Chapter 37: Madara Uchiha

(Disclaimer: read the first chapter of Before the Before, before reading this chapter)

-Battle of Iwa, 422-

"My my Ishikawa. How brave of you, taking a hit for little Onoki." Smirked Madara as he looked over the First Tsuchikage, a wood spike in his shoulder, and a true look of fear on his face.

Behind him stood his grandson, Onoki. The child could only be described as terrified, his eyes wide and a clear surprise on his face.

"You-you can copy bloodlines with those vile eyes." Ground out Ishikawa, his back to his grandchild. "Hashirama should have killed you years ago."

"He tried." Replied Madara as he looked over the area. "I'm still bitter about that. However, I must admit, you are quite the capable shinobi. I was hoping you would come closer than he had. Why do you not use that famous dust release I've heard so much about."

"You treacherous fool, do you think I'm daft? If you were able to copy the wood release, then I doubt you couldn't simply use my own jutsu against me." Replied the Tsuchikage, his eyes narrowing. "No, I'll have to use the gift of the Uzumaki to deal with you."

"Well good, I'll be visiting them next then." Replied Madara as he activated the highest level of sharingan, his eyes morphing once again.

"Onoki, tell Mu that he is the last hope for our village. I was hoping I could watch over him for a few more years. Mu is the Tsuchikage, and you are not to be trained in the ways of the clan, but in the ways of the dust release. Onoki, one day, another person will appear in this very spot. That is one of the effects of this jutsu. Do not trust them easily." Commanded Ishikawa, his eyes narrowing. "I'll do what that fool hashirama couldn't! Fuinjutsu: Displacement of Time!"

-481, Naruto's world-

Madara awoke to find himself in the middle of a clearing, Iwa in the distance. His head throbbing, he tried to sit up, only for his stomach to lurch, forcing him to his back once again.

"What did that jutsu do to me? I feel weak, my body... I have no chakra left." Muttered Madara as he forced himself to his feet. As he took his first look around, he found that the area looked nothing like it had before. Instead of the weak, pitiful wall that had surrounded the village, there now stood large, imposing gates, anchored in a wall that rivaled the very gates of Konoha.

He gazed over the rest of the land, scarred from battles long passed. 'This Damage, this couldn't have happened recently.'

Madara, extremely low on chakra and physically sick, choose to leave before he was spotted. 'Something is very wrong. I believe that jutsu may have... no. No mere ninja can control time.'

-Unknown-

A dark room, three ninja occupying it, fell completely silent as the oldest member stood. Red hair and purple eyes, staring at his two pawns. "The Madara from my time has arrived. Soon, we shall begin making the necessary moves."

"We are just going to let him run amuck?" Asked Madara, this world's Madara.

"We can kill him now." Replied Shisui, his sharingan flexing.

"Foolish boy, you know not the workings of my father's jutsu. You will obey my orders!"

-Konoha, three days later-

Five. Five faces on the Hokage monument. 'Hashirama. Tobirama. Then it appears the Sarutobi fielded a Hokage, little Hiruzen perhaps... the last two. Look like brothers... possibly father and son.'

Madara stood atop mount Izuna, the landmark he named after his brother, and looked down on the village, his eyes focusing on the Hokage monument. 'It does appear that I have been thrown into the future. Perhaps...'

Madara focused his chakra and sped toward an old Uchiha hideout, far from the detection barrier that Mito and Tumaki had set up in his final days there.

It wasn't long until he arrived, the building long forgotten to time as he observed that the roof had caved in, leaving the building unusable to anyone that found it. Madara knew better though. Suppressing his chakra, he jumped into the open foundation of the building. A few stomps and his foot suddenly punched through the floor. Soon after, he was in one of the uchiha clan tunnels. His eyes never faltering as he moved through the partially collapsed tunnel.

'Something is wrong.' Thought Madara as he stopped. 'This tunnel ends after eighty three paces, And then branches to the Hokage tower and the compound.'

Madara suddenly stopped, a large wooden door before him. Feeling uneasy, he opened the door, only to find a large cavern, full of exam tables and rows and rows of shelves, all dusted over and filled with jars of body parts and scrolls.

"A lab?" Madara scanned the room, not finding anything of particular interest, he looked for the continuation of the tunnel.

'How was this build? Has my clan really fallen so low as to experiment on the weak?' Thought Madara as he continued through the lab.

