Madara knew that he was taking a risk by provoking the elders of the clan, but the fact that his overly stern father kept quiet on the matter meant that Madara had his father's tacit approval for the time being.
"So, why are you sneaking me out again?" Ikari asked.
Madara shifted uncomfortably. Words and socializing were never part of his repertoire of shinobi skills, much less being honest with himself. In fact, he was taught to lie rather than divulge clan secrets to enemies.
"…No reason. Just keep quiet," he admonished his younger sister.
Presently, he carried Ikari on piggy-back, her legs wrapped around his waist and supported his hands while Ikari wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her chin over his shoulder. He was sticking to the walls of the clan, careful not to alert the clan's guards or anyone in general near the main house.
Ikari was five years old, around the time children would start gaining more weight, but as it was, he could hardly feel any burden over his back.
"Are you eating properly?" He questioned in a hard tone.
"I'm not fat," she grumbled.
But that in itself was the problem. His mood took a turn for the worse, and of course Ikari noticed and began squirming to see his face better, forcing him to shift his hold and accommodate her movements.
"I eat everything they give me, okay?" Ikari reasoned.
"Hn." He grunted, blank faced.
Ikari didn't like that. She never did when other Uchiha did it, and she especially wouldn't like it on her siblings faces. Of course, she couldn't do anything to other Uchiha due to how feeble and slow she was, but she'd always been less reserved around family.
Instantly, Madara felt it when two tiny index fingers pressed on either side of the dimples of his mouth, and pulled them upwards into a forced grin.
"You look better when you smile."
He was less than pleased. In fact, his crruent appearance would terrify other who knew him for his stoicism.
"Stop that," he said flatly.
"Nope," was the response. "Unless you tell me why we always leave on the last day of each month?"
Madara's features darkened, but he made no attempts to remove Ikari's fingers.
The elders of the clan would visit Ikari once a month for inspection in hopes for further development. Due to her perpetual use of her Mangekyo Sharingan, her spiritual aspect of her Chakra far exceeded her physical aspect leading to long-term weakness in her constitution.
She was a frail thing, but at the same time, a gifted thing in the eyes of the elders.
Should she ever show signs of improvement in her physical condition as she grows up, the elders would immediately foster all available resources to train her up into a weapon like none other.
Imagine, an Uchiha no older than ten with the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan that didn't seem to blind her with each use. Coupled with the fact that she could revive their clansmen with just a look, once she was on the battlefield and eliminated the need to transport deceased bodies back to the clan compound, and the Uchiha could dominate any battlefield.
She would be the clan's ace in their sleeve, and Madara and his siblings were sick and tired of hearing it and the elders wild delusions of grandeur. They forget just how much Ikari's eyes exhaust her. If she collapsed after a few uses, she was done for. The enemy would surely notice her and would never keep her alive.
Bring her to the battlefield? What a joke.
Out of all in the Uchiha Clan, Ikari was the most expressive by far. She was the youngest. Why did she have to be that kind of weapon?
What did the clan see her older brothers as?
Ikari didn't have to be a weapon at all. Madara and his brothers could take the place of the Uchiha clan's sharp swords, and this was why he never shirked his training.
Ikari was the only member of his siblings whose childhood was bereft of killing, harsh discipline, and constant training.
Madara didn't want to see a day where the innocence and joy of life in Ikari's eyes would be polluted by the evils of the shinobi world.
Father may feel the same, but the clan had to come first.
Father was hard on Ikari with his obstinate and unwavering personality, but it was easy to tell how Uchiha dote on their own. Father would chastise Ikari, wishing for her to be better and do better, but father never really did anything but sigh whenever Ikari failed to meet expectations. There were no extra training sets, nor heated reprimands, just a far-off look of disappointment that almost always caused Ikari to flinch.
In his own way, Madara knew that his father was only pushing Ikari for her sake in order to alleviate the pressure on her from the elders who would show no mercy. At least in her childhood where she was too weak to do anything other than lie in bed, she could be sheltered from clan politics.
This was as much love and caring as his father could openly show. Father was still the clan head, so the clan was above all, but there were at least some ways of delaying the inevitable…like now.
Stupid elders and their monthly checks. Father said to wait until Ikari could stand up and do things on her own. What was the point of the elders coming if only to hasten the process? Would their presence even do anything other than cause needless anxiety for Ikari?
Madara trudged on through the shadows of the clan compound with Ikari over his back. The fingers that Ikari had placed over his cheeks and forced him to smile with had drooped from the effort.
Ikari wasn't saying anything, but she must have been embarrassed at her lack of stamina to not even be able to do something so simple. She was like that, never really complaining about things that others would take for granted. Despite her age, she'd been forced to mature faster than her peers just like him and his brothers who'd already seen the battlefield of the clan wars.
"Tired?" Madara feigned nonchalance.
"Y-Yeah." Ikari didn't say anything else and just allowed Madara to carry her.
Slowly, Madara left the clan compound, but didn't dare venture outside the clan walls. Enemy shinobi were rife in places outside the clan's jurisdiction and Madara would never take Ikari to a place he knew was dangerous.
Instead, he brought Ikari to a small hill overlooking a clearing in the forest canopy which gave a view of the clan compound. Finding a suitable place to set Ikari down, he reinforced his feet with Chakra and kicked down a relatively small tree to act as a bench.
