Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

Full Circle

Chapter 4

by GaleSynch

"Get Sasuki," barked Tajima the moment he saw his son. Madara and Norio exchanged a glance before darting off in completely different directions: Norio, to battle; Madara, to his sister. Tajima hoped his daughter would be safe. Not only was she his daughter but it would be troublesome if they saw her Sharingan (which she always displayed, whether of her own will or not) and decided to keep her as a breeding machine. Just thinking about his daughter used that way made him ill. He suited himself in his armor at top-speed and rushed to aid his kinsmen.

When he saw the destruction, saw the women laying on the floor, bleeding to death or already dead, he felt glad that his wife was dead so she did not have to go through this.

The end of everything: it was the comfort death offered.

But Tajima couldn't afford to die so soon. His clan, his children needed him.

And he leaped into battle.

:: :: ::

"Sasuki! Imouto!"

Madara threw the door to his sister's room open, stiffened when he saw a man and snarled, lunging. He didn't have the Sharingan yet but he didn't care. He had already won many battles even without the Sharingan. Their blades clashed, Madara's arms straining to hold the other off.

He twisted his blade, rolled out of the way as the unsupported blade of his enemy fell, causing the other to overbalance. Madara swept his enemy's legs from under him, landing the older man flat on his back: he was dead before he could even raise his sword to defend himself.

This was not how Madara wanted his sister's room to be. He wanted it to be clean, yet here it was, tarnished by blood and a corpse.

He withdrew his blade, cast a quick glance around, and darted off. Madara's eyes flew around, desperately wishing he had gained his Sharingan because he would've been able to pick up where his sister was easily.

Madara didn't know who their enemies were. He just slashed, stabbed and killed every enemy that stood before him. Occasionally, he broke off from his mad search to aid his kinsmen.

The screaming was still there: high and low-pitched, women and children screaming in a bastardized version of harmony. They wouldn't stop; Madara hated it, what if Sasuki wasn't one of them screaming? In fear was better than in death.

Madara slammed the hilt of his sword into the smaller shinobi—a child by the looks of it but he didn't care—who slumped forward. He seized the brat by the collar and threw him into an empty room: they'd interrogate him later. Kids were easier to break than adults most of the time.

Shinobi after shinobi fell.

Madara saw too many Uchiha dead already. The more he killed, the more it seemed his clansmen ended up dead. Why? How? Madara killed the enemies: why were the Uchiha overwhelmed so easily?

"Sasuki! Norio! Kizuna! Izuna!"

A sharp shriek tore through the air—this was clearer, more heart-stopping than the others. It was Kizuna. Madara's head snapped around, momentarily disregarding his opponent: a fatal mistake.

Something blunt slammed into the side of Madara's head and he staggered. "Kizuna!" But his concern for his younger brother overrode pain and dizziness, he slashed wildly until his vision cleared and he regained his footing. He jumped, hands flying into familiar hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

There went that shinobi: burnt into a crisp.

Madara tore down the hallway, thundering to where he last heard his little brother's scream. He didn't see a boy struggling against multiple opponents or an opponent stronger than him; he just saw a small, dead body among the others.

Before Madara could react, someone stumbled into the scene: long-haired, pale-face bloodied and wide-eyed, Sasuki stared at the cooling corpse of her brother.

:: :: ::

She was covered in blood. Takumi and her separated the moment they raced home, winded and feeling as if their limbs were made of Jelly-O. They staggered into battle anyway. They weren't wearing armor but Sasuki didn't race for one; unlike Takumi who disappeared somewhere.

Sasuki didn't think changing clothes could ever be so thrilling but fortunately, Sasuki had came well prepared. She was already wearing a kosode beneath her current attire and all she had to do was pull on the kimono, tie the sash haphazardly (she was never good at this), grab a kunai and start hacking.

Sasuki was internally relieve their enemies weren't Senju: she didn't want to face Naruto with the blood of his kin on her hands.

Knowing this made it marginally easier to kill the enemy.

Her Sharingan spun as she scanned the battlefield; her brothers' chakra were flaring, all engaged in battle, panicked; she darted around, small enough to slip into the enemy's guard and gut them. Blood soaked her clothes, seeping to her skin but she kept moving because the blood was neither hers nor her kin's.

She was tiring quickly and she knew she had to retreat for a breather, or find her brothers.

She found Kizuna first.

No, to be precise, she found his corpse first. She stumbled in, kunai loosely grasped in hand, breathing harshly, small chest heaving.

