The events in this chapter take place after Izuna's POV in chapter 19.
I always knew Izuna had it in him. Think of this as the introduction to his quest to conquer the world.
Chapter 28 | The Slumbering Beast I
The Waterfall Country had been cold on the day Ito Takuei returned to take Tomoji's place as leader. He had been called from his post at Madara's side in the Sun Country, leaving Ito Kaname temporarily in charge of his post until he assigned another shinobi to take over fulltime. Izuna had lingered an evening longer as a courtesy, he owed the Ito clan a debt after Ito Tomoji had taken him in and helped in his training, but also because Takuei had returned from the Sun Country with new information on the situation. Takuei had asked to see him before he had met anyone else where they sat in an empty meeting room.
"Tomoji spoke highly of you," said Takuei. The sharp angles of his face were more pronounced. He looked thinner, emaciated for his tall, rangy build. "In fact, he spoke only of you. You were his second-in-command. I heard you were present when he was injured and that you dragged him off the battlefield after killing his murderer."
"I did what I was asked," Izuna replied, aware his even tone would get a rise out of the older shinobi.
Takuei raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise blinking into his eyes for a long second. "And that is what sets you apart from your brother," he said simply. "You are the obedient one."
Izuna felt a smile curl his lips.
"Do you find that amusing?" Takuei asked edgily.
Whatever information he brought from the Sun Country wasn't any he couldn't learn from his brother when they met. So, Izuna leaned forward, bring one leg up to stand. "Yes," he said, "because Madara is the obedient one."
Izuna left the meeting room and gathered the Ito clansmen that would be accompanying him to the Sun Country. Takuei was standing in front of the exiting cave when they made an attempt to leave. His arms were folded over his chest and his stance was rigid. None of the Ito shinobi at Izuna's back had informed him of their departure, so he assumed Takuei came to berate them all and send Izuna out on his own before proceeding to break the alliance Tomoji established with the Uchiha clan. He had expected no less from Takuei.
"You left our meeting early," Takuei began. "It was quite rude of you."
"I am in a hurry," he said with a smile.
"That is well with me. I only wished to inform you that the Ito clan will continue providing your clan with support," Takuei said. "You may keep this Ito village as a base of operations, but I will be moving the clan to a safer location within the next couple of days. Your grandmother will be entrusted with the information of our new dwelling as well as be charged with the fostering of Tomoji's daughters. Perhaps, in your journey, you might reconsider one to wed as originally intended. Our alliance needs to be stronger if we hope to survive the upcoming war."
"The wars have already settled here and we have endured them," said Izuna. "I have no doubt we will survive them. However, I do suggest you consider increasing your numbers. There are lesser clans in the Waterfall Country; some more powerful than you may think and they are open to an alliance. The Mikazuki-Uchiha alliance is growing stronger with every battlefield they conquer and we must strive to defeat their leaders."
"The wars we have endured to this day are mere child's play," said Takuei. "You will learn this when you arrive to the Sun Country, but that nation is ruled by a wicked man and your brother is his prisoner." He waved his hand in a swift gesture at Izuna's first attempt to interrupt. "You must listen carefully. I am certain the Sun Country is behind many things in these times of war and I have reason to believe it has to do with one of their commanding officers, a woman called Ayuka. If you dare enter that country, you must be wary of that woman most of all and you must obey the king. He is a power-hungry buffoon willing to sacrifice anything and everything for his goals. Whatever those goals may be, I do not want them to come into fruition if they will threaten the existence of shinobi. The Sun Country must be stopped."
"A world without shinobi?" he asked dubiously.
"I do not doubt it."
"I thought Madara managed to persuade them to join our alliance," Izuna said strongly. "What is he thinking becoming their prisoner?"
"I do not think he was given a choice. The only reason he is allowed to roam freely is because he is under the protection of Motou Ayuka," Takuei said hurriedly. "That woman is holding something over him. I do not know what it is, but you might be able to uncover it. He is your brother and you are close."
He nodded dumbly. The last time he had seen Madara had been three months ago and he had been furious at him for no other reason than being angry with himself. He had imagined his encounter with Mio would have been different and that when he had told her the truth about his intentions that she might smile and say she reciprocated his affection. However, Mio had informed him she had pursued Taiga out of love and that she had never seen him as anything other than a brother.
