But I AM Madara! – Kill The Brats And Hide Their Corpses

A/N: Once again, thanks for all your awesome reviews, they fuel my inspiration :)

And without further ado, here's the next chapter (in which, once again, people talk and talk and talk but I suppose that it's just a part of this story now).

Okay, one last thing I want to say. I actually planned to write the events of one month for this chapter but as you will quickly realize a certain something stopped me from doing so which is why the rest of the things I originally wanted to write in this one will be in the next chapter (also, faster pacing then, yay!).

The first sight which greeted Madara upon waking up was the sight of a bland-looking ceiling. Unlike the last time, he had no moment of disorientation but this did not lessen the amount of dread he felt as memories of recent events started to surface in his mind.

He was alive but that was about the only positive thing which could be said about his current situation. However, being alive meant that he would be able to search for a way to return home to his Uchiha clan where he would be the clan heir. Back to the familiar killing, back to his idiotic Senju friend and back to his little brother.

And this time around, he would make sure not to snap and set some monster on the village. Maybe, if he was the one to become the Hokage, he could also issue a decree, stating that no little blond boys named 'Uzumaki Naruto' were to be mistreated.

Great. Now, he was getting optimistic again. He should really stop this habit of getting his hopes u-

"I'll go now, kaa-san, otou-san. Bye!" a childish voice loudly exclaimed. Madara could hear the sounds of feet hitting the ground and then the one of a sliding door being closed rather loudly.

Well, at least he didn't have to deal with the little brat, he thought dryly to himself, as he slowly started to stand up. He slowly started to descend the stairs and made his way to the room where he could hear the voices coming from.

Once Madara arrived, he was greeted by the sight of Mikoto making breakfast and Fugaku reading…something. It was hard to describe, it looked like many overly large, folded sheets.

Feeling Madara's gaze on him, Fugaku looked up, frowning. He nodded in greeting. "Come to my working room after you've finished eating breakfast."

He didn't wait for an answer as he quickly stood up, putting that paper thing on another desk nearby. Another thud, albeit a quieter than the one before, could be heard as the clan head exited the room. Narrowed eyes bore into his back until he was completely out of sight. Whatever it was that Fugaku wanted to talk to him about would mean trouble.

Once he had ceased his staring and turned back, he was met by the calculating gaze of the clan head's wife. However, it instantly vanished and was replaced by an amicable smile.

"Now, what would you like to eat, Madara-kun?"

No, this woman could never replace is mother. They were distant memories but Madara could still recall the times with his mother before she died, giving birth to Izuna. His mother had been warm, a reassuring and comforting presence and while Mikoto often showed exactly this same kind and caring side, there was more to her.

Hidden and well-concealed was the subtle strength and cunning, typical of a kunoichi but there was no mistake it was there, he had been only too blinded by emotion and shock to realize this. However, judging from what he had seen so far, females in general seemed to have a more active role in the goings of the village and clan. Strange but not a change he felt too uncomfortable about, after all, there are a lot more which definitely needed more time to adjust to.

He blinked, once he realized that he had zoned out and seeing a smile tug at Mikoto's lips, he found himself blushing faintly against his will. "If possible, I would like to have inarizushi," he said once he had managed to recover.

She smiled at him, nodding. "Just sit down and wait. It will take some time."

Obediently, he sat down seiza-style, kneeling, his hands placed on his lap. While he was forced to wait, he might as well start mediating. After everything, clearing his mind and simply allow himself to relax a little sounded like a good idea to him.

As though some higher being had heard him, the sound of a door being open could be heard once again and a jovial voice said loudly, "Mikoto-san! I hope you don't mind if I join you."

Madara could feel his left eye twitch. So much for peace and calm.

"Hey, Madara," Shisui greeted as he plopped himself beside him, his sluggish posture forming a sharp contrast to Madara's own traditional and formal way of sitting.

Almost unnoticeable, Madara's posture stiffened and he was subtly trying to back away from him.

Shisui didn't seem to notice. "Itachi already left, huh? And Sasuke too."

Mikoto nodded absently as she prepared the rice needed to fill the fried tofu. "Yes, Sasuke-kun is on his way to school and Itachi has left for another mission. What would you like to eat, Shisui-kun?"

"Same as Madara," Shisui replied, pointing with his thumb at Madara. "I don't want to be too much of a burden."

"I don't mind at all," Mikoto reassured. "If you want, you can stay here and train with Madara-kun."

Oh kami-sama, please no.

Shisui grinned at Madara's obvious discomfort and said, "sorry, as much as I'd like to stay, I have a mission too. A-rank and on top of that, we are sent to the borders of the Water Country. This one might take a couple of weeks." He grumbled a bit, clearly displeased by this.

Mikoto chuckled. "I'm sure you can handle this and I heard the sea food there is very good. Would you mind bringing me some of it as a souvenir? I would like to try them. Perhaps, I could try cooking them myself. I've always wanted to try something new."

"Well, it's a mission and not some sort of vacation," Shisui felt the need to point out. "But whatever, I'm the one in charge of this mission so there's no one there who can write a report on me slacking off. Any specific wishes?"

As Mikoto happily told him what she would like to have, Madara struggled to keep back a snort. If people like Shisui were the ones put in charge of something, it was a wonder that the village was still standing. But then again, Hashirama had been one of the two founders of this village so he shouldn't be surprised that some of his idiocy had been passed on to future generations of villagers. It was only a shame that even his own clan had been afflicted by this disease.

Madara was content to let the two Uchiha chatter away as he allowed himself to get lost in his own thoughts, wondering how everyone back in the past was doing. Well, they were dead right now but he wondered what Izuna had done as soon as he had heard of his disappearance. Or had he never noticed?

After all, he still suspected that he must have split off or something along these lines for him to be remembered as the one who had nearly destroyed the village, despite him obviously having never done such a thing in the past century.

