Chapter Text
Madara and Izuna made it back home unnoticed once the younger Uchiha finally ran out of questions and praises. Once Izuna disappeared in shower to make himself presentable for his crush - not that any amount of time spent in front of a mirror would help him much in his brother’s humble opinion - Madara decided to gather all the stuff needed for his departure and went ahead back to the hokage manor. He was set on leaving before dawn and running back and forth between the two houses just seemed impractical and a waste of time for him.
When he slipped into the hokage mansion, he was greeted by bouncy Hashirama who looked like he’d been waiting just for him to appear. ‘Hey! Back from your sparring session with Izuna I see? I trust you’re just as sharp as ever.’ Hashirama started cheerfully but Madara couldn’t help but notice he was not so subtly checking him out. Apparently he still had his doubts about sending his friend so soon after his chakra had been depleted.
‘Yeah. Since your lovely wife had been feeding me with some chakra recharging battle pills without my knowledge, making a lab rat out of me in the process, I’m according to her very much fit to proceed with the mission. I made all the necessary preparations for the early morning departure. The last thing I need are the scrolls Mito promised to have made for me.’ Madara replied dryly, noticing the apologetic grimace Hashirama made at the mention of the Uzumaki’s pills.
‘Eh-heh. I’m truly sorry about that. What can I say. Mito always has her way… She’s been talking about the pills for a while. Good to know they actually work. Not that I would ever doubt my wife’s skills, that is to say...’ Hashirama scratched behind his ear, grinning awkwardly. ‘About the scrolls, they are all ready. Mito mentioned you wished to search Tobi’s house for those dangerous special explosive tags of his, if I remember well?’ Hashirama changed the subject quickly. Madara rolled his eyes inwardly and let it slide. Hashirama, after all, wasn’t entirely responsible for his wife’s actions. That would mean he could also hold Mito responsible for his idiocy and that wouldn’t be fair to the woman.
‘Right, I’d almost forget. If you wouldn’t mind coming with me? I’m not exactly comfortable snooping around the Snowflake’s house on my own for various reasons. Too many unknown devices, scrolls, seals and whatnot. Might accidentally turn myself into a duck or something. Or more likely set the whole place ablaze by accident.’ Madara waved his hand. Tobirama hopefully wouldn’t mind the invasion as much if his brother was present as well.
‘Oh? Why not. To be honest, I wish to discuss a certain matter with you in private before you leave anyway.’ Hashirama nodded after a moment of hesitating. Madara shot him a surprised look but Hashirama said no more and waited for his friend to put his travelling pack into the living room.
Madara was curious what the talk was going to be about. Knowing Hashirama, he expected whatever was on his friend’s mind, it would probably include some kind of encouraging speech and a few bone-crushing hugs. Not that Madara was particularly looking forward to those but once Hashirama decided to hug someone, the victims of his vice grip had literally no means to escape. He had long resigned to his fate to occasionally be subjected to one of these. It was usually over quicker when he didn’t struggle too much as well.
The short walk towards Tobirama’s house through the private gardens conveniently connecting the two buildings was filled with Hashirama’s chirping about this and that, unimportant gossip or things that happened during his office hours. Madara wondered how big the accumulated pile of paperwork waiting in his office was by now. Probably insufferably high. The Senju compound was already quiet and seemingly deserted as all its inhabitants were comfortable in their homes, having dinner and resting after a busy day.
Once they made it to the secluded house of the only silver-haired Senju of the clan, Madara tried to slide the backdoor open. Locked, as he expected. ‘Do you have the key?’ He turned to Hashirama.
‘Nuh-uh. Tobirama never gave me one as he’s convinced I don’t need it anyway.’ Hashirama shrugged.
‘Then how are we getting in…?’ The Uchiha didn’t comprehend. He didn’t want to break into the house by force.
