Chapter 45 | The Death of Kings X
Madara opened his eyes.
Yayoi sat to his left, eyes shut, with an aura of tranquility about her in her current meditative state.
He found his body aching as he lifted it to a seat. He supposed it was the result of having been asleep for too long. Looking down, he found Mio's sphere around his neck when it should have been around hers protecting her.
"It's about time you woke up," came Takuto's voice from behind him.
He did not realize Takuto was sitting in the corner of the room nor did he expect to find him there. "Why do I possess Mio's sphere?"
"Because Mikazuki Gouki poisoned you with one of the deadliest poisons in existence and in an attempt to prolong your life whilst she procured an antidote to said poison, Mio made you Shugosha."
"And Mio…?"
He needed the confirmation.
"She is now married to Mikazuki Gouki as part of the exchange." Takuto possessed a different air about him. "Izuna and Taiga set out with Kayami and Shin to challenge the Mikazuki clan and retrieve Mio."
"Why did you remain?" He glimpsed at Yayoi. "Both of you."
"Because we are guardians and our duty is to protect you."
Madara frowned. "Mio is the one in need of protection. You all allowed her to go to the Earth Country—"
"I would have gladly followed Mio to the Earth Country," said Takuto, "but she tasked me with saving you, prolonging your life further—beyond the power of the Time Sphere if need be. She left to trade her freedom for an antidote to save you. She probably had no idea if it was real or a fake. I stayed to make sure Mikazuki Gouki did not make a fool of her and that you would survive. As you can see, you are alive. Healthy I might add and completely immune to all forms of artifact poison, as are Yayoi, Shinya-sama, and myself."
"You did your part," Madara acknowledged gratefully, but that did not sooth him completely. Mio remained in danger. "Why did you not go with Shin if you were done with your duties here?"
"Because I was waiting for you to wake," the Kuronuma answered. "Mio said she wanted to start a war and that she wanted you to save her. Yayoi and I are here to follow you if you decide to follow your brother into battle."
Then there was no time to waste.
Madara disturbed Yayoi's meditation to ask her to prepare to leave. She let out a startled cry at the sight of him, admitting that she had not expected him to wake for another couple of weeks.
"Your timing is perfect," she said, nodding. "Izuna left a few days ago. If they traveled quickly, they should be in position to invade. Unless they have already invaded, then we might be a little late."
"Has there been other news concerning Mio?" he asked, as Takuto gathered his things into a bag.
Yayoi stared at him sorrowfully. "She's married."
"I told him," Takuto commented. "I expected him to be a little more devastated, but what can we do?"
"You aren't even a little devastated?" asked Yayoi.
"Why would I be devastated?" Madara asked, irritated.
Takuto and Yayoi gapped at him.
"Does Mio mean nothing to you?" demanded Yayoi. "You should be seething at the thought of another man putting his hands all over your woman? You do know everyone is calling her your woman, right? Your enemies are targeting her, or so intelligence says. You should take better
care of Mio and stop letting her run off to do reckless things like this."
"I do not recall owning Mio. She does as she pleases, and if I remember correctly, you used to hate her," Madara said, hoping to dismiss her prying.
"That was before she hit my beautiful face," Yayoi admitted. "I like her now! She could use some work, like maybe comb her hair out more often because when you look better than she does on a daily basis it's a cause for worry."
"How do you know she does not comb her hair? She wears it up all the time," Madara answered, feeling stupid for paying the comment any mind. The fools were sucking him into their gravitational pull of stupidity.
Yayoi made a face that said his comment had proven her point.
"Are you saying she's untidy?" asked Takuto, offended.
"I actually feel she was reasonable looking," said the Uzumaki, who he found sitting behind Takuto's worktable. He did not see her there before, but judging by the open door and the trail of crumbs, she had entered while everyone was getting off topic. She was lean with brazen features and short red hair, her eyes a clear green. "She is not as beautiful and refined as Mito-sama, but she is not a troll. Tobirama said she was a troll."
"Who are you?" Madara asked, ignoring her remark. Tobirama was half blind and a fool. "And why are you here?"
"Uzumaki Nako," she introduced. "I stayed because—"
"She stayed to break everything," Yayoi interrupted. At the Uzumaki's affront, she continued, "Do not make that face, you have done nothing but wreck the place. It is as if you came here to cause turmoil only nobody is taking you seriously so you have adopted the part of the klutz to grab everyone's attention."