Or had he managed to return but despite this knowledge, he had still turned his back on the village and his friend? That would make no sense whatsoever. After all, he wasn't that dumb.

He was snapped out of his musings as the food was placed before him, the delicious smell making his mouth water and any thoughts about the past disappear from his mind.

"Itadakimasu," Madara said quickly, before he started to devour his meal at a speed which could easily rival Naruto's when he ate Ramen. He hadn't noticed how hungry he had been and the food was so good that he could ignore Shisui's snickers at his eating behavior.

He comforted himself with the thought that he wouldn't see the annoying Uchiha for the next weeks, anyway. Besides, he doubted that he would ever trust him again after he had oh so sneakily mind-manipulated him and could do so again, whenever he chose to.

o.o.o

As soon as they had finished breakfast, Shisui had left for his mission and seeing no reason to delay this meeting any further, Madara reluctantly made his way to Fugaku's working room after he had asked Mikoto, who was now busy washing the dishes, for directions. The house was quite big, after all.

It didn't take long to find the room. Standing before the door, he said, "It's me, Madara. You wished to walk with me."

"Enter," was the gruff response which Madara obediently did.

He was greeted by the sight of Fugaku sitting behind a desk which was cluttered by piles of papers.

Taking the seat before the clan head's desk, Madara idly noted that none of the papers spread out on the desk had been actually signed.

No silent staring content ensued as Madara had initially expected. Instead the clan head decided to cut to the chase.

"I want to apologize on behalf of the entire clan."

Madara blinked, once, twice. This was…unexpected.

"We are all part of the same clan, yet for the majority of the time you've spent with us, we haven't treated you this way at all. I hope you can partly understand the reason for this behavior. We had to make sure that you do not pose any threat to us."

"I do understand," Madara confirmed stiffly, his eyes slightly narrowed. "I would have done the same, if put in the same situation. However, what I do not understand entirely is your motivation behind this. You didn't even bother to pretend that you had no ulterior motive. Even though I do not know the Uchiha clan in its current form, I'm still an Uchiha as you've already said. So I do not think there's a reason for you to withhold information, if it's for the sake of the clan."

Fugaku smiled grimly upon hearing this. "I have never doubted your loyalty, at least not after I have found out who you truly are. Which is why I didn't try to hide my plans, regarding you."

"So you would actually tell me?" Madara questioned, disbelieving.

"Yes," the clan head said calmly. "However, first of all, I would like to remove your seal."

"My seal?"

Fugaku impatiently gestured towards his stomach. "The seal with which I can pinpoint your location among various other things."

"Other things?" Madara echoed warily, rubbing his belly.

"If the seal had triggered, you would have experienced great physical pain to the point that it would have rendered you immobile and most likely unconscious too. You leaving the village borders would have been the trigger," he explained as he rose from his seat and began to walk to Madara.

"Oh, that's good to know," Madara noted dryly.

"Well, seeing as I am about to remove the seal, it doesn't matter anymore," Fugaku retorted as his fingers flashed through a number of hand seals.

Wordlessly, Madara lifted his shirt, exposing his stomach.

He hissed when fingers pressed against his skin which was starting to feel like it had been set on fire. However, like the last time, the pain didn't last long and as soon as it was gone, he looked down to his stomach which was bare of any drawing or signs.

Adjusting his shirt, Madara asked, "will you tell me now?"

The clan head took his time answering as he returned to his seat. Once seated again, he said in much the same way Madara had done when he dropped the time-travel plan, "we are going to stage a coup against the village."

What followed was stunned silence.

"We, the Uchiha clan, have been shunned by the village which we have helped found," Fugaku calmly went on, ignoring Madara's disbelieving expression.

"They treat us with mistrust and it's only a matter of time before we will be absolutely restrained in our movements. Why should we continue to serve a village which only acts against us? A village which suspects us of something we had no part in?"

"What do you mean?" Madara questioned, frowning. He wasn't sure what it was he had expected but a coup had been definitely not part of his expectations.

"The Kyuubi incident," the clan head clarified, his expression grim. "Seven years ago, it attacked the village. Because of our mastery over the Sharingan, we're suspected to be the ones behind the attack. The village doubts that its attack had been on a whim."

He still didn't feel like this was reason enough to fight against the village, the village he had helped found and apparently had fought against too.

"Why? Why would they think that? Where is the connection between our kekkei genkai and them suspecting-"

"Uchiha Madara was known for being able to control the Kyuubi with the power of his Sharingan alone. The bijuu had been one of his many weapons he had used against the village and-," he abruptly stopped as he realized that it was, well, Uchiha Madara he was talking to.

"Uh, I can assure you that I did not set any fox against the village in my entire life and I don't plan to do that either but seeing as I'm somehow here, don't you think that I or, well, Madara is somehow responsible for this attack?"

"This is one of the things I've discussed with the clan after you've left," Fugaku admitted. "Some did not believe you and thought it prudent to throw you into the cells again, until we found a better solution as to how to deal with you. Some even went as far as to demand for your death, which you might have already noticed."

"But you disagreed with them," Madara said. It was strange to know that other Uchiha actively wanted to see him dead.

"I did," Fugaku agreed. "But I wasn't the only one. Time-travel is an alien concept for the most of us but the possible implications it holds are not to be trifled with. Some realized that killing you could drastically change the world as we know it now."

"So you think I'll return at some point and do exactly what I know is a bad idea because it somehow ends up with my clan wanting to fight against the village I have helped found? That doesn't make any sense," Madara protested, rubbing his temple. Great, he could feel a headache coming.

"Your entire existence makes no sense whatsoever," Fugaku said dryly. "We are shinobi, not scientists. There's no way for us to be absolutely sure how you can even exist in this time without us being at war with the Senju or god knows who right now. But fact is that you're here and your appearance has yet to alter anything. The clan as a whole finally agreed that it would be wise not to push it any further by trying to killing you."

