Kindling

Danzo was found, perhaps unsurprisingly, not at the front entrance or the loading docks but grandstanding at the top of a flight of marble stairs, Urn tucked under his arm and something else wrapped in coarse cloth in his other hand with a slimy smile on his face that hardly faltered even when confronted with the sight of Madara though Kakashi would bet he was more daunted than he looked. “Lord Uchiha.” the old man proclaimed, clearly trying to take control of the situation as Madara folded his impressive arms over his chest and stared up at the man, a small sneer pulling at his lips “Some old fucker I don’t know.” the Uchiha drawled back, unimpressed as Danzo’s face twisted at the disrespect “How about you hand over my eyes now and save us all a lot of trouble, no?” something odd flickered over Danzo’s face where it was visible and then his lips pulled back in a mean sneer. “How about not” the old man said, voice oddly smug as a bit of ice trickled down his spine “after all, I might not know everything about you Lord Uchiha but I know enough, I know your weakness” Kakashi could see a frown pulling at Madara’s brow in confusion, almost thinking with the older man that his only true weaknesses were long dead now “I know exactly what to use to keep you from even trying to touch me until I am long gone with your eyes and power and you are nothing but a corpse.” What-?

The old man shifted his hand on the thing in his other hand and the old cloth fluttered away, Madara’s hand snapping out to shove Naruto’s face into Kakashi’s stomach so the child wouldn't see as he was still trying to take in what he was looking at even as the Uchiha made a wounded, animal sound. It – that – how (who else-?) – this – Madara moaned lowly, staggering forward a step as Danzo’s smile widened and his hold on his fragile handful tightened enough that tiny cracks spread through the fragile bone, “no” Madara whined, too low for Danzo too hear, his agony reinforcing Kakashi’s fears as something terrible and wild over took his face and the Hatake kept his pup tucked close enough to not see the human skull in Danzo’s hand.

“You won’t touch me as long as I have this will you? The skull of your oh so precious husband, returned from Kumo with what little was left of his ruined body (oh you should see the reports about the autopsy) – all of it kept from you for centuries for knowledge of the power these bones would give us over you. A last weapon over the great Uchiha, one strong enough to bring him to his knees” and as he said that the old man’s ring finger punched through the bone and Madara jerked forward, falling to his knees as Danzo held up the skull over the hard stone with a chiding, tutting noise that made Kakashi’s skin crawl with the derision in it. “Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn’t do anything if I was you, after all, your beloved husband might not come back as just a skull- need a bit more body than that- but he certainly won’t without it now will he? And it would be a pity if my hand slipped-“ his hand spasmed and the skull jerked, Madara making a gutted, panicked sound “-and it just happened to shatter wouldn’t it?” (this – this….this was horrifying, seeing a man like Madara, so regal and strong and proud on his knees for a man like Danzo made Kakashi feel sick. And – he didn’t understand, how did Danzo even have the skull? Hadn’t the crypt-) Danzo laughed, cutting off Kakashi’s thoughts and making Naruto shiver against him.

“Honestly, how long do you think I have been planning this? Did you really think that the real story would be completely lost? It was recorded in the forbidden books that only the mayor sees and when Hiruzen told me….well, that’s when I started taking the stories more seriously about your power and looking into it and oh what did I find!” the old man crowed “The sheer power that your eyes possess….well, I had you moved here to see it in action and took the guard position to see it up close and insure the seals never were lost but” his mouth twisted and Madara didn’t seem to be listening, his eyes fixed on the skull with obsessive fixation; but Kakashi was (how had-) “then that fucking Fugaku Uchiha started taking notice of me, I admit that I shouldn’t have gotten involved in that Night ten years ago but the Namikaze was poking his nose into the Senju history too far; he might have found the bones or even worse – brought the truth to light and broke the seals and I couldn’t-“ Kakashi felt frozen, his mouth slightly open in horror (the gaps in the guard that shouldn’t have been there that horrible night, the information the attackers seemed to have, the way Fugaku looked at the city leadership after – he – he couldn’t think about this now) “-I couldn’t do anything, anymore, had to play broken old man for the world and wait for exactly the right patsy to come along.”

Danzo laughed, tossing the skull into the air as Madara full body flinched “And then there was the Hatake, the spec ops drop out, the has-been that couldn’t make it and fell apart into a porn addiction and shitty, shitty jobs, in need of money and well known for it in the right circles; the perfect person to try and rob a museum, no? And even better it even helped out my old friend, he was so pleased when told him that I had an idea on how to get the brat back to him to be raised right and all I needed was one tiny favor.” He held up the skull, empty eye sockets staring and missing lower jaw making even Kakashi’s stomach twist – though that might have been Madara’s clear agony infecting him. “Not that he wanted the details” Danzo added thoughtfully, poking at the skull, “Hiruzen did always prefer to act like he didn’t know what was going on around him if it worked for him…” he clicked his tongue with a musing look on his face “Still, it got me what I wanted; the ancient power of the Uchiha, at my feet and all mine to use.” And Madara still was, kneeling at the base of the stairs with his face turned to the skull, nonexistent eyes following ever move the skull made; still Kakashi thought that saying that Madara’s was his to command was a bit much, it looked a lot more like the man was considering ripping Danzo’s throat out with his teeth more than anything else.

