Kindling

Flabbergasted Kakashi stared at the mummy, trying to wrap his head around the innocuous words combined with the handsome face and palpable menace that was only barely contained in the man’s (corpse’s? Mummy's?) body as the (shit he was broad) man (close enough) pushed himself out of his sarcophagus, staggering a bit on legs that must have been cramped all to hell, casually stripping off wrapping as he went towards a glass display with recreations of his old clothing (how – how could he see where that was? What the fuck?). Kakashi stared for a stunned second at the sharp lines of his defined back muscles and swallowed hard as the – kami bless Kakashi could bounce a fucking coin off that ass – wait, muffling a mortified yelp the Hatake whipped around to not watch as the Uchiha dressed; trying his very best not to wonder if Gai looked like that under his – no! Bad Kakashi! Don’t think about that. Bad, bad Kakashi. (Gai wasn’t quite that barrel chested but he bet the ass was about - NO! Bad. Very bad thoughts. Focus on the magical eyes that were missing.) Clearing his throat awkwardly Kakashi asked, “So, um, did you hear what I said before I opened the sarcophagus-“ he started, only to be interrupted as the Uchiha spoke from right fucking behind him (Indra fucking Ōtsutsuki, was the man made of shadows?! How was he so quiet? No one snuck up on Kakashi), “That my eyes have been stolen by an ‘evil asshole’ and you need my help getting them back so could I not destroy this institution?” he growled in that bass rumble, still rough with dust and screaming and slowly the Hatake turned around, trying not to wince when he saw that the man had only put on black pants and some odd headdress that looked like a sweep of white bone over his brow and came to two pointed horns at his temples.

“Yes I heard that, I also heard that you needed more information before you could bring me Tobirama so that he can finally meet his fate as he deserves and join me in the eternal night.” Which, ok, fuck, that was ominous sounding but then again with a presence like that anything would be ominous really. “Right” Kakashi breathed, just fucking proud that he didn’t squeak in the face of that handsome, slightly too handsome really, face fixing in his direction. “Hmm, fine, I will fix your mistake and retrieve my eyes without bringing this place to the ground and in return you will bring me Tobirama.” “Right” Kakashi breath again “Very well, now introduce me – both to you and your little shadow over there.” Oh, oh shit, Naruto (had Naruto seen – well. Shit. if the kid wasn’t headed to being bi before after seeing an ass like that Kakashi was willing to bet he was now – though given the looks to the Uchiha heir Kakashi had seen before even though the other boy didn’t seem to acknowledge him that wouldn’t take much), “Right” he repeated again, clearing his throat one last time, “Um, I am Kakashi Hatake, the last of the Hatake clan and son of Sakumo Hatake the White Fang, this-“ Kakashi waved the child to him out of the shadows, wincing at Naruto’s star filled eyes “is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze Hatake, last of his family lines and my ward after his parent’s deaths. Naruto this is-“

“I am Uchiha Madara, Lord of the Uchiha and heir to the Ōtsutsuki legacy, son of the moon and user of the black chakra.” Uchiha Madara, Lord of the Uchiha proclaimed in a ringing voice, “Now tell me what has happened so I may reclaim my eyes and you may make good on your Oath to me Kakashi of the Hatake.” Well. Ok. shit. Crypt robbing was definitely in his future now; after all Kakashi had a feeling that now that Madara was lose he was not going to go back into his chains and the Hatake did not have the power to force him, not even close. Luckily explaining everything could be done fairly quickly even with Kakashi having to detour into telling Madara about the whole thing with Naruto’s custody and how Danzo seemed to know too much and – well, anyway, by the time he was done the Uchiha’s face was thunderous in the extreme and he stormed over to the sarcophagus lid, ruffling Naruto’s hair on the way, hefted it in one hand (…whimper…) and threw it at the gates, slamming through the solid metal and ripping them straight out of their hinges and slamming them into the far wall, his Tenko guardians chirping in approval as Madara strode out of his tomb, blinded eyes tracking over the halls as he set off at a fast stalk down the halls; Kakashi and Naruto trotting after him until the Tenko that followed them picked them up so that they could keep up.

