Secrets (Madara)
Ten - Head held low, eyes locked on the ground - Shame, disgust, fear.
"You are truly a shame for my name, Madara. But ...you are still my son. You will get this one chance. Promise, you will make it count."
Jump
Nineteen - bloodied hands, wet cheeks and teary eyes - Desperation, anger, sadness.
"Brother, my side... it hurts so much. I know it...is too late for me. You have to promise me one last thing, before you go."
Intertwined
"Promise me, you will lead the Uchiha to a grand future."
Madara opened his eyes abruptly, as if he had been hit by lightning. He sat himself up and snapped his head from left to right. His neck movement was erratic and unnatural. It took a moment for his mind to identify his surroundings.
He realized, he was in his own bedroom, in his own house, in... the village. A sigh of relief left his too dry lips. His clothes were clinging to his body, drenched in salty sweat. His thoughts were racing, none of them made any sense. He could feel his too fast pulse in his temples, could hear his own heart beating too quickly in his chest. He tried to catch his breath, that was totally out of control. It felt like he was drowning. 'Breath in, breath out' he told himself. Everything would be alright. Breath in and breath out.
After a few seconds, time was flowing at a slower pace again and Madara stood up. His legs felt like glass, fragile, just a moment away of shattering. He tried to distance himself from everything inside of his head, to look from a different perspective, to analyse the situation. Just another one of those dreams, he thought. Those kind always felt so real. They were an unpleasent jump back in time, an entanglement of past events. Those memories reduced him to a mental mess, everytime they came back to haunt him in his sleep. A prison of his failures just for him, created in his very own mind.
Madara let out a small chuckle. It was the only way he knew, how to deal with this confusion.
This nighmare had a particularly bad effect in him. Even his chakra flow was uneven. He wrinkled his nose. A little bit of his scent had managed to leak out, to break through his chakra barriers. He closed his eyes and grinded his teeth together to breath through his nose. His thoughts were beginning to make sense again.
How bothersome. There was no time for this embarrasment. He needed to go to the clan summit. Just breath in and breath out. Next he left the room without looking back.
He washed himself, changed his messed up sleeping clothes. He put on a dark purple robe with long sleeves and a high collar to hide as much skin as possible. The fabric was thin. He wasn't ashamed of his physique, far from it actually. Due to his excessive training he was very muscular and lean. He was proud, how unomegan he looked. He relished in his multiple scars of past battles, that would hopefully bruise his skin forever, tarnish the infamous porcellan skin of omegas, poets sung about. Nothing of his appearance was cute and round and Madara wanted it to stay that way.
Some shameless part of him wanted to take it one step further, to scream at the world to look at him, wanted everyone to see these rough scars, these defined muscles even alphas would be jealous of. But that was just nonsensical and risky. So he always chose to wear as much fabric as possible, especially when he expected to meet other people. The possibility, that they would come too close to his scent glands on his wrist or neck, was never zero. He knew, that there was technically no way for his scent to find its way to their noses, when he had full control over his chakra, but he still wanted to be safe. Just one single little slip up and everything would be ruined. He would be exposed and his authority as the leader of his clan would be questioned, if not worse.
He took his time to feed his two nameless falcons. They eyed him judgementally. Maybe they knew something was off about Madara being up this early. Maybe they just wanted to be left alone, because they were still mad at him for the fiery shock last evening. Madara couldn't look inside their heads to find out the answer. Shortly after finishing this task, he left the house as fast as he could.
It was a rather misty morning. The air was calm, yet full of anticipation. It would rain today. A welcomed change from the summer hotness of the past week, Madara thought. Not many people were on the street. It was too early for many of them. Madara knew he could have slept a little longer, if he had wanted, but his nightmare hadn't given him a choice in this matter. If he had stayed one minute longer, his head would surely have exploded due to his awful scent.
The gray weather suited his mood well. He would have felt derided, if this day was just as bright as the days before after his horrible experiences last evening and night. Nature seemed to have mercy this time and didn't try to mock his moroseness with contrasting positivity. It was calming his already on edge nerves.
