one_long_mission | [open] a way to beat the cold

Izuna was struggling. In his grief and anger, he flailed his weapon with reckless abandon, even though there was nothing within striking range except the ground.

"Monster!!" He cried. "You monster! We should have left you at the river for Tobirama! Everything was fine until you showed up!! And then... And then..."

And then the boy broke. The sword fell from his hand and he clutched his older brother's shirt as though his life depended on it.

"We're not supposed to kill EACH OTHER! We're supposed to kill THEM!"

Itachi shuddered at what he'd brought to the past - this curse of hatred that turned husband against wife, brother against brother. Unparalleled power, but at an unspeakable price.

"I'm sorry..."

"Sorry's NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Izuna screamed, harsher than any sword.

Itachi rose to his feet, putting a hand on Madara's head as he passed. "I know..."

He lifted the flap of the door, and went outside, looking for the man with blood on his hands. Tajima Uchiha... Where are you?

Madara couldn't take it.
He wanted peace... just to watch over his little brother. Now everything was falling apart.

Tajima was at his home, in his office. Ren had tried, meanwhile, to save the woman, but was met with failure. The man had suffered a stab wound and was certain that should his son have had enough chakra to use it, would have killed him with that magekyou. Madara had gone completely mad with grief, and Izuna had been quick to arrive upon the scene as well.
Everything was falling apart for him as well, with his sons in posession of something they were unable to fully use.
"You have tricked me." were the first words he offered to the fool once he set foot into the room, angry sharingan burning into their sockets. Soon, the entire clan would know what a fool their Head had been.

Izuna fell to his knees, crying. He was so distraught, he didn't even notice that he had pierced Renji with one of his kunai. Fortunately, it wasn't a fatal wound, and it paled in comparison with what Madara had accidentally done with his new eyes.

Itachi, meanwhile, was standing face to face with the head of the clan. Even though he ought to choose his words carefully, given that they were probably the last thing he would ever say, he couldn't stop himself. He simply couldn't hold back.

"I didn't trick you... You saw what you... wanted to see. You saw power... I tried to show you the pain... the terrible, terrible cost of that power... The grief, the guilt, the agony... and you... You saw it as a set of instructions!!" He hissed, shaking with rage as much as he was with sickness. "Had I known... had I understood what lengths you'd go to... I... I would have let you kill me... and taken the secrets of these... these eyes to my grave! The... The power your boys gained... was not... worth the cost... of their mother!!"

Renji was still breathing, but for now was unmoving.
Madara could feel his eyes burning with something unknown. He had never felt anything as powerful before and it scared him. "Izuna... you're the only one that ever mattered to me." he held his brother tightly, shaking with sobs himself. They were both probably trying to pick up their mutual pieces in the wake of this unforeseeable tragedy. How much he wished to turn back time...

"Then your instructions were not specific enough and failed to provide me with what I desired." Tajima's eyes narrowed, no regret behind them. "Grief? Guilt? Agony? Laughable. Should it protect my clan, I will gladly take them in exchange for power." but in this case, the exchange went wrong, and both his boys were a broken mess. "They are now in possession of a weapon they cannot use, much like a wooden sword instead of a katana."

"They were... never... instructions at all!" he shouted through a raw throat and painful, labored breaths. "They will never... never be able to unsee what you did... or wash the blood... from their hands... Even... even as their light fades..."

Had Tajima even noticed the unfocused way Itachi's eyes never quite met his, even when the mangekyo were active? He was going blind. That incredible power had already started to cut itself off, and there would come a point where it would cut itself off entirely.

"You should PRAY they don't... ever... use this against the Senju... A petty war... a useless descendent of a feud never should have begun... It isn't worth what it will do to them in return."

Izuna's tear-filled eyes had faded back to sharingan and back again to normal. So brave in battle, and yet, all he could say now was "I want mother back... Bring her back, Maddy... Bring her back..." over and over again.

"You speak in constant riddles, fool!" Tajima scowled. it angered him. This man seemed to know more than he hinted at.
"Why should I pray they not use this against the Senju? They are our most dangerous enemies." the more he listened, the less he liked it.

Madara sniffled, holding onto his brother as if he as his anchor to reality, as if he would slip into an even worse nightmare if he let go. He had not noticed his arm's wound had reopened, and possibly would not care for this tiny prickle of pain compared to his breaking heart.
"I... Izuna... I just..." he could not even admit that it was impossible for him.

Was there a way? Could he... somehow...? He wanted his little brother to stop hurting....

"Do you not even know... the history of our clan? The reason... Uchiha have ocular jutsu? The... the Senju were once... our brothers. We are both... descendants of the Sage of Six Paths... We should align with them, build a... a peaceful village, stop the needless death... before it wipes us out first!"