The scene replayed in his mind in an endless loop for days, reminded him of his humiliation and the fact that Madara had warned him against doing something impulsive (like chasing down Mio to protect her from Konoe). Izuna had wanted to punch his brother's face in for being right and he had been so angry at himself that he decided to ignore all of Madara's attempts at communicating with him. Even if he had let Madara talk, he would have badmouthed Mio and he had no desire to get angrier at him.
Izuna honestly did not see what Mio saw in Taiga. He was a rat.
"I will do what I can," Izuna replied.
"If you discover anything strange, report it back to me," Takuei said. "You will have the Ito clan's full support on the island. Kaname is standing in your place for the moment, but once you arrive, every shinobi will be under your command."
"What do you intend to do once you move the village?" asked Izuna, trying not to seem too shocked about becoming the commanding officer of all Ito clan affairs in the Sun Country.
"I am going to investigate the Mikazuki clan and offer a portion of my remaining army to your father. I heard he and his Sand Dome clans ran into trouble when a rampaging beast with one tail assaulted their campsite," Takuei said curiously. "How did they manage to defeat the beast? I heard it was powerful and that it was impossible to break through its defenses."
"The Sand Dome clans managed to seal it, but not without casualties," Izuna replied. The fact that the beast had been sealed in their territory had determined who kept it and his father had not been happy about it. Although the fear of it being unleashed again plagued them, they believed it to be one of the legendary tailed beasts and hoped to learn a way for it to benefit in their war.
Izuna bowed his head, cutting the conversation short. He gave Takuei an oath to follow through with monitoring things in the Sun Country and left.
He began a long journey through a continent plagued with war, but he faced no impediments from the Waterfall Country to the raging sea separating the Lightning Country from the Sun Country. He learned in his travels that he and rocking boats did not fare well together when he found himself leaning over the edge vomiting throughout the voyage.
Nevertheless, Izuna arrived at the docking port of the Sun Country. Above the skies were covered in storm clouds he had watched roll towards his destination on the ship and felt their light rain at his back as he stepped onto the white sand. The Sun Country from afar was a land covered in white sand and giant forests, but up close, he could see an enormous mountain located nearby.
Izuna walked onto a leveled path, his stomach's unrest subsided now that he was on land, but no sooner had the relief consumed him that a grand quake shook the ground beneath him. He managed to stay upright, but a little disheveled and with a cramping stomach, while others had fallen.
"I sense a large concentration of shinobi located beyond the giant trees," said an Ito sensor.
"A war against the Senju clan?" another Ito shinobi contributed.
"The Senju were called away from the island," Izuna replied. Information on the matter had been scarce, but he believed it to be true. Word of Senju Hashirama's return to the continent spread within a week's time and he had heard the Senju had been swamped with propositions requesting aid against the Mikazuki-Uchiha alliance's invasions. "An internal war, perhaps?"
The earth trembled with every shockwave. Distant explosions reached Izuna's ears. The dark clouds ahead thundered and lightning flashed, the rainfall increased, crashing down heavily on the ground, spotting the road ahead with giant puddles.
A voice reached his group and a young boy appeared from seemingly out of nowhere running towards the dock. "Captain!"
The boy looked very much like a member of the Kuronuma clan with his shaggy white hair stuck to his olive-skinned face and pale eyes wearing skins and furs appropriate for the extreme weather throughout Kurata. He came to a halting stop after drawing the attention of the ship's captain, the older man leaned forward the edge Izuna had claimed throughout the voyage with a glint in his green eyes, gesturing the boy on board.
Once aboard the ship, the boy caught Izuna staring and mouthed something to him, words he questioned after making sense of them.
Beware the Hag.
The boy slipped into the ship's small cabin as the captain started making preparations for a return voyage despite the sea raging behind him.
"Where are we headed?" asked the sensor, drawing Izuna from perplexing thoughts.
"To meet my brother and hopefully find Kaname along the way," Izuna decided, walking on ahead of them in the direction of the castle structure situated in a flat surface with the mountain curved around it to form a wall.
"Shouldn't we greet the king first?" asked the dark-skinned shinobi to his left.