"That's… reassuring," Madara said slowly. "But you still haven't answered my question. Don't you think it could be…me who attacked the village?"

"So you're saying that seeing as you're here, even though it should be impossible, it could be also possible that another Madara has survived until now? That he attacked the village again? Do you really think that we would be free of the village's suspicion once I run to the Hokage and tell him that it wasn't us but a relic of our past who was responsible for this incident?"

He snorted. "Don't be naïve. If an incident like this could make the village mistrust us to this degree, it only shows how much they had trusted us to begin with. No, with people like Danzo, running around and doing as they please in this village, Konohagakure will never change. So neither will we," he said.

"This coup, this battle against the village, had been inevitable since you left the village. It was only a matter of time before either of us would have started to fight against the other. I merely made sure that it would be us who would strike first."

"Is it really inevitable? Did I already see the beginnings of the conflict? Was this the reason why I left and tried to destroy the village?" Madara demanded to know, feeling sick.

How had this childish, innocent and foolish dream of theirs turned into something like this? Into a war where his clan and Konoha, their shred dream, were at each other's throats?

"I don't know," Fugaku admitted. "It all happened nearly a century ago and I doubt that what the history books have to say about this matter is entirely true. However, I do know that he… you have tried to warn us before you left. That the village would be against us. It seems that you were right."

"But why? I still don't understand. Why would the village be against the clan at all? We were one of its founders!" Madara exclaimed.

"Yes, but so were the Senju. The Nidaime, Senju Tobirama, started this, putting us in charge of the Military Force. It seemed like he has done us a favor but in reality, he was only preventing us from having any political say whatsoever and making the rest of the village's suspicion and fear grow even more," Fugaku explained in a tone which suggested that it had been not the first time he had said this.

"Tobirama?" This had been one of the many things which had confused him when he had listened to Fugaku's little rant. He didn't know what the Military Force was or how this was meant to be a slight against the clan but he did know that he had heard this name once before.

"Yes, he was the younger brother of Senju Hashirama, whom I believe you know," Fugaku said dryly.

"So basically he's the one responsible for all of this?" Madara asked, frowning and ignoring the remark. "And he happened to be Hashirama's brother so where was Hashirama in all of this?"

"Dead, I presume," Fugaku replied. "Hashirama had been the Shodai Hokage and upon his death, he passed on the title to his brother and allowed him free reign over the village."

"Another Senju?" Madara questioned. "Shouldn't it have been an Uchiha who should have become the next Hokage?"

"This village has been governed by Senju or people who have been influenced by them since the founding of Konohagakure. The Sandaime had been the student of Senju Tobirama, whereas the Yondaime had been the student's student of the Sandaime. No Uchiha had been even remotely close to attaining the position of Hokage," Fugaku said.

"And Tobirama is to be blamed for this once again?" Madara probed.

"As I've said before, I can't say that for sure as all of this happened before my time. However, he has certainly played a big role in the clan's segregation from the rest of the village. However, it doesn't matter who was the one responsible for this. What matters is the undeniable fact that the Uchiha has been only used by the village, without receiving any benefits from the village whatsoever and has been treated in a way which we cannot tolerate. Never mind that we were the one of the main reasons the village exists in the first place," the clan head angrily said, slamming the palm of his hand against the surface of the desk.

"So you want to fight against the village? We're powerful, no doubt, but even I can't help but wonder if we could efficiently win against the rest of the clans combined which have settled down in this village since its founding. I bet there are quite a lot," Madara argued.

Hearing this, Fugaku scoffed. "Don't you think we've already foreseen this and have planned accordingly? We're not the only one discontent with the way this village has been led. The Uchiha won't be the only ones fighting against the village."

"So what would be my role in all of this?" Madara wondered. "Because whatever it is, I'm afraid I have to decline. I may have said that I'll always remain loyal to the clan but this doesn't mean that I will be fighting for it either, at least not for this Uchiha clan."

Fugaku's expression immediately darkened. "Why?"

"Because I barely know either this Uchiha clan or the village. You can't expect me to throw my life away for something which I barely know or understand completely myself. I'm ready to fight to the death for my clan, after all, I'm not a coward. But this… this is something different. I've just landed in this time so I can't just get myself involved in a conflict as big as this one just like that," Madara tried to explain. How had the situation turned into something like this?

For some moments there was only silence in which Fugaku considered Madara's statement and Madara could only hope that the clan head would not reconsider his decision.

I might be able to take down three Uchiha but that's about it, Madara thought. He didn't doubt that there were other Uchiha stationed somewhere around the house. Anything else would have been foolishly reckless, considering what had happened last time, even though it had been done unintentionally on his part.

As the silence began to stretch to the point that saying nothing at all was even more uncomfortable than the prospect of talking to the clan head was, Madara added,

"Besides, I do no really appreciate you using me like some piece in your plan."

At this, Fugaku finally seemed to snap out of his daze. Surprisingly enough, he didn't yell as Madara had initially expected. Quite the opposite, in fact. He was laughing. It wasn't entirely happy but it was laughter, nevertheless.

Madara stared.

"Of course, you're used," Fugaku finally managed to choke out once he didn't seem to be at risk of choking on his own laughter anymore, further confusing Madara by this open admission.

"We're ninja. We live to be tools and help other people's plans come to fruition. What about this situation is any different from what it had been before. Surely, the horror stories about the Era of the Warring Clans weren't just some poorly misguided attempt to instill patriotism for this village?" Fugaku asked, still highly amused.

"I know that," Madara gritted out. "I always knew that while we're easily one of the strongest shinobi clans of the world, we would have also died like flies if we didn't cater to the nobles' whims. I guess this hasn't changed but still… you're not one of them. You're supposed to be an Uchiha, family," he spat out, the word uttered with as much venom as he could possibly muster, which was quite a lot.

