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Four.
Peace. Unity. Happiness. The time of the Warring States Period had ended. The Senju and Uchiha clans agreed to a peace treaty. The village of Konohagakure was founded. Several other clans joined the founding clans, and blood was no longer shed.
Alliances were made through marriages between clans, not for power or political reasons, but for love. Hashirama Senju married Mito Uzumaki, and Izuna Uchiha married Tobirama Senju. Children grew up without having to know war. Funerals became less commonplace as people died from natural causes and not murder. Who knew even shinobi could live peaceful lives?
Izuna rocked the Senju and Uchiha clans when he declared his love for Tobirama. Tobirama only amplified it by returning the feelings. Since both were the second-in-commands of their respective clans, it was a big deal. Some people were overjoyed:
“Isn’t this great, Madara?! We’ll become brothers!” Hashirama exclaimed.
Others were more apprehensive or disbelieving:
“How could that be possible? The Uchiha and Senju were once the worst of enemies! This can’t be right….”
“No, Hashirama. It isn’t great. How could I be happy about my otouto’s attempted killer saying he loves him? Or my otouto loving him back?! I will not accept this!” Madara growled as he swung his arm out in emphasis.
Madara’s discontent over that turn of events eventually changed, however. He might not have seemed like the type, but he spoiled Izuna. He was Madara’s last living sibling, and they were always very close. Izuna’s happiness was always at the forefront of the clan head’s mind. So, once he saw that Izuna and Tobirama truly cared about one another and any animosity they once held for each other was gone, he changed his stance on their relationship. Just as well, Izuna would have been devastated if his nii-san didn’t approve of his marriage.
~*~
“Tobiraaa-,” Izuna sang as he entered his lover’s lab. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you all day…” he leaned against the desk Tobirama was sitting at and pouted.
Tobirama sighed and rubbed his temples, but the corner of his lips rose slightly. He could never get mad at Izuna for some reason. “I told you I would be busy today, ‘Zuna. I’m about to have a breakthrough with a new ninjutsu I’m working on. If I stop now, I’ll lose my momentum.”
“Aw, come onnnn! Can’t you just take a little break? For me?” The raven-haired man gave his best puppy dog eyes, which not even the calm, cool, and collected Tobirama could resist. At least when it came from him, Tobirama easily resisted any attempts by his Anija.
Tobirama sighed once again and took Izuna’s hand in his with a smirk. “You know I can’t say no to you, yes?”
“Yes, yes, I know.” Izuna grinned and tugged Tobirama’s hand, leading him out of the lab for a nice walk in the village.
~*~
Three.
Tobirama should’ve told Izuna no.
Izuna stood there trembling, his knees about to give out on him. How could this happen? It was a freak thing. But why did it have to happen now and to him?
Across the dirt path where Izuna stood, a building had collapsed and caught everyone around unawares. By some miracle, no one was hurt…except for one.
“Tobira! Tobirama, please! Answer me!” Izuna yelled out, his hand clutching a fistful of his mantle over his heart.
Hashirama and Madara appeared shortly, having heard about the accident, and rushed over from the Hokage Tower.
“Izuna, otouto. Please calm down! What happened?” Madara held his distraught brother close with one arm and stroked his hair with his free hand.
Hashirama ran past the two and started frantically digging through the rubble.
“T-Tobirama… He…He… I-I talked him into taking a walk with m-me. We were just walking b-by… There-there was a loud crack, and he-he suddenly pushed me away. T-then he was g-gone….” Izuna had witnessed some terrible things during the war, but he’d never been driven to stutter like this before.
Hashirama cried out when he found a person buried in the rubble. The man was covered in dust and debris, but his white hair was unmistakable.
“TOBIRAMAAAAA!” Izuna screamed as he struggled to escape Madara’s arms. However, Madara just held his brother tighter and let him turn and sob loudly into his chest.
Madara’s throat tightened as he felt Izuna shake in his arms and watched as his childhood friend cried over the loss of his last brother.