Madara was the first to arrive at the Naka shrine. It had a historic atmosphere around it, even though it had been built just a couple of months ago. It was the exact replica of the shrine at the old compound of independent days. Even the secret meeting room with the stone tablet, that has been moved there, was the same.
Madara remembered the first time he had been allowed to join his father to a secret conference. As a seven year old boy he had felt so proud. He felt the some of the childish awe to this day, whenever he was in any shrine of the Uchiha. He went inside, took his place on the mat, that was for him, and tried to think about those easier times. Unfortunately, the three elders arrived after a while and disturbed him in his thoughts. Their perplexed looks told him, that they didn't expect Madara to be already there. One of them made her way quickly towards him and Madara prepared himself for the worst.
"You look tired, Madara," Chizue Uchiha, the youngest of the elders, remarked in a sweet, yet raspy voice. "You need to sleep more, my child." She always tried too hard. Madara wasn't fooled by her motherly act or how her weak scent tried to get under his skin to make his senses numb.
She might look like a friendly grandmother with her thin hair, gray strands, tiny dimples and a square of a face. Her status as a beta only supported this harmless impression, but in reality she was a wolf in sheep's clothing. A snake just waiting to bite and poison her unassuming victim.
"I'm sure my lovely Hikaku would love to help you with your tasks more often, if it is too much for you." She coaxed with a vitriolic giggle.
"Thank you for the offer, Lady Chizue, but I have to decline. Your son already has a lot work to do as second in command. And I think I'm quite capable to handle the rest of my duties myself." Madara spit back with more hostility in his voice than needed to get his message across. He couldn't play along to this game of chess this early in the day, not after this dream. Her friendly expression changed slowly, subtly. Her face muscles became tense and her chin was held a little higher than before, as if she wanted to look down on him. He had sparked her fury. Her thin eyes turned cold, calculating. She changed her tactics everytime, he didn't respond to her friendly facade the way she wanted.
"You know exactly, why you're not, Madara." He never liked the way she said his name. He didn't like the implications of her statement either. The unspoken 'Know your place' filled the air with electric tension and made the young leader sick in the stomach region. What Madara wouldn't give to take that nasty head of her shoulders. The elder snapped back into her overly innocent persona, realizing more Uchiha made their way inside the shrine for the meeting.
"Just tell me, when you need support, darling. It is hard for your kind to carry such a large responsibility alone."
For your kind. That phrase was filled with arsen. Madara could hear pity and disgust at the same time. He sadly knew, she wasn't talking about his age, like an outsider might have thought. She truly understood, how to rile someone up. He formed fists behind his back so no one could see them. If Madara didn't knew any self-restraint he would have attacked that old beta right here in front of everyone without any regrets.
Chizue turned around and walked towards the other elders she had walked in with. Habiki Uchiha, the oldest and grumpiest of the three by far, acknowleged her with a single but respectul nod. His hair was white and his round eyes had already lost their sight. His ears and sensory abilities worked the better. His back was bend forward, only the crutch was holding him on his two feet.
He was the elder Madara could tolerate the most. The alpha was certainly against everything he had ever brought forward, but Habiki already had those heated, sometimes even disrespectful discussions with his father Tajima in the past, so Madara could tell himself, it wasn't entirely because of him.
On the other hand, the last elder Tadashi Uchiha lost no time to talk to the female beta again. If Chizue was a snake, this large alpha with a long, pointed face and straw-like gray hair was a basilisc. Madara knew to avoid this man, if he wanted to keep his position as long as he could, because he was certain they would get on the other's thoat again. Without a single doubt he would win against him, but the consequences of attacking or killing a highly respected clan elder would cost him all he had ever worked for.
Madara understood, what he was to all of them. In the eyes of the three he was just an illusioned omega in the wrong postion with too much power at his disposal. Lately, they didn't even hide their disapproval for him from anyone. Chizue's vague comment was just one of many. It was literally a miracle, that no other clan member had found out about his second gender.