Hashirama grinned smugly. ‘Watch this.’ He used his mokuton to form a key out of his finger. It slid into the keyhole and let them in with ease. ‘Neat, isn’t it?’ Hashirama bounced happily and went inside. Madara hummed in agreement. Clever indeed, especially for an oaf like him. He trusted Hashirama enough to follow him in and the thin strip of light emitted by the candle the elder Senju lit to show them their path.
They made it through the corridor safely but Hashirama managed to stumble on a coffee table on their way through the living room, breaking a glass tube with some unknown powder and making a mess of the scrolls that rolled everywhere. ‘Oopsie, haven’t seen that…’ He laughed nervously at Madara’s glaring face and led on. Tobirama would undoubtedly give them a tongue-lashing just for this.
All the while, Hashirama was uncharacteristically quiet but Madara sure wasn’t complaining about him not prattling on and on for once. Once they passed through the living room and turned into another corridor, they took the staircase downstairs and finally reached the door to Tobirama’s underground lab. Madara was itching to get what he was there for and leave the place as fast as possible. Without the presence of the house owner he felt very awkward to be here. The eerie quiet all around was quite disconcerting too.
‘What’s the matter?’ Madara grumbled when Hashirama stopped abruptly to stare at the door and peeked over his shoulder. There was a seal on them. Of course it was. Madara should have predicted something like that. Tobirama, after all, was nowhere near stupid to leave his lab unprotected. The only thing Madara was unsure about was whether he wanted to protect people from getting hurt or rather his precious inventions from being stolen. The latter was more probable than caring about invaders who would be idiotic enough to trespass over the Senju’s property.
‘Oh, would you look at that. I completely forgot about this. Let me think for a moment…’ Hashirama squinted his eyes in the dim light of the candle, inspecting the seal. ‘Great, I think I understand how this one works. It shouldn’t be too hard to get past.’ Hashirama smiled brilliantly, shoved the candle into Madara’s hand and cracked his knuckles.
Madara was quite sceptical about the outcome but he wasn’t about to stop Hashirama from setting off some booby trap on himself, that particular image was far too funny. Also with his pitifully sparse knowledge of fuuinjutsu, he was even less likely to figure out the way into the laboratory than the elder Senju. He watched silently as Hashirama gathered some chakra in the fingertips of his right hand and pushed it into specific places in the seal.
Unsurprisingly, the seal went off, unleashing hell. Impenetrable thick white mist surrounded the two and a storm of senbon rained on them. Hashirama barely managed to form a wooden shield to cover them in time. ‘Dear me! Looks like I got it wrong...’ Hashirama grimaced with exaggerated cheerfulness. Madara just facepalmed himself in reaction to Hashirama’s awkward chuckle. When the noise of sharp needles raining down on the wooden dome above them died at last, Hashirama cautiously dispelled their shield.
‘Well, that was unexpected. Let’s give it another shot, shall we?’ Hashirama winked at him and bent to stare at the seal some more. Madara’s only response to him was an annoyed sigh. What other option did they have anyway? ‘So maybe like this?’ This time Hashirama used only three of his fingers to trigger the seal. And this time, instead of the fog a huge water bubble formed as if out of nowhere and trapped unsuspecting Madara completely in itself before he had time to react.
Through the mass of water he could see Hashirama’s panicky face as the esteemed hokage debated with himself and maybe even his dead ancestors how to proceed. Madara, quickly running out of breath, gestured at him wildly. His wordless depiction of Hashirama’s murder by strangulation if he didn’t act quickly appeared to snap him out of his stupor as Hashirama formed a few seals. Numerous thin branches spurred out of his hands that wrapped around Madara’s limbs and successfully pulled him out of the water prison.
Soaking wet, water dripping out of his hair and clothes, Madara sitting on the floor in a huge puddle of water graced Hashirama with a scorching glare. ‘Took your sweet time to get me out of that fucking water bubble you personally set off on me. You would make a terrible burglar. At this point I’m beginning to be quite sceptical about your abilities to break through the wards at all...’ Madara swatted away the helping hand Hashirama outstretched towards him.
‘I’m so sorry Madara but I think I can do it now. They say the third time’s the charm, don’t they?’ Hashirama shifted his weight, peeking at him with expression of guilt.