Takuei's description of the man came into mind. "Do either one of you want to go ahead?" he asked, regarding his modest group of seven. Silence was his response and with a shrug, he said, "Then, he can wait."
The last he heard of Kaname was that he was in charge of watching over the Sun Temple priestess, Motou Yayoi, whom Izuna met three months ago, in Madara's place. He was stationed in one of the villages behind the mountainous area and while heavy rainfall made it a hazardous travel, Izuna and his group found their way around to a cluster of poor villages filled with people that scrambled back into their homes at the sight of them. Their fear disturbed Izuna.
"Your brother is approaching," his sensor said.
No later had the man said it that Madara appeared in the distance, walking with Kaname. The two were drenched to the bone and in full armor. They had fresh wounds, lightly gauzed, and carried with them all their weapons, prepared to use them if necessary.
However, Madara saw it was him and his expression changed.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"Did Takuei fail to mention he would send someone to take his place?" Izuna asked, bothered by his brother's tone. "He assigned me."
"Why didn't you send word beforehand?" Madara continued.
"I wasn't aware I needed permission to enter the island," Izuna remarked.
"The king is very strict when it comes to new visitors," Madara said. "You will need to present yourself to him. All of your men." He turned to the shinobi at his side. "Kaname will take you. Tell Enki that I sent you personally."
Izuna frowned, feeling more than a little annoyed as he followed Kaname's lead towards the castle in the mountains. He watched his brother run off to rejoin whatever battlefield was raging on the island and saw his presence was unwelcomed. Even Kaname, the brown-haired shinobi who was loyal to a fault, avoided all inquiries involving the king, island, or Madara's destination. His suspicion rose and a new emotion unwound in his chest, one he that made him uncertain.
The castle was a powerful stronghold with a high tower and various structures surrounding it complete with the Motou place of worship. The conditions here were vastly different from what he had seen in the cluster of broken down villages, as were the people wandering around—shinobi in armor and women in blood red robes—contrary to the others with their dirty clothes hanging off their emaciated bodies. The contrast between the two was worlds apart and it appalled him to think the king was responsible for allowing war to wear down on his citizens so much, they looked to be passing hunger. He had been present in similar situations with daimyo's before, but it was customary for them to notify their people to move to a safer location. However, he understood that not everything was possible and whatever conditions those people endured, they did it because a war needed to be fought.
Kaname asked them to wait outside the castle tower in the center of everyone's sight where the looks were as unwelcoming as his brother's reaction. Takuei's words seemed to be proving true. Perhaps his brother was indeed a prisoner—one of those privileged prisoners who had the right amount of freedom for the concept of hostage to go right over their heads, but had rules to remind them of it. If that was the case, Izuna prepared to meet the famous Sun King, hoping he attempted to take him hostage as well to find a way to circumvent the situation.
A woman in expensive robes and long red hair exited with a freckled girl holding an umbrella over her head. The strange woman stared him down with a slight crease forming between her eyebrows and a deceptive smile on her face.
"I never did expect to meet you, Uchiha Izuna," she drawled, feigning her astonishment. "I am Motou Ayuka, a priestess of the temple, and Enki heika's first commander." She waved in the direction of her shivering attendant. "This is Motou Kikumi, she is my successor."
Izuna smiled innocently. "Is the king going to see me or keep me out in the cold for the rest of the week?"
"I apologize, but the king is not available for visitors," she returned in a pleasant tone. "You should consider returning to the continent."
"I suppose he won't mind my removing the entire Ito clan from the island," he said, equally pleasant.
The cheer in Ayuka's expression went out like a candle. She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "You should not be here," she said. "This is too dangerous a place for a child."
"My being here in not your concern," Izuna said, the humor in his expression and tone remaining. "I came to greet your king as all new visitors should because my brother sent me here. So, will you move out of the way so I can get the pleasantries done with and assume my post?"
Ayuka did not budge.
Izuna shoved past her, eliciting a surprised gasp as she whirled around to chase him down, but was pushed aside several times more as his men stepped in after him. He heard her shout to the others to stop him from moving forward and Izuna met with resistance in the eyes of every Motou shinobi and holy man and woman in the building. Seeing they had drawn their weapons, Izuna dragged his sword from the sheath hanging on his back and gave his men the signal to follow him as he rushed the group of Motou on the staircase.