"I stayed because I wanted to," Nako corrected snobbishly.
"She stayed because she doesn't know her way back to the Ito Village," Takuto said. "And when given a map, she managed to run around in circles for three days until Izuna felt enough pity for her to offer her to stay…until you woke and decided what to do with her."
Madara stared at the Uzumaki, preferring not to deal with her when there were bigger issues at hand. He trusted his brother was careful with the type of information that passed within the compound with the Uzumaki. However, the bigger concern was Takuto's attitude. He did not understand the easiness members of the Kuronuma clan brought. The world could be ending and a Kuronuma would find a way to start an inappropriate conversation that would draw others to adopt the same mannerisms.
"I expect you both ready in ten minutes," he ordered, looking from Yayoi to Takuto, both nodding. He faced Nako, the Uzumaki straightened, arms firmly at her sides. "If Uzumaki Mito was taken captive with Mio, the Uzumaki and Senju clan will mobilize if they cannot agree to terms with the Mikazuki clan. You can find your way to them if you travel with us to the Earth Country."
Nako nodded. "Got it."
Turning to Takuto, he continued, "I want the remaining artifacts." He sensed them within the building, but like the time in his sleep, he could not pinpoint their exact location. "A Shugosha can assign guardians right?"
Takuto nodded. "Perhaps you should wait for Mio to make a decision—"
"Mio is not Shugosha," he said, silencing the Kuronuma. "I am assigning guardians."
"You should reconsider," Yayoi reasoned. "You need to learn a few things about the artifacts before assigning them."
"Once you do, you should distribute them properly as well," said Takuto. "Too many artifacts within one clan would cause a rift between our current collective."
"Doesn't the Senju clan have two?" asked Nako, though her comment went on ignored.
"The guardians will be temporary," Madara clarified. "The Uzumaki will take one of the artifacts. Show them to her and have her choose."
"I want the eyeball," said Nako excitedly. "I heard there was an eyeball. Unless Hashirama was lying, I want the eyeball. There better be an eyeball."
"Mio will be angry," Yayoi said.
"With me," Madara remarked, then gestured to Nako as he headed for the door. "Give her the Dragon's Eye."
As he made his way down the hallway, he distinctly heard Takuto say, "She's going to be furious."
Madara did not think she would mind. He realized quickly that the artifacts drained chakra constantly, especially if one person carried more than one as he had grown accustomed. Mio's sphere was vastly different. It took more chakra from him, chakra that he later felt surging through his Nature Sphere as he had once been able to distinguish Mio's.
However, if she was to be bothered by his decisions, Mio could do as she pleased when they reunited. Let it be furious with him for giving an artifact to someone she did not approve or not, he would deal with it when they were together.
He readied himself quickly and gathered the three that would accompany him. The compound was vacant with only members of their intelligence division were seen passing through on errands. He ordered one to send a hawk to his brother informing him of his traveling before leaving.
The Uzumaki girl ran on ahead to scout only she met with numerous incidents that made him take the lead. Takuto and Yayoi traveled at his sides like a guard, which made him think of Mio and her desperate need of someone to guard her, not from other shinobi but from doing something as reckless as accepting to marry Mikazuki Gouki, compromising her future, for an antidote that could have been a fake.
An antidote that should have been a fake, he corrected mentally. Ayuka did not do things ethically. She did things efficiently by doing all that they required without paying any mind to the questionable methods employed to see her vision done.
He questioned the antidote when they sat around a burnt out campfire at the break of dawn. They had taken several minutes to discuss the safest routes and other details concerning their movements. Yayoi had complained the entire time, though a journey with her in silence would have been a bad omen.
"Why do you suppose Mio was given the right antidote?" Madara asked.
"Sabotage," Yayoi offered. "Clear sabotage. Someone must have switched the fake antidote with the real one at the last minute because I know for a fact that Ayuka does not want you alive anymore."
"I was not aware she wanted me alive before," he replied. He hadn't. She put him through situations from which he narrowly escaped death.
"She attempted to seize some form of control over you, which she had accomplished by revealing parts of a single pathway that she could spin into a tale of truth," said Yayoi. "She obviously realized controlling you was out of the question, so what need did she have for you?"