Madara skidded to a halt a few feet away from her, eyes wide. For one absurd, frightening moment, Sasuki thought Madara had struck Kizuna down. But he had clearly arrived later than she did. She choked, unable to make a sound. "Sasuki, get out of here and to the other compound!"

What? The confusion must've shown on her face because he cursed and darted forward, snatching her up and shooting away from Kizuna's corpse as if it didn't matter.

Sasuki hit his back as lightly as possible, pointing insistently and squirming.

"No! We've got to get out and get to the other compound for back-up."

Sasuki didn't even know they had other compounds. What the heck was he talking about? Sasuki fisted on hand in her brother's shirt, the other clutched onto the kunai. Despite being weighed down by her, Madara fought off the enemy very well. Sasuki could definitely see why he was heralded as the strongest shinobi of the Uchiha—like, second to her.

Sasuki blinked, wondering if Takumi, Norio, Tajima and Izuna were all right, as Madara entered the forest. There were pursuers. About four to five. Sasuki wiggled, ignoring Madara's sharp reprimand to not do that, bent and hooked her hand in his weapon pouch. She dug her fingers in and found the tag immediately. She attached it to the kunai she held, straightened, took aim and threw.

Madara covered her head with his other hand and leapt; the area behind them exploded into a million pieces; fire latching onto the trees and spreading around.

Sasuki heaved a sigh of relief, slumping completely against her older brother; she fell asleep to the thump of his heartbeats.

:: :: ::

When Sasuki woke up, it was dark all around and the moon was high in the sky. She jerked into a sitting position, muscles tensed; her Sharingan flared and she swiveled her head around to study her surroundings. She had been used to waking up to a roofed house, not the open night sky.

Madara was asleep, a few paces from where she lay. She assumed he had rolled off from her. She shuffled closer to him but was alert in case his shinobi training kicked in and made him throttle every single person he felt around him just in case they were threats to him.

She grabbed a stick and prod him. She halted a few centimeters from touching him. He was clearly worn out and if she wanted him to be in tip-top form, she should let him rest. Shrugging the other reasons she didn't bother him into mind, she settled down and waited.

The sun had barely risen when Madara woke up. Sasuki was surprised to see that he woke up languidly, with a lazy stretch to top it off. She had expected him to wake up and roll immediately into a fighting stance. Her lips twitched at the thought; maybe she was just paranoid.

Madara turned to her, squinting as he rubbed his eyes. "Sasuki? What the—" His eyes widened, lips parted seemingly in shock. He was so still Sasuki was starting to wonder if he was the one who was special needs. "Kizuna..." he murmured and that one name jarred Sasuki badly.

"He's..." Madara's voice had gone oddly cold. "He's..." He struggled with himself, as if he wanted to confirm what he'd witness yet unable to bring himself to face reality. He caught and composed himself when he saw her. He cleared his throat. "Let's go," he said brusquely. "The others must be waiting in the other compound. Get on my back Sasuki."

She did as told, resting her head on his shoulder, dozing off to the scent of blood, earth and death clinging onto them both like second skin.

:: :: ::

The second compound was smaller than the compound she originated from and did not held the same sense of grandeur. Sasuki had yet to decide whether or not she liked it. Her arms were wrapped loosely around Madara's neck; she surprised herself by not trying to choke him.

Sasuki decided that now wasn't the right time. Madara was clearly grieving within about the death of their brother. Both of them had seen enough death to know a dead person when they saw it: Kizuna wouldn't waltz in, arm-in-arm with Izuna, cracking one of his stupid jokes that no one found funny.

He wouldn't be there anymore.

That thought made something rest heavily on Sasuki's chest: like there was an elephant trampling onto it.

"I'm the son of the clan head," declared Madara when they came within sight of the guards; they brandished deadly katana in their faces. "I'm Uchiha Madara and this is my younger sister, Sasuki."

"Prove it."

Sasuki's Sharingan spun into existence, she analyzed them critically to make sure they were who they were before nodding. They were real Uchiha and her muscles relaxed when she sensed safety behind them.

Madara rattled off some codewords and they were allowed passage.

"Madara, Sasuki!" Izuna thundered down the hallway towards them, face sheet-white. His eyes snapped around. "Where's Kizuna?" His voice was dangerously calm. "Where's my twin?"

"He was dead before I reached him," Madara announced quietly; he couldn't bring himself to look at Izuna. Sasuki, on the other hand, leaned forward, stretching a hand to touch Izuna's cheek.