On the morning after his presentation, his father ordered his now omegan son to stay silent about this shameful revelation, teached him, how to block the chakra flow to the glands to block his traitorous scent. Madara knew, he wanted to wait for Izuna's presentation, before making a hasty choice, he couldn't take back.
Of course, there were rumors about him being a late bloomer, but Madara proved himself again and again in combat, so no one really minded his scentless existence after a while. He was no less talented than before, still keeping up with the best shinobi the Uchiha had to offer, making the difference in battles his clan would have lost otherwise. It wouldn't have been wise to chain him down in the middle of war and his father had realized that.
Things took a drastic turn, when he finally awakaned his sharingan. His father couldn't ignore his capabilities as a leader any longer. With his new eyes he was the strongest shinobi of his clan and little Izuna just presented as a beta. Not an alpha like his father had hoped. He had to make a choice for the future of his clan.
Finally, he proclaimed Madara as his successor, but under one condition. He had to fully follow the guidance of the elders. He, young and naive as he was, agreed without a second thought, just wanting to escape the horrors of being forced to live as an omega. He hadn't really thought about all the problems those old people could bring him later on.
His father told them about their secret. It was the proof, that he didn't trust in his son's capabilities completely. He still believed Madara was fragile and weak in his core, after everything his omegan son had done. At first they were shocked about this revelation, absolutely against the idea of an omega as the clan leader, but they also couldn't ignore the circumstance of war and the prodigee qualities of the famous Madara Uchiha despite his second gender. The only choice they had was to accept him. It was a dead end.
From that point on, he told everyone he was a beta. No one really questioned him. He couldn't be a omega after all. It was impossible for one of them to fight like Madara could.
After his father had died, Madara became the leader only at the tender age of sixteen, but only after Konoha's founding the elders became bold enough to critizise him so openly. He was a helpful weapon of destruction during war, but now they wanted him to step away from his more diplomatic position. If things went their way, an alpha like Hikaku would already be the leader, but honestly Madara was too ambitious to let that happen. He strongly believed, he was were he was meant to be and the Uchiha, who didn't know the truth, still respected and supported him.
He had made a promise. He would lead the Uchiha to a grand future.
Now the Naka shrine was filled to the brim with the alphas and betas of the Uchiha clan. Everyone was seated on there designated place and the clan meeting was about to begin.
Madara started the conference and every shinobi in the room became quiet, listening to his calm and fierce voice. He quickly finished his welcoming speech and announced the next speaker.
Hikaku stood up. The alpha took a deep breath, then started his report.
"All in all, the situation has calmed down. There have been no violent border passings, not as many refugees have crossed them as before. That probably means, the turmoils in the other four nations have calmed down. We assume the founding of other hidden villages is in his last phase. The only noticable rise of tensions can be found to the east."
Murmuring started between the shinobi in the room.
"According to our information, the newly formed village hidden in the mist in the land of water has a growing dispute with the hidden reddy village in the small land of whirlpools. We still don't know the reason behind this conflict, but we think we have to keep an eye on it. The chance is high, that it will turn violent soon. We can't ignore the possibility, that the Uzumaki clan might contact Konoha for assistence."
The murmuring immediately became shouting. The scents turned stinging and angry. The Uchihan shinobi despised the idea that this clan might seek help from the leaf village due to their well known connection to the Senju. A few decades ago, they helped their relatives against the ongoing fight with the Uchiha, before they retreating and leaving the conflict due to internal struggels. There were rumors, that they had created a sealing jutsu so powerful, that they could block the Uchihan sharingan. To help them, would go against the whole Uchiha clan.
"Silence!" Madara ordered with absolute authority. Everyone became as quiet as before, surprised by his action. Normally, he never liked to interrupt the discussions. Many dark eyes full of high expectations turned to Madara.