Fugaku sobered, his expression softening somewhat.

"Can you honestly say that you were never used by the clan, never mind your clan status? That you aren't replaceable? That you're truly free to do what you want?"

At Madara's silence, he continued, "no, I don't think so. You're as easily replaceable as I am. I may be the clan head but in this coup I might very well die, precisely because I'm the ringleader behind it. Village or not, some things never change. Nowadays, shinobi are used and killed for the sake of their village. We die and fight against the village for the clan. So feel free to be as angry as you want to be about this. It doesn't change the fact that as shinobi, we'll continue to be used and killed for something far greater than us. That wasn't something either Hashirama or you could end with the creation of the village system."

It took a while for Madara to regain his composure after hearing Fugaku's little speech.

"I won't say that I disagree with you but it doesn't mean that I agree with you either," Madara finally said. He wasn't sure if Fugaku was being genuine or simply trying to manipulate him into doing whatever it was the clan head wanted him to do for the clan's apparent sake.

Fugaku didn't seem to be perturbed by this. "I see. I can understand that this is a lot to take in so it might be prudent for you to just think for a while before coming to a decision. The task I have in mind for you won't succeed, if you do not have the necessary conviction for the cause."

"So what is my task supposed to be, anyway?" Madara demanded to know, crossing his arms before his chest. Before Fugaku could answer his question, however, he continued in a harsh tone, "and how can you say you're used, if it's you wanting to overthrow the village in the first place? And how the hell can you say that it's for the sake of the clan and then basically say at the same time that it doesn't matter how many Uchiha die in the coup because they're oh so easily replaceable? I may be naïve, according to you, but don't think you can fool me, Fugaku-sama. You're just a big, damn hypocrite," he angrily said, utter disgust accompanying his every word.

Madara didn't know why he had said this or why he had suddenly decided that acting suicidal was alright now. It had irked him to just stay quiet and endure everything, no matter how much he believed it to be utter bullshit. He had done that for quite a while now, doing whatever the clan had demanded him to do, like the brave, loyal shinobi he was supposed to be but he hadn't been happy about this at all. They might be the clan and he might be utterly loyal to the clan and he might want to return back to his time without dying beforehand but he had just about enough of this crap.

He had managed to become powerful and feared, even though he had lost his sanity in the process. So if only possible death was the alternative to a life time of being the piece in something which he didn't really believe in so be it. This would give him ample opportunity to figure out what his Mangekyo Sharingan could actually do, at least.

Fugaku only sighed in the face of Madara's anger who had stood up and had unconsciously activated his Sharingan, although luckily enough for the two of them, they were just the regular ones.

"You haven't listened to a word I've said, Madara," he growled, also standing up, his eyes as red as Madara's.

"It's either this or continuing to exist in a village which only shunts and mistrusts and eventually will dispose of us. There's no other future for our clan and as long as I'm the leader of the Uchiha, I won't sit around, being cowed by the likes of Danzo and watch as my fellow clan mates are being treated like vile scum," he spat just as angrily as Madara had before.

"And don't you dare presume that the coup is a selfish attempt of me gaining more power at the cost of the clan. It wasn't me who has first voiced out the thought of going against the village. This coup is the will of the clan and it had been Uchiha, whom you might have even known, who have begun what is now the coup d'état.

"We, Uchiha, despite our profession as shinobi, are not willing to bleed and fight for something which we do not believe in or which only ends up harming the clan. Living in this village as we do now, it's against what little principles we still have as shinobi and as Uchiha. Surely, you can understand this? That if it's choosing between continuing such a life, a life which can only get even worse for our children, or possible death, it's the honor of fighting and dying for the clan we will choose."

It wouldn't have such an impact on him, if it hadn't been exactly what he had thought only moments before Fugaku had gone and started another grand and ridiculously long speech of his.

Madara could understand. Those were principles, beliefs, every Uchiha child had been taught to basically consider sacred. It was just as much a part of the Uchiha as was the Sharingan and their mastery of Katon jutsu. It defined them.

"But still, if this coup fails the entire clan will be annihilated. I don't think the village takes too kindly to treason on such a grand scale. The clan, we have all lived and died for, will be gone just like that. You'll have sacrificed yourself for nothing. Even the ones you have killed would be nothing but empty sacrifices," Madara argued in a desperate tone, the thought of a world without the Uchiha unsettling him in a way he had never felt before.

"I'm aware of this," Fugaku said quietly, looking at some spot over Madara's shoulder, eyes dark again. "We all are. Despite years of careful planning, we know that it's entirely possible for us to fail and die and become the name which Konohagakure will curse for as long as it exists. Despite its many faults, it's still powerful, after all."

He let out a harsh laugh. "Even if we fail, though, it will perhaps finally wake this village up and let them see a bit of the darkness it has created and we've been living in. Changes have never been meaningful without the necessary blood to accompany them."

Madara wanted to say that this was wrong, to sprout some idealistic nonsense as Hashirama would have done in this situation but for some reason, he struggled to find words. He didn't know what the clan had to suffer through the last century, if and how everything they stood for had been spat on by the very thing they had helped create. Surely, it would have made them bitter and enraged.

In their eyes, Konoha would have become the Senju of the time when there were clans and only them. He didn't know but he could understand the hatred, the bitterness, all those feelings which in the past had made him want to burn everything that had caused these feelings in the first place.

But the continued existence of the clan had never been at stake before and somehow, the thought of the village, with its strange people and Naruto, being turned upside down and drenched in blood wasn't one he particulary enjoyed either.

"You care for the clan, I can tell that now so I'm sorry for accusing you of doing this for your own selfish wants," Madara apologized. "But I don't want our clan to die for something as empty as making something which they despise share the pain they have suffered through."