It never struck her until then that Izuna and Kizuna were so alike. Izuna had often indulged his older twin, partook in the older's pranks and rubbish antics to keep them all happy, but he had always been the sensible and calm one. So, to Sasuki, it had been doubly easy to tell the twins apart.

Kizuna's face was never this closed-off.

Sasuki's heart ached. The pain of losing Itachi was fresher than ever and she turned to look for Norio. She wasn't the best chakra sensor but Karin had taught her a few tricks; she sensed her other brother's chakra but it was faint.

"Where's Norio and Tsubasa?" asked Madara, not knowing that Sasuki was close to kissing him for asking the question she couldn't.

"He—they—" Izuna choked out, sounding close to tears; he swiped his eyes, continuing, "They're fine. Norio's just resting and Tsubasa is with him. They got one of Norio's eyes though, he won't be able to use his left eye ever again."

"Oh." There was nothing more to say. Izuna buried his face in his hands. "Izuna..." started Madara, reaching out with one hand and steadying Sasuki with the other.

"Don't— don't try to comfort me. Kizuna would've thought that— that this is insulting. He died fighting to protect our clan, he—" Izuna sobbed miserably.

"Madara." Sasuki turned to see a weary Tajima heading towards them. His head was bandaged and so were his hands. He glanced at Sasuki and nodded at her, as if she was an acquaintance instead of his daughter. "It's good that both of you are safe." He chanced a glance at Izuna, his eyes drifting to the empty spot between three of his children, as if each were expecting someone else to be standing there and realization quickly dawned on his face.

Sasuki's sharp eyes caught the falter and hurt in his expression before he masked the grief away. When he spoke, his tone was brisk and professional. "There were a lot of causalities. It is a relief to see that you're safe. Izuna, stall those tears." Izuna sniffled once but obeyed.

"We'd send a team to retrieve the bodies of our fallen kin as soon as possible. Madara, Izuna—would you two be part of the team?" Softer, he said, "I'm sure your brother would've appreciated you two bringing him home."

Sasuki raised her hand, but Tajima flat-out ignored her. She waved, feeling miffed.

Madara and Izuna nodded in unison; the former absentmindedly slapping her hand in a wordless reprimand. "Sasuki, come with me."

"Father?" called Madara, an arm around Izuna's shoulders. The remaining twin was strangely still; his shoulders weren't even shaking. "Who attacked us?"

"The Hagoromo clan, as far as I could discern. We have yet to confirm their allies, we suspect it is the Kurama clan." Placing a hand on her shoulder, Tajima steered Sasuki away from her brothers.

She cast them a forlorn look before following swiftly.

:: :: ::

"This is our chance!" Tobirama exploded, drawing Naruto's attention from where he was having a thumb-war with Hashirama below the table. Despite being twelve-years-old, Hashirama was anything but mature.

Tobirama shot them scandalized looks but looked away quickly when their father fixed his attention upon them.

"Er," said Hashirama, "to do what exactly?"

"To destroy the Uchiha clan!" Tobirama cried.

Naruto resisted the urge to sock his older brother. He frowned, trying to appear thoughtful instead of angry. "They just suffered, let them dispose of their dead with dignity, Onii-sama."

Tobirama looked startled but that was to be expected; Naruto always called him "Tobi-nii" and never something as formal as "Onii-sama".

"Naru-chan's right," said Naruto's mother. She glanced at her husband. "They're humans, too, dear. We should pity them for—"

Butsuma made a noise of disinterest. "Tobirama, send for Kido. I want him to gather the reconnaissance team, we're sniffing out where the Uchiha clan's hiding spot are."

Tobirama nodded, satisfied, promptly ignoring Naruto's dark look. Hashirama shot a troubled look at his father and at his younger brother; of everyone, only Naruto had been enthusiastic about the idea of befriending the Uchiha. Of course, it was sort of odd about how fond Naruto was of the Uchiha.

But Hashirama placed it as the part of Naruto's loving personality.

"Hey," said Hashirama to his younger brother, "Why don't we go out for some one-on-one training? At our river spot?"

Naruto liked that place, Hashirama did too and as he'd expected, Naruto's face lit up at the mere thought.

"Yes!"

:: :: ::

Next chap: Sasuki and Naruto finally meet!

Sorry for the long wait, will try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

Question: Other than NaruSasu, there are no other pairings. Want to remedy that? Drop a suggestion!

Review!