Chapter Text
The scream was the most disturbing scream Madara had ever heard in his whole life.
He had already heard his little brother screaming in different situations, be it in anger or pain, on the battlefield or if they argued. But he had never imagined that Izuna could sound so raw, so desperate. So destroyed. It made his skin tingle and his hair rise.
He hadn’t even so sounded like this when he lay on his deathbed and Aoki had tried to treat his infected intestines. And Izuna had screamed a lot back then. Madara still had nightmares about that.
But this time it was different, because the pain Izuna cried out of his lungs was not physically. Or maybe it was, because Madara felt his own heart sting like someone stabbed him and his own guts freeze into a painful knot.
Izuna screamed again, high and loud and broken, and the monster answered with a roar and threw the bloody remnants of what had been a person once over the clearing. Izuna moved forward, blade in hands, but Madara grabbed him at the last moment and pulled him back. His brother screamed again, tried to struggle free, but Madara used all his strength to lock him in his arms. Izuna couldn’t help if he rushed there now, he would just end in shreds, too.
It was too late anyways. Hashirama couldn’t have survived that. He had already been nearly unrecognizable when they arrived, one arm ripped off with half of his shoulder, a literal hole in his guts and blood running from every visible orifice. There was nothing they could have done; they arrived just in time to see the monster snatch him out of the air and crush him between its teeth. They had heard the cracking of bones, the tearing of flesh. No one could have survived that, not even Hashirama with his ridiculous healing powers.
The monster roared and a sudden blast of chakra broke the trees around them like twigs. Madara stumbled back, pulling Izuna with him, while many of the other ninja around them were blown away like leaves.
The next moment, Izuna hooked his foot around Madara’s ankle and used his instability to trip him over. Within the blink of an eye Izuna was gone, barely a red and black flash over the forest ground, running and jumping faster than Madara had ever seen him before. Smooth like a snake Izuna slithered right under the snapping jaws of the giant monstrosity, avoided with an elegant spin the second snap and hurled himself between the monster’s leg. The monster growled and spread its tails, the disturbingly hot chakra roaring and burning so strong that even Madara could feel it from afar. It was as if his skin was ready to pop like a crust.
Another blink later Izuna grabbed the deformed mass of flesh and blood the monster had dropped and bodyflickered out of the monster’s range into the woods, where Madara lost sight of him. The fox-shaped monster roared angrily and another wave of burning chakra spread. Amazingly light-footed and elegant, the monster turned to follow Izuna, mowing down more trees as if they were nothing more than straws.
It turned towards Konoha.
“FUCK!”, Madara cursed and felt his Sharingan spin to life, brazing himself for the offensive, “Gather! Three-Five-Formation! Don’t get too close, I want you to distract it! Stay away from the teeth!” Or anything. He had no idea what that beast was or how they should fight it, but they had to fight it. It was more than obvious that the losses and damage would be devastating if it reached Konoha.
With another curse, Madara gripped his Kusarigama harder and signed the teams towards the monster’s flanks, before he threw himself with a jump against the monster’s head. With a mighty swing of his sickle he attacked, but while the force of the blow would have easily cracked any skull, the sharp blade bounced back on the monster’s forehead. The Monster roared in triumph and grinned.
That fucking bitch grinned!
With a swipe of its arm-like front legs the beast brushed away the other ninja, weapons and man fell like leaves in autumn. Also the second and third and any other wave of attack was brushed off by the nine-tailed beast as if it was child’s play. No weapon could pierce the dense, unnaturally chakra-charged fur, and no ninjutsu seemed to take effect. Only when Madara withdrew his men to send a blazing fireball against the creature, it stepped backwards, away from Konoha. But it was late; too late, because it had already torn down half of the palisades and trampled now through the area close to the village walls. The area close to the wall were not densely populated, but every step the beast took forward into the village would mean more and more damage.
The beast roared more and Madara roared with it.
“Retreat! Off from its teeth! Idiots!”, he barked, but too late. The monster found again flesh between its teeth. With furious shaking and munching it killed the man and threw him over the next houses.
