Fated to Meet You
Author's Note:
Hope you all like this long one!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, character or plot, from Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Distance, Once Again
The moon was high. Mai walked silently throughout what was her home now using the moon's light that peeped through the paper doors to Elder Mio's study. Sliding the door open, the kunoichi scanned the empty room. She was just getting started to call this home her home but she never could call this study her study. To Mai, it was still Elder Mio's study. And in this study, her teacher hid her copy of a few of the Uchiha Clan's most secret scrolls.
Under the tatami mat to the right of Elder Mio's desk was a hidden compartment. Within it, was a box sealed with Elder Mio's most strongest sealing technique. Unsealing it, Mai reached in for the one out of the three scrolls she needed. Doing one more scan of the room around her as well as sensing the 50 meter radius around her, she pulled the tatami mat closed and sat in front of Elder Mio's desk.
Mangekyō Sharingan. Mai read the title in her head before rolling the scroll further open.
.
The fight to capture the two tails extended longer than what they had preferred. So many of them were injured, including Lord Uzumaki and his men. And the two-tailed beast being made of fire didn't help either.
Mai just escaped near death by allowing her body to be pushed back by the wind created by the tailed beast itself. Her back hit the ground beneath her a little too hard that when she rose up, the air in her lungs had been pushed out and it took a while for her lungs to fill up again. And when she regained harmony, she could feel the Konoha team move forward to contain the beast before anyone came looking.
But she could feel it. They were all tired. Exhausted. Chakra depleted. This was their fifth tailed beast and the exhaustion was getting to all of them. But still they moved forward. And Mai followed suit.
One of them had created an earth boundary to barricade the beast and Kosei took the advantage to push the beast back. "Water Release: Great Gunshot."
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." Takeshi joined in to corner the beast to the smallest corner they could.
However, the wind only made the beast appear bigger as it caught onto the flames that made up the beasts' body. And it managed to break through Konoha team's formation.
"Oh no!" Mai stopped in her tracks as the tailed beast began generating a chakra ball in front of its mouth. She had seen more than enough of this type of attack from the beasts previous to this one to know the monstrosity of an attack it was.
"Move out of the way!" Mai heard Jun yell out in the distance.
The Uchiha female ran to her right in an attempt to find cover. And she barely made it when she felt blast carry her forward into the trees.
The attack separated the team, and the two-tailed beast managed to corner Jun and Kosei. Kaito acted fast to try to create distance between his teammates and the beast. But the beast whipped its tail at him and threw him back. The falling of trees and rubble followed Kaito's trajectory.
Mai could feel the emotions churn inside her stomach. Reason and logic left her and pure fight kicked her body into motion. Had she not been in such a situation, she could have felt warm liquid drip from her eyes. But all she could sense was the sight of black flames that ate at the two-tails body. As if fire was eating fire to burn the other out.
She couldn't even hear the beast roar out as it did. But she did hear Kosei yell out her name.
.
Uchiha Madara was the first known Uchiha to have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. His younger brother Izuna followed after. And the two brothers made it their initiative to make the Uchiha Clan stronger than it ever was with this new found power. But the two lords knew it couldn't be just the two of them that could change the course of Uchiha Clan history. They started it. But they needed to continue it. The next known Uchiha shinobi capable of wielding and perfecting the Mangekyō Sharingan were, in the two lord's opinion, the Elder Apprentices. Madara and Izuna shared the teachings of the Mangekyō Sharingan with the Elder Apprentices. Mai knew of it. But she knew not of how to obtain it. It didn't interest Elder Mio and so it didn't interest Mai.
But now, she had to know more.
.
"Kosei…" The kunoichi slowly and carefully rose by alternating her weight on each leg. "Something's wrong." She touched her cheek right below her right eye. It was wet. She felt a sort of weight on her right eye. At first she thought her right eyelid had just become weak and closed itself. But she could feel both her eyelids blink.
It was blood. Her right eye was bleeding. Turning to face the other Uchiha, Mai closed her right eye. With her left, she could tell Kosei knew what had happened.
The black fire. The bleeding eye. Kosei knew what had caused it. He thought it was himself by accident. "Go ahead, Jun! We'll follow you!" The male Uchiha called back. He waited for the Senju to leave before whispering. "Wipe your eyes and let me see them."