"Ayuka has a knack for using underhanded methods to accomplish her goals," Takuto added. "She controlled the outcome of many aspect of Mio's life through the use of underhanded methods. Sending Gouki to her parents, asking Hiryuu to force Sachiyo to take a detour to the cottage knowing she would take Mio and propose raising her. The day she arrived to the Sun Country, it was not mere coincidence. Ayuka planned it. You can assume she has done the same with your life with many of our lives."
Nako asked who Ayuka was after that and received a brief, but accurate description of the woman. "Our highly calculating and intelligent Fate Sphere guardian who is also a tad unhinged."
"A tad?" Yayoi asked dubiously.
"I did not want to be unkind," said Takuto.
"Has she given you reason to be kind?" Madara asked.
"She never singled me out, I am not Mio and I'm not you," he replied, then caught Yayoi staring at him with a bothered expression. "I am not you either."
The priestess scoffed. "Do not think yourself so special," she said. "Ayuka will eventually come after you personally for knowing too much."
The conversation continued where it begun and concluded with speculation.
They traveled faster to cover more ground. Madara assumed Takuto navigated using his artifact, a handheld mirror made of intricately designed black iron. He looked down periodically, taking in whatever he saw reflected in that glass and processing with deep concentration, each time doing so before pinpointing them towards a new direction.
Yayoi's complaints doubled throughout the next couple of hours. "I have a bad feeling about this," she said continuously. "Something is going to happen. There are people there that should not be there."
"Maybe we should stop," Nako suggested.
"No!" Yayoi snapped, though she realized she had spoken too loudly and attempted to rectify it as she continued. "We have to get them out. There are people there that don't belong and we have to get them out."
Madara sensed a large concentration of chakra pulsing from Yayoi that made him come to an abrupt stop. Takuto zipped past him, reaching Yayoi and placing his hands on her shoulders, grabbing her before she moved further. He guided her to a seat, one she initially refused because it was on the dirt road which showed she had some grasp of reality, though she continue urging them forward to take those that did not belong out of danger.
"You are not listening, Takuto, we have to get them out."
Takuto managed to sit her down. He crouched down before her, his hands still on her shoulders. He called out to her numerous times until she met his eyes. He reached out to touch her face and she flinched.
"Who do we need to protect?" asked Takuto patiently.
Yayoi touched his hand, drawing it from her face. "I don't know," she said. "I can't see it clearly. The pathways are diverging. I don't have a grasp on one."
"She is reading the Fate Sphere?"
The priestess nodded gravely.
Takuto stood, turning swiftly and walked to Madara. Nako took the opportunity to speak to Yayoi.
"What is it?" asked Madara, starting to hear voices. Yayoi's voice echoing with the pulse of an artifact he sensed from her that she did not possess. He did not understand being Shugosha. He found it curious and draining, but seeing through the eyes of a Shugosha brought absent vibrancy to the mundane. "She's not a guardian yet. She should not be…"
"Pulsing?" Takuto finished. "The Fate Sphere has been transferring ownership to her for the past several weeks since Shin started training her. He wants her to make the Fate Sphere reject Ayuka completely so that we would have an advantage when it came to running straight into the Earth Country."
"What can she do?" Madara asked, glimpsing at Yayoi. She sat biting her nails in her anxiety, the pulsing he sensed becoming into a rhythmic beat.
"Remote reading," Takuto said. "That's the best explanation for it anyways. She has the same ability as Shinya-sama. The two are able of accessing the Fate Sphere without it being before them. They naturally draw pathways from it and transcribe them in their head without using a medium like Ayuka, who used dirt and blood. Shinya-sama is capable of determining exact pathways. He reads outcomes better than Ayuka ever could. He says Yayoi could be the same. It's almost like predicting an exact future rather than seeing the ever-changing future. It's about predicting decisions and actions, he says, it takes calculation and one knowing a person well—you understand, deciphering them."
Yayoi's gift would be useful once she mastered it, but it could be dangerous.
"What are the drawbacks?"
"It is a constant mental strain. Anyone without discipline would likely go crazy. And it takes decades to master, as expected of any sphere."
Madara looked upon Takuto's mirror. "And yours? What does yours do?"