“It’s like it is purely from chakra, but so dense as if it was solid!”, the Hyuuga next to Madara exhaled and held his bloody side. He was pale and had one eye closed, a deep scratch bisecting the left half of his face from forehead to cheek. Judging by the blood and gore he had probably lost his left eye to the scratch of the ninetails.
Ninetails. The Kyūbi.
Madara cursed himself for his blindness. The Kyūbi! He had always thought the stories about the Bijou were only for scaring children and idiots. But what should one think about a nine-tailed fox-shaped monster, higher than the highest treetops and stronger than any of them? A purely chakra originated beast. What else should it be?
Konoha had the worst luck ever, if this was really the legendary Kyūbi!
“Back off! Back!”, Madara yelled on top of his lungs and blew another giant fireball against the beast. This time the Kyūbi growled fiercely and opened his mouth to counter the fireball with its own fire. The resulting firewall showered anything surrounding the beast in flames. Yet it also forced the creature back.
Madara grabbed for the wrist of a very young Yamanaka kunoichi.
“You need to go to my house. Tell Mito she’s needed here!”, Madara ordered and was very satisfied by the speed the girl was off. Then he breathed deeply to gather himself, channeling his chakra into Izuna’s eyes. No. His eyes. His eyes. This was not the time to ponder about that issue. They were his eyes and he had to use them for the sake of Konoha.
The surge on his chakra was massive, when the flickering shape of a ribcage came to life around him. With a deep grunt Madara bit his own lips and pressed the pain into the back of his mind. It felt as if his whole body was sizzling in a pan full of hot oil, while his eyes felt hot on their own.
Like the popped corn the children liked so much, Madara thought and felt a little sarcastic grin nip at his mouth.
Well. It was only the ribcage. There would be more pain. Much more, because without doubt the basic form of his Susanoo would never be enough to do anything to the Kyūbi.
With a deep, rumbling growl the fox-creature sat one of its long legs through ashes and fire. Glowing dark eyes found Madara, nasty and hateful, while the bloody teeth showed a gruesome grin.
Susanoo formed his head and skeletal arm and Madara nearly winced. He had never told anyone how painful and risky it was to use the Mangekyou Sharingan and force their greatest skill into the daylight.
The Kyūbi spread its tails and a long tongue licked over the beast’s muzzle. And then the monster launched itself at Madara.
Susanoo unfurled his muscles; one skinless long arm grabbed at the Kyūbi’s throat and took hold. And the Kyūbi howled in pain! Madara felt a sudden spark of triumph. So, the beast was not as invincible as it would like to be!
“Take this!”, Madara shouted and Susanoo rose his sword, ready to stab the monster.
The blade never met the fox’s flank. Sharp teeth closed around the chakric steel, the Kyūbi’s head twisted in an ankle that would break any other animal’s spine. The monster growled and Susanoo pulled, but the blade stuck.
Madara cursed and pushed more chakra into his jutsu. Susanoo unwrapped long legs, grew taller in his human shape and ripped his blade out of the Kyūbi’s maw. But the beast didn’t draw back, instead it wiggled itself free and leaped over Madara and Susanoo in a nearly artistic somersault.
With Konoha in its back, four legs widely spread and nine tails dancing at its rear, the Kyūbi put its ears back and bared its teeth. An unnatural, loud howl made the ground shake.
Madara felt his eyes burn, but he also felt powerful. Unstoppable powerful, it made his mind go dizzy and for a moment everything in his sight became blurry. Susanoo, in his full-bodied form, was stable and safe as he had never been before. The chakra rushed Madara’s system and the well-known hot, overwhelming craziness coming with the jutsu threatened to overtake his thoughts.
He was powerful. He was strong. That beast would not be able to hurt more of the ones he loved. He would put it down, rip it in pieces so it would never be able to reform itself!
A hysteric laughter filled Madara’s ears and it took him a moment to understand that it was his own. He was laughing while the Kyūbi prepared the next attack.
He was laughing like crazy, when Susanoo unfurled his wings and the Kyūbi leaped at him.
The monster wanted to dance? They would dance!
