so i accidentally stumbled upon this and totally thought it would be garbage (not your fault, i hate madara)... But this is really good. I'm weirdly liking this very much. So i hope you'll update again at some point

What a great story! Interesting pairing. Love the insights into Madaras thoughts and the OC

Rereading for like the 20th time, and this is my fav chapter.

Didn't think I'd like...
You changed my mind, this is an intriguing perspective, if more on the romantic side of things than I usually enjoy. Madara's thoughts - obsessions - are believable and you neatly put into perspective how the uncertainty of potentially unrequited love feels.
So, thank you for that, and please do continue!

there is no going back. I'm officially shipping them.

ghad help my soul Im positively squealing my heart out because of this

I chuckled at the reactions of all-caps-jealous-inner-Madara in this one, lol! I'm also glad that Tatsumi and Kakashi get along so well, and the potential implications it has for the Uchiha, Senju, and the village.

Wow! Your story is Amazon! More please!

That was a wonderful chapter! It was amazing! My heart actually aches from the feelings Madara had in the beginning of the chapter. I can't wait for the next chapter! (I was literally just reading the last chapter before you updated, I was thanking God and whatever deity that a new chapter came out so soon!)

Kyaaaaa!~ Yessss! This is THE BEST. I love this story, I love your writing, and I love you in general. When I read this, it just kind of felt like I was walking casually along the shore, and then suddenly being kidnapped and dragged onto the MadaKaka ship (though is it really kidnapping if I came willingly?). Now I'm stuck making fan art and following you on Tumblr.

Anyways, this story has basically made you my top favorite author, and I felt like you should know that :)

I'm back! :D Quick beta note: Might want to autocorrect "lightening" to "lightning."

Yeah, baby, gimme ~all~ the fantasy ninja power politics! I'm curious whether you have a headcanon timeline of which clans joined Konoha when. After the Senju and Uchiha, I figure the Hyuga were sought out. Which likely kicked off another round of small wars, TBH, as those threatened by Konoha's growing strength (this Senju-Uchiha truce isn't just some backstabbing scheme by one or the other?!) try to kill the new alliance before it can really solidify. Can definitely see the fighting and Konoha's ultimate victory establishing both the reputations of the Legendary Gonin (counting Izuna, right?) and the whole concept of hidden villages, though with the unfortunate implication that the other villages formed mostly in opposition to Konoha. Guess that's why Konoha is attacked *every single time* there's a shinobi world war, lol.

The Inuzuka have already signed up, and you mentioned the Nara, presumably there along with the Yamanaka and Akimichi. The Aburame? It'd be pretty cool, IMO, to see the beginnings of Ino-Shika-Cho, maybe nudged into existence by Kakashi, assuming none of these clans have ever worked together before. [itslulu42]'s fic about Hashirama assigning Kakashi, what with his super secret future knowledge, to evaluate all of Konoha's clans is, well, exactly how I imagine it went. The Uzumaki? Distantly related to the Senju, IIRC. Is there ever a canon explanation as to why they didn't outright join Konoha instead of founding nearby Whirlpool? Especially since Hashirama later weds Mito in what one could assume is an arranged marriage.

As for the Hatake? Might be easier to send them Hidden Cloud's way, actually, if there's to be any reasonable expectation of keeping Kakashi's time traveling hush-hush. Kakashi's age is such that, even given a cover story of him or his parent(s) getting exiled from or otherwise leaving the clan, it'd be suspicious that nobody at all knows him and no records exist of his (potential) lineage, birth, etc. The Hatake lightning nature is a good fit for Kumo, and a future defection to Konoha, perhaps due to internal unrest (bloodline purge?), could explain why the clan's down to only two members by the Third Great War as well as why the village's reaction to Sakumo's failed mission is so extreme. Not like Kakashi interacted enough with Kumo nin in the manga to rule this theory out; Suna's grudge against the White Fang basically came out of nowhere, too, and not until Kakashi was *there*.

