Madara Uchiha stared at Hashirama Senju over their crossed swords. “If you want peace, then you must give me The White Demon.”
Hashirama beamed for a minute then frowned, “Tobi doesn’t like being called by that name.”
Madara rolled his eyes Like anyone cares what a demon wants to call itself. “I want him.”
Hashirama stepped back and sheathed his sword. “Agreed. I’ll have the contract written up. We’ll get it approved by the Daimyo. Oh, and we’ll have to invite him to the wedding!” With a cheerful grin, Hashirama called his Clan to fall back. He waved goodbye as the Senju retreated.
Izuna leapt to Madara’s side. “Brother…what happened?”
Madara was speechless.
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Hours later in the Uchiha compound, it was not silent.
The screams from Izuna, the Elders and pretty much everyone in the Clan that was old enough to hold a weapon and fight were battering Madara’s ears.
“SHUT UP!”
The silence was deafening.
“It is my duty as an Uchiha to cleanse demons from the land. It is the mandate given to us by Amaterasu. The Senju, especially Hashirama, believe that The White Demon is Tobirama, son of Butsuma. But even they call the creature ‘The White Demon.’ I have no choice but to eliminate it. But because of his belief, Hashirama is insisting that I marry the thing.”
The objections started again but Madara held up his hand for them to stop.
“This ‘marriage’ will be under our terms. Hashirama will agree to my demands because he does want peace, and he will agree to anything to get it. So, I will demand that ‘Tobirama’ and I be married in the Shrine of Amaterasu. The demon will be weakened by Her Power, and we’ll be able to prove to the Senju that it tricked them.”
“Will it be killed inside the Shrine?” asked Izuna.
“Yes, that will be your job.” Replied his brother.
“Good. I’ve wanted to kill that albino bastard for years!”
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It was the Wedding of the Decade.
The Daimyo arrived with an immense entourage of nobles from all over Fire Country and an army of hangers-on and servants. Fortunately, the Uchiha and Senju were prepared for the temporary invasion.
On the day of the wedding, Madara stood inside the Shrine of Amaterasu. He watched as Hashirama walked with his ‘brother’ towards the altar. The Uchiha watched without expression while the Senju and the guests murmured amongst themselves over the, admittedly, elegant white wedding kimono the demon was wearing.
As they approached the Priest of Amaterasu whispered “My Lord…”
“Hush.”
“My Lord, you must know…”
Without moving his lips “Be silent. Do your job and we shall do ours.” Madara’s red eyes pierced the priest’s whose face lost all expression.
Hashirama led his ‘brother’ to the altar and, beaming with joy, placed ‘Tobirama’s hand in Madara’s and stepped away.
The priest reached out and tied a red silk ribbon around their hands.
Izuna moved.
Pulling the sword from where he had hidden it the day before, Izuna ran the demon through the heart.
The demon gasped then coughed up blood, falling to his knees.
Hashirama screamed.
Izuna pulled his sword from the demon’s chest and smoothly cut off the demon’s head. Its white hair became stained with blood as it rolled away.
Madara cut the ribbon from his hand before the demon’s corpse could pull him to the floor of the Shrine.
Hashirama, still screaming, tried to reattach the head to the body.
Madara could hear the Daimyo bellowing orders.
The Uchiha were cheering over the death of The White Demon.
The Senju were screaming their rage.
Izuna stood next to his brother watching Hashirama’s futile attempts to revive the demon. “Brother, the demon isn’t turning to ash.”
“No, clearly the demon was enormously powerful. After all, it was able to walk through the Shrine up to the altar.”
Hashirama looked up from the body. “Demon? Did you call my brother a demon? How dare you!”
Madara reached a hand out placatingly “Hashirama…”
Hashirama slapped it away. “You murdered my brother. You murdered my LAST BROTHER!” He lunged for Madara but was stopped by the Daimyo’s men who struggled with enraged, grieving man but finally managed to pull him away. At the Daimyo’s signal, the rest of his men stood between the furious and devastated Senju and the deliriously happy Uchiha.
The Daimyo stepped between the two Clan Heads. He looked down at the body of Tobirama Senju. He looked at Madara. “Explain yourself.”
Madara explained.
The Daimyo shook his head. “You fool. You murdered a man not a demon.”
“My lord…”
“Look around you!” the Daimyo roared. “Does your Blessed Amaterasu still occupy this shrine?”
The Uchiha Clan looked around.
The candles and fires that had been burning were all out. The shrine was dark.
Madara looked at the Priest of Amaterasu who was weeping and shaking with grief “I tried to tell you, She knew the Senju was human, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“You didn’t speak firmly enough, priest.” Growled the Daimyo.
The Priest straightened his shoulders. “Lord Madara used his Sharingan to keep me from speaking the Truth and forced me to obey him.”
The Daimyo looked at Madara. “Is that true? Did you use your Sharingan to keep him from telling you the Truth?”
“I…I thought he was just trying to keep the Shrine from being soiled by a demon…”
The Daimyo spoke over Madara’s words “Demons, even powerful ones, turn to ash within minutes of beheading, do they not?”
Izuna spoke “Yes but…”
The Daimyo stepped back so that the brothers could see Hashirama, crying hysterically, with his head on the chest of the body.
“It hasn’t become ash!” whispered Izuna.
“Blessed Am…” Madara choked and coughed as the Goddess’ name caught in his throat.
The Daimyo looked at the murderers of the Senju Heir. “There can only be one outcome from this.”
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It was the day after the Wedding That Never Happened. A bright sunny day.
The Daimyo stood with the grieving Senju inside the Compound that used to belong to the Uchiha Clan.
Izuna Uchiha was dragged, bound, and gagged to a post that had been placed in front of what had once been the Uchiha Shrine of Amaterasu. He was chained to the post. His head was tied so that he could not look away. His eyelids had been removed so that he could not close his eyes.
Izuna screamed behind his gag as he watched his brother strangled infants too young to kneel. He continued to scream as Madara went family by family beheading children, adults, and elderly.
Every single member of the Uchiha Clan were killed because Madara and Izuna Uchiha murdered Tobirama Senju.
Izuna screamed until he had no voice.
Madara cut off head after head after head until his sword was too dull to cut.
He was handed another sword and Madara continued his grim task.
Blood turned the ground to mud.
Crows and buzzards began to gather in the sky, circling overhead.
Finally, Madara was finished killing his Clan.
He walked to where Izuna was chained.
Izuna, voiceless from screaming, tried to shake his head but the rope tying his head to the post was too tight.
Madara stripped down to his fundoshi.
He knelt before Izuna. He looked up and met his brother’s eye-lidless eyes.
Madara picked up a tanto and plunged it deep into his belly. He slid the blade from side to side then brought it sharply upwards.
The last Clan Head of the Uchiha died by his own hand in disgrace.
The Daimyo spoke. “We shall leave this cursed place. In one year, I will send priests to cleanse and purify this land.”
The Daimyo turned and walked out of the gates. The Senju, with members half-carrying the grief-stricken Hashirama, followed behind with the Daimyo’s entourage.
Izuna Uchiha was left alive.
Chained to the post.
Staring at the bodies of his brother and his clan.
Once the last humans left the compound, the crows and the buzzards landed and began to feast.
Izuna wept.
It wasn’t for three days that one of the crows noticed that there was more meat. This one hanging from a post. It landed on a shoulder. The crow fluttered briefly away as the body twitched.
But the crow was smaller and younger than most of the other crows and it had been pushed away from much of the feast on the ground.
This body hadn’t yet been noticed by the crow’s bigger brethren. It was hungry.
It started its feast with the eyes.