He was channeling Hashirama now but he knew that somehow, it was his – or his other self's – fault that things had turned out like this. It was a novel experience for him to preach about forgiveness and peace and such in a way which would have made the Senju idiot proud and on top of that, go that strongly against the clan's wishes.

Madara wasn't sure if this could be considered an improvement.

Fugaku sighed, for a moment looking as old as the Hokage himself. "Even though we pride ourselves in our self-control, it may be our pride and feelings which could be our downfall. The Sandaime told me that." He smiled grimly, a bitter edge to it. "For an old leader, he can be very blunt sometimes."

He paused, briefly lost in thought before his eyes sharpened once again and he fixed his gaze on Madara.

"I wanted you to become a spy, to become the backbone which will connect this village to our clan but I can clearly see that even if I give you time to think, this won't change what you've already decided on. But whatever you think I'll do, I or the clan for this matter won't harm you, no matter what you have decided on.

"And if you don't trust my word, then at least trust in the fact that being someone from the past, killing you would be very risky and throwing you into a cell would alert village which we have managed to avoid until now. I only ask of you to remain neutral then and keep what we've said a secret. When the coup occurs and you have still not found your way back to your time, you will be evacuated with the other civilians, children and elders in our clan beforehand."

This was more than Madara had possibly hoped for after pulling this stunt. "You have my word that I won't do anything which will harm the clan," he hastily said.

Madara only hesitated for a brief moment before he added, "And if you excuse me, I will leave now."

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and left hurriedly, not caring that he was being incredibly impolite as he didn't wait for the clan leader to dismiss him.

He wanted to be alone and simply think. Think about what he was supposed to do now because he sure as hell had no clue.

o.O.o

"Tobirama, that's Izuna. Izuna, that's my younger brother, Tobirama. I'm sure we're going to work great together," Hashirama said enthusiastically, ignoring the way the two boys glared at each other.

However, as the two of them continued to stay silent, he decided to intervene, "Uh, do you know each other? Or what's with those glares?"

"We've met each other… on the battlefield already," Tobirama admitted, eyeing the Uchiha before him warily. "I can't believe that I didn't remember when you told me his name. I should have known."

"It's not going to be a problem, right?" Hashirama asked, frowning.

His brother shook his head, sighing. "I've agreed to work with an Uchiha. It doesn't matter who that Uchiha is."

"I concur," Izuna stiffly confirmed.

It had taken Hashirama a while to convince Izuna that no, they weren't going to attack and no, his brother wouldn't rat them out and that yes, he was actually going to help them. Fortunately, the amount of accusations and kunai, the Uchiha had hauled at him prior to that, had been reasonable.

Maybe, he wouldn't actually do that badly at being the Senju clan head later on, seeing as he apparently had all that diplomatic stuff down pat.

"Great," he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "So have you figured out a way for us to communicate with each other?"

"Yes, I have," Izuna said as he took out a scroll out of his pocket.

"What's that?" Tobirama demanded to know, eyes narrowed.

"It's the contract to the cat summons," Izuna explained. "It was a present from Madara."

"A present?" both of the Senju brothers questioned at the same time. Contract scrolls to summons were quite rare and hard to obtain so it was hard for them to imagine that Madara would just give it to his little brother without the clan's interference.

"Madara got it on some mission and managed to keep it a secret," Izuna told them, absently spinning the scroll in his hands. "He gave it to me on my birthday and told me that I could use it first before he would tell the rest of the clan about it. He wanted to be there when I did it but he was gone by then."

"Did you forget about it or was there some other reason why you didn't tell me about this earlier?" Hashirama asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

"I forgot about it after Madara just disappeared," Izuna admitted. "Just slipped my mind and by the time I met you, I had already forgotten about this. I found the scroll hidden in one of my bags two days ago and I figured that if we both sign the contract, we could use the cat summon as some sort of messenger."

"That's brilliant!" Hashirama exclaimed brightly, grabbing Izuna by his shoulders. It didn't take long for the Uchiha to shove him away, prompting Tobirama, who had remained silent for the most part, to snort.

"It would be very useful, indeed, if we could manage to do this," Tobirama eventually agreed after he watched Hashirama slowly get up again, rubbing his back. "However, are you sure that you won't regret this decision?" he asked in a challenging tone.

"The scroll belongs to Madara so I want to give it back to him," Izuna simply replied, his tone calm despite the intensity in his dark eyes.

"I see," Tobirama said, equally calm and intense at the same time.

Hashirama was watching their exchange with wide eyes. Wait, it couldn't be…

"You've become eternal rivals?"

The two younger boys gave him a startled look which was nearly identical to the one Madara had given him when he had first heard this word from his mouth.

"I don't even want to know," Izuna mumbled somewhat resigned, shaking his head.

"I'm surprised how fast and easily you manage to make people just accept your moronic antics as something which they can't change no matter what they do," Tobirama remarked.

"Forgive me for my stupid antics," Hashirama said, shoulders slumped and clouds of gloom hovering over his head.

"Has he been always like this?" Izuna asked, incredulous, pointing at Hashirama who had sunk to his knees by now.

"Yes," Tobirama confirmed, rubbing his temple.

"I think that's the first time I've felt genuine pity for a Senju," the Uchiha finally said. "Anyway, we should probably just get this done already," he said, gesturing at the scroll he was still holding.

"Oh, that's going to be great. I've never seen a summoning before!" Hashirama said excitedly, all bright and happy again.

The trio quickly turned silent as Izuna carefully unfurled the scroll on the ground. Names and fingerprints made in blood were imprinted onto the worn paper. Seeing this, Izuna didn't hesitate and bit his thumb, drawing blood. He then smeared his name messily on the paper and finally, he pressed his already bloody thumb on the paper. The nearly sloppy way it had been done formed a sharp contrast to the neat handwriting and clear fingerprints of the scroll's previous owners.

"Okay," Izuna said. He paused. "What now?"

