Konoha's Weasel Prince
Summary: Itachi never got to use his Susanoo in his fight with Sasuke. As soon as the Kirin hit, he was sent back through time to the founder's era and it was up to him to ensure a safer and surer future for Konoha and the world at large. KisaIta TobiMada HashiMito others mentioned
Uchiha Madara had spent almost a century in this hell pit of a world and the sad thing was that the majority of his years were spent under the control of a damned creature named Zetsu who claimed to be the will of none other than Otsutsuki Kaguya, the first chakra user on this Earth.
At one point, he remembered dying to protect Senju Tobirama, his beloved lover, from a deadly strike that would have left a hole not only in Tobirama's chest but in Madara's as well. Just imagining that grief had had Madara moving faster than he ever had in his life, stepping in between the incoming blade and the albino before it could connect, giving his life for Tobirama, his heart for his lover's. He remembered the tears streaming down pale, dirtied cheeks, remembered wanting to trace the markings on that beloved face one last time before he went but not finding the strength to do so.
It had truly been his heart that had been struck. It was a miracle it had managed to beat long enough for him to say his goodbye to Tobirama. He had hated leaving his lover, brother and best friend behind, but he could not hold on. Tobirama didn't have the strength to heal him, Madara was already too exhausted to last even a Hiraishin back to Konoha but he was content. He got to at least say goodbye to one important person in his life before he joined his family in the afterlife.
He had briefly wondered if Itachi will greet him there as well before he closed his eyes and oblivion was ll he knew.
Days later, his body well buried under Konoha in a secret cave so as to preserve and protect his body from the weather and protected by seals to save him from time, Uchiha Madara woke up blind in one eye, panting to get enough breathe in his lungs, suddenly alive and whole again, not a trace of the deadly wound on his chest that had taken him form the world in the first place. Over him stood the strange being he would alter learn is called Zetsu, one half of its body black, the other a greenish, sickly white. The being looked like a fly trap and was creepy as hell. The feeling it gave off had Madara disliking it.
When Madara tried to burn it with a scorching katon jutsu, he found himself paralyzed. His eyes widened as he stared up at the plant creature that had so easily immobilized one of the strongest shinobi in history, finding that it was doing it by digging its black arm under his skin and spreading its foul chakra through Madara's body, forcing him to obey. No matter how he struggled, he could not escape. It had a firm hold on him and it was not letting him go no matter how much he demanded it in a voice loud enough for the rest of Konoha to hear him surely had war not still been going on.
''Let me go, you damned jubboko!'' He demanded one last time with a might burst of chakrs that would have alerted his lover of his presence had he been able to spare it a thought, wherever he was at that moment, leading the Uchiha with Izuna to get revenge for Madara's death.
The thing grinned at him, forcing him to step out of his coffin. ''Now now, Uchiha Madara. Why would we ever do that? We need you to summon mother back. We need you for our plans. So just be a good boy and follow us.''
It was downright creepy, the way the two halves spoke. Later on, as they led him - unwillingly, of course, not that it mattered much; whatever hold they had on him, he was bound and he could not escape - he learned they also liked chatting with each other and while he would have been the happiest to ignore them completely, he only pretended to be doing it. As he listened to them jabbering at each other, he learned early on that the Black Zetsu, as it called itself, was the more knowledgeable, and as such more dangerous one to worry about. It seemed to know a lot about the Sharingan and Madara in general, trying to feed him stories of a perfect dream world where no one suffered or died or had to fight for survival. It spoke of a world where no more little brothers died.
Madara nearly broke free of his restraints when he dared bring that up. Neither Zetsu had ever brought up the topic of brothers ever again.
However, they did try to bring the point across by spying on Izuna's life so that they can show Madara's his little brother's last moments and the grief that overcame him when he saw Izuna's still form was what the creature was looking for. Madara had no idea when they had gotten it, but they had managed to get their hands on Hashirama's cells - his best friend, dead; why was the world so cruel? His sister-in-law, following his brother not long after Izuna's death, Hikaku dying, too, too young if you ask Madara - and they injected him with them. His grief was the catalyst that the cells needed and he felt vision returning to his previously blind eye - Izanagi, how had they forced him to use Izanagi in death to cheat it? - as he developed the strongest doujutsu in existence.
Since the time of the legendary Sage of Six Paths, Madara was the first person who awakened the Rinnegan.
