Fated to Meet You
Author's Note:
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, character or plot, from Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto.
Chapter Seventeen: Uchiha Madara's Return
Within a span of one year, the team had successfully located and captured seven of the tailed beasts. But none of them left unscathed.
Mai sat beside the hospital room window. It wasn't that long ago that she was in Uchiha Kosei's position and bandaged up. Their latest mission trip was last week and he was hospitalized for a leg injury. As much as he wanted to go home, the doctor forbade him from leaving until today.
"Remember to keep your leg elevated, especially when you sleep." The male doctor spoke while writing on the clipboard in his hands. Tapping his writing utensil onto the clipboard, the doctor looked up at the Uchiha male on the hospital bed. "You should be completely healed within a week."
Mai watched as the doctor left and immediately, Uchiha Kosei lifted his leg off the bed to hang off the side. "Let's get out of here." He said grumply.
Smiling, she pushed herself off the chair she was on. For the past 5 days, all Kosei did when Mai came to visit was complain about the hospital and his situation.
"Koseeii!" Senju Jun slid the room door with a little too much force that it hit the wall with a loud thud. "I heard you're being discharged today." The younger Senju walked into the room with Senju Kaito in tow. Mai silently nodded her head at the two men. "Mai! I didn't know you were going to be here."
"What are you doing here." Kosei didn't ask that, he said it. Boy was he ready to leave the hospital
"I came to help." Jun said, leaned back, and grinned.
Mai looked behind the loud Senju to the quieter one. Kaito shrugged his shoulders as if to say He meant it. "Do you still need me?" She turned to ask the handicapped Uchiha.
"Yes." Kosei said with all his strength to hold back his negativity. Jun handed him his crutches. He wasn't going to be left alone with Senju Jun and Senju Kaito. It wasn't that Kosei was wary of them taking his life. They had been on the same mission for the duration of a year, and all of them had become close with each other compared to their first mission assignment together. Rather, Kosei wasn't ready to be left alone with Jun's overly loud personality. And Senju Jun needed at least two people to keep himself calm.
The three of them escorted Kosei back to his home. Like Mai, Kosei opted to live in the home that he lived with his deceased teacher. He lived within the Uchiha neighborhood. Although they received some stares, it wasn't entirely because there were two Senju's. It was also because of Senju Jun's loud voice. He was telling Kosei about some ramen shop that he went to. And Mai stayed back with Kaito to watch the scene.
"When will Kosei be ready for another mission?" Kaito asked the female Uchiha.
"The doctor said he should be good within a week." Mai informed. "Is the next mission already ready?"
"No." Kaito whispered. "The rumors led to a dead end."
Mai blinked up to the Senju. There were rumors about the nine-tailed beast living in the mountains in the southern part of the Land of Fire. "I'm sure we'll find it."
Kaito nodded. "We're being told to relax until then." He looked down at his female teammate. "How's your injury?"
Mai reached for her left shoulder with her right hand and smiled. "It's fully healed, and yours?"
"Same." Kaito nodded. The genjutsu expert could feel a slight tightness on his right leg where the two-tailed beast attacked him.
.
The eight-tailed beast whipped its tail in front of Mai. She had seen the tail beast's devastating blow in its tails many times over. And she made a mistake in giving it the opening it needed to harm her.
"Water Release: Water Dragon." Senju Tobirama directed the water dragon at the tentacle in front of Mai. The water dragon smashed into the tentacle, pushing it backwards allowing Mai an escape.
Falling into the water, her back met the stones beneath the water. One stone in particular jabbed itself into her shoulder blade. She let out a gurgle in the water in response to the pain. Choking on water made her choke on water once more. Relaxing, Mai let the waves push her back and forth before she could bring herself towards the surface. Crawling out of the body of water, she coughed as she stumbled down onto her left shoulder.
"You favor your left, Mai." Senju Tobirama knelt down beside her.
Her wet black tail had made itself over her right shoulder. "I know." She said through her coughs. Straightening her back, she brought her torso from off the ground while cradling her left shoulder.
Tobirama narrowed his eyes at her left shoulder. "Stay back." He moved his red eyes to her Sharingan ones in all seriousness.
.