"Good question," Hashirama said, shrugging and turning to his little brother. "Any ideas, Tobi?"

"No. However, the Uzumaki clan is going to pay us a visit soon. I'm sure that some of them will know more," Tobirama said.

"Oh, they do? I'm sure Mito-chan can help us," Hashirama agreed enthusiastically.

"When will you meet with… the Uzumaki then?" Izuna inquired uneasily.

"No idea."

"I don't know either," Tobirama told him. "I've only heard of it in passing. And I'm not surprised that you didn't hear of this, Hashirama. You rarely spend any time with the other clan members these days."

"Well, I-"

"I see," Izuna cut him off briskly as he rolled up the scroll once again and pocketed it. "Then what do you propose are we supposed to do in the meantime? Finding my brother is still our main objective, after all and we have already wasted enough time as it is."

"There's not a lot we can do. I suggest the two of you should just try to get something out of the clan heads. Since both of you are the clan heirs now, it shouldn't be too difficult. After all, they are our only lead to Madara's whereabouts right now," Tobirama suggested.

Izuna frowned. "This is what Hashirama and I have been doing for a while now and while there's some progress, it's so slow that it isn't really something we can rely on in regards to finding out where my brother is."

"I didn't say it was the best solution. It just happens to be our only at the moment. Neither of us has come up with something better yet so I suggest we should just stick to it and see whether we can find something along the way. You shouldn't complain if you haven't got a better idea either," Tobirama added, unimpressed, when he saw Izuna open his mouth to retort angrily.

"Fine," he reluctantly agreed, giving the white-haired boy a venomous look. "Well, if that's everything, I'll return to my clan now. When are we going to meet again?"

Before Hashirama could reply, Tobirama beat him to it. "We'll most likely be informed about their arrival soon. It will be hard for us to leave the clan grounds then. So I assume that meeting a week later would be the earliest."

"No," Izuna said, frowning. "A week is too late. Not only would we waste even more time, I'm also not that sure how long the clan is going to stay here. The people here don't have any more missions to give to us so it will be only a matter of time before we leave."

"Now that you mention it, I guess we won't stick around for a long time either," Hashirama said. "We have to somehow figure out that summoning thing before that." He sighed. "Great."

"I'll try my best to find the way to summon something as fast as possible," Izuna reassured him. "There might be some Uchiha I could ask about it out of pure curiosity."

"That's a good idea," Hashirama said happily. "Well, good luck to all of us, I guess."

"Hn." Without a further word, the Uchiha turned and made for the woods.

Hashirama frowned, scratching the back of his head. "Am I just overthinking it or is Izuna in a pretty bad mood?"

"He most likely doesn't trust me. I also have the feeling that he can't stand me either," Tobirama dryly noted. "Well, I'm not surprised. Continuously trying to kill a person and nearly getting killed by that person tends to do that to a person. There isn't a lot you can do about it either, Hashirama," he added.

"Again with that mind-reading stuff, brother." He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You're eternal rivals. You're bound to have difficulties at the beginning but trust me, you're going to be the best friends ever, whether you want to or not."

"I believe that that's not your decision to make," Tobirama remarked. "And I suppose I have to agree with Izuna on that topic. I really don't want to know how you ever got the notion that we're 'eternal rivals'."

"See, now you're even starting to agree with each other! It's only a matter of time now, Tobi."

"You're just as bad as the women and girls talking about who gets together with whom."

"I'm so sorry. I haven't realized how badly this affected you to make a comparison like that."

A sigh.

o.O.o

Madara had spent the past hours aimlessly wandering around in the clan compound. He had thought that a little walk would allow him to clear his mind. It didn't take long for him to figure out that he was mistaken.

If anything, it only made it worse. There hadn't been a moment after he had left or rather fled the house which hadn't been spent thinking on what the hell had happened or what he was supposed to do now. Unfortunately, the amount of time he had spent on thinking hadn't helped him come to a real decision at all.

It wasn't like there was a lot he could do. He'd probably just play along with whatever it was he was supposed to do from now on and then figure out a way to get back to his own time as quickly as possible. Knowing this didn't exactly make him feel better.

He had just arrived at some lake and seeing Sasuke struggle as he tried to swim a lap in the lake, however, made him feel slightly better. He looked like a drowning little pup. On second sight, not only did Sasuke look like he was drowning, he actually was.

Crap.

He didn't thought a lot afterwards. He just ran, though he had enough sense to pour chakra to the bottom of his feet before he did so. A blink of an eye later and he was hauling Sasuke out of the water, trying his best not to let him drop into the water again as he wildly trashed around him, smacking Madara more than just once in the process.

The brat better be grateful for that, he angrily thought as he ran as quickly as he had previously back to the shore. Once he was on firm ground again, he let Sasuke drop to the ground, allowing him to finish his series of coughs and choking.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Madara shouted, once Sasuke didn't look like he was about to keel over.

"I was just swimming," Sasuke muttered, looking at no particular spot on the ground.

"Swimming," Madara repeated. He paused for a second.

"You must be a total moron to actually mistake what you've done for swimming."

"It was swimming but then I got all tired and that's when I stopped swimming-"

"-and nearly drowned, I could tell," Madara cut off dryly. "Obviously, you suck at swimming so why didn't you have somebody watch over you while you practiced? You know what would have happened if I hadn't happened to be nearby."

"I know," Sasuke said, annoyed. "It's just that the teacher told us that we're going to do swimming lessons soon and I wanted to be ahead of the class and since I already knew a bit, I thought I could practice. "

Madara hadn't realized that it had already gotten that late that Sasuke had actually returned from the Academy by now. "And you didn't ask anyone to help you out with this. Why?"

"Well, Itachi and Shisui are gone, my father's busy and-" he abruptly stopped, his lips pressed tightly together.