But he was still nothing more but a puppet on Zetsu's strings for years to come, despite how powerful he was. At least he got to see Tobirama one last time, even if he was not allowed to use the Rinnegan's rebirth abilities to bring him back to life. Zetsu deemed Tobirama useless and Madara was far too valuable to be wasted on that broken little human flesh doll of a Senju. Madara had grieved and grieved, the last of his loved ones killed. (Well, there was still Mito and her two kids but Madara was never going to see them again. They never even left the village, so he wouldn't even be able to glimpse his honorary niece and nephew.) When he started getting old, Zetsu connected him to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to keep him alive for as long as possible when it became clear that whatever plans Zetsu had were not going to be completed in Madara's lifetime.
Madara hoped he died as soon as possible just to spite the plant.
Zetsu started searching for someone to continue in Madara's steed until he could be reanimated - curse his beloved's incredible brain for creating the Edo Tensei - to take over and bring back Kaguya while Madara was stuck with Zetsu's clones in a dark, dank cave. Then one day Zetsu returned with an Uchiha boy that had a startling resemblance to Madara himself and his gut was filed with dread, both at the boy's state and at the implications behind Zetsu bringing him here.
He was right. Uchiha Obito, one of his distant descendants, was to take up Madara's name until Madara can be reanimated again. His eyes were stolen and implanted into a young Uzumaki boy - so few of their strong chakra signatures were left; Uzushiogakure was destroyed, Mito was long dead, too; Madara was the last founder alive and it was such a lonely existence - and he was made the supposed leader of the new organization meant for ''world peace'', Akatsuki.
Seeing the rings they had made meant for each of the ten members to wear had Madara both wanting to laugh historically and actually go into hysterics, as one of them was a pretty red ring with the single ''shi'' kanji for Vermilion. Itachi's ring, brand new, infused with chakra meant for communication purposes on long distances. New and unworn, not yet Itachi's.
Something finally clicked and when old age claimed him, Madara was both at rest and dreadful. He now knew Itachi's perhaps greatest secret, but what good did that do him? The world is in danger and Itachi - Madara's last companion even if he might not even be born yet or was just an infant, the last one who had somehow shed some light onto his bleak, dark loneliness - was in it, just as endangered and Madara could do nothing about it.
When he was summoned back from the dead yet again, he was but a mere reanimation, skin cracked and as young s he had been when he had died. At one side stood Obito and Zetsu and at his other side stood a snake like person who gave off some really bad vibes for Madara's too sensitive sensor type senses with another Uchiha, one he grew to hate almost instantly when he introduced himself as Sasuke.
Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother, the one that hated him for being unable to save their family. Sasuke, who Itachi would do anything for. Sasuke who he had feared had killed Itachi when his friend had finally left the village and had disappeared off of the face of the planet.
Uchiha Sasuke.
(The implications of his identity and as such Itachi's didn't quite reach Madara's mind at that moment.)
''I'm going to kill you!'' He growled, whipping around to try and wring the sixteen year old boy's neck, only to once again find himself restrained. Only, this wasn't like with Zetsu. There was nothing that can penetrate this body and stick into him like Zetsu had been doing with his living body. Yet he was still being controlled, if only not by the vile creature who had robbed him or his rest.
''Now now, Madara-san.'' The snake like man said, hand put together in the ram hand seal and Madara felt the chakra that was restraining him came from this man. ''We can't have you killing Sasuke-kun or going on a rampage now can we?''
''Release me, vermin.'' He hissed, sending off waved after wave of killing intent that usually had people buckling at the knees. ''I may spare your life if you do.''
''Oh but I can't do that, see.'' He gestured down below them and Madara went cold from the inside out when he saw thousands of Uchiha and Senju both standing beneath his feet, in the same state that he was. Edo Tensei, a part of his head whispered, recalling that terrible jutsu his own lover had thought up. ''We need someone to lead this marvelous army to war against Konoha and the other Great Nations, after all. And who better than Uchiha Madara himself?''
''I will not attack my own village,'' he protested in a his even as he felt his body moving towards the edge of its own accord, readying for the dizzying jump that would kill any other normal human being or shinobi. Madara had made and survived leaps higher than these as a teenager.
''Worry not.'' Black Zetsu whispered in his ear as he came to the edge. ''The Infinite Tsukuyomi will soon overtake the world and they will not suffer for long.''
And despite how much he resisted, these restraints he could not break, they did not waver under his rage or chakra.