The once quiet tower sang with the sound of clashing metal and destruction. Heavy bodies came crashing through the walls, the inner structure of it suffered as its small confides made it difficult for anyone to maneuver through a fight without cutting a support beam. He met several Ito shinobi in Kaname's presence when he reached the second floor's landing and gave him an ultimatum, to obey him or die. Kaname spread the word to the others, informing them Izuna was there on Takuei's behalf and joined him immediately. A sizeable group broke away to join his companions downstairs while another group accompanied him upstairs.
Izuna went on ahead to thin out their numbers and reached the fourth floor when Ayuka hacked her way through the Ito shinobi in the staircase looking crazed. He activated his Sharingan and countered her furious assault with a single fluid movement. She maneuvered her blade and tried to strike from above, but he hit her wrist with the hilt of his blade knocking it from her.
She tsked as it clattered far from her reach and she brought her hands together, drawing back with both of her cheeks puffing. She unleashed her jutsu, spitting out a stream of grimy dark liquid with a reddish tint, and he jumped back onto the staircase. His eyebrows furrowing as he saw the ground broke away in chunks and fell away in ash. She looked displeased with the outcome and drew one of the giant scrolls at her back instead, peeling it apart to reveal many seals on it.
More weapons?
Annoyed, Izuna pulled out several kunai attached by strings. He threw them at her, missing purposely as she avoided them, running around the gaping hole and behind the sturdy beam to take cover while unsealing various shuriken and kunai that followed his trajectory around the third floor's landing. He came to a halt, standing across the room facing her. She prepared another barrage of weapons and he sacrificed his left shoulder to one of her daggers to set his trap for her. He felt the sharp metal stab into his skin deep with a force that knocked him into a wall and kept him still a moment too long.
He sent another batch of kunai at her, each of the handles were wrapped with explosive notes, and she drew a hatchet from her giant scroll to knock them off their course. When the kunai knocked against her weapon, each detonated, one after the other.
The shock in her expression was the last thing he saw before everything flashed white. Izuna escaped the explosion through a window to his left. He leaped from rooftop to rooftop and struggled to scale the high mountain wall surrounding the castle. Once he made it to the top, he sat down to watch the high, proud tower come crashing down, chunks of splintered, burning would, roof tiles, and the lavish golden decorations came falling from the sky like the rain. Everyone in the castle was running around frantic, shouting for their king and for Motou Ayuka.
The Ito sensor that accompanied him to the island met him at the ledge with one of their medics, who immediately came to his aid. He helped by forcing the dagger from his body, but might have caused more damage because the medic made a disapproving remark about being too forceful.
"Your brother will be displeased," a voice called off to his left.
Izuna recognized Kyouya, one of his clan's sensors, dark haired and brooding. He stood cross-armed and in full armor like the rest of them.
"Takuei-san will be livid," the Ito sensor added.
Izuna removed his cloak and the layers her wore under to allow the medic to allow him better access to his wound.
"Motou Ayuka will have you all killed," Kyouya continued. "She will order you skinned even if you are Madara-sama's brother."
Izuna rolled his eyes, flinching at a stab of pain on his shoulder. The medic pressed his glowing hands on his back, starting to heal the damage. "You are fortunate to have an arm, Izuna-sama."
"That woman is as old as time and you have made an enemy of her," Kyouya said, annoyed by the fact that he was ignoring him. "Do you know how difficult it was for your brother to repair his relationship with the king? That woman remedied it and you attempted against her life, your brother owes her a debt."
Everyone was fluttering below putting out the fires and sifting through the rubble, shouting endlessly until a strange silence fell. The robed men and women all rushed to meet a heavy-set man with burn wounds and a receding hairline being hauled around by shinobi bearing a black sunburst insignia on their clothes.
His booming voice echoed, reaching him. "WHO DID THIS?"
"Is he the king?" asked Izuna.
"Yes, that is the king," Kyouya confirmed.
"Tell him I want to meet him," he said, staring at the outraged shinobi. "Say that he must greet me here and that I hope we can be civil."