"Yeah? What about your mother?" Madara pressed, an eyebrow raised.

"I knew that you'd be around her and if I ask her, she'd probably ask you to help me and I didn't want that," Sasuke muttered, pointedly looking at anything but Madara's face.

"And here I am, having just saved your sorry ass," Madara scoffed. Really, he couldn't believe that Sasuke could have died because of such a dumb reason.

"It's not like I wanted to drown," Sasuke protested. "It's just that stupid lake's fault." He shot aforementioned stupid lake a venomous look.

"You can't possibly blame the lake for your idiotic behavior."

"I can and… hey!" Sasuke shouted when he finally realized the insult. Whatever it was he had wanted to say was cut short as he felt Madara's hard gaze on him.

"Sasuke, you could have died and you nearly did. Surely, you're able to realize that you've got only yourself to blame for that. That sort of recklessness can get you killed sometime and it nearly did today." It was a bit rich coming from him as he wasn't exactly known for his levelheadedness either but at least, he had never gotten himself nearly killed by way of drowning oneself.

"You're not my parents or Itachi. You can't order me around!"

"I can and I will!" Madara snapped as he grabbed Sasuke by the collar. "I'm your brother and I couldn't care less whether you're happy about this or not, you stupid brat. But you shouldn't let your hatred for me cloud your decisions. There won't be someone saving your neck every time."

He let go off Sasuke's shirt, sighing. Yeah, he definitely did not want to deal with little children when they were being more obnoxious than usual right now.

"It's not like I hate you," Sasuke denied. "It's- can you show me how to do this water-walking thing?"

"What?" Madara blinked, somewhat confused by the sudden change of topic.

"I guess you're not as weak as I thought," Sasuke reluctantly admitted. "And seeing as nii-san and Shisui aren't there, I guess I could allow you to teach me some cool stuff."

"Allow me?" Madara repeated, scoffing. "You're so full of yourself, stupid brat."

"Don't call me a stupid brat!"

"Then stop behaving like one," Madara said, smirking. "I might even consider calling you by your real name then." It felt nice not to be on the receiving end for once.

Sasuke's face twisted into a scowl but he seemed to accept this. "So how does that work?"

"You let some chakra flow to the bottom of your feet and then you have to keep that amount of chakra at a constant level," Madara explained. While the brat could do with a bit more respect, he actually preferred him to at least know some way to get out of the water in the case he tried to practice swimming again. And the brat was stubborn and dumb enough to try it again, he just knew it.

"You also have to take into consideration that the surface of the water itself is always shifting so you have to change the flow of the chakra accordingly. And the rest is fairly easy. You just walk."

At the last words, he had already set his feet on the surface of the lake and was now slowly beginning to walk, completely at ease.

Seeing this, Sasuke was about to do the same before his brain finally started to catch up. Putting his fingers into a hand seal to help him channel his chakra, he closed his eyes, his expression one of utter concentration. Half a minute passed before his eyes snapped open again and he carefully started to approach the lake.

He stopped short before the lake, one foot hesitantly hovering over the water.

"Are you going to do it or not?" Madara asked, crossing his arms. "I can't believe that someone as weak-willed as you are could possibly be an Uchiha."

That did the trick.

Snarling, Sasuke put his foot on the water and then the other. Shooting Madara a triumphant look, he said, arms at his hips, "Hah! Who's not an Uchi-WAAH!"

"You're hopeless," Madara told him as he once again hauled Sasuke out of the water.

He shook his head when he only received sputtering coughs as a reply. "When I was your age, I managed to do it on my first try."

"Shut up," Sasuke shouted, scowling. It would have looked more threatening if he hadn't been dripping wet. "You don't have to rub it in my face that I'm weaker than you or Itachi, I already know." He looked down. "Everyone does."

What was he supposed to say? "I-"

"Madara! Stupid Sasuke!" Madara wasn't sure whether he wanted to strangle or hug the blond brat who was running to them.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke demanded to know, his kicked puppy expression quickly replaced by something considerably more ferocious at the blond's arrival. "That's the Uchiha compound!"

"So what?" He then ignored Sasuke in favor of addressing Madara. "Where have you been? I thought you'd come to the Academy. We wanted to eat Ramen, remember?"

"We could do that now," Madara suggested, shrugging. He only barely managed to suppress a smile as he, too, ignored Sasuke's protests.

"Cool. You'll love it, dattebayo," Naruto exclaimed, whooping. Grabbing Madara's hand, he then proceeded to drag him away. "Come, we have to get to Ichiraku real fast."

"Oi, you can't just leave with Madara! He promised to teach me water-walking!" Sasuke yelled, grabbing Madara's other arm and trying to pull him to his side.

"He doesn't have time for something lame like water-walking," Naruto yelled even louder, pulling Madara even more strongly than Sasuke.

Predictably, Sasuke was also pulling now much more. "And ramen isn't?"

Naruto looked positively scandalized. "Ramen isn't lame! Take it back!"

"No! Let Madara go!"

There's a lake. No one would ever find their corpses there. As the boys' screaming started to grow even louder, Madara really wondered what stopped him from doing it.

When it looked like it would end up as some sort of tug war with him right in the middle of it, Madara had just about enough. Two smacks later and the two brats were on the ground, rubbing the aching spot on their head.

"Listen, brats," Madara said, deeply unamused. "I'll teach both of you tree-walking. I guess that even you could manage this and then we'll go eat Ramen, okay?"

The two boys opened their mouth to retort but snapped them close as Madara glared at them, his Sharingan activated for good measure. "Okay?" he repeated, arms crossed.

As the two of them quickly nodded their heads in agreement, Madara allowed a sigh to leave his mouth. The two of them would be more than able to keep his mind off the more troubling events which were to come.

o.O.o

In a village hidden by mist, a masked man frowned as he read a scroll one of his informants had delivered. Apparently, a boy by the name of Madara had appeared in the middle of the village out of thin air and had promptly been adopted by none other than Fugaku, the clan head himself. If this wasn't suspicious, he didn't know what was.

