Chapter 5
Izuna had known pain from a young age. He had to train, fight- and most devastingly, see his people die.
In the end, only he and Madara remained out of the Uchiha head family of six- and it was devestating.
But at least Madara was strong- and Izuna was strong too- and while Izuna was very much aware of their own mortality, he still didn't think either of them would have to deal with the clan and the world alone for a long time.
Life was horrible at times, truly, but at least it couldn't get much worse.
Thats what he thought, at least.
Until he found an Uchiha kid, alone and sleeping without guard in a cave away from their territory on his way from a mission.
When he first saw the kid, looking so small, and so Uchiha...so ouf of place, he wasn't quite sure wether the kid was real and he used his clans sacred gift in order to check.
The child was indeed real.
That was good- at least it wasn't a new war technique by one of their many enemies or a weird sort of prank- but bad too, for it was plainly unusual and most of all dangerous for an Uchiha to live out of clan- they always had to worry that someone would take their eyes...
And this kid looked too Uchiha to hide, too much like Izuna to be seen as anything but Uchiha.
Izuna touched the child gently to confirm wether they were alive- if they were not that would be a whole other disaster- and to get answers, the kids story, or at least parts of it, before getting the child home.
After the child freaked out a little, walking onto the cave walls and pulling out a kunai before realizing who Izuna was and that he was not a threat, Izuna started to question him.
He was prepared for a lot of things. The kid being a child of a prostitue or made on a mission? It wouldn't be that unlikely. Them having been kidnapped at some point ? Unlikely, but not impossible. Them being related to someone deemed dead who was missing? Equally likely...
Just...not for the kid saying " I have a message for the Uchiha Clan. A matter of life and death."
And everything the child said after that upon further questioning.
The child explained hat his brother killed the whole clan- why would an Uchiha do so? It was basically suicide. Plus the clan was still alive.
And yet, the kid sounded so serious.
There was also something off about him and Izuna soon found that the child was under a genjutsu. It could harm him, could be used to make the child harm them or lure Uchiha or others into a trap...and it made Izuna furious.
Using genjutsu on others was okay in war or when people agreed to it, but just the imagination that genjutsu was used to harm an Uchiha child made his blood boil...and because he didn't know what it was and if it was harmful, he destroyed it as soon as possible with his sharingan.
He did not expect the child to panic and proceeded to use a calming genjutsu on them- which may make him a hypocrite- which prompted the child to apologize and explain the he was shown his brother(well, ex-brother, truly, someone like that could not be called a brother) killing his clan again and again.
Izuna was horrified when he realized that his Sharingan was on and he could not see a single lie in the kids respons.
This either really happened-or at least, the kid seemed to think it did. And the child wasn't under any genjutsu but Izunas at the moment so, presumably, it did happen. For him. Izuna would have to check his memories to be sure- and by Kami, Madara would need to do that too- but this had several implications that were more horrendous than Izuna could describe with words alone.
Still, now wasn't the time to contemplate or panic, they still weren't in Uchiha territory, safe, and Izuna would not have a breakdown in front of a child if he could help it...so Izuna quickly used a calming Genjutsu on himself.
The child either didn't notice or didn't care because he just aknowledged Izunas explanations and answered his questions like before.
Izuna soon learned that the childs name was Sasuke- which wasn't very Uchiha but well, weird naming practices in the future were the least of his concern, that Sasuke was just seven years old and that the person who murdered the clan did that at bloody thirteen.
How did the adults in that time let that happen? How was such a clan-killer created? And why did Sasuke life?
Izuna could not help bit think that there was something more behind this expect for a crazy person killing almost his whole clan and leaving his brother alive to let him suffer more, but he could not contemplate that now.
He still had questions.
And got more unbelivable answers.
Everything happened two months ago for Sasuke and after that he had somehow devised a time travel seal that consisted of two and him sealing stored chakra of dead uchiha into himself...and gotten here, mostly by chance, because, going by Sasukes explanation he could have gotten to anytime Uchiha existed- or a counterpart to the chakra in the stone existed. To add to that
Sasuke did not specify clarifying the location somehow- which explained why he was here and not at the Uchiha territory...
Also, the Uchihas sealing knowledge at the moment was scarce and Izuna did not imagine that changing unless they invaded the Sealing clans like Uzumaki ( which was not on the agenda) or allied with the bloody senju who were allied to the former.