It seemed counterintuitive. But Itachi was clearly putting everything he had into his assertion. In between words, he was wheezing, gasping for breath. His throat was raw, and he started coughing.

"Look... look at my eyes..." He hissed, and quickly added, "at them, not into them... The greater the... the power... The sooner... it cuts itself off. Ten years... Not even ten years... using these eyes as little as possible... My vision... is almost gone..."

He could only imagine how quickly Madara or Izuna's eyesight would go, if they were encouraged to use these new weapons in battle. It could be over in a year, maybe far less. Itachi, after all, had the benefit of knowing what these Uchiha didn't.

"And the... the truly powerful... techniques... Cause instant blindness..." He continued. "The more powerful Uchiha become... the faster... we destroy ourselves!!"

"I know the history of MY clan. The Senju are not to be allied with, but destroyed. We will stand atop as we were meant to. We are the ones with visual prowess and yet the keep clashing against us." however, despite not having any sharingan, the Senju have also yet to be the first to retreat...

"A weapon with a price attached." now, he was enraged. "My sons are supposed to outlast me!" Things were indeed falling apart for him, and now he had no wife.
He still stubbornly rejected all blame. "You stated earlier that you should have let me kill you. I may go through with it now." what else had he to lose? What else? The damage could not be undone.

"Izuna..." Madara shuddered. He had just thought of something. It was the next best thing... next to that option he thought of. "Mama's gone.. but... maybe... maybe I can do something... and let you se her..."
After all, if the sharingan could make illusions, this more powerful one.. he could use it, and have his brother forever believe their mother was right here. Izuna would never be sad.

Izuna knew there was no such jutsu to revive the dead. (In the future, there would be one, but the young Tobirama had yet to grow up and invent it yet.) But he was desperate, as any child would be.

"I want to see her, Maddy. I want to hear her sing. And feel her hug me..."

He didn't care if it was a genjutsu. He knew it was going to be a genjutsu. He just wanted it so badly...

Itachi scowled. He cringed at what might happen if he told the man the other secret of those eyes - how to make the powers permanent. Would Tajima pit brother against brother? Would he declare one the heir and one the spare? Better to have two blind sons than one dead at the other's hand.

"You have the power... to decide that the life of your sons... is more important than that of your enemies." He boldly shouted, before coughing heavily. "It's up to you... what you do with it!"

He loved his little brother more than anything... more than anyone. Right now, only Izuna's pain mattered. The clan? The wars? No. None of that mattered. He had the power... to dry those tears that streamed down his brother's face, to bring him a smile again.

Mangekyo sharingan stared into foggy, watery black orbs... and Madara felt an unbearable jolt even as he triggered the illusion before slowly sinking onto his brother, eyes fading back into pools of polished onyx as they closed, as if he merely fell asleep, passing out even as he held onto his brother.
And to Izuna, a familiar song.. a familiar voice and sight and touch came as their mother embraced the two of them, singing a lullaby...

Tajima gave a scowl.
There was a valid point.
He had only two sons, and yet enemies were numerous...

"If this is as such..." but no. No. Even if only one survived, what guarantee did he have that all his enemies would be brought down before they also met their end?

"...and so you would suggest peace as an option? The Senju may very well stab our backs the moment they are turned!"

Izuna's body fell slack in Madara's arms, passing out just like Tajima did when Itachi used his genjutsu. But at least he had a smile on his face.

"Someone... has to take the first step..." Itachi insisted. "Your oldest son... Madara... The Senju's oldest boy, Hashirama... They already have. And one day... they'll sign a treaty. They'll make a village. They'll..."

Itachi doubled over, coughing until blood shot through his fingers.

"They'll... ch..change the ninja world..."

At least, he prayed that would still happen. As it was, he may have rewritten history in ways he couldn't possibly imagine.

"And maybe someday... someday... no one will ever... ever... have to kill their brother... again..."

Madara gave a light whimper, the last string of consciousness he held on slipping, able to at least see the smile for a fraction of second even as he felt a thick liquid slide down his cheek from his eye, too thick for tears.

tajima took a step back. Was he hearing all this right? A treaty? Peace? With the Senju? How dare he?
..but a village? Peace? This made no sense. This was impossible, this...

"How do you know the future?" This had to be it, right? The future he spoke of, however, who knew if his actions had not altered it?
This was a dream, right?

It wasn't long before there was a pile of unconscious Uchiha in that hut...

The one thing Itachi hadn't wanted to admit was coming back to haunt him. There was only one thing he could possibly say to Tajima now, and he did it with tremendous hesitation.