A large bear from the Forest of Death (Asura be good that thing was the size of a trolly car) appeared out of a side hall and Madara’s head snapped to the side, snarling viscerally at the giant predator towering over him and sending the bear scrambling back in clear submission (…..ooookkkk….). With an unimpressed huff the Uchiha started off down the hall again, Naruto and Kakashi exchanging wide eyed looks as they scurried after the intimidating man as the Tenko took up watch on that hall, suddenly feeling a bit superfluous, “Hatake, did you do anything to block the exits or deal with the rest of the awakened….beings?” Madara snapped, crisp and harsh and Kakashi shared a look with Naruto before speeding up to walk a little closer to the former mummy. “Um, one of my dogs was at the loading dock and the skeleton of the nine tails seemed like it might be guarding the front door? I asked Kagami- uh, Kagami Uchiha, one of your clan I guess, he built this place- to try to round up everyone and get anyone helpful to work on finding the intruders so – sort of?”

The Uchiha sent him a sharp look even with the bandages over his eyes and Kakashi fought not to wither under it, blurting instead “So – uh, this whole destroying Konoha thing, what was up with that?” Madara sighed and did something that if Kakashi was less freaked out he might have called tossing his hair but – well this was the mummy that had almost killed everyone here so. “As long as you bring me Tobirama to take his rightful place there will be no need to destroy the village, it was always Hashirama breaking his word to me that started this mess to begin with. Though, the skeleton of Kurama might not be much pleased with me….” he trailed off and Kakashi was reminded that Madara had enslaved the bijuu in in quest to destroy the village once, so, yeah, that would be an interesting meeting (also, rightful place? Like, under his boot or something? And what word from Hashirama?). “Right” Kakashi whispered faintly “ok, so, can you sense where your eyes are or something?” another not-a-hair-toss and scathing not-look from Madara, “Of course I know where my eyes are, they are my eyes and it is my power – should the disgusting thief take them too far from me they will cease to have any power at all. He is still in the building, the question is how long he will remain so and how he will seek to leave – it all depends on how much information he has about me and how good it is.”

“Ah” Kakashi said, somewhat uselessly as they swept around another corner, Madara’s ridiculously long dark hair a knee length banner behind him make up for his lack of other regalia – or really any other clothing. Just then the sound of horse hooves on the stone rang out and Kagami raced around the corner on his horse, a busty blond behind him that Kakashi recognized as Tsunade Senju, Hashirama Senju’s granddaughter, with a grim look on her face that paled to terror at the sight of Madara. “What have you done?” Tsunade breathed, slipping off the black stallion as he slipped to a halt, Kagami’s jaw dropped in shock at the sight of his ancestor, “Um, kind of a long story but there wasn’t really any other option-“ Kakashi started only for the woman to cut him off harshly. “No other option than freeing the man that tried to destroy this village and killed early a quarter of the inhabitants including dealing the blow that killed my grandfather?!” she snarled and Madara frowned in her direction before he brow cleared, “Ah, you must be one of Hashirama’s spawn, I hadn’t realized I got that good a hit on him. He deserved it for breaking his word to me about his brother, Tobirama never should have died on that mission or been kept from his place-“

