! Madara struggles to stand up under Tobirama's now stuff arm, desperate to look the man in the eyes as he spoke for the first time in almost a week. "N-No know—"

"For kami's sake," Tobirama groaned as he watched him, a hand coming to wipe the sleep from out of his eyes. "Take your time; start over and go slowly."

"N-Nee—," Madara starts, unable to finish the full work before he continued, "h-helll—"

"Help?" Tobirama guessed, eyeing him curiously.

Madara nodded furiously, hope blazing anew in his chest. With his sudden ability to speak, he would finally be able to communicate his situation to Tobirama! He could get the other man's help with Black Zetsu. He could—

Madara paused as Tobirama stumbled out of the bed, the man going to his desk to turn on the lamp that rested in the corner. Did Madara want to tell Tobirama who he really was? He needed help, sure, but Madara had become fond of the younger Senju after spending some alone time with him.

If Madara told him the truth, would Tobirama shun him?

Tada! hope you enjoyed finally finding out what happened to madara! now he has a new mission: kill black zetsu.