"I can see things."
"Like Yayoi?"
"No, Yayoi can read pathways. I can see things—anything, anyone that I want in whatever situation they may be at the moment I decide to see them."
He recalled him constantly looked down at its surface. "You have been using it to navigate?"
"To an extent. I was using it to pinpoint your brother's location to ensure we are heading in the right direction."
He nodded, prepared to pursue a different inquiry, but another question escaped him. "Can you see her?"
Takuto understood and nodded.
"Show me."
The Kuronuma tapped the surface of the mirror and handed it to him as his reflection disappeared in the ripples of a new image that rose from the depths of reflective glass. The artifact showed her to him lying on her side in the middle of a large room with her black hair fanned out in waves behind her head. Her thin body was clothed in silk brocade that outlined the curve of her body. She looked as she had always looked in her silence, defeated and miserable. There was a table toppled with different platters of food, but it was untouched. Not even the tea had been sipped and the steam that curled above its green surface was thinning out. She did the same thing in the Sun Country. She avoided the food at times, wary of the cooks preparing it, cooks that worked with her enemies and could easily poison it.
He noticed something else. Lying beside her neck, hanging from it on black cord, there was a sphere.
"She has a sphere?"
"Mio made a fake," Takuto offered in explanation. "She chased down the best gaffer she could find to have a glass sphere made. She went to the Earth Country with a plan. That alone was a comfort."
"Is that possible?"
"If it wasn't, it is now," said Takuto. "Mio is learning her way around the artifacts. She is doing it quickly."
"You know of the artifacts in detail?" asked Madara, seeing his knowledge was extensive when it concerned the artifacts.
"To an extent."
"What does the Time Sphere do?"
He tested the depths of his knowledge with an easy question because he was highly suspicious of the artifacts' unique gifts.
"It unites the other spheres," Takuto answered easily.
No, that was not the answer he wanted. The sphere could do more. He sensed it in the deep darkness. It was more than a connection to the other artifacts and their guardians. He woke with the sphere and felt different. Something in him changed with the sphere.
"What does the Time Sphere do?" Madara repeated.
Takuto stared at him long and hard. "I told you what it does."
"There is more power in this sphere than in my own."
"It's the kingpin," said Takuto. "Kiyohime created it first and from it created nine others. It is as strong as it needs to be. That power is in reserve."
"What does it do?"
Takuto sighed. "The Time Sphere protects its guardian by all means possible against all that poses a threat to him or her," he told him. "It makes its host nearly impossible to kill."
"Mio was aware of this?"
"Not initially, at least not at first," Takuto admitted. "I feel she unconsciously became aware and grew reckless because of it. She has always been keen on survival. That is what she's good at, it's how she survives."
Madara nodded. "She no longer has the sphere."
"No," the Kuronuma said. "She does not."
Silently, the two were aware of what that meant. Mio's recklessness had been accounted to by the Time Sphere that protected its Shugosha from death, but she no longer had the artifact to guarantee her safety. She had a fake, though how good a fake it was a cause for concern.
Yayoi gathered herself from the ground, dusting her simple skirts. She composed herself with Nako at her side. Takuto went to her, taking her arms by the elbows gently, and spoke to her in whispers. She nodded in response, staring up at him with watery eyes.
"We continue moving forward," Madara said when Takuto gave him confirmation that Yayoi would be able to make the rest of the trip.
They reached the Earth Country as the Uchiha clan under his brother's leadership decimated two of its clans. He reached Taiga after having heard his brother advanced towards Nishiki's castle, masquerading as him to incite the participation of Ayuka, Nishiki, or Gouki. However, no word had reached Taiga from Izuna.
"There is a possibility we lost communication along the way," Taiga admitted.
Madara believed in his brother's strength and because of it was sure he was safe, but communication between the two would need to be reestablished. This meant finding the shinobi that were no doubt intercepting their courier birds and it would not be hard for Madara to accomplish this.
"Where is Shin?" Yayoi asked curiously, appearing beside him.
"Do you want him for gawking purposes or do you have a serious inquiry that simply cannot wait?" asked Taiga in teasing manner.
Yayoi was reduced to a puddle of coquettish swaying. She slapped his arm with a giggle. "You know me so well, Taiga-kun," she said, all grins. "I do not understand how you cannot see the amount of perfection we could accomplish together."