"You all forget one important thing," The leader reasoned to calm the shinobi. He could feel the pressure in the room. Only raindrops could be heard from the outside. It had started to rain.
"The Senju clan isn't independent anymore. Their blood relations to the Uzumaki are very distant. Therefore, there are no Uzumaki, that are officially connected to Konoha as a resident. To help a foreign clan in a different country would require the approval of all four noble clans and I, as the Uchihan head, would never approve to such an action!"
The scent of relief touched his nose. Eyes became more relaxed. Many shinobi let a grin slip on their faces. Madara wanted to do that as well. That went better than expected, but he remained stoic and collected, smiling on the inside.
Hikaku finished his long report after Madara's little interruption. The rest of it wasn't that interesting in Madara's eyes. The alphas and betas remained silent while listening, but there was still some pressure inside the shrine. Just one controversial topic and the fire would ignite again.
Naori Uchiha, the manager of inner affairs stood up. The female alpha started without hesitation.
Madara didn't listen that closely. He often talked with Naori privately, so he already knew, how the relationships with the other clans of Konoha had improved, which new ones were planning on joining and all of that. He counted the minutes for her to finish. The other shinobi listened closely. Madara began to think this could be a tolerable summit for once. It felt like half of eternity.
"And there is one last thing I have to mention," she said, turning even more serious than before. "A few already know about this, but eveyone should be informed. Yesterday, there has been a new... incident. Kagami Uchiha, son of Taree Uchiha, was the latest victim."
Everyone knew, what she meant by that. There it was. The atmosphere turned negative again and everyone was agitated. Another one of those arguments started and Madara just closed his eyes and shook his head. He understood their anger, he felt it himself, but the way everyone was screaming at each other again wouldn't solve anything.
"That's it! We should leave this godforsaken village!"
"We are clearly not respected! They attack our youngest. This means war!"
"We cannot leave Konoha. We would stand totally alone against at least a dozen of other clans, you imbecile!"
It went back and forth between different groups in the room. Madara was only understanding half of everything yelled into the void, because everyone tried to be louder than the person before, as if being the loudest would mean you were right. Madara scrapped the notion of this being a tolerable meeting. He wanted to intervene like before, but someone was faster than him.
The elder Tadashi Uchiha stood up. His alpha smell was suddenly so potent, it silenced everyone around him. His deep voice echoed through the shrine.
"I want to make a proposition!" Madara didn't like the sound of that. A foul taste spread out in his mouth and made him sick again. Tadashi had that effect on him.
"I think we should make our anger clear," he smiled smugly, looked at the faces of the angered Uchiha and then continued on.
"In my opinion, the Uchiha clan should leave the village like all of you demand. No Uchiha being forced on missions with other shinobi, no Uchiha being used like a tool because of our kekkei genkai." Madara could hear a few people applauding his statement. The others, who didn't agree, didn't dare to speak out against the elder.
"No Uchiha at this hypocritic festival. Not a single one of us will be attending it! They will soon realize, what they lost! We are strong enough on our own! Don't you agree, our dear leader Madara?" He turned to him, smiling haughty.
It wasn't a real question. Madara knew, he was supposed to simply agree. As a leader, he should listen to the wise elder. As an omega, he should submissivly follow an alpha's command. He hated, how Tadashi wanted to secretly use this dynamic against him in front of everyone, to belittle him because of this. He wanted to spit in his confident face and drag it through the mud.
Still, he felt conflicted about this matter. Leaving the village would certainly doom his clan. They would be targeted for their sharingan. In times of alliances a single clan couldn't keep up. The elders and many more in this room were simply too blind and arrogant to realize this. But staying in Konoha would eat them up from the inside. What had he gotten into? What would Hashirama tell him to do?
"Excuse me. I want to say something," a female voice reached his ears. Taree Uchiha stood up from the last row, looking between Madara and Tadashi. Everyone's head turned towards her.