How does Kakashi feel about his fame *here*? Isn't it a little... reckless? Granted, he's probably careful to the point of paranoia about letting his appearance be captured in painting or photograph. The first bingo books are maybe text-only descriptions, without modern means of mass reproduction. Plus, since his adoption and original clan name aren't widely known, his public identification is the Senju with the Sharingan, aged twenty, tall, lean, silver/gray hair, and a laundry list of his ninja skills. I suppose that's vague enough for the many similarities between Kakashi in the future and this enigmatic, obscure(?) historical figure to be overlooked time and again.

Man, I really want Kakashi to confront Madara about his murderspree. On the one hand, he cares! He truly, deeply cares! Aww! On the other, this is a huge setback in intervillage relations, lol, undoing whatever goodwill Tobirama and Kakashi himself managed to foster on their mission. Knowing Kakashi's low estimation of the value of his own life, he'd think - heck, he'd tell Madara, like it doesn't matter at all - that avenging his pain or even his *death* isn't worth making an enemy of Kumo and risking more war just as peace seems to be within reach at last. Madara won't stand for that sort of self-deprecating, self-destructive nonsense, of course, not coming from Kakashi at least. Hashirama, for all his fool idealistic optimism, didn't begrudge Madara his roaring rampage of revenge either.

Wonder if the political fallout can be more or less smoothed over by Hashirama asserting that Madara was not acting under orders but as an individual in what amounts to a duel with the Raikage over Kakashi's honor, lol. "Calm down, Madara! The only way the Raikage would accept you had grievance enough to personally challenge him was to claim you and Kakashi are, uh, romantically involved. What's a little white lie between friends, huh? I could've told him it's Tobirama instead. Ha-ha!" Madara stomps off, furiously embarrassed, to Tobirama's look of utter disgust and Hashirama's helpless laughter, head on desk, while Kakashi contemplates escaping via window so he can go hide (in a tree) from the fact that everyone who's anyone in the Elemental Nations will soon hear he and Madara are lovers. Are they going to have to pretend whenever Konoha receives foreign guests? On every diplomatic mission to the other villages? The Raikage's not exactly known for his subtlety or discretion.

Okay! That's definitely it for today! Need to re-read and chew on the next couple deliciously meaty chapters before reviewing. Thanks for putting up with my verbosity!

All aboard! You and your motley crew have convinced me that Madara/Kakashi is clearly the best crack ship (more of a rowboat, really) to ever sail these fandom waters. So, I'm gonna do what I always do when I get a new obsession: wall o' text you with questions and wild speculation!

First off, I'm a bit confused about how old Kakashi is in your AU. Is this twenty-year-old ANBU!Kakashi, as you say in your author's notes, or timeskip!Kakashi, as you say in the original Tumblr post?

Kakashi's personality has that teasing, trollish edge to it which I don't think he really developed until he was a couple years out from ANBU, but I suppose he could've mellowed earlier than in canon under Hashirama and Tobirama's influence - the former so much like Minato-sensei and future!Naruto in his easy power, his ideals, so much like Gai in his theatricality, lol; the latter a cool genius whose calmer, more studious temperament makes him good company for a habitual loner, the two sharing a love of jutsu creation.

OTOH, Kakashi knows about the Mangekyou and can (probably?) use Kamui. I'd always assumed this is something he researches and learns during the timeskip after analyzing his encounter with Itachi. That is, although he (and Obito) awakened the Mangekyou with Rin's death, due to passing out from chakra exhaustion immediately after, being denied access by the Uchiha (because, naturally, they hate him, shun him, would never help him master his stolen eye) to any of their clan records about Sharingan abilities, and general associated psychological trauma, I figure Kakashi just didn't realize what had happened. The Sharingan's already such a chakra parasite, there's no reason why Kakashi, with his undoubtedly excellent chakra control, would feed it more, enough to activate Mangekyou, under normal circumstances, IMO.