‘An opportunity for another blunder maybe.’ Madara grumbled but against his better judgement didn’t stop Hashirama from turning towards the seal one more time.
Hashirama looked extremely focused as he concentrated chakra into his index and middle finger and pushed them into the seal. The Uchiha tensed involuntarily, anticipating some other disaster being unleashed on their trespassing arses. But to his surprise, nothing seemed to happen. Then, just as Madara relaxed and opened his mouth to berate Hashirama some more on his awful fuuinjutsu skills, the seal started burning and vanished with smoke. The door in front of them opened with a click.
‘That went... well, I guess..?’ Madara regarded the door with cautiousness.
Hashirama pumped his fist in the air with a victorious exclamation. ‘Ha! I told you I can do it! And you mistrusted me and ridiculed my skills! You owe me an apology.’ Hashirama kept pointing at him vigorously once he recovered from his own surprise at the door opening for them.
‘As if. Lucky guess hardly counts as a skill.’ Madara scoffed and pushed around Hashirama to finally enter the room.
Only to be attacked by Tobirama himself. The silver-haired man emerged from the darkness inside, practically materializing out of thin air, kunai in his hand and killing intent clearly painted all over his features. ‘Goodness gracious!’ Hashirama shrieked and jumped behind Madara, rather imitating a kid hiding behind its mother’s skirts.
Madara himself was star-struck at first as it took him a few seconds to realize what it was about. Then he whipped out a kunai just in time to parry the attack aimed at his throat while he connected the dots. ‘Hashirama, you absolute buffoon, what the hell? Help me out at once!’ Madara bellowed while deflecting more deadly blows.
‘But I’m scared of ghosts!’ Hashirama wailed from behind him pitifully.
‘You really are completely brainless. That’s no fucking ghost you idiot! Tobirama had to incorporate a shadow clone of himself into the seal to scare the potential trespassers off.’ Madara yelled in exasperation and exertion alike. For a shadow clone, the fake Tobirama was putting up a fierce fight, not holding back in the slightest.
‘Uh-oh. You think? If you say so...’ Hashirama finally decided Madara’s explanation sounded more plausible than the idea of Tobirama’s ghost roaming the house and joined in the fight.
It didn’t take too long for Hashirama’s and Madara’s combined efforts to defeat the shadow clone with chakra reserves nowhere near the original Tobirama and the artificial Senju vanished with a loud pop. ‘Some days I just can’t help but wonder how on earth had a nitwit like you of all people ended up being elected the hokage. Scared of ghosts my ass.’ Madara shook his head angrily, pocketing his kunai. God of Shinobi they called him. What an idiot.
‘Ouch, that hurts. There’s no need to be so mean.’ Hashirama pouted briefly. At Madara’s unimpressed glare he shuffled his feet awkwardly and gestured inside the room. ‘The path is finally clear it would seem. Whew! Tobirama didn’t hesitate to spare a lot of effort on sealing his lab, did he? Good thinking, it’s not a place anyone should wander around unsupervised.’ Hashirama continued conversationally, taking the lead once more.
‘Yeah, especially someone like you…’ Madara rolled his eyes at the sound of glass breaking as Hashirama bumped into the table and another vial full of powder smashed on the floor.
Hashirama squeaked and jumped aside. ‘It’s not my fault he doesn’t keep his workplace clean and safe!’ He crossed his arms defensively but Madara wasn’t in the mood to argue with him.
In other circumstances he would have a field day rummaging through the Senju’s notes and scrolls to discover what he was up to and possibly get some blackmail material on him for his shady research but they were on different terms now. He was still very curious what interests Tobirama had but he had enough respect for him to wait until he would be able to show and tell him on his own. He was lucky in his search as the explosive tags were in the second drawer of the desk. ‘Here they are.’ The Uchiha pocketed a few of them contently.