Mai did so. She looked up to Kosei and opened both her eyes, struggling with her right one.
"I don't think Jun saw it." Kosei continued after he had finished checking. "It doesn't look like your eyes are damaged. They're just exhausted. Be careful of when you use Amaterasu." He was surprised that Mai had obtained the Mangekyō. This was his first time seeing it on her.
.
Elder Mio did not have much other than the history of the Mangekyō Sharingan dating back to Lord Uchiha Madara obtaining it. And it possibly could have been due to the technique being fairly new to the clan. She set the scroll back into the hidden compartment with it's other two. Covering the compartment, Mai slowly rose to walk away. But something caught her eye on the other side of Elder Mio's desk.
Mai had never seen Elder Mio wear the ring that was on her desk. In fact, Mai had never seen the ring in general. It was a jade ring with a flower gold emblem. Mai dare not touch it. Instead, she looked around it. From her knowledge, Elder Mio wasn't into jewelry. She barely wore them.
But before she could think any further, a firecracker blast blew in the distance.
Takeshi ordered the village to prepare for an attack. But it proved quite difficult being it was the middle of the night. "Prepare for phase one at all borders." He announced to the group of shinobi who had gathered at the origin of the firework. "Release the signal falcon!"
Mai watched from the footsteps of her home. She didn't need to wait long for the signal falcon to be flying in circles in the night sky for her to know Konoha was to go to Phase One of attack. She spread her chakra throughout the entire village for Sumiko and her two children. She had to warn them to take cover.
She spread her chakra even further beyond the village borders. Jing!
Her onyx eyes widen and she turned to the direction of what she just sensed. From the west, there was an army of unknown shinobi quickly making their way towards Konoha.
"The Hokage's not here." Mai whispered to herself when she found no presence of the Hokage. No where in the village or even outside did she sense the Hokage's chakra. And neither was Senju Tobirama.
Uchiha Mai quickly made it to Sumiko's home and warned the mother to begin preparing for an evacuation. Luckily for her, Sumiko lived around the Uchiha neighborhood and she met up with Hikaku who called for her to go with him to the border.
"There's an army coming." Mai relayed as the two Uchiha's jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Other Uchiha's had begun to join the two. "Fast."
Hikaku nodded. "Half of you, wake up the civilians!" The Uchiha Clan Leader ordered the group.
"Yes, sir!" A few Uchiha's responded before dispersing from the group.
. . .
A battle ensued to the west of Konoha. Four shinobi out of the foreign army wielded each of the nature techniques. When Mai saw the four, she knew exactly what village this army belonged to. Luckily for Konoha, the border had not been breached.
However, every Konoha shinobi could tell that they were being pushed back. And each of them had opted for defensive attacks and techniques, because that was all they could do at the sheer offensive attacks the Konoha shinobi were receiving.
These foreign shinobi were well adept at battle and paired with the four shinobi with the odd nature technique, the Konoha side had their odds stacked against them.
. . .
The Hokage and Hokage Advisor decided they were to travel back to Konoha immediately after their meeting with the Fire Daimyō. Them and their small set of bodyguards quickly made their way back until Senju Tobirama stopped. The white haired Senju looked towards the direction of the village.
"What's wrong, Tobirama?" The Hokage asked.
The moment Tobirama left the village, he had kept his tabs on it with his sensory technique. Anyone who made it within a 30 kilometer distance to Konohagakure, he would know. But this time, it wasn't just one person who crossed into Konoha territory. It was an army. "Konoha is under attack."
Senju Hashirama ordered the group to speed up. Soon after, all of them were in the trees quickly making their way back home. "Tobirama, teleport there! We will follow after."
"What about you, brother?" The younger brother questioned. He didn't want to leave his brother alone.
"You can't teleport us all." Senju Hashirama said. "I'll stay with the rest. At this rate, we will make it back to the village within an hour. Just hold them off until we get there."
Tobirama nodded. "Alright then."
. . .
The border was breached. And the wall came crashing down when the lightning-wieldling shinobi utilized their lightning technique to break it.
"The border's been breached!" Mai heard someone say in the distance. "Evacuate the civilians!"
