Kindling

For a moment there Madara was ready to die, ready to go on and have that drink with Hashirama and let it all go, ready to rest in peace and – and then he looked up and rather than seeing Hashirama he saw that white haired bastard. The asshole was looking at him with one white brow cocked, a cocky unimpressed look in his eyes as he looked at Madara and the Uchiha could all but read what the man was thinking, all but hear the silent ‘really? this is the best you can do? Madara Uchiha nothing but a pawn in the end, I thought you could do better’ and, well, Hashirama had always done his best to bank the fires of Madara’s soul, to tame them and gentle Madara; but Tobirama? That white motherfucker had always stoked the flame, pushing Madara to burn hotter and harder and refuse the options life gave him; Tobirama always challenged him, and this was no different, and like always Madara couldn’t help answering the challenge. Baring his teeth at the fucking demon Madara snarled, clutching at his receding power and the power he could feel echoing back through his reincarnate; gathering all the power he had at his disposal and throwing it in the face of the world, ripping it to bits until the only thing he could see was the smug fucking little smirk on that ass’s face as the world burned.

Madara woke again sitting at the feet of the Demonic Statue, sucking down its chakra to keep himself alive and looking at Obito Uchiha curled near the cave wall asleep. Huh. Well, stiffly Madara lifted a hand to pick up a lock of hair, pleased to see that it was firmly black again (well, except for one white streak but he could deal with that) and that he could feel the pull of the Rinnegan in his eyes again; he felt about how he had when he was called back from death only – suddenly frightened Madara patted franticly at his chest, slumping a little in relief when there was nothing but strong muscle. Thank all the kami. If there was ever a sign he had fully lost his mind it was the – the – the adornment he had added to his chest; shuddering Madara pushed that thought from his mind and tried to figure out when he was by digging through his memories and what he had gleaned from Obito (oops, he needed to take that seal off, there were better ways to have loyalty than that and Madara bloody well knew that! He could almost see mocking red-on-red eyes taunting him about it).

It seemed it was after the Kyuubi thing but before – wait, hmm, if Madara wanted to do this right and prove to that white shit that he was better than Zetsu the first thing he needed was power and the best way to get that was to gather the most powerful people around him – well, under him (the Uzumaki brat had proven that). So, he already had Obito and could firm his hold with ease if he got ride of Zetsu’s seal, Nagato was his as well and could easily be pulled more firmly into Madara’s sway so the other most powerful people; the jinchuriki, the Uzumaki should be about four or five and he and, what was the other boy, Geere? Gaara? Whatever, he should be the same age and snatchable, after all both had had rough childhoods as far as Madara knew. It was too bad Might Gai was too old…ah well, you can’t have everything and Madara would have plenty to do with two jinchuriki children to raise and two subordinates to make half-way sane again (maybe he could bring back that man Nagato was so obsessed with?) he would have enough to do firming his hold over power in the shinobi world without turning such a formidable nin.

Naruto Uzumaki was worryingly easy to snatch. Madara…didn’t like it. He very much didn’t like it; he didn’t like how thin the child was, he didn’t like how poor he was, he didn’t like how lonely he was, he didn’t like – well, there was nothing Madara liked about that and the fact that all it took was a little kindness and a show of care and Naruto was happy to follow him anywhere that was messed up! Even telling the kid a brief version of what had happened- past and future- had only made the child take a long hard look at him and ask if he had changed and when Madara said he had that seemed to be enough (kami how starved of affection was he?). And then, and Madara was blaming the pale dick for all this, on the way out of Konoha Madara saw a small, thick-browed child sitting alone in the playground and all he could think was that it wasn’t right that the prize student of the only shinobi other than Hashirama (and, well, Naruto in the end) that Madara had recognized as near his equal looking so small and pitiful and, well, children needed friends right? Right. Three kids couldn’t be any harder than two and Lee it turned out was delighted to go with Madara with almost no explanation (which, also worrying) and off the Uchiha went with two children and a dead elder (no way Madara was leaving Danzo- who he might hate more than the white bastard- alive, not when it meant the death of the clan! That was one thing Zetsu had done that Madara had not been ok with at all).

The Sand brat was just as easy to grab as Naruto and Lee had been, especially with both boys there to encourage it and Naruto already knowing about the Kyuubi in him from Madara and playing on them being alike and honestly Madara was getting worried about how easy it was to grab kids, what the hell was wrong with this world?! Well, everything he had wanted to fix with the Infinite Tsukuyomi, only now he had to go about it differently just to prove to that white fucker that he could! Which…now meant raising traumatized children to be the powerhouses he knew they could be and setting them loose on the world! Mwahahahahahaha, he did love evil plans.