Madara shot a look to Takuto, hoping it would prompt him to do something like remove Yayoi while he spoke to Taiga, but the Kuronuma shrugged. Behind him, the Uzumaki managed to slide down a length of stone with an ear-splitting scream. Takuto rolled his eyes and went after her.
"Oh? Are you seducing me, Yayoi?" asked Taiga, prepared to humor her.
Madara spotted Jouji surrounded by young shinobi he sent in different directions and made a beeline for the older man, knowing he could get somewhere with him than with Taiga when he was so pleasantly distracted.
"Is it working?" Madara heard Yayoi ask coyly.
"It might be."
Irritated, Madara turned before reaching Jouji—though the Uchiha was aware of his approach and waiting for them to meet—and shouted, "He is obsessed with Mio, open your damn eyes, Yayoi!"
Yayoi gaped at him, though his initial shout startled her.
"That is quite right," Taiga said, taking a step away from the horrified priestess. "I was in the process of storming the castle and rescuing a princess. Perhaps my actions might merit a—" Although he did not speak the word, he put his index finger to his mouth to indicate what the expected outcome would be.
Huffily, Yayoi stomped to him after Taiga jumped from the rock wall to join the shinobi under his command. "What is wrong with you? I had him!"
"You will find someone better," Madara informed her, but she seemed genuinely upset. "He is only toying with you, it's what he does."
"He is going to steal your woman!" she snapped. "You gave him permission to steal your woman! Knowing Mio, she might just marry him because he rescued her."
"What is more upsetting, this or my thwarting your advances with Taiga?" Madara asked, because he suspected she cared more of his indifference to his romantic entanglements than his intervening. Not that he was indifferent to his affection for Mio. It was simply not the time to discuss these matters.
"This!" she snapped. "How can you be so cruel? Mio came here and married the man she hated most in the world so that she could get an antidote to heal you. You don't seem to care. The reason you are here is for your brother's sake, not hers."
"It is not the time," he told her, turning to Jouji. "Where was my brother headed?"
Jouji semi-turned and gestured him along the edge of the border. "Up that way. We captured some shinobi that pinpointed Kuronuma Nishiki's castle in exchange for their lives. Izuna-sama is pursuing that lead."
Madara gathered Takuto and Nako informing them that they would move along the border to meet his brother before he acted. Yayoi followed reluctantly, asking any and all that passed her by for Shin's whereabouts. Nobody seemed to know where the Kuronuma went only that he was within the country at one point and disappeared the next.
The second time he found Taiga, he threw the Vision Sphere in his direction. "Keep that out of enemy hands," he told him, earning a horrified look from Takuto, who went onto assure him that Mio would kill him for making The Nameless One a guardian. He told the Kuronuma that he would deal with Mio's wrath when it came, hoping that she would be unharmed when it did.
As the four moved along the border in the direction Jouji pointed them towards, Madara stopped abruptly in the center of one of the many gigantic rocks. A powerful pulse shot through him that nearly knocked him over. He recognized this fast-approaching chakra and drew his gunbai when he caught sight of the first Senju. He attacked him with a powerful wind technique that knocked him off his trajectory, driven by instinct, and felt his blood rush as he activated his Sharingan.
"What are you doing?" shouted Nako.
Hashirama was close.
Madara spotted him and moved forward, only stopped when Takuto clapped a hand on his shoulder and through sheer strength kept him immobilized. "What are—?"
"We are here for Mio's sake. They are here for their captured comrades and because Mio is Shugosha," said Takuto sternly. "This is not one of your battles. The artifacts were founded on protection. You will not sully them with your blood wars." He stepped forward authoritatively. "I will speak to them. Nako, come with me."
Takuto went on ahead with Nako in tow to meet with Hashirama.
Vexed, Madara took Yayoi and continued onward to meet his brother. He could not see why Mio made not one but two Senju guardians. She was an Uchiha. They were natural born enemies that could not sow friendships without them falling apart. He and Hashirama tried once. They shared their dreams of unity and a village where shinobi could live peacefully. However, it was impossible. Soon as they had known one another's true identities and had seen things for what they were, they had acknowledged the truth.
He did not care what the Senju did only that they did not interfere with his reaching Mio.