"I might be the only one in this room, but I think we shouldn't do something stupid like leaving Konoha." Did she just call Tadashi's proposition stupid? Madara wanted to laugh about this obvious irreverence. His respect for her grew immensly. It might have been foolish, but it was brave as well. He gave her the permission to continue with a simple hand movement.
"Kagami is my son and I would lie, if I said, that this terrible incident didn't affect me. It hurt. It made me so angry to hear about it. I want some form of justice for sure, but do you all know, what would hurt even more?" She looked around, making dramatic pause to give her following sentence more weight.
"To take the festival away my son is still excited about he wouldn't stop talking about it. To take him from his home and throw him into a world, where he will be another child of war like my generation was.." she stopped, too emotional too speak.
"It may be for selfish reasons, but I think we should stay here." She finished after a long sigh. The people around her obviously didn't know, how to react. Should they support her? Should they laugh at her? They were curious, how things would unforld. Madara wondered, where he heard this kind of mentality before. Then he realized.
At the same time, all the elders were stunned for a moment. Tadashi's face was surprisingly emotionless, it was showing only a vague form of disapproval.
"Thank you, Taree, for your personal perspective on the situation." Madara said slowly. Maybe this was foolish as well, but he had made up his mind. His voice was as even as possible for the following.
"The Uchiha clan will not leave this village. We won't run away, but come out of it stronger than before. And regarding the festival, I won't force anyone to go it." Now there was no going back, but Madara wasn't the type of man to back down anyway.
"To leave the village would put us in a huge disadvantage. No federal lord would hire a single clan anymore. Times have changed. Everyone has to realize that, so we don't do something stupid."
Now Madara smiled smugly as well. It felt so good to go against those old three, especially Tdashi. Fortunately, there wasn't a wave of deprecation he was confronted with. Most shinobi accepted his order. Maybe they had realized the consequences, too. Had he done the right thing, Madara asked himself.
He ended the meeting afterwards. The Uchiha left the room except for Madara himself and the elders. They weren't pleased, to say at least. If stares could kill, all four of them would have been dead a long time ago. Surprisingly, no one said anything. Somehow, there was more tension in the room than during the discussions.
To Madara's surprise, Tadashi bursted out laughing.
"Is it so pleasing to doom your clan forever, omega!" He yelled, giving an amused tone to it. Luckily, no could but the four of them hear them right now.
"Don't you dare call me like that!" Madara spit back, showing his teeth in his boiling emotions. His mangekyo sharingan flared up. He couldn't keep it in any longer. He was done playing nice. Even he, Madara Uchiha, had his limits of patience.
Habiki and Chizue flinched at last. It felt like a huge accomplishment, but Tadashi just looked at him for a moment, unimpressed by his explosive burst of anger. Any other would shake in fear, beg for mercy, run for his dear life, if nothing else had worked. It was Madara Uchiha, they managed to provoke after all, but this alpha knew, his position and knowledge made him near invinsible for his opposite. He probably thought, it was a funny thing to watch him be riled up like this.
"You should think, before you act up next time, omega. Who knows the consequences of opposing an elder?" It was a threat. Tadashi was threatening him, but what should Madara do about it? He couldn't give an answer, clearly trapped in the situation. If only...
Without saying anything else Tadashi Uchiha left the Naka shrine, followed by the other two elders. Chizue gave him one last arrogant smirk, before leaving Madara totally alone.
Why did the world have to be like this? Why was he just a lowly omega, that they could look down upon? Madara hated it so very much, he hated them, he hated his omegan self.
The door opened again and Madara saw Hikaku enter the shrine again. What could he want now? If Madara had to describe the older alpha with one word, it would have been... nice. He didn't know, how a witch like Chizue could have a child like this. Maybe it was just an act as well and the mask wasn't cracked just yet. He was respected by many clan members, so it was a given to make him the second in command after Izuna's death, but that didn't mean, Madara had to like him.
