Advanced Chapter on my Patreon patreon.com/JoshRichie2 for just $5. Also, I just began Volume 4. Which is Naruto Arc. I'm a couple chapters, I'll be finishing this FF. Stay tuned.
....
Title: Prelude to the End
...
'Revenge,'
'Hatred.'
'Anger.
'Shame
'Anxiety.
'Guilt
'Frustration
'Apathy.
These were all the emotions welling up inside Madara's sleeping mind despite his peaceful unconscious appearance.
The last pieces of thought he was able to put together before he lost consciousness only managed to add to this pool of negative emotions inside of him.
At the moment, he felt like he was swimming in a stagnant pool, his movements restricted, his thoughts uncoordinated, but his heart was calm.
No... It wasn't calm, but rather, felt like he was free.
Free from the burden of the thing called living.
Free from the pain it brought.
The agony it wrought to those who spend their day doing the very thing that brought him to this state... Living.
As he was about to give in to that feeling a tiny speck of light seemed to drilled into the bleak and dark space he was in.
This light grew from a tiny speck till it became so bright that it literally dissolved the ocean of negative energy around him.
The intensity of the light forced him to close his eyes, it gave him a feeling, familiar yet, unfamiliar.
For some reason, he felt that this light was akin to the family he was meant to have, and as he was still reeling from the intensity of the light, he heard a soft chuckle.
"It's been a while, Indra... No. I believe you're called Madara now, huh?"
'Sensei?' he thought as he forced his eyes open, training his sight towards the location the voice came from.
"Senesi?" He called out to the figure emitting the light.
This figure was the old man that had first heard their childish dreams all those years ago and instead of laughing at it, encouraged them to strive for it.
"Sensei, shouldn't you be dead by now? What are you doing here? Wait... Where is here?" Madara, as if forgetting all his previous worries asked like a child who just met a family member after so many years.
"Sensei? Is that what you call me now?... Hmm, I guess that's plausible considering my thought process, hohoho." The old figure laughed.
Madara frowned. "Aren't you sensei? And you haven't answered my question. Where are we?"
"Hmm, I believe I am, yet am not." The figure waved his hands. "Anyways, it is of no consequence whatsoever. As for where we are... I believe it should be your sea of consciousness."
"Sea of consciousness?" Madara asked.
"Hmm, think of it as a higher form of your mindscape, you've heard of that right?" The old man asked.
Madara nodded...
"Good, then that's good. As for why I am here, it's simply to give you a new direction to follow. I initially places a seal on you many years ago so as to help you when you're at your darkest moment, this happened to be that time."
"Darkest moments?" Madara asked.
"Oh." The old man said and immediately, the light intensity diminished and they were both back to the previous location, the only difference was that they were on top of a pitch black sea.
Madara who had a confused expression suddenly widened his eyes as his suppressed pain all came back crashing into his soul.
"I don't have much time to stay here, I still have to preserve my energy for your next reincarnation so I'll just say this to you, young Madara." The old man said.
Madara lifted his face to look at the kind old man with a pian filled eyes intent on hearing what he had to say.
"Heros. There are two types of the class of people. The first does not fear pain or death. For glory and honour, they can descend into hell and withstand the cruelest pain! Such a person lives an honourable life, willing to die as a martyr. I admire that type of person."
"The second type can adapt to any situation. Hatred. Shame. Humiliation. They can tolerate it all, eating the foods of pigs and dog, enduring the insults that the world cannot bear, all so that they can reverse their fate. All so that their loved ones won't have to live through what they did."
"This type of person is similarly worthy of my admiration. Now young Madara, the question is, Which type of hero would you like to become?"
As soon as the old man asked this question, his figure receeded and Madara was left alone in a bleak and fractured world with no light.
The sea below him, black as ink and threatening to suck him down.
"What type of hero do I want to become?" Madara asked himself before laughing mockingly. "How can I be a hero? I couldn't even protect my little brother. My only remaining family."
Saying this, he closed his eyes and let the suction force of the sea pull him down, but as soon as he was submerged, he once again welcomed darkness as his consciousness was taken away.
...
Madara POV
Hmm? What was that? Where am I?
Wasn't I dead?... No... I believe, Izuna died.