Finding his way to the tunnel again, he continued until he reached a staircase. Checking quickly for chakra signatures, he was somewhat alarmed when he found none. He swiftly moved up the staircase, flipping the boards out of the way until he was standing in another room, once again, a thick layer of dust coating everything.

Madara checked again for his clansman, finding that the clan grounds mostly deserted.

A feeling of dread was slowly filling the pits of his stomach. He fully suppressed his chakra, something he had learned from tobirama, and moved towards the few people that were in the compound.

The scene he found confused him greatly.

He watched as two young men, obviously Uchiha, ate lunch with a young woman, who while looking the part, was definitely a member of the Yuki clan. He watched for almost half an hour, his mind conflicting.

'The seem so peaceful, though the men hold great power. I feel the mangekyo in both of them.' Thought Madara, his mind falling back to his own childhood. 'Just like myself and Izuna. But if they exist, surely there are more uchiha. If two brother have the mangekyo... but the streets are empty. I feel only one other Uchiha in the village...'

Deciding that he could gather no more information here, he moved to find the other Uchiha.

It wasn't until he found a training ground that he realized just how much konoha had really changed. Before, there were simple open field where students and teams could train. Now it seems that most training grounds were constructed, simulation differing environments and focusing on adaptability.

In the middle of this training ground, madara saw an Uchiha with dark red hair, next to him was a senju. 'So the Senju and Uchiha still prosper together. Maybe that's why the uchiha compound is so desolate. Perhaps the Uchiha have integrated into the village. Maybe you were right Hashirama. I suppose the boy does somewhat look like me... that Senju, he is the spitting image of Hashirama's younger brat.'

Madara was shocked as a tall blonde man, roughly the same age as the uchiha from earlier, appeared in a flash of yellow light. 'What?! That was Tobirama's accursed Flying Thunder God! But he used no marker or even a kunai.'

"Shisui, Azumi, how is your meditation coming along?"

Madara nearly lost control of his chakra. Not only did this blonde have tobirama's armor on, but a cloak, which read 'Godaime Hokage'.

'A child? A teenager is the leader of this village?!' Madara paused, his eyes narrowing. 'Azumi... he must be named after his grandfather. If that Uchiha is indeed my own descendant, then this man must be a sensei of some sort. And he would have to be powerful to train the descendants of myself and Hashirama.'

Madara, confidant that he would not be spotted, continued to watch the small group. As the blonde turned, Madara's blood ran cold. On the back of his cloak, were the symbols of the Uzumaki, the senju, and one he wasn't familiar with. 'A hybrid?! The blood of both the senju and the Uzumaki... but where does the blonde come fro...'

The answer slapped him across the face like his wife once had after suggesting a three way. Tobirama. Tobirama had always been a ladies man, with his conquests being konoha's best worst kept secret. But one woman in particular flared into his mind. A blonde woman, the one Tobirama had been with when he was exiled from the village.

'Hirashin, blonde hair, Senju, Uzumaki... Tobirama's descendant, perhaps the fourth was his father... so this village has truly been under senju rule all this time.' Madara was surprisingly calm about that. 'This village seems to have prospered well under senju rule. If tradition seems to hold, then one of these children will become the next Hokage.

Lost in his thoughts, Madara didn't see Naruto turning before it was too late. Thinking quickly, Madara used his control of the wood release to fall backward into the tree he was standing in, traveling as fast as he could out of the area and out of the village, hopefully avoiding being spotted by the apparent Hokage. 'He sensed me! He must be tobirama's descendant, not even Mu could sense me when I compressed my chakra.'

When he felt he was far enough away from the village, he popped out of the ground and took a deep breath. "I need to find out everything that has happened."

Of course, Madara knew what that meant. "I must go to the cats."

-Outskirts of Fire country-

Madara approached the house that he had dreaded for years as a boy, but held absolute loyalty to. Knocking on the door, he was surprised to hear a very familiar voice.

The door opened, and a very old woman, grey hair and cat ears atop her head. "M-madara. Have I died?"

"I don't believe so. May I come in Neko-chan?" Asked Madara kindly.

"No one has called me that in almost sixty years." The old woman muttered, her eyes glossing over. She lead him into the house, where surprisingly little had changed over the years.

The last time Madara had set foot in the house, the woman in front of him had been only fourteen, her mother once had sheltered him and several clan members before the founding of Konoha. Madara had pledged that the Uchiha would take care of her for as long as he was their leader.

In return, the family had kept an eye on the surrounding area. Madara would visit a few times a year. He had been fifteen when the woman in front of him was born.