*
It wasn’t even Hashirama anymore. Izuna knew it the moment he grabbed what was left of the living, breathing man he had seen only minutes ago. That was barely more than flesh and crashed bones. Something that vaguely reminded of a head with straight hair, something that could or could not be legs and one arm. Hashirama had missed his right upper half and had had a big hole in his stomach before the monster got him. Nothing easy to heal, not even for him. But he would have survived it.
Fuck, he would even have grown back the arm! Maybe not within the next year, but he would have been alive!
Yet not even Hashirama could heal himself from death. There was no breath in this body anymore. No chakra. No spark of life.
That was only flesh.
It wasn’t Hashirama anymore.
With a sudden revolting of his stomach Izuna stepped back from the corpse he had lent carefully against the wall and turned, his breath going raggedly and his guts cramping. Where was he? What…? The Senju compound. Of course. Hiraishin had carried him home.
With a hitched breath and acid on his tongue Izuna stepped back further.
What had happened anyways? They had been in the woods. Then there had been that little girl, stumbled cryingly towards Hashirama. She had cried for help, while her skin had bubbled as if she was boiling. Hashirama, the goodhearted fool, had pulled the tiny girl into his arms, tried to comfort her. Getting out of her who she was at how she had come here.
And then she had exploded into fire and chakra and the explosion had taken Hashirama’s arm, including his shoulder.
Izuna had been behind Hashirama. More than a few steps. They had been playing – the stupidity of that! Two grown man playing catch in the woods, as if they were boys without any care. He had fallen back purposely, just to catch up and tease Hashirama once again with his speed.
If he had been closer.
If he had been faster.
He hadn’t. The monster that had emerged from that poor child had ripped away half of Hashirama’s upper body by popping into existence. And then it suddenly had been a giant monster, brimming from chakra, hate and killing intent. And it had killed Hashirama.
As if he was just a branch to snap.
His husband, the love of his life, was dead.
Izuna had not even a concept about how he could understand that, far away from how to cope with that. Especially not when that giant monster was still raging in front of Konoha!
What should he do now? Fight. Of course, he had to fight! The fighting always came first. Who should he fight? The beast! Of course, the beast that had killed Hashirama and was now threatening the village! The beast that was now fighting his brother!
Madara!
The nausea grew to a full body shaking when Izuna realized that he had left his brother with the monster that had killed his partner, just to save a corpse.
With a howl Izuna spun around, nearly running into Senju Otoma and Senju Māma. Izuna knew the two of them very well; Māma had nowadays the Senju kunoichi under her, while Otoma was one of the three captains in the Senju forces, close in rank to Tobirama as Clan Heir himself.
They were both pale, staring at the corps behind Izuna.
“Who…?”, Otoma started, while Māma clenched her fists.
Izuna looked at their shocked faces and exhaled, his own breath unnaturally loud in his own ears. A sound like the wind, but wet and painful. His eyes burned like fire and maybe they were on fire, because Māma gasped in horror, when she caught his gaze.
“Hashirama is dead. There’s a … a monster….”, Izuna rasped hoarsely and something slimy and wet rolled down his cheek. Otoma opened his mouth, if to say something or just because he was unable to suppress a shocked reaction, Izuna didn’t know. He turned to Māma.
“Gather the kunoichi. Madara is fighting the monster that did this. Evacuate everyone. They need to leave at once. Tell the civilian and the children it’s emergency plan zero. They have to flee into the woods and as far away as they can! We don’t know if the monster is going to hunt them down if it’s finished with Konoha!”
“But Madara-sama….”
“It killed Hashirama!”, Izuna snapped with acid on his tongue, “So, even Madara will have a hard time! We can't make it difficult for him by putting civilians in the way of the beast!”
Māma didn’t discuss it further and run off, her voice howling for her kunoichis to gather and to spread word. Izuna knew they would do what he told them, so he turned abruptly to Otoma, who bowed rapidly in front of him.
“At your orders, Izuna-sama!”, the older man told him and Izuna would only later find the time to think about how strange that had been. Otoma was the one in command right after Tobirama. Given the fact that Tobirama was currently not in the village and Hashirama was dead, it should have been him who took over. Instead he bowed to Izuna, acknowledging him as leader.