What was it again? Ah... Yes, his eyes. I seem to have transplanted them.
What happened after that?
Did I black out? Haha... This is unbecoming of Madara. Uchiha Madara.
Hmm... What was that strange dream... A hero, huh? That's impossible.. or rather that's pretty naive.
That's good and all but I have to avenge Izuna. I have to fulfill his last wish.
The Senju clan has to pay. Tobirama has to pay for taking my little brother away from me by blood.
Nothing else can assuage this burning hatred except for his death, but first, I need to know the state of my body.
I feel a lot stronger than before, I wonder if it has anything to do with Izuna's eyes.
Regardless, I have to put this power to good use. Hashirama wouldn't be able to stand against me.
...
Normal POV
It has been a full week since their clan head, fell unconscious after the death of his brother.
When they had entered and saw the scene, due to Izuna's eyeless sockets, people began having mixed feelings about this clan head of theirs.
Was he so anger filled that he gouged out the eyes of his dead little brother in his bid to avenge him?
The story wasn't clear, but the human minds were their own undoing in many cases and with little whispers from a certain 'Fate' thoughts ran amok and speculations were formed.
On this very day, some Uchiha sensors felt the chakra of the clan head fluctuate causing them to quickly announce it to the clan.
Following the announcement, there was jubilations as well as many other despondent emotions from the Uchihas.
Many admired this man known as Madara for his absolute strength while a minority feared him for his warring mentality.
He was a caring leader, there wasn't a doubt about that. He did everything for the food of the clan, but sometimes, what was good was always the best course of action, and the minority of the clan felt this way.
These were the ones who didn't want any part of this life they were living but the circumstances of their birth wasn't theirs to control.
...
After the jubilations following Madara's awakening, Madara had some time to himself to which he decided to figure out the new powerups he got from his brother's eyes.
For some reason, no matter how much he used the Mangekyou Sharingan, he didn't seem to feel the strain he felt previously, neither did he feel the blindness that came with it.
He felt like they've become... Eternal, hence he dubbed it, the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.
His time reversal ability became more fluent, and he felt he could rewind time, not just on himself, but also on a cut off space.
His other eye ability gave him the ability to deflect anything his chakra came in contact with. Physical or chakra.
He could deflect any physical blow and any ninjutsu or Genjutsu.
His other ability related to his Susanno, the Yasaka Magatama, became even more overwhelming.
Why?
Because now, his former half body Susanno could now form an entire full body.
To make matters intriguing, he felt he could go further and give it a more elaborate suit of armour, but for some reason, he could reach that state yet.
As for his yasaka Magatama, with the help of his sword, he could launch many Chakra balls strong enough to vaporise an entire mountain.
Yes. Vaporise not just destroy.
With this new power up, he led the Uchiha clan to battle the Senju clan on a repeated basis just so that he could test the full extent of his ability.
Every battle ended in a draw as it seemed like Hashirama had also developed a new technique.
He felt like he knew it, but also felt like something was whispering everything to him, helping him understand that Hashirama was using the fabled Senjutsu of legends.
When he began feeling threatened by this, something told him he only need to fully master his eyes to be able to combat him. He had to reach to full potential of his eyes before he would be able to triumph over Hashirama.
Thankfully, Hashirama handy gotten a good grasp on this Jutsu.
Their battles continued for over two years. Hashirama and the Uzumaki princess had given birth to children and his initial thoughts were, 'Good for him' but that peculiar whisper kept reminding him of his pain. His brother's death, and his wish to have the Senju clan wiped out.
This was his constant motivation. His Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan thrived on it. The hate. The anger. It seemed to fuel it. It gave it a purpose, a direction to follow...and be basked in that new found strength.
Unfortunately, three years passed and they were both already 27 years of age.
The Uchihas were tired, he was tired. But he still led his clan into Battle, he had to triumph over Hashirama even if once. His brother's dying wish demanded it.
Today, he was going to end it all, he was going to fight it out with Hashirama. The winner takes all and the loser had to die.
That was his conviction. He was going into this last battle with one intent only. To win.
Anything but that led to a path, no one longed for but was prepared to face at anytime.
A path to his death. Thankfully, there was no one to mourn his death.... Or so he thought.