‘So. I believe you wanted to talk to me about something?’ Madara reminded Hashirama, who, on the other hand, apparently had no problem with spying on his younger brother. Correctly interpreting Madara’s disapproving look, Hashirama hastily put the scroll he’d been reading back on the shelf and turned his attention to him instead.
‘You are correct, I do.’ Hashirama, suddenly unnaturally serious, nodded and said nothing more for a few moments. It was apparent to Madara he’d been preparing for this conversation and now he was trying to remember his lines. He usually did this before some particularly embarrassing conversation like that one time he finally figured out Madara was gay and wanted to show his support. That particular memory, while Hashirama’s intentions were pure and sweet, still made him cringe.
‘Hashirama, spill the beans. We don’t have the whole night.’ Madara prompted. He didn’t have the patience for this shit. Not now, when he wanted to get a full night rest before he would set out to the Land of Rivers. Not ever, possibly. But Hashirama seemed earnest, therefore he would, as a good friend, endure the awkwardness of whatever was about to be said.
Hashirama shifted his weight from one feet to the other, as if still at odds on how to breach the subject. ‘I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. What do you think of my brother?’ Hashirama asked out of the blue.
Madara’s heart skipped a beat. Where was he heading? Did he suspect anything after all? ‘Huh? What’s this exactly, an interrogation?’ Madara countered suspiciously.
‘I’ll explain but could you just answer my question first?’ The elder Senju pressed on insistently.
For once Madara couldn’t read anything in his expression. He decided to play it dumb. ‘He’s awfully white, overly smart and very irritating.’ Madara shrugged, aiming for nonchalance. ‘But he did save my life. And for that I’m indebted to him.’ He added when he saw Hashirama’s expression to shift towards frowning.
‘And that’s all?’ Hashirama scanned him with a scrutinizing look.
‘Well… I mean…’ Madara shifted his weight. What was safe enough to say aloud? That he cared for Tobirama as much as he did for Izuna, his own blood? That the mere thought of failing his mission and losing him was enough to shatter his heart to pieces? Madara thought not. ‘We got closer I guess. He can be fun to be around if he really tries not to spew snarky remarks any other minute. I don’t hate spending time with him as much as I used to have.’ Madara said instead, trying to sound as casual as possible.
‘Mhm. I know you two are on much better terms now and trust me, no one could be happier about that. But lately, I got the impression that…’ Hashirama hesitated and scratched his chin. Was he having second thoughts about something? ‘Ugh. Let me just be honest with you. I know Tobirama better than anyone; I can read in him to some extent as well, as much as he would try to deny it. I can be thick as a brick but even I couldn’t help but notice the way he looks at you when you talk or how he drops his guard near you. Hell, he doesn’t even mind letting you into his personal space!’ Hashirama exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air.
Madara was speechless. Frankly, he didn’t know what Hashirama was on about. Was he accusing him? Was he mad at him? He decided to stay silent and let Hashirama finish. ‘My point is… I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you but I think Tobirama has developed some feelings. For you I mean.’ Hashirama looked at him the way Madara felt like he could see right into his soul.
So even his own brother was convinced Tobirama did like him back. Madara felt simultaneously relief and dread. ‘Why are you telling me this?’ He managed to say through the lump in his throat.
‘He’s my brother. I don’t want him to get hurt. And I’m constantly at odds about you. Please tell me honestly. Is gratitude and honour the only reason you volunteered for this suicidal solo mission?’ Hashirama put his palms on his shoulders, his gaze fixed on him burning with genuine concern.
Madara felt cornered. Unless he wanted to look like a complete prick in front of his best friend and possibly mess up everything, he would have to tell the truth. He gathered all the courage he had and met Hashirama’s eyes. ‘Gratitude and honour indeed are one of the strong reasons I volunteered.’ The Uchiha admitted.
‘I see…’ Hashirama’s gaze faltered, sadness and disappointment apparent on his face.
‘Let me finish. They are important reasons for me but not the main ones. I’m going because I realized I’m just as scared of losing Tobirama as you are. I refuse to accept even the slightest possibility of being forced to live without him. And I am prepared to do anything in my power to get him back. I won’t fail him. Does that make it clear?’ Madara replied fiercely.