He sat on the couch, his eyes scanning the many cats in the room. One cat was brave enough to approach him, and it was rewarded with a chin scratch.

"Still a softy. To think, the Madara Uchiha that is still feared by this world." Madara looked up from the cat to see the woman sit down in front of him. "What can I do for you, Madara? After all these years, and you haven't aged a day."

"Neko-chan. I need to know everything, the last year I remember was 422." Replied Madara.

"Oh lord... then I suppose you don't know."

-Two months later-

Madara stood, on his own head at the valley of the end. His mind hadn't stopped running, not sense Neko had told him everything. His clan was slaughtered by one of their own, on the orders of Danzo Shimura. The senju were down to just two known living members, with the Uchiha having three. Madara of course suspected that the Godaime Hokage's second student was a senju, meaning they were at three each.

'Tsunade is still alive. I assume little Sarutobi's other brats are still around... What were their names? Ah yes, Jiraiya and Orochimaru.' He had searched for all the information he could find in the last months, learning many facts and truths that filled him with a very familiar rage.

Madara snarled, locking eyes with the Hashirama statue. 'We were fools. That village changed nothing. My clan is all but gone, as is yours. Three. Three damn wars! Countless children dead to this pitiful world.'

'But the godaime, he's changing all of that. The boy is wonderful, as are his right and left hand men, Sasuke and Itachi. So much is changing so fast, and the tensions in the elemental nations has been draining away to nothing.'

The words of Neko rang through Madara's head, like a banging gong. 'Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze-Senju. Tobirama's great grandson, son of the fourth Hokage and the great grandson of Tumaki Uzumaki.'

One more look at Hashirama's and statue and Madara's snarl softened. "Maybe, just this once. Maybe the boy can fix this world of lies."

-One months later-

Madara looked down into a large crater in the earth, the Skeleton of some large beasts half buried in the ground. The bone forests, just south of Iwa. He had heard of a man that was using his name, and after a few months of looking, he found this place.

How he had come across this place was mostly luck. The group he had heard about, Akatsuki, was planning of collecting the nine bijuu, something he had wanted to do. He began to search for them, but found them hard to pin down. Neko had said that itachi, one of the two remaining Uchiha, had been part of the group, but returned to the village.

He began searching the most remote areas he could, the mounts of kumo, the south desert of suna, then, he came to this place.

The so called Mountain graveyard, the center of the bone forest, and here, he felt something that simply shouldn't exist.

"My chakra... mixed with Hashirama." He muttered as he jumped down into the crater. The feeling became more powerful. He walked under the skeleton, finding a whole that led into an underground cave. Once again, the feeling became stronger.

He walked toward the strange feeling, going deeper into the tunnel, until he found himself in a large, domed room, impossibly high ceiling and most of all, a Giant, white tree. The tree itself seemed to radiate hashirama's chakra, as well as an amount of his own. He marveled at the scale of the construct, circling around it until he fell on his ass from shock. "Hashirama?!"

A moment to regain his bearings and he stood, reaching out at touching the bulge in the tree that was a perfect replica of his long dead friend, only to feel that it was made of the same material the tree was. "No... What is going on here? This makes no sense... did Hashirama make this place?"

Madara heard the faintest of sounds come from the mouth of the tunnel his eyes widening as he watched another shadow move towards him. He fully suppressed his chakra and moved to the darkest part of the cave.

The person was about his height, short black hair, an orange mask over his face, the rest of him was covered by a black robe with red clouds covering it. 'Akatsuki. Who is this one?'

He watched as The man moved past the tree and toward the other end of the cavern, but was shocked as he disappeared into the darkness. Madara was tempted to follow him, but if this place really was built by Hashirama, then he was almost sure that he did not want to fight the person that had so much of Hashirama's chakra in his body.

His ego getting the better of him, Madara followed the masked man into the darkness, finding himself in another lab, this one much cleaner and rather small compared to the one he had found in konoha. It was only when he moved to hide again that he saw it. The entire wall the the lab, was filled with glass containers... they all held sharingan eyes.

Becoming enraged, Madara let his chakra flare. "You were the one that slaughtered my clan."

"M-Madara-sama?! You're alive? Did nagato revive you already?" Questioned the masked man, his lone eye wide.

"Who is Nagato?" Questioned Madara, his temper flaring.

"The Uzumaki you gave your eyes to. Don't you remember?"