And so Uchiha Madara jumped into another war he wanted to have nothing to do with.
As he landed on the battlefield, several hundred paces in front of the Uchiha-Senju-random Edo Tensei shinobi army, he finally took in who he was fighting against. There were various shinobi there of ages from fifteen and above, all the way to a couple of people Madara remembered from his own life. He frowned when he saw only one of Tobirama's students and only Tsunade felt like a Senju. There was not a single living Uchiha within the opposing forces but there was one Uzumaki child, even if half of his chakra felt more like those blond dandelions called Namikaze. When his Sharingan eyes honed in on Mito's only living clansman for miles and miles, the boy's coloring confirmed the second part of his heritage. He had sun kissed skin, blue eyes and blond hair that bordered on yellow and he was dressed in some stupid orange clothes. There was another Uzumaki signature heading towards Konoha but that was it. No more living Uzumaki anywhere.
Behind himself, though, he could feel three Uzumaki signatures intermixed with the Senju and the Uchiha but keeping a wide berth from everyone else. One of those signatures reminded him of the blond boy - must be his mother - while the other younger signature held the familiar tinge of his own eyes' power, meaning he was the same Uzumaki boy that had been gifted with Madara's eyes for Zetsu's sick plans. The third Uzumaki signature behind himself was Mito herself, an Edo Tensei just like he himself was, restrained and unwilling and controlled. She felt worried and Madara didn't need to be a genius to guess as to why. She was expected to fight her only daughter despite having died many years ago.
Within the masses of the Uchiha and Senju, he felt his own parents, Hikaku, Kagami and Izuna, as well as Senju Butsuma, a woman that felt Uzumaki but not quite and Toka, killing intent rolling off of them in waves at being put in such a vulnerable and helpless position. Beside Kagami, Madara felt his childhood friend, that Akamichi he used to be on a team with under Tobirama, and on his other side was a young teen that felt vaguely like him, as though he were a descendant. There were dozens upon dozens young signatures intermixed with the adult ones but there was only a handful of Uchiha children - if a shinobi was still a child from the ages of thirteen to eighteen - and that angered him. Hadn't he and Hashirama made it painfully obvious that killing children was strictly forbidden? Was he going to have to teach these new generations that lesson as well?
What had him snarling with rage and his own killing intent spiking so that even a completely untrained civilian could feel it was when he felt the damned brothers who had attacked his lover. He managed to turn his head enough to the side to catch a glimpse of those towering Kumo giants and the growl that left his lips was reminiscent of the glower of the huge fox that had that once followed him home. Perhaps not even the Kyuubi's growl could be as scary as his was right now, for rows upon rows of highly trained, dead and now immortal shinobi flinched back from him as much as their current state allowed. Madara didn't care how many of those rows were made up of Uchiha - the ones he knew and completely new faces - and how cowardly that was of them - he hated weakness and cowardice. All he cared about was that Tobirama's killers were right there, within reach. All he had to do was turn around and charge-
He remained rooted to the spot and his head was slowly turning around to face forward again, his eyes landing on scared shitless shinobi whose fear was almost palpable. He didn't need the Inuzuka's heightened sense of smell to scent their fear, nor did he really need his chakra detection skills to sense it. It was clear on their faces, in their body language, the way their hands shook or how tightly they were gripping their weapons. He sensed the lack of fear in only a couple shinobi present and he had to commend them for their courage.
Tsunade was looking at him with heartbreak, anger and a bittersweet happiness when he finally met her gaze. She was standing by that Tobirama's student that had spent his whole youth glaring at Madara whenever he was around the white haired Senju that was his lover. He was that Shimura boy that had been with the Sarutobi boy and Kagami when Itachi interfered in the last clash before peace, Madara remembered. He remembered Kagami complaining about him being too suspicious to be healthy, too paranoid. He was old now. Very old. Older than Madara looked or felt. He was glaring at Sasuke the same way Madara wished he could be. At least some of that hero-worship for Itachi stayed.
He could not find any other of Kagami's teammates. He could sense that kunoichi and the glasses wearing guy back in Konoha, hidden away with civilians - cowards, sending young people to fight in wars while they hid behind the security of the village walls; Madara hated that about his Elders the most: they demanded of others things they would not do themselves, bitter and old and retired from active duty as they were - but he could not sense that same Sarutobi boy Itachi had saved. He was not on either side of the field or within Konoha's walls. In fact, he could not sense him in any of the Five Nations when he spread his senses. He could sense a young man behind himself that felt somewhat like him and a boy in the village with the same Sarutobi chakra signature, as well as a yet to be born life in a woman's womb, but the should-be old man was nowhere within his sensing range and his was only second to Tobirama's or an Uzumaki's.