"When I came to the settlement... I said I didn't know how to get home..." He sighed, holding onto that desk for support. His voice was soft, growing softer still. "My home... is less of a where... and more of a when..."

"Less of a where... more of a when." the other repeated, red sharingan ever watching. He definitely loved to speak in constant riddles.

"If someone speaks clearly, less time is wasted trying to understand. I was never known for my patience." he hissed. "It would be best if you explained everything clearly."

Itachi's eyes lowered.

"You... your sons... you're my ancestors." he admitted weakly. "I come from a village called Konohagakure, which was started... by your eldest son and the Senju boy, Hashirama. It's the senju boy's granddaughter... now well into her later years, that leads the village in my time."

He left the painful details out, not wanting to mar the image of a peaceful future with distrust, hate and a bloody massacre that left the Uchiha clan with only a couple remaining survivors. It was bad enough that he presented himself so sickly and weak. If that's what peace did to its shinobi, this man would scoff for sure.

"Somehow... And I don't know how... I ended up here... And I fear at this point... I've destroyed whatever future I may one day be allowed to return to."

Itachi, however, was not the one responsible for destroying what future may have been.
The one responsible was currently muttering about the impossibility of this, strings of words too fast to be made out in any way as he went to the wall that was covered with books and scrolls, pulling some out to look at the in all haste.

He was looking for any recorded attempts, but it was to no availé. After all, should events have been changed, nothing would remain of what had been before.
But just how could he turn back time like this? If there was a way... if only there was.
His sons did not deserve what he had inflicted on them.

Recorded attempts at a peaceful village? It had never before been tried.
Recorded attempts at time travel jutsu? Even in the future, no one had any clue how that worked. Which was made Itachi's presence here quite the mystery.

Itachi let out a long sigh, bracketed by heavy coughing.

"In what time I am here... I will try to teach them... what it means to respect the power granted an Uchiha..." The brothers, perhaps, he could trust with knowledge of the eternal mangekyo sharingan, They cared deeply about each other, and he already knew Madara cared deeply about the future. "Put some of their future... back together..."

Tajima gave a scowl, helplessness and all-consuming anger consuming his entire being.
There was nothing he could do against this... nothing but allow him what he wished. There were no records of any time-travelling jutsu aside from the Senju clan's few specific individuals, and those were simply space travel.

"Fine, then." he conceded. "It appears I will have to assign Ren to care for you." since after all, he did wish to keep track of this sharingan's progress and have an eye on all of them.

At the mention of Ren, Itachi gasped. His own anger having subsided, he remembered that Renji had been hit in the scuffle Izuna had created.

"First... He should tend to his son... The boys... in the hut you offered me... They were angry, kunai went flying... Renji was hurt..."

He didn't ask for permission to be dismissed, he simply turned on his heels and headed back there. There was a heaviness in his breath, a deep gasping for air as he tried to hurry. His body was failing him, just as he had failed his ancestors.

But there were bigger problems...

They were almost to the hut when a cry went out from the guards at the wall. "Senju!! They're marching this way! Grab your weapons!!"

Tajima had given a hiss. Now they also had a hurt medic? "Tch. This cannot get worse." Little did he know, it did... After they had gone to get Ren, the shout reached their ears.

Tajima felt his heart sink, but immediately directed his clan. "Women and children, go to the hiding places and don't come out until we fetch you! All those able to fight, get your weapons! They can't advance further!"
How far were the Senju? How had they been found? They could not let them find their settlement!

"You!" he growled at Itachi. "Even if it is the last thing you do, take my sons to safety! You are to go with the women into a cave nearby. Hide your chakra at any and all cost!" This was their land, they had at least this advantage...
Without waiting for a response from Itachi, he took off back to his home, to don his armor and get his gunbai.

There was no way Itachi could argue with Tajima. He'd lived through war once, he knew what was to come, even though he would have given anything to put a stop to it. He would stand between them... he would... except, he had been entrusted with the two children - not by a clan head, but by a father who feared for their lives.

When he went inside, he found Izuna already awake and clinging to his brother. "He won't wake up! What'd he do?! He won't wake up!!!"

Renji didn't wake up either, but the elder medic was already rushing to his side.

"He exhausted... his chakra..." the sharingan told him that. "Must have... used his new eyes..."

Izuna mumbled something about being in their mother's arms, still angry, but realizing that it was his wish that made his brother pass out. Itachi didn't waste time on that. He was too busy trying to gather Madara in his arms, straining, stumbling as he desperately tried to lift him.

"Not... not safe... Under attack... Your father said... take you to where... women hide... cave... Where?"