The three of them had dropped Kosei off at home and went their separate ways. Mai was already making her way home when she felt someone beside her. "Hello, Senju-san."
Senju Tobirama made his footsteps more audible. "Mai." He had dropped the last name and honorific months ago.
"I heard the update from Kaito." Mai stated.
"Did you pick anything up yourself?" He knew she was a skilled sensor. And maybe she caught something that he didn't.
"I didn't sense anything." Mai answered knowing exactly what he was talking about. She hadn't sensed anything as massive as a tailed beast. There were tricks that she used that Tobirama didn't. But she knew that at the end of the day, Senju Tobirama was the more skilled sensor. It was like he could sense anyone and anything in the world. He was who she would call naturally born with the ability like Elder Mio.
"How's Kosei?" Tobirama asked. His red eyes looked forward at the path in front of them.
"The doctor said he should be fully healed within a week." She repeated again. "But what are you really here for, Senju-san?" Mai had learned that her white haired Senju teammate was never really the conversation type. More so, he'd rather get to the point. And did he get to the point with his questions alright.
"We need to send a team out to locate the last tailed beast." Tobirama answered. He made sure to cast his chakra out to sense no one around. "With Kosei's injury, we need you to come."
"What are your leads?" Mai asked.
"There's a rumor that the nine-tailed beast is in the waterfall region. Living behind a large waterfall."
Mai thought for a moment. Their footsteps joined the silence. "...When do we leave?" She asked.
"Tomorrow." Senju Tobirama answered.
Furrowing her brows, Mai turned to the Senju. "Didn't the team just get back today?" She spoke her exact thoughts. Usually, the team would rest for a couple days before heading out again in search of the tailed beasts.
"We don't have that much time anymore, Mai." The Hokage's advisor commented.
Mai turned her head back towards the road in front of her. "Alright then."
"Meet at the West gates at sunrise." Senju Tobirama said before transporting away.
Mai took one last glance at the spot where the white haired Senju walked beside her before continuing her way home.
.
It was already more than a few months into the mission. Tobirama could hear the five-tailed beast roar in the background as his older brother and Lord Ashina sealed it. The white haired Senju wasn't there. Once Tobirama knew Hashirama was able to subdue the beast, he went to find Uchiha Mai. She had been the last to get hit before his brother intervened.
Churning his chakra, Senju Tobirama sensed for the Uchiha woman before making his way to his teammate. "Are you okay, Mai?"
The Uchiha kunoichi brushed her ebony hair tail off her shoulder as she walked towards her white haired teammate. "Yes." She breathed out. Her entire body still felt a throbbing feeling that made her body almost go limp.
Tobirama stopped to take a look at his female teammate. She looked...rough. There were leaves in her hair and her tail was barely holding the strands of her hair together. But it was her eyes that Senju Tobirama's red eyes landed on.
He had seen more than enough of the Sharingan between Uchiha Mai and Uchiha Kosei in this one mission. All his life he'd fought against the Sharingan. It was his instinct to look away from the Uchiha kekkei-genkai. And he did wince slightly when he saw Uchiha Kosei's Sharingan eyes. But when it came to Uchiha Mai's, whenever he saw hers, he had a hard time looking away.
It was as if the Sharingan suited her, almost amplified her beauty.
"Is there something wrong, Senju-san?" Uchiha Mai looked up at her teammate waiting for a reply. She was still walking towards her teammate.
Tobirama blinked to stare at the leaves in the kunoichi's hair. "You look beat up, Mai."
Mai breathed out and smiled. "Well, it was a tailed beast, Senju-san." She held herself back from letting too much sarcasm escape. That was only reserved to people she was close to.
By that time, Uchiha Mai had already reached up to Senju Tobirama. And he had moved slightly to the side to walk with her back.
.
Mai laid the side dishes onto the low table. Sitting back, she picked up her chopsticks before stopping in mid-action. Setting her chopsticks back down, she took her right hand and laid it flat onto the table. Lord Madara. Standing up, Mai rushed out of her home. Above her, a black falcon flew in large circles in the orange sky. It was protocol. If shinobi were to see a black falcon, they were not to leave the village unless ordered. There was a threat to the village coming. And Mai knew who it was and what he was bringing with.