As his little speech progressed, Hashirama’s serious façade that invoked respect slowly melted into something mushy and kind of ugly. ‘That was so beautiful! You and Tobi like each other! I’m so happy now!’ Hashirama wailed dramatically and before he knew it, Madara felt himself being crushed by an enormous sobbing bear. ‘I’m… I’m certain now. You have… my blessing to go. You won’t… fail him, I know it.’ Hashirama kept blabbering between the sobs. Madara just kept patting his back awkwardly, relieved he got off pretty easy. He imagined Hashirama would be much less cool with him taking interest in his baby brother.
As if on cue, Hashirama backed away and wiped his wet face off with his sleeve. ‘Don’t you think I won’t be watching you. You are my best friend but should you hurt Tobi…’ Hashirama didn’t finish the threat. If he wasn’t all red-faced and puffy, Madara would probably be intimidated at least a tiny bit but he just opted for nodding obediently.
‘Shall we return? I would like to get some sleep before I leave.’ Madara stretched and yawned to get his point across.
‘Sure, you’re right of course. You will need all the strength you can get!’ Hashirama patted his shoulder forcefully and once again went ahead with the light.
‘You know, it occurred to me more than once that you would do well together. But you will have to tell me how you managed to win Tobirama over! I’m jealous! How did you do that? Are you a wizard? Tell me your secrets!’ Hashirama kept babbling on and on.
‘As if I know myself…’ Madara chuckled and he meant it. Maybe he would have to ask Tobirama himself once he woke up.
₪₪₪
The hokage mansion was full of all of its temporary inhabitants when they returned. ‘You took ages, we’ve been waiting for you for dinner and let me tell you, I’m starving. I could eat a horse!’ Izuna greeted them right at the doorstep with a stream of complaints.
‘Oh you shouldn’t have. We encountered a few obstacles…’ Hashirama waved his hand, deliberately not elaborating on the incident with a supposed ghost.
‘Tobes had some nasty surprises stored for unwelcome guests, huh?’ Touka cackled from the table.
‘You could say that, yeah.’ Madara grumbled. His shoes were still damp thanks to his brief water bubble imprisonment.
‘You should have taken me too! I’d deal with it much quicker than you two suckers.’ Touka smirked at their indignant huffs.
The dinner continued in its usual manner – banter over anything and everything, half-heartedly meant jabs and a good laugh. But all the same, Tobirama’s sarcastic quips remained unparalleled even though his harpy cousin tried her best to ruffle his feathers.
Once they finished eating, Mito took him aside to explain how the prepared scrolls worked. ‘I know you know next to nothing about sealing so I tried to make them as uncomplicated as possible. Once the scroll is open, you only need to do a short series of hand-seals to activate them. Repeat after me – tiger, hare, serpent, dragon, ram, tiger.’ Mito’s hands flew through the seals with astonishing speed. Madara followed the movement diligently, commiting to memorize the seal sequence.
Satisfied, Mito nodded appraisingly. ‘The kohaku no jōhei, should you have an opportunity to use it, will be released with a simple tiger seal. But I’m not really convinced you will need it at all.’ Mito handed him the second scroll and left him to his devices.
Shortly after, the merriment gradually died out and they decided to call it a night. Madara expected some pep talks from his friends but was surprised no one said much more besides wishing him good luck before they all went to their beds. Now confident after his conversation with Hashirama, Madara went to Tobirama’s room to spend the last night by his side.
‘I wonder what you’re dreaming of all the time while I’m basically enduring the shovel talks with all your family members.’ He chuckled as he climbed on the bed next to Tobirama. The Senju looked better than the first night even though the paleness from the blood loss remained. Or was it just his normal complexion? Either way, Madara couldn’t wait to see some blush on those cheekbones.