"Kagami!" He called, relieved that he can at least talk, although he wasn't sure any of those who knew him well were overly happy that he can use his loud voice again. Without the need of air, he could be a whole lot louder than even they were used to and Madara planned to eventually use that as soon as the opportunity presents itself. It ought to be interesting to see how these new generations dealt with being yelled at by one of the most prominent figures in history. Loudest, too. He felt Kagami's chakra signature spike in a manner he had learned meant people were listening or were at attention. He didn't wait for any more confirmation that he had his clansman's attention. "Where is that Sarutobi friend of yours?"
"My father has sealed himself away with the Shodaime and Nidaime three years ago." The Sarutobi he could sense behind him answered and Madara felt like his whole world had just fallen under him for who knows which time in his existence. No wonder the two most powerful Senju were not present. Madara knew just what seal the Sarutobi was talking about. The spike in both Mito's and the other female Uzumaki's chakra said it all. So it wouldn't matter if he could return to the afterlife now. He will never see his lover again. He will never see his best friend again, either. No matter what he does now, neither of the Senju brothers - his oath sworn brothers, brothers he chose for himself - will be by his side ever again.
"What of Itachi?" What of the little brother he had adopted? What of the man he had made Uchiha so he would no longer be clanless? What of the man that had always brought peace and clarity in spades? The one who had made Konoha possible?
The presence so similar to Kagami's perked up, a pair of young eyes boring into his back in acute interest. "You know my cousin?" His brows furrowed in suspicion. "How do you know my cousin?" Another three Uchiha perked up at this as well, one a girl of thirteen and two adults somewhere in their late thirties, early forties.
Izuna answered for him. "Itachi was our brother by oath and village founding. We adopted him into the clan."
"He helped about bringing peace between our people." Hikaku added.
"He was a very close friend. We adopted him as well." Toka huffed from Butsuma's left, said man twitching as badly as Madara's own father was at the news of Itachi being both a Senju and an Uchiha. The two adults, the thirteen year old girl and the sixteen year old boy that felt similar to Kagami were all gawking at them, Madara could just tell.
"As did we. He held my and Hashirama's wedding ceremony." Mito added the final nail and every single Uchiha that has been only eight years dead shrieked a startled "WHAT!?" that had Obito and Sasuke and their companions frowning in confusion. Across the battlefield, Tsunade's and the Shimura's interest was peaked.
"It must be another Itachi," a brunet man protested. "My son should be only twenty one, twenty two years old at most." Toka honed in on him with a scary intensity and Mito felt no less displeased. Madara understood. He, Izuna and Hikaku were no less irritated. They knew the story of Itachi's childhood. 'So this is the man who neglected our Itachi,' their chakra's sang in harmony. Itachi's suffering was no easy topic and they had all sworn they would never forgive those who were responsible for it. Call them overprotective or overbearing but they had come to love Itachi like their own and none of them were going to ignore the fact that some of the people who were responsible for that occasionally painful expression that set in Itachi's eyes or face. This man better be grateful that he was dead already because Madara was sure none of them would have left him alive for much longer.
''So you're Shisui?'' Madara asked of the young shinobi by Kagami's side.
''H-hai.''
''Well, I wish to thank you for being Itachi's friend. He treasured you greatly and never forgot you death.'' He was going to say more but he felt a pull in his mind and his body stiffened. It would seem the caster of the Edo Tensei had gotten sick of waiting and wanted to see some action. Madara took an unwilling step forwards and everyone behind him quieted down. Some of the shinobi opposite of him took an instinctive step back. He took another step forwards, and another and another before he was running into the fray of emboldened shinobi. Their roar was an all too familiar thing, even if it was a new combination of voices.
With a grim expression, Madara was thrown into another war, fighting thousands of shinobi by himself for cowards and weakling who could not do it themselves. He was not pleased and awaited with bathed breath - that he didn't really need now - to be set free so he can kill them. For now, he was too busy hiding the best of his abilities from the caster's knowledge.
After all, he would never want to use some of his best and deadliest techniques against his own village.