At this point, Mai was breathing deeply. Her red sharingan eyes glowed in the night. And she stared forward at the sheer amount of shinobi they still had to fight against. The troublesome opponents were the distinctive four. They did the most damage.
Wait!
"Where's the fifth one?" The bell finally rang in her head. She looked for Team Takeshi. She knew they had encountered these five before. "Kosei!" She called out to the man a few meters away. "Where's the fifth one?!" Mai screamed over the clinging and clashing.
Kosei's and Mai's sharingan eyes met with shock as if time had stopped. The two dōjutsu users scanned the area.
Fire. Water. Lightning. Air. Where was the Earth one?
"Let's go!" Kosei called for her to come with him. "Lord Hikaku!" He also called for his friend.
The three Uchiha's already knew who to deal with first. Charging at the army, the three of them conjured hand signs. This formation was unique to the Uchiha Clan. And the moment the three started this formation, the rest of the Uchiha shinobi followed suit for an all scale offensive attack.
The Senju shinobi stopped in their tracks. "Back up!" They yelled to the rest of the Konoha shinobi. They had seen this formation before. And it was deadly.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" The line of Uchiha shinobi said in unison.
A wave of fireballs upon fireballs pushed the enemy back.
And there was hope.
"The Uchiha's have done it!"
"They've done it!"
"Let's go! Create distance between them and the village."
Konoha shinobi exclaimed, finally converting from their defensive stances to offensive. The Konoha shinobi pushed forward.
Mai and Kosei both headed straight to the lightning-wiedling Takigakure shinobi.
"Lightning Release: Bakurai (Depth Charge)." the Takigakure shinobi emanated a lightning bolt from his hand.
"Wind Release: Spiraling Wind." Mai churned the chakra in her chest before expelling out a gust of wind at the shinobi negating his lightning attack.
Kosei pierced his katana through and past the Takigakure shinobi. "Uchiha Style: Piercing Fire." His katana glowed red in his finishing stance.
The Uchiha male turned to find his female teammate, but she had already gone ahead to aid more Uchiha's who'd been accustomed to her fighting style. And Kosei followed suit.
. . .
Senju Hashirama rushed with his bodyguard team to Konoha. Jing! "Halt!" He ordered the group.
A line of rocks spiked up from the ground towards the group.
The Konoha shinobi jumped away.
Walking into view, an unknown shinobi made himself visual to the group.
The Hokage watched carefully as the masked shinobi made his way forward. This shinobi's green pupil-less were on him and only him.
Senju Hashirama narrowed his eyes. This action didn't mirror his brother's, but it still casted a shadow of seriousness over his tanned face. "I get it." Hashirama concluded. "You think stopping me from getting to my village will allow your side to destroy Konoha."
"No," the man laughed. "The mission is to kill you."
Senju Hashirama's eyes widened. There was only one man in front of him and the rest, he assumed, was at Konoha. This attack on Konoha was a diversion to get every Konoha shinobi and back-up away from him.
"Rock Release: Rock Pillar Prison Technique." The shinobi casted his hand signs and placed his palms on the ground.
"Protect the Hokage!" The head bodyguard ordered.
. . .
"Instant Water." Mai utilized the technique she had learned from Senju Tobirama. It increased her speed forward to the fire-wielding shinobi and she combined the technique with another sword technique she learned from Senju Tobirama.
The Takigakure shinobi fell before she could even slash him with a random katana she picked up on the battlefield. Stepping away from the body, Mai looked around with her Sharingan.
"You still favor your left."
Turning around, her red sharingan eyes landed on distinct red ones that were all too familiar. Her chest filled up and she could feel the skin on her chest buzz. Mai kept staring at the man. The gears in her mind were churning to decide what to do or say. At the end, it decided that she should nod and walk away.
But before she could walk away, the man held out his hand. His palm face up.
The clanging and clashing of metal on metal seemed to occur around them but never at them in this moment. Her eyes moved back and forth between the man's palm and his deep red eyes before she eventually gave in and glided her palm over his.
"What's the update." the Hokage's Advisor, like always, changed the aura of the moment.
"Takigakure shinobi have been in the offense. The border was breached but we managed to push them back. But there's one thing," Mai summed the situation. "The fifth nature wielding shinobi is missing. The Earth one."