But Tsunade it turned out had balls of steel as she bared her teeth at the man (which, yeah, Madara had just dismissed killing her family and so many people like it was nothing, Kakashi got it) and hissing “What, dead at your feet? His word that you would kill Tobirama if anyone did?” (wait, Hashirama would have made that deal?! What the-!) and Madara just stared at her for long enough it honestly got uncomfortable before he responded slowly, “Why in the world would I want my husband dead at my feet? Or want to kill him? Or ask such a thing of Hashirama? All I required when I wed Tobirama was that I be informed when he was sent on missions so I could make sure he was safe to go and strong enough given his childhood – he never knew how to turn down a mission and I wouldn’t have him risking his life unneeded when he was unwell. Hashirama broke his word when he sent Tobirama on a mission without speaking to me- even though there was more than enough time to contact me-, checking that Tobirama was strong enough to complete it, or even making sure it wasn’t a damned trap designed to kill the man I loved since Kumo had a well known grudge against my husband! It was nothing but madness to send my Tobirama on that mission and broke every bond of faith and friendship between us that he would do so, and when my husband died there and Hashirama did nothing in retribution – not even trying to get his body back to rest with mine in time and I could only conclude, as many agreed including your great-aunt, that Hashirama had intentionally sent Tobirama to die there to stave off the inevitable war a little longer and-!”

He paused, nearly vibrating with rage that made Kakashi want to hide and maybe show his throat (or stomach), “Well, to say that I fell to the curse of my blood would be a nice way of putting it; but Hashirama and Konoha broke with faith with me first when they killed my husband for a little war we would have won with ease and refused me his bones, so I promised they too would never rest in peace until my beloved was returned to me.” Tsunade was staring at Madara, clearly shocked to the bone, Kakashi felt similarly as though he had been slapped with a sword fish, the sheer emotion in Madara’s voice when he spoke of the past and his husband….lying wasn’t even an option, you couldn’t fake that. “I always wondered” Kagami whispered “the records said you had a husband and the marriage license – but it seemed to so far fetched when everyone knows you hated each other over your brother’s wounding.” Madara sniffed, waving a gloved hand, “History is written by the winners and Izuna disliked Tobirama and Mito more than held a grudge for the attack – never mind that it was provoked, I am not too surprised that the narrative was changed to make me look worse after my death. Hashirama was ever a master of PR spin and hated for anyone to think him anything other than righteous – which sending your brother and friend’s spouse to die out of cowardice is most certainly not. Look at the other things, like the fact that after that even most Senju renounced their clan name and Touka never returned to Konoha after Tobirama’s death or how the Uchiha pulled back and looked at the leadership with suspicion after that. Hashirama broke the faith once, what was to say he wouldn’t again and let one of us die for his ideals? No one wanted to lose a loved one to Hashirama after me.”

There was silence, Tsunade somehow even whiter and Kagami thoughtful and then Naruto sniffled at Kakashi’s hip, the Hatake glancing down to see his ward rubbing his eyes with small fists to smear the tears over his cheeks, “That’s – that’s so sad” the blonde sniffed “you just wanted to be with the person you loved and instead they locked you in a box to die every night over and over again without ever seeing him when all they had to do was put his bones with you!” which. Um. Kakashi swallowed the bile collecting at the back of his throat, probably Madara didn’t want to doom his love to the same repeated deaths that he had suffered over the centuries if Kakashi wasn’t wrong but…still. (He was going to that fucking grave and fucking robbing it of every bit of Tobirama Senju he could find – since who knew how much you had to have to come to life here.)

The oldest Uchiha sighed, and leaned over to ruffle Naruto’s hair gently, “If your guardian keeps his word it will not be for much longer before I see my love, but for now we should focus on the man trying to steal my eyes and his cronies – they are the urgent threat and if they have connections to power like you think I would be very careful who you hand them over too and how.” Madara said briskly, clearly trying to distract himslef- not that Kakashi blamed him- and the other nodded, Kakashi explaining that he knew the chief of police and that he had been looking for something to take at Sarutobi for a while; this would be perfect ammo as one of Sarutobi’s cohort trying to rob an Uchiha grave was an offence punishable by death (which, huh, now he actually knew why that was a thing if the eyes had been that powerful). “Very good,” Madara said, “then you two” to Kagami and Tsunade “round up his accomplices with any other beings that will work with you, I will go after this ‘Danzo’ myself, he has a few lessons about old blood Uchiha to learn yet.”