Yet, right in this moment, Izuna didn’t think about it. He didn’t think about that he was neither Senju nor in any position giving him the authority to command, not even the Uchiha after Hikaku had taken over the Clan Heir’s duties for him the last years. In this moment he only thought like he had been raised: A warrior and a leader, used to power and authority.
“Gather the men. We go for the beast as soon as we…”
“Iwa! Iwa is coming!”, the messenger boy gasped, while something exploded in the outskirts north of Konoha. In the south the monster’s roars and a sudden blazing firewall rose. Izuna tensed and grabbed for the hilt of his sword. “Where’s Hokage-sama? I need to tell him!”
“Hokage-sama is fighting the monster in the south.”, Izuna hissed, deliberately keeping it vague. The other Hokage… the other Hokage…
With a shaken exhale Izuna turned. “I’ll go for the monster, too. You’ll….”
“With respect, Izuna-sama. The village needs you here. The Hokage is leading the fight against the monster, but the village needs also someone who leads the troops.”, Otoma interrupted with a taletelling gaze. The messenger boy looked confused from one to another.
Izuna gave in within a second; not because he wanted to lead the village. He wanted to fight the monster alongside Madara. He wanted the chance to protect his brother and to take revenge for…
He used all of his willpower to avoid his jaw shaking and turning for the corpse behind him.
The troops were ninja. They were highly independent, each ninja capable of making their own decisions. But fighting as a Konoha unit required a leader who could keep an oversight and help them to protect their home.
Izuna knew that it would be more in Hashirama's interest if he protected their village. Hashirama had never been a man of revenge.
Izuna gave Otoma a sharp nod.
“Run and tell the Clan Heads to gather north with their troops.”, Izuna told the messenger and hesitated. He wanted to send a shadow clone of his own to Madara, to see personally how he was doing. But he also knew that he would have to be careful with his chakra. He was not an unending source of chakra like Hashirama and Madara. He would need everything he had to fight Iwa and the Shadow Clones suckled on chakra like giant ticks. “Start with Uchiha. Hikaku is already on his feet. Tell him to send a small squat to the south to reinforce Madara. I want an update on how the Hokage does as soon as Hikaku arrives with his people in the North! Go now!”
The messenger run lightning fast and Izuna turned to Otoma. “I want our people ready to go in five. I am going ahead.”
“Izuna-sama!”
Senju Kimiko, one of the newest Senju Genin, hurried out of Hashirama’s and his house. Excitedly she offered him some dark blue clothes Izuna identified only as his battle mantle when he took it. He gave the girl a content nod. Hashirama’s little assistant girl (and Otoma’s daughter) thought ahead.
Within seconds Izuna found himself in his familiar mantle and one of the new flak vests. He only hesitated for a moment when he saw on one side of the collar the Uchiha mon and on the other side the Senju mon. That had to be Hashirama’s doing. When he had brought his vest home there had been only the red mon in the back that proclaimed their alliance with the Uzumaki Clan of Whirlpool.
Insufferable, dear, stupid sap, he thought with an overwhelming rush of love.
“Thank you, Kimiko-chan.”, Izuna rasped and pulled his Hitai-ate from under his collar and rebound it at his forehead. “Now go and find your Jonin instructor. Tell him to inform the other Jonin instructors that I want the Genin Teams also in the north.”
Her little face twisted in excitement and fear equally.
“In the back.”, Izuna added and saw how the fear changed place with disappointment, “Help the civilians to escape. The Senju kunoichi troops do the same in the south.”
With a stern look at the little Genin girl he turned.
A few seconds later he witnessed the destruction the Iwa-nin already had caused.
A few minutes later the troops arrived and Izuna joined them to push back the first wave of intruders.
Nearly an eternity after fighting and killing Izuna found himself facing the Tsuchikage. With a triumphant grin Izuna rose his sword and pointed it at the big man. He could taste his own blood on his teeth from his split lower lip and the familiar burn of chakra in his eyes. They throbbed and itched, nearly unbearable, and he felt the pull on his chakra.
It was time to try out his brand-new weapon.