He didn't have an aggressive aura like many alphas liked to put up, but Madara always felt threatened by his mere presence. No, rather the implications of his existence. Hikaku had something, the Uchihan leader could never have. Luckily, he managed outer affairs and therefore was often outside of the village. In the deepest corner of his mind Madara always knew his position would most likely go to this alpha, if anything of the truth came out. He had leadership potential, like Chizue liked to remind him. It wasn't a lie per se.
Hikaku approached him, looked like he wanted to discuss something with him. Madara just wanted to get out of here. He had been sitting and talking for far too long. Maybe he really wasn't made for this.
He apologized to Hikaku and left the alpha standing in the shrine. Hikaku just gave an understanding smile. Madara despised all of it.
The rain had seized, but the sky was still gray. Little puddles had formed on the sandy ground. The meeting had taken longer than expected and Madara walked past a few groups of people, hurried to one of his favourite spots in all of Konoha. His secret personal training ground.
It wasn't an official training area, those always were too crowded for his liking, but a large clearing between old trees in the untouched parts within Konoha's walls behind the Uchihan compound.
The grass beneathe him was wet, but he wasn't bothered by it. He had trained under much worse conditions in his past. He started with simple Taijutsu, a few simple kicks and punches to get his muscles warm. He could get free from the shackles laying on his mind all day. Then he started with Ninjutsu of different elements. He trained for a few hours, before someone barged in and disturbed the quietness, that had surrounded him.
"Madara! There you are!" He recognized that voice immediatelly. The Uchiha turned around and spotted Hashirama running his way through the trees. His white hokage robe was a little too long, so its rims were soaked. He didn't wear his head, his hair was also a little wet.
"Hashirama?" Madara wasn't sure, whether he wanted to meet the Senju again. The event of last evening still was the forefront of his mind. The way Hashirama's scent called out to his omegan brain was unbelievable. The alpha was his friend, nothing more and nothing less. That was, what Madara told himself at least.
"How did you find me?" Madara wanted to know. Had Hashirama nothing to do? Maybe finding him, while he wanted to be alone, was a new hobby of his.
"I met Hikaku a half an hour ago and he said you wanted to do some work. You always use this excuse to train here," Hashirama answered, a little proud smirk on his lips. Madara could only sigh at this answer. Was he that predictable or did Hashirama know him just that well?
"I've been looking for you, because I wanted to talk to you. Yesterday, you seemed a little...," Hashirama stopped midsentence, as if he didn't know the right word to describe someone, who isolated himself as much as he could on top of a huge cliff without hurting the other's huge pride and unpredictable feelings.
Madara understood Hashirama's concern nonetheless.
"There is nothing to worry about," he sighed to assure both of them. "The clan meeting was a little exhausting."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
What was Hashirama trying to achieve with this? Didn't he trust him to handle his duties as well? Did he think he was too weak? Did he find out the truth about him being an omega?
No, that didn't make any sense. His thoughts were just going down a dark spiral of distrust again. If someone was on his side, it was Hashirama. He would have commited suicide at his command. He would never want to belittle him. There was no way, he found out the truth about his gender. He was just worried about something regarding Madara. Only the question of 'why' remained in Madara's head, but he couldn't find an answer to it.
"You don't have to, Hashirama. And you know that." Before the hokage could form any words of opposition, Madara made a different offer, openly laughing for the first time that day.
"You could train with me, if you want to spend time with me so badly," he teased, but the mean undertone went unnoticed by the Senju's ears. He instantaneoulsy nodded, excited to train with Madara after such a long time. Hashirama got rid of his robe, throwing it to the ground. He wore light brown pants and a white shirt underneath, as if he had planned this turn of events.
Madara was excited as well. The adrenalin rushed through his whole system. He loved to train with Hashirama like in old days. It still had this special place in his heart.
They started with Taijutsu again, no weapons allowed. The techniques were simple in the beginning, but their movement got faster and faster over time. Sweat formed on both on their forheads.
Madara kicked with his right leg at the Senjus's face, but was blocked by Hashirama's left arm. His knee was grapped tightly with Hashirama's right hand, planning to throw the Uchiha to the ground.
