Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Natsume Yūjin-chō belongs to Yuki Midorikawa. I own nothing but this fanfic.

Chapter 4

The Hatake house was not bad at all. The rooftop was not too high to climb up and down. The location was not bad either. There were not many tall buildings in the vicinity, allowing him to have a great view of moonlight during the night and enough sun rays in the morning. The yard was also quite spacious, enough for him to run around. With a cooperative owner like the silver-haired teen, Madara was even more satisfied with his choice. Not only did he let him stay without a fuss, the kid even fed him after some time. Heh, it seemed he was good at choosing human servants. This Kakashi kid definitely matched his preference. This daiyōkai approves! Be honored, human child!

Seeing how busy the kid was with his ninja mission, Madara did not bother him with breakfast. He was generous enough not to trouble this pitiful teen who was more pitiful than Natsume. Besides, he could always go to the Uchiha to get some food; they were never stingy when it came to feeding him. Before he knew it, his new routine was formed. Breakfast with the Uchiha, visiting the academy until lunch, lunch with the Uchiha, or if he was lucky, he would successfully steal a grilled squid or a few sticks of dango. After lunch, he would play around the village until sunset before heading to Kakashi's house for dinner.

Life was great, so great that Madara would have completely forgotten his plan to leave the village if only he did not attend a certain academy class one day.

But he did.

He did not officially attend, of course. To be precise, he was watching the class from a tree branch where he was lounging on. Through the window, he could see the students studying and listening to their teacher. He was more than close enough to overhear what they were talking about; his hearing as a canine daiyōkai was always exceptional. It was one of his favorite activities in Konoha, not because he liked children, but because he wanted to learn more about this world. What better place to learn than a school? Since Konoha only had the ninja academy as a formal school, Madara chose this place to gather more information.

Madara learned quite a lot just by watching those children and their ninja teachers. He learned how humans trained their chakra, how they applied their magic in their martial arts, and what kind of weapons they used. He learned about the ninja hierarchy and countries in this world. And most importantly, he learned their history.

They spoke of Sage of the Six Paths, the person who established some kind of ninja lifestyle called Ninshu, the origin of shinobi arts. They spoke of a period called the warring state when shinobi clans fought against each other, reminding him of Japan in the era before the Tokugawa Shogunate. Then, they talked about the establishment of Konoha, a village founded by the First Hokage and the Senju clan head, Senju Hashirama, and his friend who was also the Uchiha clan head, Uchiha Madara.

Madara was elated. It turned out one of the founders had the same name as him. That human was not bad after all!

But then, he also learned how Uchiha Madara betrayed the village.

… That puny disappointing human… it turned out it was him who controlled the Kyūbi in the past! How dare he?! Madara wanted to electrocute this Uchiha for tarnishing the greatness of his name. Alas, the man was already dead. Madara could not do anything but sulking.

This was not fair! How was he going to live with a traitor's name in this village? He was always proud of his name, but humans here hated that name! Should he use a fake name? But why must he change his great name for these humans? This wouldn't do!

It was then Madara remembered his initial plan to leave. Yes, he should leave. There was no need for him to stay in the village that despised his name. He would not change his name just to please some humans he couldn't care less about, but he also did not want to trouble himself by forcing them to accept his name. Leaving seemed to be the better option.

But what about the boy?

Madara could leave whenever he was ready, but that also meant he would leave the silver-haired teen behind. The pitiful boy would be alone again.

Was he really going to leave him alone?

That evening, Madara was still in a dilemma thinking about it as he waited for the boy to return home. He rolled around on the rooftop, quite troubled by this predicament. He never thought he was already attached to the kid, enough to make him hesitant to leave him behind.

Should he ask the boy to go with him? To leave the village? Would he agree?

Before he could think any further, something stopped him.

Madara stood up with his forelegs, lowering his back and flicking his short tail. His ears twitched, his pupils dilated in alertness.

Danger was coming, and he was right about it.

He saw a huge nine-tailed fox suddenly appear in the middle of the village, roaring madly and creating chaos as soon as he appeared. He saw how easily the fox destroyed buildings, throwing unlucky humans along with the rubbles just with his roar.

Madara was stunned, rooted to the spot. This was probably the biggest kyūbi no yōko he had ever seen in his lifetime, perhaps also the most powerful. His spiritual energy (bijū chakra, Madara realized with certainty) was so tremendous it could shake a daiyōkai like him. Even the size was bigger than him. Madara always considered himself to be humongous, but this kyūbi was at least two times bigger than him.

Wasn't he sealed in that redhead woman? How could he be here? Did he break the seal?

Wait a moment, Madara paused, getting distracted by what he had just found. His eyes… Why did the fox have the Uchiha's magic eyes? Hmm.. pretty sure he had heard something similar about this—oh!

Madara's eyes widened. This kyūbi… he was being controlled again! Which Uchiha did this?! And to think this bijū was caught in the same trap twice, was he a fool?!

The maneki-neko was angry. A daiyōkai should be smarter than that. This kyūbi disappointed him. But what use of his rants when the fox didn't have the ability to think properly? He wouldn't stop rampaging as long as those wicked eyes still enslaved it.

Looking at the damage and the dust of destruction reaching his place, Madara knew he had to do something. He could not just stand still and be a bystander when the kyūbi was going to destroy his new servant's house or worse, even kill his new servant in the midst of chaos. The more he destroyed the village, the higher the possibility of Kakashi dying in this disaster. The Uchiha might be annihilated as well.

Madara did not care for this village, but Kakashi and the Uchiha had been taking care of him. How could he let this mindless bijū harm them? No way! That fox might be bigger, perhaps even stronger, but Madara had his pride of being a daiyōkai. He would not go down without a fight!

"Seriously, this is so troublesome," he muttered. Without wasting more time, the maneki-neko jumped forward, changed into his real form, and prepared to join the merry battle. It was going to be epic, a fight between two daiyōkai. Obviously, the damage could be catastrophic, but Madara was generous. He would not want such a misfortune to befall the home of his chosen humans. Buildings could be rebuilt, sure, but a life lost could never return, which could only mean one thing: he had to keep those humans at bay. He had to let them know who was going to enter the arena.

Madara stood up magnificently in the air, concentrated his power, and took a firm stance before announcing his presence to the whole village in a way befitting a wolf daiyōkai.

He howled.

And the world turned silent.

Wow, we are already here! The showdown is coming! Finally, Nyanko-sensei to the rescue! Go go Nyanko-sensei! ✺◟(＾∇＾)◞✺