"I gave my eyes to no one. I would never give away the last gift of my brother." Defied Madara, his chakra growing darker and more potent.

"Do you not remember this place?" Asked the masked man, his eye looking questioningly at the ancient uchiha. "The tree, do you not remember the tree? You created it."

"I created it?" Asked Madara. 'My and Hashirama's chakra...'

Madara subconsciously touched the spot on his chest where he had implanted Hashirama's flesh. 'I can use would release because of that... was I moved through time? Am I just... a copy?' "How did I die?"

"You disconnected yourself from the tree nearly seventeen years ago." Stated the Masked man, confusion evident in his voice. "Madara-sama... do you not remember?"

The man pulled the mask off of his face, revealing a disfigured face, looking like it was half crushed, half new. Madara was drawn to the boy's sharingan, the one that had been under the hole in the mask was a mangekyo, while the other was a normal sharingan, three tomoe. It had been a replacement eye.

"What don't I remember?!" Snarled Madara, wanting answers. 'Neko-chan said I disappeared, how could this man be telling me that I still lived for almost fifty years?'

The man tilted his head before he made his way over to the other wall, pressing his palm into it, before a secret door opened. Madara watched as the man pulled a table out of the wall. "Just what I say Madara-sama. You must not remember. When you were revived, you must have been revived from the first time you died."

Madara made his way over to the table, never taking his eyes off the man. He wasn't prepared when he looked at the table.

It was him. An old, decrepit version of him. White hair and withered lips, his body almost skin and bone.

"Tell me everything. Now!"

-5 months later, Kumo-

'Let's see if the godaime can stand against these dangerous enemies.' Madara stood on a nearby mountain, his eyes scanning the arena, where the apparent traitors Orochimaru and Danzo were invading, with the help of Iwa. 'Simple peasants. Who will be the first to- oh. I wasn't expecting little Onoki to be the first to die.'

As Madara watched the blonde and his Right hand man, Sasuke he believed, tore through the enemy ninja, not so unlike he himself once had. The remaining ninja all fought well. Danzo and Hiruzen both fell. An odd sense of detachment fell over Madara. To him, just a year ago, those two had been best friends. Now both dead, Hiruzen traitorous student fled.

Madara watched as the kumo ninja began cleaning up the scene. He turned to leave, knowing there was nothing else to see.

'I'll have Obito look into Iwa. Perhaps we can use our new toy. He should be in line to replace little Onoki.' Thought Madara as he stopped and looked back at the area one more time, his eyes drawing to the young blonde. 'He's going to be tricky to handle. Perhaps I can persuade him to see my side.'

-Iwa, two days later-

Much to Madara's surprise, Obito had been controlling Kitsuchi for almost a year and a half, as well as a few other ninja throughout the world.

After that, it was simple enough to ensure that Kitsuchi became Tsuchikage, leading to an even easier path toward Madara's final plan.

Obito however, took it one step further. He ordered pain, who was apparently the boy he had given his eyes to, to attack Konoha, after gaining iwa's backing.

It was the first time Obito crossed Madara.

-Iwa, day before the attack on konoha-

"It was neither." stated a voice behind Kitsuchi, an orange masked figure stepping out of a black portal. "It was I, Madara Uchiha!"

"Madara Uchiha? He's dead." Replied Kitsuchi, staring the man in the mask. "Who are you really?"

"I am Madara. I 'stole' your bijuu." Replied Tobi, his voice deep and serious. "And if you don't listen to what I have to say, I'll retract my deal with Onoki, and your village will no longer be protected from Akatsuki."

-Konoha-

While Obito was parading as Madara, the real Madara had snuck back into the village, his eyes training on his great grandson and his senju teammate.

He watch as the young jinchuriki began to mold earth chakra, before he subconsciously began pulling on the water natured chakra that reacted ever so subtly to the boy's affinity. Madara's eyes widened slightly as the boy began combining the two chakra releases, forcing the chakra out and making the earth bulge slightly, before it all faded, his eyes widening before a smile slipped into the group.

'He has the Senju kekkei genkei. The ability to combine and mold chakra. To think that this boy has inherited so much from his grandfather.' Thought Madara, his mind then yelling at him. 'Perhaps... those two will redeem the Senju and Uchiha clan.'

Madara turned and left, his mission complete, his no longer seeing any reason to stay in such a vulnerable area.

'Perhaps... perhaps I won't need the Moon's eye plan. But I will not leave it up to chance, Obito is becoming reckless. I will need to contain him.'

