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Sasuke had known that it would be risky to involve Orochimaru in all of this. But at this point in time they were desperate for extra support during the Fourth Ninja War. This was after all, concerning the further existence of the world as they knew it.
He assumed, and he was quite sure he was correct there, that Orochimaru was more than willing to help them. To make sure that there was a world to return to at the end of it all. His limited interactions with Madara showed that the man was mad and wanted his plan accomplished through any means. Part of why he interfered was because he planned on going after Naruto and Sasuke had gotten comfortable with the blond chasing after him. To suddenly have that cease wasn’t an option.
“Did you get everything?”, he asked the Snake Sannin.
The pale man nodded, pointing at the masks he needed for the shinigami in an effort to get his arms back, before mentioning to the squirming white Zetsu clones his team had assembled. Oddly enough there were five of them when there had only been four Hokage in the past.
Huffing, Sasuke ordered him to hurry up. To which Orochimaru just laughed, but did as asked. Making quick work to get his arms accessible again. Before he started the signs for the Edo Tensei and the sigils that appeared on the ground to engulf the white Zetsu as they were changed into whoever they were summoning.
As expected, the Four Hokage he expected were shown; Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Namikaze Minato. It was the fifth person who was reanimated that got on his nerves. Partly as it seemed like he was looking into his own face. It was a little odd, and not at all what he had expected.
Narrowing his eyes as he looked at Orochimaru he asked, “What’s the meaning of this?”
Before he can get an answer, the Hokage seem to gather their thoughts and it’s the Sandaime that looks at the other Uchiha standing there, “Uchiha Izuna…”
The man, Izuna, nods, “Senju Tobirama, this is a… surprise.”
Looking at Orochimaru again, the man explains that they need an edge against Uchiha Madara sooner rather than later. Especially as the war is fully in session and Killer Bee and Naruto are the only Jinchuuriki still around at this point in time. If either of them, or worse, both of them, fall here it’s over for them all. “We needed an edge, and seeing as Uchiha-dono was the whole reason this started, it seems fair that he is there when we finish this.”
Hashirama and Tobirama blink, before agreeing, sharing with Izuna that his death had changed Madara. To the point that he and Hashirama were at odds all the time, until Madara betrayed Konoha and everything it should have stood for. The loss of his brother, at Tobirama’s hand too much to the point he went the whole different route.
“We know he consorted with Zetsu at several points, to bring us here today. He died, and was brought back through an Edo Tensei by Kabuto so there is still time. But once he’s here and real, as I guess that’s what they need Rinnegan eyes for, it wouldn’t surprise me if all went to shit”, Sasuke explained. It wasn’t a lot, but he had heard about it by the time his eyes were switched out with Itachi’s.
They start planning, at least until the sensors in their group announce that the Alliance is in trouble. A large amount of Chakra Signatures have disappeared and one singular one keeps growing in strength. The conclusion that the Shinju is being fed is not too far-fetched right now.
Sasuke is out of the building first, Team Taka following behind as they hurried to the battlefield. He could feel eyes on the back of his skull, knew that Izuna was watching, but he had no idea what to tell to the person who looked so much like him. They were very different people, very different backgrounds and born in different eras. But if it did get Madara to back off, that’s all they needed right now.
—
Izuna had to admit it was strange to be here again. He had been dead for close to 100 years, had died protecting what he and Madara believed in, so to find out once he was brought back that Madara wanted to put the whole world under an illusion so things were better seemed to be a bit extreme.
They were Uchiha, as such illusions were a staple jutsu. Even more so with a Sharingan. So to think that in doing so Madara was making it all right didn’t sit well with him. It didn’t sound like his brother at all. Knowing that Hashirama had the same idea only confirmed it. As much as he didn’t like the Senju, and felt slighted by Tobirama killing him, he couldn’t deny that the bond between his brother and Hashirama had been very strong.
Yet, it seemed, not strong enough to survive his death.
Nothing had prepared him for what he was about to see either. He knew chakra, and jutsu, but the monster way back was something out of a nightmare.
His first glance at his brother also broke his head, Madara looked mad. Then again, he wouldn’t be the first Uchiha to go mad with grief. To be unable to cope with the loss that came with it. But to see it with his own eyes seemed to make it all that much more real.
Madara didn’t notice him at first, but he did once Hashirama rejected a fight. His eyes widened as he looked at Izuna, “Impossible.”
Huffing, he stepped forward, “Not impossible, Nii-sama, improbable. I never did expect to fight on the same side as the Senju, but given that you want to put the whole world under, that doesn’t seem like a good bet.”
He’s smiling, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. Meeting his brother in the middle and intercapting an attack. While others might have trouble with that, Izuna had been sparring with his brother since they were children and he had something to fight for this time around. Blocking Madara at every turn, not listening to his brother’s desperate pleas to make the world right. To keep him occupied until such a time that they could deal with his accomplice and seal the Shinju once more.
All he needed to do was keep Madara occupied, and that worked quite well. They both got some hits in, but neither stayed down for very long.
In the end, as soon as whoever was dealing with them got to sealing the Shinju, Izuna could feel the jutsu keeping him there release as well. Smiling at his brother, he held out his hand, “Come with me, Nii-sama, it’s been long enough and you deserve your rest.”
For a second he worries, only to find that he doesn’t have to as Madara does take a hold of his hand and lets the now discontinued jutsu bring them to the Eternal Fields once more. He plans on lecturing the man there, no doubt with the help of several other people. But it does show him why Madara and Hashirama were so adamant to do things differently. To strive for working together and a new era.
“I bet it could have been even more beautiful”, he offered, as his last words to the world he had saved.