Ren gave a choked noise as he inspected his son. It was bad news. What he would need to take care of the wounds he had somehow suffered were things he could not access. There was no way he could risk going to his clinic. Not with the Senju almost at their door.
"Renji..." things were looking bad for the Uchiha. He knew. Renji would be unable to aid him with healing those that would come back wounded... if they came back at all.

There was a strangled sob as he got to his feet, hugging his son. He could have reminded Izuna that he was a warrior... but no. Tajima had clearly said to hide them... perhaps he thought both were still unconscious. "I will show you.. the way."
And thus, their flight began, under the screams and battle preparations of the clan.

Not many males were fleeing. Those incapacitated or too young were the only ones that were departing in haste, leaving everything behind.
Tajima did not look when he rushed by everyone, gunbai in one hand, a katana at his side and tanto at his back. The battlegrounds were as if his own backyard. The fate of his clan rested on this battle.
His shout, rallying his clan behind him, rang akin to a warcry throughout the village. "Be ready now, or join in alter! We are headed out!"

Itachi just nodded. He didn't have breath to answer.

His muscles were a far cry from what they once were. It was taking all he had just to hold the boy, but he pushed himself up. There was a fleeting thought, in the back of his mind, that if he ever did get home, he would ask Lee to help him exercise with weights. So petty a thought, really... so little, so late. Especially when he fell. Almost immediately.

Izuna helped catch his brother while Itachi weaved signs for a shadow clone. There was a tsk from the medic (giving up half your chakra for a duplicate just as useless...) but Itachi's clones were physically superior. He engineered them that way.

It was only with the help of a clone that they took off again.

"Izuna... go... go protect... those who can't... protect themselves..." he insisted, knowing if they waited for him, they could likely be captured or killed. "I'll... catch up..."

Further away, the clash had begun, the Uchiha making their best efforts to protect their settlement, nearby.
Tajima knew that once they were done with this battle, regardless of winning or retreating, they would need to move... but then, losing? No. Retreat was no option. Their enemies would follow and rip the settlement apart.

It was his clan. His settlement. His territory. Never before had an invaded settlement made it when their enemies located it.
The fact it was their surrounding lands gave them the advantage of knowing the terrain, but no other clan had won even from that... and to make matters worse--

Eyes widened as their first body hit the ground. "Don't chase those that flee!" he called out. "They've trapped the area!!" This was a nightmare. After felling a few enemies himself, the head of the Senju finally came to meet him, his blade sullied in blood... blood of what number of Uchiha, he did not know.
The battle that followed was nothing short of epic. So amazing it was that even those around stopped to watch the two, one weaving inbetween trees, the other masterful at dodging, both equally determined. The Uchiha side issued a collective gasp as Tajima froze, a blade piercing his shoulder...

...and then, it was a log, and the Clan leader dropped from a tree unto his assailant, the Senju having, however, read the move and rammed a shoulder into him.
A part of his armor gave out, the chestplate swayed... and then he found a blade piercing an inch above his heart, pinning him to the ground.

Could his life truly end like this? What if he found their women? What of their children? His heirs were with them, but ho could they fight with ranks so diminished?
He did not want to leave his clan just yet....
His eyes slid to the left. More Uchiha fell to Senju, sharingan fading into black as life left them, and then... then he felt it.

Butsuma froze as the sharingan shifted to something that looked even more vile, and was forced to abandon his weapon as black chakra gathered around the man, as if some protective ribcage.
How far were their enemies even if he had been fighting their leader? What had their orders been? They could still be advancing towards their settlement. "S-Senju..." Tajima hissed, unable to take the risk of moving. He could only move his head, pinned there like a decorative butterfly, the mangekyo instinctively draining his chakra to protect him.
His body was in pain, but to protect his clan... he would do anything.

With Izuna helping his clone carry Madara to safety, Itachi staggered in the other direction, toward the combat. He wore no armor, carried no real weapons. He was nothing but a target, but he had to go. He had to try...

He scanned the battlefield for chakra, and found more than he'd bargained for.

"Susano'o..." he gasped. Tajima had awakened his mangekyo as well. And there were other familiar chakra signatures. The boy, Hashirama, the peacemaker, was also among them. "I need... to find him... I need to..."

As the attacks came from all directions (an easy Uchiha to pick off), Itachi's mangekyo swirled to life. The ribs of his own Susano'o repelled their swords and deflected their kunai. Tajima's, even though it was still a loose collection of chakra, was frightening enough. Itachi's, with fully formed bones, musculature and even armor... It was terrifying. Nearby Senju immediately started to retreat.

Itachi kept walking, even as it gave way to swaying and staggering. His vision was growing fainter by the second.

"Ha..hashi... Hashirama!" he cried out. "Do... do your people... really want to do this?!"

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