But could it really be the Uchiha Madara? He had already interrogated Nagato, who had assured him that he had not used his legendary doujutsu to resurrect anyone recently. And if the information he had received was correct (and his spies were rather reliable in that regard), this Madara was only a child.

Maybe, it was just a coincidence. But then again, Madara had told him that he was supposed to revive him at his prime. So if it was possible, then why not go a step further and be resurrected as child? But for what reason? Was there some plan Madara decided to keep quiet about, something that he wasn't supposed to be aware of?

The timing was suspicious too. The Uchiha and village were already at each other's throat and it was only a matter of time before the first blood was spilled. So what was this strange kid's role in all of this?

His red eye narrowed. It seemed that he would pay Konohagakure a visit and have a little chat with a certain Uchiha.

OMAKE (gift for my 400th reviewer, SilverRider09)

Hashirama sighed as he once again picked up a pebble and threw it, watching it morosely skip to the other side of the river. At least that was what he was thinking was going to happen. Instead the pebble bounced back and hit him square in the face.

As he fell unconscious, his last thought was something along the lines of 'I'm so lucky that Madara isn't here.'

He woke to laughing and Madara's voice.

Wait, what?

He immediately opened his eyes and made to stand up when he suddenly realized where he was. He gulped. That was a long way down.

More laughter. He whipped his head to its origin and nearly fell off the cliff he was currently standing on at the sight he was presented with.

Madara and some weird blond kid, being held by some ropes and drawing on stone heads? He quickly went to the edge and got to his knees. He looked down. Somehow, he had gotten himself on a stone head.

"Hah, now it's the Shodai's turn. That damn Hashirama could do with some more paint on his face," Madara said gleefully. The two of them exchanged smirks.

Did he know he was here? Was he somehow responsible for him ending up here?

"Hey, Madara! What is going o-OAH!" He didn't know how but suddenly he was falling and approaching the ground. Quickly.

"Did you call my name?" Madara asked, still looking confusedly at the Shodai's face engraved in the mountain.

"No," Naruto said. He was currently in the process of giving the Sandaime a rather huge moustache.

Madara shrugged. "Whatever."

"Crap! Crap! Cra-"

He felt firm ground under his back and nothing hurt. Was he dead? He carefully touched his chest. No blood. As he slowly got himself up off the ground, he recognized his surroundings. He was back on the shore of the river.

He let out a relieved sigh. "Just a dream."

A/N:. Wow, who would have thought that I would write a conversation between Madara and Fugaku out of all people and then have it be like 5k words long? (Thanks to that, I couldn't put all the stuff I actually wanted to do in this one.)

Also, Fugaku's reasoning isn't exactly the most realistic or plausible one, instead it's rather emotion-driven but what would the Uchiha be without their emotions to act on? And the room had been sound-proof before so no one would hear in case you were wondering. I wasn't really sure how I was going to mention it. And I don't think Madara was in the right state of mind to wonder about something like this ^^"

In addition, I don't know how much of Fugaku's ranting about why attempting a coup is justified is from canon or just fanon-made. I read so many fics I can barely keep track of this anymore. So if you think that something has not been stated in canon, feel free to tell me, and depending on whether what I've accidentally taken from the fanon is plausible or not, I will try to fix it ^^

And yeah, I just figured that seeing as Fugaku is the clan leader and also trying to convince Madara to join their cause, he'd try to give him some really long speeches about clan pride and loyalty and such. But I suspect that I went a bit overboard with this. I did try to split the paragraphs so it wouldn't be just one big wall of words, however, if it's still uncomfortable to read through, please tell me and I will try to fix it somehow ^^

As usual, feedback, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated. I have already planned out the plot for the next chapter so I hope it won't take too long.

On another note, I have some shameless advertising to do, and before you roll your eyes and leave this site, please hear me out.

There's this forum called 'Awesome Authors Coalition' and the link to it can be found on my profile. Now, here's the thing, there are currently two RPs going on this forum.

One is called 'Convergence' and the ones working on it are PyrothTenka, Igornerd, Ser Serendipity, Ekusukallybaa, Duesal10 and AlmostElectric, all of them are also the moderators of this forum. I'm sure that you know at least one of them and even if you don't, you just have to read one of their works to know that their writing is incredible (this story can't hold a candle to theirs).

And here's the summary of their RP:

The fabric of space and time is crumbling under some unknown force and characters from different realities are finding themselves transported to the one dimension that spawned them all.

However, this RP is a closed one, meaning that they don't need any more members, however, reading this is still an awesome experience all on its own.

Okay, now to the actual part of my shameless advertising, there this other RP called 'Rags To Riches' and currently there are four working on it, Lord Darky, Ezra Wolfhound, Ser Serendipity and me.

Here's the summary again:

After failing to retrieve Sasuke as he had hoped, Naruto returns to Konoha, only to find there's a problem. The local friendly villagers renovated his living space while he was away. Kicked out of his apartment and dead broke, Naruto devises a most elegant solution. He summons up a handful of clones, and tells them each to run off and make him some money.

This is the story of their various chaotic attempts to get some cash in the Shinobi World.

The setting is right after Naruto and co have failed to retrieve Sasuke in early Shippuuden.

Personally, I think it's a pretty funny premise and we also have some hilarious ideas but we're still rather lacking in numbers or to quote Darkly, 'there can never be enough clones.' So if you have a cool idea for a clone, feel free to join us.

A link to the forum can be found on my profile.

/shameless advertising

Well, with this out of the way, I wish you a wonderful day! ^^ And I'm really sorry for this but I wouldn't do it without a good reason. I hope it didn't bother you that much ^^" (Also, the A/Ns are really long again /sigh)