-Konoha, Pain's invasion-

Madara snarled as he watched the blonde Hokage defeated the man he had apparently given the rinnegan. 'Obito better recover that body. Damn him... the godaime is too strong. If he can defeat the Rinnegan, then he can defeat me as well. I need him dealt with.'

Madara looked on, pissed off even more when he saw the blonde plummet to the ground, bouncing off the road and landing in a heap. The boy still wasn't dead. 'I need the Kyuubi to enact the Moon's eye plan, and I'll never be able to extract it from the boy. I need him gone, then I can finish my plan.'

Madara turned and walked away, leaving the terrified village behind him. 'Unless...'

Madara turned back around, his eyes looking at the crowd that surrounded the downed Hokage, a crude and vicious smirk took over his face. 'Perhaps... perhaps he could befall the same jutsu that sent me here?'

-Iwa-

Madara was honestly shocked to see the Tsuchikage alone in a training field, with no other chakra signature within a mile of him.

Suddenly, a surge of chakra alerted him that kitsuchi was about to use a big jutsu. He activated his sharingan and watched as the Earth Shadow fused earth, wind and fire chakra in his palms, before expanding his palms, forming a small cube of dust colored chakra. He shot forward, slamming the cube into a large rock before fleeing. The rock was instantly gone, as was a twenty foot area around it.

'I see. So the Tsuchikage line remains strong. If he has such control over the dust release, then he may very well match Mu one day.' Thought Madara as he watched the man continue to train. 'Perhaps... if I can learn this dust release, I can simply erase the blonde. Mu seemed capable enough...'

Madara, who less than a year ago had been thrown into this strange future, had a thought. 'If this man is the Tsuchikage... Yes, he might know that jutsu... that would get the blonde out of my hair easily.'

Madara, as fast as he ever was, jumped down from his hiding spot and appeared behind the Tsuchikage, quickly grasping his head and forcing chakra into it.

"I see. So Obito had been controlling you with a simple genjutsu." Mocked Madara as he created a link within Kitsuchis mind. "Petulant child, so lazy."

Madara smirked as the man in his grasp collapsed into the dirt, his hand still on the Tsuchikage's head. 'It will be simple enough to override his memories and help me bring that senju into a trap'

"Who..."

Madara was slightly shocked, for any ninja to register the outside world while Madara was using this jutsu was quite startling. 'I suppose he was not made a Kage for nothing.'

Forcing more chakra into Kitsuchi's brain, Madara chuckled. "You just worry about doing my bidding."

-Iwa, two weeks later-

"Madara-sama, the villagers are in the bunkers and I can feel their chakra connecting with the seal." Informed Obito, his mask on while his back was to the door, sitting directly in front of him, Kitsuchi sat silent, tears streaming from his eyes as he stared at the man in front of him. "Are you sure this technique will be strong enough to kill the godaime?"

"Without doubt. This was the Uzumaki's strongest seal, capable of instantly disposing of anyone that would be a target of it." Replied Madara, gazing at the current earth shadow. "And you know how to activate this seal, don't you little Kitsuchi."

The Tsuchikage grit his teeth, unable to move.

"Good. Prepare the genjutsu, he will be here soon..." commanded Madara, placing his hand on the Kages head. 'Now to clear this fool's mind of my presence in this world.'

A small smirk played on Madara's lip as he felt the blonde's chakra flare outside the village. With a nod, Madara ordered Obito to activate the genjutsu. Madara stepped back, letting Obito cast his most powerful genjutsu.

Like a zombie, Kitsuchi began weaving through hand signs. After the last sign, he mumbled, his voice hollow. "Displacement of time."

It seemed to pulse through the village, his words carrying on the wind and right to the Godaime hokage clone's ears.

"W-What's Happening to me?!"

Madara smirked at his soon to be ex-partner. "You should have never crossed me."

"What?! Why would you-"

And Obito Uchiha faded from existence.

Madara sighed and looked at the trembling Kage in front of him. 'Pitiful. He's outlived his usefulness.'

With a dark swirl, Madara departed, leaving the office nearly empty. The only occupant being the heavily mentally and physically damaged Tsuchikage.

It was the last moments of The Fourth Tsuchikage, and the first moment of the Fourth Great Shinobi War.

(Hope this chapter helped set the backstory for Other Madara.)

(For everyone who stuck with this story for over a year without update, Thank you all. You the real MVP)