~*~
Izuna couldn’t believe it. Even after a month passed, Izuna still couldn’t believe that Tobirama was gone. He almost expected his lover to walk through the door any minute after being locked up in his lab for hours. It was only the pitying whispers and sympathetic pats on his shoulder that the villagers gave him that kept him tethered to reality—that and the fact that Hashirama was not his usual cheerful self.
In fact, the Hokage appeared numb. He appeared to just go through the motions of heading the village. If it weren’t for Madara, he would’ve fallen further behind than he already had. Madara was also Izuna’s saving grace. He was Izuna’s most important and cherished person, with Tobirama having been a close second. Izuna always drew comfort from his nii-san, and it was the same for Madara. They were all each other had during the war, and it was the same now. Yes, they had their clan, but they weren’t as close with any of them as they were with each other. Except for Hikaku, but they lost him a year ago to illness, and Hashirama was dealing with his own grief. It was just them again.
~*~
Two.
Things slowly got better. Izuna and Hashirama missed Tobirama terribly, but thanks to Madara’s support, they started to obtain a sense of normalcy. Well, a new normalcy anyway.
“Hey, nii-san. I’m bored. Can we go do something? Something outside these walls? Outside the village?” Izuna leaned against the shoji that opened into Madara’s office.
Madara chuckled as he enjoyed seeing Izuna start to act like his old self again. “Getting a little tired of the idyllic life, otouto?”
“Just the idyllic one inside. I’m getting stir-crazy. Is it normal to be getting stir-crazy? It is not like I’ve been on lockdown. …Well, not one outside a self-imposed one, anyway.” The younger male slid to the ground and laid his back on the floor. He looked up at his brother upside down. “Will you do something with me? It’s no fun by myself.”
Madara stood up from behind his desk and stretched. “It would be nice to have a change of scenery.” He walked around the front of his desk and stood over his brother. “So, do you have anything in mind?”
Izuna tilted his head in thought before speaking. “How about we take a walk outside the village? Maybe run through the trees for a change of pace? I miss the rush.”
Madara held his hand out to help his brother up. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”
Izuna smiled, took Madara’s hand, and sat up. “Then let’s go, nii-san!”
~*~
Madara abruptly stopped jumping through the trees and held out his arm to stop Izuna from passing him.
“What is it, nii-san? Why are you stopping? Don’t tell me peacetime is making you slow down.” Izuna joked with a sly grin, but it slowly fell upon noticing his brother’s grim expression.
“Izuna, stay here and don’t move until I get back. You hear me?” Madara spoke firmly.
Izuna straightened up and looked around them warily. “What is it? Do you sense something nii-san? Can I help?”
“No, just stay here and wait for me, okay?” Izuna opened his mouth to protest but closed it when Madara shot him a look.
“Okay, nii-san, but be careful.” Izuna watched as Madara leapt forward until he was out of sight. “I hope it was nothing serious. I was enjoying our time together…”
~*~
Izuna sat on the tree branch where Madara had left him, dozing lightly. A loud explosion and the sounds of fighting snapped him back to reality. Flames rose into the sky among the trees in the distance. Any Uchiha would be able to recognize the flames from a katon.
“Nii-san! I’m coming!” Izuna wasted no time as he rushed to the source of the fire. He was not prepared for what he saw.
The forest around him was burning. Flames licked the bases of the trees, grass smouldered, and bushes withered away. However, the sight that upset him the most was his brother lying on the ground with a wound to the chest.
“NII-SAN!” Izuna ran to Madara’s side, knelt beside him, and lifted his head into his lap. “Nii-san! Speak to me! What happened?!”
“Izuna…” Madara coughed, and a small amount of blood dripped from his mouth. “Hurry back to the village and tell Hashirama that there is a faction of rogue ninja that want to see the village fall. Help him get all the villagers inside the walls and lock the gates.”