Sasuke definetly grew up in a Uchiha clan that was different than the one today...
Izuna inwardly shook himself and put that on the long list of " things to contemplate later" when Sasuke explained that warning the clan and letting another save them with that information. His phrasing clearly implied Sasuke did not mean to be there for that.
Izuna asked Sasuke to clarify on his plans for after he shared his memories aith him and Madara and got the information.
Izuna was glad that he had used this particular genjutsu on him- a calming one that also conples people to tell the truth because, clearly, Sasuke wouldn't have straight up admitted that just like that.
Izuna tried to make it clear that disappearing was not an option and that staying here did not mean the death of Sasukes people meant nothing, that by coming here Sasuke had saved them, that Sasuke could change things and Marada and Izuna himself could change things too, making reality a better world for the people Sasuke lost, but he was not sure if Sasuke actually believed him now. Or if he would ever do so.
Izuna would tell him so a thousand times if he felt that necessary, but now was not the time for that.
No, now it was really really time to go home. Izuna could think on the way back on how to explain this all to Madara, on what information he was still missing, on what they should do with Sasuke and theorize on what was going on in Sasukes time so that they would not do the same things.
But before all of that he needed to make sure the child actually stayed. Sasuke did say he would show the memories, and he hadn't fulfilled his self-preclaimed life purpose yet, but he was also a heavily traumatized seven year old in a foreign time period who just had a highly emotional chat with an ancestor. Izuna would not blame him, nor would he be surprised if all of that got to much and the kid started to run.
Thats why he asked the kid about three things he liked and placed him under a genjutsu. It was perhaps a bit odd, Izunas genjutsus were normally either against an enemy so not...necessarilly nice, or storytelling ones, but he designed this one for Sasuke to sleep in comfort, surrounded by cats and tomatoes. Sasuke deserved that much- and much more. Plus, the kid must have been very exhausted- otherwise he probably wouldn't have fallen asleep in a foreign cave in the middle of nowhere- and who knew when he last got proper rest.
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Izuna thought long on how on earth he could explain this...everything to his older brother,
yet when he came home ( not seen by many and ignoring any questions about the unknown uchiha child he encountered by the people he met on the way- beimg the clanheads brother had some perks) he just placed Sasuke somewhere and explained to Madara who was alread, waiting in the house they inhabited that " this is our descendant."
Madara gaped, looking a bit like a goldifsh. Madara also raised an eyebrow.
" I wasn't aware you fathered any childrens, congratulations!"
Izuna rolled his eyes.
" I did not and he is not. He is just a kid who time-traveled."
"...Such a thing is possible?"
Izuna shrugged. " I believed it as much as you do, but he told me no lies. It is the truth. He invented it."
" Hnn. " Madara aknowledged.
" An accident then? It will be hard to send him back...Perhaps if we make peace..."
Izuna took a deep breath.
" Kami, shut up. And sit down. You'll wish you had done so if you do not."
Madar obliged.
Izuna blinked. " It..." he hesistated. " It was not an accident. Chance, a bit, but the kid- Sasuke is his name, by the way, intended to get to Uchiha before his time to save the clan..."
Madara nodded at him to continue. Izuna did a bit later, trying to gather himself.
" He wanted to save the clan from dying out because where he is from his ex-brother killed everyone but Sasuke himself."
Madara blinked, still processing this, bit Izuna continued to talk, now rambling a little.
" And its not a lie. I broke the genjutsu he was under and I asked him under one of my own, a truth-compelling one...And you should have seen him, Brother, he completly freaked out when he saw my sharingan- I had to break him out of a genjutsu that he probably made himself- because his ex- brother - he called him monster, I suppose we should do that too... showed him how he killed the clan over and over.
And thats not all. The kid made it his life-purpose to tell his story, his warning, show his memories...which is one of the reasons I put him under a genjutsu on the way here.
...
Madaras response was an unproductive one, yet it summarized Izunas feelings completely.
" Fuck."
Izuna laughed, bitterly." Yeah, fuck."
Madara nodded. " You did well, Izu. Do you want a drink? "
Izuna nodded. " Definetly."
It was their way of taking a little break before waking the kid up again and watching his memories...and confronting this whole mess
They did not grow to regret drinkling a glass of sake in the time afterwards ( expect maybe that they did not drink more.)