Madara got himself comfortable under the sheets and closed his lids but after a while he realized his brain wouldn’t just turn off so easily. ‘There was a sore lack of your remarks by the dinner table. I miss your voice…’ Madara rolled on his side to talk to Tobirama once he grudgingly acknowledged he wouldn’t fall asleep just yet.
‘I hope this whole plan works out. I can’t imagine what I would do if it didn’t. I don’t even want to think about it and yet… Things can turn out ugly so quickly, we know that both.’ Madara felt like he could open up about his worries to the seemingly sleeping man. ‘It’s all so risky. I might fail to capture the Nibi. Or we won’t be able to seal it into you. Or something goes wrong and you won’t make it and…’ Madara pulled at his hair, involuntary tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. He reached out to rest his hand over Tobirama’s chest. Raising and falling of his breath and the steady heartbeat under his palm gradually calmed Madara down again.
‘But that won’t be the case, right? After all we’ve been through, we deserve some damn piece of happiness in this world!’ Madara clawed at the fabric of Tobirama’s shirt and snuggled a bit closer to breathe in some of his scent. It didn’t take much effort to fall asleep after his emotional outburst and he slept soundly till the early morning.
When it was time to leave Tobirama once more in favour of hunting some bijuu, Madara rolled out of the bed. With practised methodical movement, he dressed himself into his red armour and once more checked his travel bag for everything he needed. ‘Stay safe, I’ll be thinking of you the whole time.’ Madara said his goodbye to Tobirama and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. He put his trusted gunbai on his back and with a last fond glance at the man he loved, he headed out of the room and towards the back door with purposeful strides
His initial plan was to sneak out while everyone was still sleeping but that was foiled by his friends appearing in their nightclothes just as he was about to dash out of the garden. ‘You didn’t think you would go without saying goodbye, did you, aniki?’ Izuna teased him with a smug smirk that was ruined by a wide yawn.
‘You all are too dramatic. It’s not like I’m leaving for good, is it?’ Madara felt a bit derailed. It was such a long time since anyone bothered to see him off before a mission. He was still a child at that time. The last person to do so was probably his mother, more than often nursing one or both of his twin brothers dead asleep in her arms.
‘It’s not every day the hokage sends you on a mission to capture a tailed beast though.’ Izuna replied and stretched his arms, clearly going for a hug.
‘No, no, no, back away from me!’ Madara yelped, embarrassed by the other three watching with clear amusement.
‘Come on aniki, we both know you want it!’ Izuna laughed and jumped at him, engulfing him tightly. Of course he didn’t really mean it and so he snuck his own arms around his beloved otouto, reciprocating the tight embrace.
‘Awww, so cute! Let’s do a group hug!’ Hashirama cried out, grabbed Mito and Touka and before he knew it, Madara was squished between four grinning people.
‘Oh for gods’ sake, get off me or you will suffoca te me before I even leave.’ Madara kept sputtering which only made them laugh all that harder.
‘Good luck aniki, try not to get yourself killed, would you?’ Izuna patted his shoulder once they all stepped away from him and he had a chance to breathe freely.
‘Hahaha! My best friend isn’t that easy to take down, right? I’m sure you’ll do exceptionally well, let your noble feelings spur your resolve and… Ouch!’ Hashirama’s flowery speech was interrupted by Mito deliberately stomping on his foot.
‘Just remember the hand-seals. Even the monkey should be able to do so…’ Mito winked at him as he pulled an annoyed face at her.
‘And if you need any help after all, just send a message, I will be ready to go on a rampage any time!’ Touka grinned maybe a tad bit too maniacally for his taste.
‘No you won’t, you are guarding Mito, I will go if necessary…’ Izuna disagreed with her which of course resulted in an argument which Hashirama hastily tried to smooth out. Mito crossed her arms and kept hissing how she didn’t need any guards anyway while all the three opposed that she very much did.
Madara just quietly backed away from them and when at a safe distance, he shouted a short ‘bye’ and left them like that. As he crossed the border of the village and turned west he couldn’t stop smiling. His friends were a weird bunch but he wouldn’t trade them for anything. No. Not just friends. His family.