"Mai-san!" A voice called for her when she reached the Uchiha Neighborhood. "Lord Hikaku is looking for you."
"Got it!" Mai answered and continued her direction towards the Uchiha Headquarters. The Clan Leader's office door was open and Mai knocked before entering. Uchiha Hikaku was standing up facing the window behind his desk. "It's Lord Madara." She informed.
Uchiha Hikaku gripped the wooden window sill. Why is he back?
"With the nine-tailed beast." Mai finished.
Uchiha Hikaku turned to face her. The urgency written all over his face. "Did you tell Lord Hokage?"
Mai shook her head. "Not yet."
"Go." Uchiha Hikaku ordered. The Uchiha Clan Leader turned back to face the window. He knew something was off today. He just didn't know what.
Mai nodded and flickered out of the room. Running to the red Hokage building, Mai could feel the tension amongst the shinobi that were gathered in and around it.
"Mai!" Senju Takeshi called to her. He gestured her to come to him. "Team Captain told us to stay within the village walls."
Mai let out a breath as she looked up to the brown haired Senju. She took a moment to process Takeshi's message. "...Lord Hokage's not in the village." Mai stated between her breaths. She spread her chakra beyond the village walls. "And neither is Senju Tobirama-san." They had already gone ahead.
Senju Takeshi's face remained straight. "We are to remain alert until given the signal to evacuate the villagers." Takeshi said, knowing exactly what the female in front of him deduced to.
Mai looked up at the sky. The black falcon was still drawing circles in the sky. She looked back at her fellow teammate. She nodded and said, "I'll inform Lord Hikaku."
The battle between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara lasted days. Konoha residents could feel the ground beneath them shake. Until one day it stopped. Uchiha Madara died during that battle. Mai felt his chakra disappear and the Hokage confirmed it after he had recovered.
But the former Uchiha Clan Leader's body was nowhere to be found. As much as the Uchiha Clan did not agree with Uchiha Madara, the man was still an Uchiha and was their clan leader once. The least the clan could do was give him a proper burial. But the Uchiha Clan's pleas and efforts for their former clan leader's body were never returned. Uchiha Hikaku asked many times on behalf of his clan's people for Uchiha Madara's body, but Senju Hashirama denied to give it to them saying even in death his body was too powerful and in the wrong hands, it could plunge this world into chaos.
In order to appease his clan and their ways, Hikaku asked that the Hokage not let anyone touch Uchiha Madara's eyes. The Hokage agreed. Senju Tobirama did not agree.
It wasn't that Senju Tobirama was obsessed with the Sharingan. He was a man of knowledge and wanted to know how the world worked. And he wanted to know how the Uchiha kekkei-genkai worked. Not because he wanted to find their weakness. But rather, he wanted to solve the rift that centuries of fighting and killing created between his clan and the Uchiha Clan.
He observed the Sharingan in battle numerous times and he knew a good amount from those experiences on how the Sharingan worked. But he didn't know everything about the Sharingan. If he were to find how the Sharingan worked, couldn't he find a way to mend relationships even more? To him it was possible. And whatever was possible was worth looking into.
So, Senju Tobirama took Uchiha Madara's body and conducted research on it. He found his answer to how the Uchiha Clan activated their kekkei-genkai and how it worked. When his older brother found out, Senju Hashirama was furious.
The Senju Hokage had promised the Uchiha Clan to allow no one to touch Uchiha Madara's eyes. However, his brother had found the ways of the Sharingan. Even more, he found ways to solve the rift between their clan and the Uchiha clan, and to make Konoha stronger.
Tobirama coined it the "Curse of Hatred" that Uchiha's gained if they lost someone they loved. Senju Tobirama relayed to his older brother that the Uchiha's were deeply devoted to love and friendship. And if they were to love this village, then the Uchiha's could hold the strongest of all Will of Fire that his older brother wanted the Senju Clan and Konoha villagers to have.
Senju Hashirama forgave his brother as long as his younger brother promised to bury Uchiha Madara's body deep in the mountains of Konoha in an unmarked grave. He knew deep down his brother never hated the Uchiha Clan. Senju Tobirama cared greatly for those he loved and that included Konoha. And for that, the younger white haired brother was suspicious of people who could hurt the things he loved.
A/N (again)
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