If it's not too presumptuous of me, I have a suggestion! ANBU!Kakashi, as in canon, has no idea his Sharingan's evolved until he's thrown back in time. Maybe even via some freak Kamui-(done accidentally in the heat of the moment)-Hiraishin-(taught to him by Minato, of course)-genjutsu/kinjutsu-(unknown complications, courtesy of the enemy) mash-up while trying to protect his team (Tenzou, Itachi?) on a S-/unranked mission. Once he's more or less settled with the Senju in the Founders Era, he can do the whole "save Madara or no Konoha!" thing with another instinctive, panicked Kamui. Except this time he realizes it's him and Madara *definitely* notices the strange Senju who not only has the Sharingan but the *Mangekyou*, too. Luckily for Kakashi, he passes out before a furious Madara can demand any answers of him, lol, leaving poor Hashirama to defend his life and honor without giving away the time travel. Awkward! :D

Which brings me to my second question: Who knows Kakashi is from the future and just how much do said people know, anyways? Hashirama and Tobirama, for sure, but *not* Madara, right? The better to set up the heartbreaking angst and drama when Kakashi gets sucked back to his time, then canon happens, lol.

Specifically, Kakashi can't appear seemingly out of nowhere during the battle wherein Izuna is fatally wounded, IMO; somehow I don't feel "my shunshin training went very, very wrong" will cut it as an excuse to Madara. I'm thinking Kakashi is instead found unconscious and gravely wounded by the Senju in the forest *on their way* to the battle. Which then never happens because Hashirama calls a stop or retreat to interrogate this Sharingan user who obviously isn't an Uchiha. Kakashi's in his ANBU gear, so he isn't wearing his Leaf hitai-ate, IIRC, but does he still carry it around with him, in a storage scroll perhaps? Besides weapons, he could also have on him various seals and tags, money, *a bingo book*.

That's... way too much future knowledge, IMO. But here's a simple solution! Unless your last name's Uzumaki, can anyone even use storage scrolls prior to the formation of the hidden villages? Same with shunshin, actually, which has variants depending on village, i.e. leaves for Konoha, sand for Suna, etc. For all we know, neither Hashirama nor Tobirama, no matter their later fuinjutsu prowess, can figure out how to unseal Kakashi's personalized scrolls. This would not only keep the details of Kakashi's future secret, to reveal at his discretion, but help sell his story as a time traveler, along with his impossibly vast arsenal of ninjutsu.

Plus, Kakashi himself would quickly realize the danger of changing the past when his knowledge (and future records, see Sasuke needing to Edo Tensei the past Hokages rather than borrowing some library books) of the Warring States period is so spotty. Hashirama might be enthusiastic to hear ~all~ about whether his and Madara's once dream has come true, but I bet Tobirama would also appoint himself Protector of the Timeline. :D So, Kakashi can only encourage Hashirama's attempts to make peace with Madara while likely running himself ragged in battles between the Senju and Uchiha trying to minimize casualties on *both* sides, knowing that bad blood makes it harder for Konoha to be founded. Madara probably goes on the warpath against Kakashi after the Sharingan reveal, though... A close call with Izuna, then the canon beatdown by Hashirama to get him around to the idea of an alliance? He'd still be plenty furious enough with Kakashi afterwards to chase him relentlessly. Once Madara learns the stick won't work, lol, he might try the carrot of information about the Mangekyou, which Kakashi would have a much more difficult time resisting on account of wanting to do right by Obito('s gift). And this leads nicely into Kakashi suggesting the Madara-Izuna eyeball swap!

Ah! Madara can oh-so-grudgingly help Kakashi learn what his Mangekyou ability is and how to use it. Perhaps Madara's even the one who names it Kamui, just as he did Konoha itself. Hashirama and Tobirama are both kinda pants at naming jutsu, after all. Fast forward a few centuries, when Obito asks the by now embittered Madara about *his* Mangekyou... Depends on whether Madara believes (suspects, fears, hopes) Obito's Kakashi is the Kakashi he loved. (How?! Was this the secret you refused me, Hashirama?) "Kamui: the power to bridge space and create dimensions. I have known only one other who possessed such power, and he is long lost to me."

Man, what an awesome crack ship! Plan's to review the other four chapters, as well. Just, er, hopefully with less rambling and more relevant thoughts. :D

Oh noooooo she's lying right? She has to be!

Hahahahhaah oh gods this chapter was so funny

Omgggg this is so cute