Still though, something was bugging Kakashi under all the horror of these revelations, “How –“ the Hatake paused as the old man’s eye turned to him “how did you get T-Tobirama’s skull? Last I heard all the bones of the Senju were interred in the crypt of the clan and the mayor had control of who had access to that – Hiruzen isn’t mayor. Not anymore, that’s Asuma and, sure, Sarutobi has a lot of power over the city and his son. Way more than he should but…not enough to mess with the Senju logs.” Danzo froze and Madara jerked like he had been stabbed, words ripping out in his hoarse low voice like they had been hooked out of him, “That’s Tobirama’s skull, I would know him no matter what; that is my beloved.” And Kakashi licked his lips, tapping a precise code on Naruto’s back where the boy was pressed into his hip, right over his Maglite, “Right, yeah, I figured given – I mean – but, see that means he grave robbed twice and in Konoha….that’s capital offence still. So…..” Danzo’s face had stiffened with displeasure but he forced it back into a semblance of smug satisfaction, “And how do you plan to stop me?” the old man snapped, a little too tense to be relaxed “I have Uchiha Madara and his eyes at my command, you have no power here, you have failed, again.”

Which, ok, ouch, fuck this asshole and his noise. Kakashi bared his teeth at the old man from behind his mask, feeling Naruto press back against the hand between his small shoulder blades and drifting it around until cold metal touched his skin. Another few taps and Naruto nodded into Kakashi’s shirt (thank Indra Gai had taught the blonde morse code). “Well” the Hatake growled “I might not have magical eyes but isn’t it a good thing that you gave me power here, or have you forgotten?” Danzo lowered the skull in confusion and several things happened very, very fast. From where it had been hidden by Naruto’s body Kakashi whipped out the Maglite and hurled the heavy metal flashlight at the old man at the top of the stairs with all the deadly aim that had once made him a top spec ops agent, behind him- having successfully snuck up on him- Pakkun lunged and caught the Urn in his mouth before it could hit the ground and break, and simultaneously Naruto twisted like a snake and kicked Lord Uchiha Madara to snap him out of his agony and send him lunging for the skull as Danzo crumpled (Maglites were heavy, Kakashi loved them) and for a second; a wonderful, wonderful second the Hatake thought they had won until the skull – the most precious thing in here, slipped at an odd angle and bounced off the banister rather than into Madara’s desperate hands.

It almost seemed to hang in the air for a moment and then – crash, it hit the ground wrong and shattered into dozens of pieces. There was a stunned, horrified pause of total silence and then -.

Madara.

screamed.

And the world shook, cracks in the stone spreading out from his body where he was bowed over the fragments of the skull of his great love; great writhing waves of power pulsating out of him like shock waves and shredding everything they touched. Horrified, tarified, Kakashi pulled Naruto further away from the epicenter of what he now saw was the end of their city if not their world - (they were all going to die and he was never going to have said a thing to Gai, never – Gai would have waited all that time and for nothing. Danzo was right, Kakashi was a failure) because there was no doubt in his mind that the sheer force of Madara’s anguish would rip this world to shreds as the Uchiha curled over the meager pile of bone, fragments slipping through his fingers as he made great, terrible noises like the entire world was sobbing with him.

Suddenly Kakashi was ripped from his horrified daze as Naruto pushed against him, ripping away from the Hatake and staggering closer to the Uchiha to Kakashi’s horror, screaming over the sudden wind “Izanagi!! Use Izanagi! A new eye and the skull together again!” which, what? But it seemed to mean something to Madara, whose head came up and snapped around to look at the boy before looking at the dog and the Urn and then –

Something

Very

Odd

Happened

With an almost audible snap the world righted and – Madara was sitting on the middle most step, curled around the skull he was cradling to his chest, hole gone and good as it had been when they first saw it, both of his true red eyes fixed on it as bloody tears streaked down his cheeks, rocking back and forth slowly; above him Pakkun still had the Urn but the lid was off and it was clearly empty. And Kakashi. Just. “What the fuck.” Naruto turned to look at him, beaming, “Izanagi, it's an old Uchiha myth I heard Sasuke talking about once, that they can rewrite reality for a short time at the cost of an eye – so I just thought, he could do that, save Lord Tobirama and then give himself an extra eye to use when he blinded one.” The blonde hesitated “Did I-“ “You were brilliant” a low rasping voice interrupted and both look up at the man on the stairs, still curled around the bone like it was glass burning red eyes with concentric rings and odd little yin yang things in them searing in his face and somehow even more compelling “you were brilliant. To remember a bit of myth like that at that moment….you would have been a fearsome battle strategist in my day and I owe you a Boon for allowing me a chance with my beloved again. I am in your Debt Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze Hatake.”

The words were heavy with power and meaning and Kakashi’s hand tightened on his ward’s shoulder even as the blonde just smiled, “How ‘bout for now we just clean this up and Ka-nii can call the chief of police and he can meet you so he knows what’s going on and how bad it could have got an’ we get the bad guys in jail first. Then when its sunny we’ll get the bones and tomorrow night maybe you can see your husband, yeah?” and just – Asura be good some days Kakashi had no idea how this kid could be this good after everything. A feeling Madara seemed to share as he looked up at Kakashi to check that was serious and the Hatake just shrugged, “All right” the Uchiha said, slow and thoughtful, “let's do that.”