“No, nii-san, I can’t leave you! Where did they go? Do you know where they came from?” Izuna asked, frantically palming at Madara’s chest as he tried to stop the bleeding.
Madara coughed again and slowly shook his head. “I don’t know where they came from, but they are long gone now. They ambushed me and left me for dead. You must go back to the village and stay where you’ll be safe.”
“No! I’m not leaving you here! You’re coming back to the village with me! We’ll get Hashirama to heal you and….”
“No, Izuna. It is too late for me. You must leave me behind and head back to the village by yourself.”
Izuna opened his mouth to argue but stopped as he watched the blood pool under his nii-san’s body. He removed his bloodied hand from Madara’s chest and gripped one of Madara’s hands tightly. Izuna placed his other hand on Madara’s head and realized he was bleeding from there too. Tears started to fall from Izuna’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Izuna. I should’ve been more careful. Promise me you’ll take care of our clan. I love you, otouto….”
Izuna opened his eyes to see that Madara had passed away. More tears poured down his face like endless torrents as he closed his eyes and yelled to the sky.
“NII-SANNNNNNNN!”
~*~
Izuna fell into despair when he returned to the village without his brother. Hashirama stood in shock as Izuna told him what had happened as his body racked with sobs. The Hokage didn’t say anything for a while before he remembered what he had to do. He ordered everyone back into the village and closed the gates as Madara instructed before he died. Afterwards, Hashirama soundlessly took Izuna home with him as the reality of his childhood friend’s death sank in.
~*~
One.
Things did not get better. Izuna remained a shadow of his former self. It was as if the light had faded from his life. First, the love of his life, Tobirama, then his nii-san. What did he have to live for anymore? He still hung on, though. Izuna was now the head of his clan; they needed him. Hashirama needed him. Hashirama lost just as much as he had, his brother and his close friend.
Hashirama didn’t fall into despair as Izuna did. No, he fell into something much worse. Madness. Two of his main reasons for wanting peace were gone. He had Mito, but she didn’t truly understand his pain. His close cousin Touka, who volunteered to find Madara’s murderers and stop the threat to the village, never returned. It was believed she was killed in action. The rest of her three-person cell were also missing.
He had Izuna. The last link he had to his brother and his best friend. The last reminder he had of those dear to him. The one….
It was his fault.
If Izuna hadn’t convinced Tobirama to join him on a walk that day, he would still be here. If Izuna hadn’t asked Madara to run through the forest with him, he wouldn’t have been killed. It was all Izuna’s fault. If it weren’t for Izuna, none of this would have happened!
Those dark thoughts plagued Hashirama’s mind until he determined there was only one thing he could do. One thing he could do to avenge Tobirama’s and Madara’s untimely deaths.
~*~
“Hashirama, what are we doing here? I’m not really in the mood for a walk…” Izuna listlessly followed Hashirama to a private clearing within the Senju compound.
Hashirama didn’t bother to answer Izuna, his back facing him.
“Hashirama? What is it? Are you okay?” Izuna straightened up slightly, worried for the taller man.
“…Sorry, Izuna.” Thick tendrils of wood shot up from the ground and pierced Izuna through the chest.
Izuna’s eyed widened, and he coughed up a large amount of blood.
Hashirama slowly turned to him, his eyes devoid of emotion. “You are the one responsible for my brother’s and Madara’s deaths. The only way I’ll be free from the pain you caused is to kill you.
The light faded from Izuna’s eyes as his life ended. Only then did the shadows of madness fade from Hashirama’s eyes. He looked at Izuna in horror once he realized what he had done.
“Izuna? N-no…. W-what have I done? He was all I had left of my past life. The only one who understood what I’d been through, and I killed him! What have I done?!”
He stumbled forward to Izuna’s lifeless body and placed his shaking hand on the Uchiha’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry….” The Senju bowed his head and, gathering his chakra, had his Mokuton pierce him directly through the heart.
None.