Senju Tobirama sensed the area and beyond.
There.
The fifth one was with his brother. "Tsk." Tobirama glared into the direction of the lone Takigakure shinobi. There was no way he could leave this front to be by his brother's side. Senju Tobirama, as a shinobi of Konohagakure, had to ensure the protection of the village. And he knew, his brother would be okay until he could finish his end and make it back to him. This side of the battle needed him more. "Let's get this over with."
The front proved difficult to maintain. Senju Tobirama was taken aback at the skill these foreign shinobi possessed for a small village that had yet to make its mark on the world like the five major shinobi villages did. But he could see them do it in the near future, if not now.
Eventually, for reasons unknown to the shinobi of Konoha, the Takigakure shinobi retreated. Mai dropped her arms to her side and loosened her grip on her kunai knife in her hand. She spanned the area with her chakra for any lingering foreign shinobi in case of a trap. She confirmed that everyone was going with their village horde.
"I want every Jōnin to scan the perimeter!" Mai heard a voice announce to the entire Konohagakure shinobi army. And it was none other than Senju Tobirama. "Every Chūnin is to patrol the village to calm the civilians and be on the lookout for infiltrators. And everyone is to stay in a team of four. Am I clear!"
She watched as the white haired man stood tall. His white hair distinguishing himself from the entire army around him. She felt his voice seem to pass through her. And she fought every feeling within her to keep her sane. Release!
This man had been everywhere for her during every hour of the day. And she could feel the irritation churn in her at the fact that she could not burn this feeling away.
"Yes, sir!" the army said before flickering or running off.
"Mai," Tobirama had appeared next to her. "You're coming with me-"
"I'm sorry," Mai interjected. "I'm no longer your-" She needed to get away.
"You don't have to be." Senju Tobirama cut her off. "Let's go."
"No," Mai stepped back. "I'd rather scan the perimeter."
Senju Tobirama lifted his chin slightly and looked down at the kunoichi. She had never acted this way in front of him. Even when she resigned, she wasn't this aggressive or this dismissive. But he let this behavior go. "I don't know what's wrong w-"
"Why," Mai breathed out, "are you everywhere."
The white haired Senju tilted his head back and narrowed his red eyes. "Excuse me?" His tone never faltering.
The Uchiha female turned to fully face the Senju. Her eyes holding a multitude times the strength they've had for the last couple days. "Everywhere I go, you are there. Be that in person or in memory. Why are you everywhere." She let her emotions speak for her. "I didn't ask for this."
Tobirama shifted straight. His face shifted back to it's nonchalance.
The silence between them lasted a while longer before the Senju spoke. "Do you really need me to answer that for you?"
Mai blinked and afterwards, she stared straight into the pair of red eyes above her. She no longer cared if she got lost in them. The thing is, if she hadn't been so immersed in her own mind, she would've seen what she saw now much earlier.
Inside those red, scarlet eyes that she had been trying to avoid held some sort of passion, some sort of feeling-
No. The very words conjured itself in her mind.
In Senju Tobirama's red eyes, she saw the exact same thing she had for him.
Putting distance between her and him, Mai stepped back. She followed this action with more steps before she turned her back to the white haired Senju to continue walking away.
"Mai." The voice of this man stopped her in her tracks.
She turned back to the man. Onyx eyes holding her own. "No." Mai put her hand in front of her. "This can't happen." She let out a steady and heavy exhale.
"Mai." Senju Tobirama said again but much quieter as he sensed the area around him to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. And even if his words didn't echo in reality, it echoed in Mai. But she kept walking. It didn't take Tobirama too many strides to reach her. He reached his hand to touch the female's arm.
"No." Mai shook his hand away and faced him. Again, onyx was on red. "You know this can't happen. I know you know."
Senju Tobirama remained staring into her onyx eyes. His mouth remained shut. Not because he couldn't speak but because he agreed with her. For so many centuries, their clans were at war with each other. Even now, he couldn't truly trust all of the Uchiha Clan without seeing some gain in return.
And the logical action was to create distance between him and Mai. But Tobirama didn't want that. He wanted her near him.
The only thing different about him compared to her was that she was the only one trying to create distance between the two of them.
A/N (again)
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