Madara's reflexes kicked in. He used Hashirama's grip to jump with his other leg over the Senju. Hashirama had to let go to not get thrown off balance by the velocity. Immediately, Madara followed up with a punches from behind.
His opponent quickly turned around to dodge them gracefully. He ducked under Madara's right arm and tried to grap him from behind in a choke hold. The Uchiha activated his sharingan instinctivly to escape Hashirama's grip. He spinned around, now using his left leg for a heavy blow. He met Hashirama's feet and put all his might to make him fall.
It worked. Unfortunately, Hashirama had managed to grasp his long purple sleeves. Therefore, Madara could do nothing, but follow Hashirama to the ground.
They lay next to eachother for a few minutes. No one tried to get up. Little drops of rain started to fall again. One fell directly onto Madara’s nose. Both of them weren't bothered by it.
“I have clearly won that,“ Madara anounced. “ You went to the ground first.“
"But you cheated and used your sharingan. Otherwise, you would have clearly went to the ground the instant I got behind you!" Hashirama countered stubbornly.
Just like old times. Both started to laugh at the absurdity of this argument. Another tie it was then.
Hashirama got up and stretched out his hand to help Madara. But when he was standing, he didn't let go of it.
"Will you talk to me now?" He asked with a quiet voice, looking into the Uchiha's dark pupils. Madara noticed just now, how beautiful Hashirama's eyes were. He looked away. Maybe it was just the rain pouring down at the side of the alpha's face, which made them shimmer so warmly in contrast.
The similarities to yesterday made Madara uncomfortable. He pulled his hand away, let out a long breath, he hadn't noticed he was holding.
"Maybe tomorrow, Hashirama." That was all the Uchiha was willing to give at this moment. The hokage didn't give an answer outright, which made Madara even more anxious.
"That sounds great," Hashirama reassured eventually. Why was he still smiling, after being so openly rejected again? Madara didn't understand him, didn't deserve him. He was a horrible socalled friend.
"That reminds me, it has been so long since I was at your place." Hashirama remarked excitedly. That wasn't unusual. Madara didn't invite people over. Even Hashirama. The Senju just stood in front of his house from time to time in the past, sometimes in the middle of the night, if anything was on his mind and he needed to talk. Madara hadn't send him away, because he wasn't that heartless. At least towards Hashirama.
"Can I come over tomorrow?" Hashirama asked puppylike, huge eyes begging.
"Yeah...," Madara mumbled, rather confused than totally opposed by the idea. Something was definitely off about Hashirama.
The rain was getting stronger, so they decided to leave the clearing. They searched for rescue under one of the trees near the Uchihan compound. The noise of raindrops falling on stones reminded Madara of the meeting this morning and a single question, that still lingered in his mind. A question only Hashirama would know the answer to, but he fought again with the words.
But they remained silent and waited for the rain to die down.
"I have to work on some documents in my office or else Tobirama is going to kill me." Hashirama joked, but implying he had to leave Madara now. He turned towards the road, that would be the fastest to get to the hokage tower. Normally, Tobirama's name would make the Uchiha cringe, but his head was elsewhere.
"Hashirama, I have this question I have to ask you," Madara rambled, stopping the Senjuin his tracks. This was his chance.
"You can ask me anything, Madara!"
"Has the Uzumaki clan seeked an alliance with Konoha? Have they contacted you already?" Madara needed to know. This morning, he had assured his clan, Konoha would be their savest option to stay. With the Uzumaki, that wouldn't be the case anymore. Now he needed reassurance himself, that he hadn't made a huge mistake.
"Where did you get that idea from?"
"Just answer my question."
Hashirama spoke again after five seconds. Madara was so tense, he had counted.
"No, they haven't." Hashirama smiled. Madara was filled with immediate relief. He didn't know, what he would have done, had the answer been different.
Hashirama turned around to walk away. His smile faded. Unbeknownst to Madara, he had just done something, he never thought he was capable of anymore.
He had lied.