The two shinobi with him expressed their amusement with chuckles.
Kyouya did not budge. "I take orders from Madara-sama."
Izuna gestured for his sensor to go in Kyouya's steed and he jumped down to join the rest with a curt nod. The crowd surrounding their outraged king parted at the sight of the Ito shinobi making his way forward and Izuna watched, enthralled, as the expression on the man's face twisted into one of dark fury. He lifted his narrow eyes to him with a vicious snarl and in his anger, shoved past his people to stomp his way to Izuna.
"How dare you?" the king spat, his wan face reddening. "How dare you come onto my island and destroy my home? Who do you think you are?"
"I am Uchiha Izuna," he answered with a cheerful smile. "I traveled from the Waterfall Country to take Takuei-san's place as the Ito clan's representative."
Staring down at the king, Izuna had to wonder in what universe his brother would be taken prisoner by him. The mere thought of it was humiliating. Everything Takuei had warned him about, being wary of a woman called Ayuka, whom he fought against briefly, and the power-hungry buffoon of a king. He imagined conditions to be vastly different, but he arrived to the sight of withering villages and a fortress of a castle that served to fulfill a foolish king's overindulgence while shinobi fought his battles for him.
"I will have you killed!" the king threatened. "You trespassed and killed many of my men! You even dare injure Ayuka-sama! You have put an end to whatever alliance I had with the Ito clan! It is done, now get out!"
The medic patched up his shoulder and stood. Izuna started to don his clothes, though it made no difference as they were wet and heavy hanging off his shoulders, increasing the pressure in his shoulder. He jumped down to join the indignant king and offered him a mock bow.
"Can you afford to lose the Ito clan as an alliance?" asked Izuna. "I can ask every Ito shinobi on this island to vacate it, but you risk losing support from the Uchiha clan. I can take them from you, too, and I am sure you need my brother's protection and that of his shinobi to sleep through the night without the threat of betrayal."
Enki bristled. "Madara will not betray me easily."
"I am his blood," Izuna clarified. "You are nothing but a temporary employer and once your contract expires, Madara could easily raise an army with one of your enemies and end you with it."
"Nothing can be done, Enki heika."
Izuna looked past the king to Ayuka, who stood oozing blood from the burn wounds on her arms. To her right, her attendant Kikumi glared at him.
"There will be consequences!" Enki roared.
"We cannot lose the alliance to the Ito clan," Ayuka said, dripping venom. She held his gaze as she spoke. "They are imperative. However, we will not bend to the whims of an ignorant child. Consequences will be meted out…in time."
Izuna stood his ground, undisturbed by the implications in her tone.
"For the time being, you must go recover your strength, heika-sama," Ayuka suggested gently, finally breaking eye contact. "Kikumi will accompany you to safer lodgings. Leave the impudent child to me."
Enki left with reluctance, shouting curses and threats to him, and Kikumi followed.
"You are a bigger nuisance than anticipated," Ayuka began, moving forward to stand face-to-face with him. "You have come to this island for reasons unknown to me, but I intend to see you off, dead or alive."
"Until then, where will I be staying?" asked Izuna in response.
Ayuka walked away in silent rage, leaving him to do as he pleased.
xl: I cut the chapter short by a scene in the end, but I only moved it into the next chapter. So, you have a Enki and Ayuka rant scene to look forward to.
Sorry about the delays! But there are more delays to come...I feel like I'm going to get swamped soon. I'll try to get through these chapters to start Mio's (admittedly, I've already about 6k worth of the first part and I love it...still needs refinement...but I love it).
I will post a preview to the next chapter soon.
Thank you Aries01xD and Loteva for reviewing the previous chapters! Thank you to everyone that favorite/followed the story!
And finally, thank you for reading!
Anyone else looking forward to Izuna making Enki miserable? Because he fucking will.
If the me from when I started the story saw what I have done, she would argue that Madara would be more prone to Izuna's actions because Izuna's supposed to be the kindest person in the world (with sass) and I would tell her to shut up because I dug the hole I'm living in. I just see him as being a young boy (remember he's only 15 here) going through the motions of life and the love of his life just rejected him because she's in love with a rat. Youth is so complicated in this story.
I need to be stopped.
Thank you for reading!