Madara could practically feel Ikari's stare on him, and when he looked, the wonder in her gaze did many things for his silent ego. Naturally, his chin tilted upwards and the Uchiha brand indifference bled through.
That's right. Feast your eyes on greatness.
Madara may not be the oldest brother, but he was the strongest brother.
The enthusiastic clapping that followed was uncharacteristic of any Uchiha, but coming from Ikari, Madara felt pleased.
Her innocence so different from other child soldiers he'd seen in the wars was like a breath of fresh air; especially when her cheeks puffed up from the exertion, and her Uchiha pride refused to let her show weakness at such a small thing and she kept going.
As vital of a role that Ikari played in the clan, she would always be the little brat that broke the running stoicism of the clan.
"No need for clapping," he said somewhat reluctantly.
On one hand, he didn't want Ikari to exhaust herself, but on the other, her genuine praise felt good in a different way than how he felt when Izuna would secretly mimic him.
She grinned. "Praise deserves praise," she insisted, and who was he to resist?
Madara was fairly sure that no one else in the clan his age could do what he did, but enough stoking his own hype.
Leisurely, he sat down next to Ikari and stared out towards the clan compound where his keen vision allowed him to see the elders searching the compound with irritable scowls. If he could see them, then what could Iakri see with her eyes?
-Probably a group of old men and women nagging at their father, and that's all she'd think.
"Hey Madara, can you teach me a Jutsu?" Ikari asked out of the blue.
He blinked before staring at her and she grew sheepish at her sudden request, searching for excuses to justify herself while conveniently staring at her own feet.
"You and our brothers get to learn whatever you want, but no one ever teaches me anything." She pouted when he remained silent.
Madara had no words to describe how insistent Ikari could be on this topic as if she had a reason to be strong.
"That's for your own sake." He shook his head. He definitely wouldn't teach her anything given her current condition. "Your body won't be able to endure it."
Ikari began drawing circles on the ground with the index finger of her right hand.
It could have just been Madara, but he could have sworn he heard her click her tongue at him.
"But I want to be cool too," she lamented. "I want to walk on walls and water, and learn the chidori or the rasengan, and go on adventures."
Madara blinked hard before pinching the bridge of his nose. Water walking was one thing, but there Ikari goes again about making up Jutsu names that don't exist.
He wouldn't admonish her though. Sometimes being constantly cooped up in your room makes your imagination run wild.
"Hey," Ikari called him out on his silence. "Didn't you hear me? I said I want to be cool too."
Madara grumbled and opened his mouth to question whether she'd heard his earlier words or not?
However, a hand from the shadows suddenly tousled Ikari's hair, causing her to squeak in outrage considering how long it took to straighten it all out with a brush in the morning.
"You're cool enough little sister."
Madara glanced up to see the rest of his brothers arrive.
Ikari squawked when the hand tousling her hair refused to stop.
Madara was the third eldest sibling with only Izuna and Ikari younger than him. Apart from Madara, he had two older brothers one of which, Kei, was the one tousling Ikari's hair. Kagami, the eldest sibling, was the one that came to Ikari's rescue.
Madara relaxed upon seeing them.
Of his siblings, he was only really familiar with Ikari and Izuna as his elder brothers were four years older than him and were generally out participating in the clan battles. It was rare for them to be back at the clan compound, so they couldn't waist the opportunity.
"Just because you're right, doesn't mean you're right!" Ikami protested Kei's earlier words while furiously trying to fix her hair.
The mood immediately turned strange until Izuna, the tiny and aloof little tike opened his mouth.
"Sometimes I forget how stupid your reasoning can be," Izuna muttered before he got his own head tousled by Kagami.
"Izuna you brat. Don't mess with the youngest," Kagami chastised.
Izuna scoffed while secretly glancing at Ikari. "Pipsqueak. You finally came out of your room again."
"Hey, it's not my fault!" Ikari grew animated at the provocation.
Izuna's features softened as he snorted.
Madara and his brothers all had a tacit understanding between them. There was no need to talk of grudges, hardship, or training at the moment. Right now, they didn't have to be shinobi.
Right now, they were just elder brothers letting their sister enjoy her time outside her quiet bedroom without the elders hawking on her.
The moon and the stars hung above over head, illuminating the distant lake and the dense foliage of trees around the Uchiha compound.
It was idyllic. Peaceful.
Madara didn't know how long these moments could last, but it was fine like this.
They all sat next to each other, resting their backs on a fallen tree Madara had kicked down while inclining their heads to stare up at the night sky. All had the Uchiha black hair and wore yukata tied with an obi sash at the waist. An Uchiha fan was stitched into the seems of each of their yukata's collars.
There was no fighting here; no violence, nor grudges.
They were only children camping outside their clan compound to avoid their clan elders.
In the tranquility and peacefulness of the moment, Ikari was solemnly staring at the Uchiha grounds below the hill. No, perhaps she was looking farther beyond the night horizon?
"Say, what do you guys think about a village hidden in the leaves where the clans don't have to fight anymore?" Ikari proposed as a gentle wind blew across her face and lifted up the long tresses of her hair.
"I think you don't know what you're talking about."
"Maybe it can happen, maybe it won't."
"Stupid," Izuna said nothing else.
Madara listened as his brothers made light of Ikari's proposition, but Madara could see that Ikari was being serious. Was this perhaps her dream?
He snorted inwardly. His little sister was an idealist.
Still, he began to consider it.
'Konoha.'
The name came to mind.
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious