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Sitting in the Naka Shrine in the centre of the ritual circle used by countless Uchiha who wanted to forge a summoning contract, Madara cut his fingers with deliberate care. Moving his hands through the signs, Madara let the chakra build and flare up as he pressed bloody palms to the ground. “Kuchiyose no jutsu!”
The smoke that signalled a successful first contact billowed up from under his hands, and Madara was left blinking at the large egg he cradled in his palms. Ah, so it was going to be one of those challenges.
/…/
A month later, Madara beamed soppily down at the hissing bundle of feathers and teeth that clung to his fingers with comically oversized claws. “I’m going to call you Aoi.”
The tiny baby raptor just gaped and shrilled a demand for more food.
“Beautiful girl, look at you.” Crooning lovestruck nonsense, Madara dropped the bloody chunk of meat into razor-lined maw. “Such a cute little darling.”
Head in his hands, Taijima wondered if he should be proud or despairing that his son had such a good relationship with his first summons animal. On one hand, succeeding at first making contact and then successfully completing the worthiness challenge meant that Madara would have stalwart allies in the future. Plus, the stronger the bond between summoner and summon was, the more powerful the animals became. On the other hand… Madara had a contract with the raptors. By all the gods, Taijima could only hope that Madara only ever had need for the hawks.
The horror stories from when Taijima’s grandmother had summoned the Boss Raptor still circulated around the Uchiha’s fireside storytelling’s. They were lucky that the raptors were a summon that exclusively answered the call of the Uchiha, and that the appearance of the Raptor Boss had been passed off as a Bijuu rampage.
Madara was going to be an absolute terror when he grew up.
/…/
Uchiha Izuna hit the ground, blood pouring from the fatal wound running through a significant number of his vital organs. Senju Tobirama had about three seconds to congratulate himself on his victory before he was blindsided by a hurricane of black fire and screaming rage. “I’LL KILL YOU!”
‘This.’ Tobirama realized with something akin to numb horror. ‘Is why Anija always fights Madara one on one.’
The only thing that kept Tobirama’s head attached to his shoulders was the teleportation jutsu that had brought him inside Izuna’s guard in the first place. Now it flashed him out of Madara’s range, and Tobirama scrambled to put more distance between them.
“No!” Hashirama hit Madara at full speed, and as the titans clashed the wider battle was halted in its tracks as each Clan withdrew to their own sides. Wood and flame climbed higher, spectral bones and nurturing earth clashing like a war between the gods of life and death. The pressure of their combined killing intent knocked most of the spectators off their feet, and Tobirama stubbornly locked his knees. It took effort to remain upright, the two Clans could not have continued their battle even if they had the will. “I’ll heal him! Madara, let me heal him!”
“How dare you!” Madara howled, done holding back, striking to kill and Hashirama could only match him. Only match him. Heart in his throat, Tobirama wondered if this was the day that he had to watch his last remaining brother die. It would be his fault. It would be Tobirama’s fault because it was obvious that Hashirama and Madara had only been clashing for the sake of duty to their Clans before this. Now, Madara had a personal reason to hate the Senju, more than just the history of battle between their Clans. “You swore an oath to me! You swore!”
“And I meant it! Let me keep my oath!” Hashirama lunged forward, not to harm Madara, but to hold him. Hands over Madara’s hands where they clung to the gunbai, Hashirama begged with his words and his tone and every inch of his face. “Please, Madara! Let me keep my oath. Let me heal Izuna!”
Enraged beyond words, Madara screamed, tossing his hair back and staring into Hashirama’s eyes with a sharingan that spun too fast to see the pattern. The stare held for a heartbeat that lasted a lifetime, then the pressure crushing them all into the dirt eased away. Madara stepped back, Hashirama released his desperate grip, and Tobirama could only watched as his brother walked into the crowd of Uchiha. Weaponless, shedding armour even as he moved, hands glowing green with healing chakra that Hashirama wasted no time in pressing to Uchiha Izuna’s bloodied middle.
Once assured that Izuna would live, Hashirama stood up and faced Madara with open, outstretched hands.
“Please.” The leader of the Senju Clan said only loud enough for his old friend to hear, his hands empty and streaked red with Izuna’s blood. “Please, don’t let this happen again. Make peace with me, Madara. Help me bring our dream to life.”
Ripping his eyes away from his little brother’s too-pale face, Madara turned to look at Hashirama.
“If you betray me, Hashirama, you will not live to see the next sunrise.” That said, Madara held out his hand to his childhood friend, ignoring the red that stained the leather of his glove. “The official papers will have to wait, Hashirama, but… as long as you keep a leash on your little brother, we have an accord.”
Beaming and all but breathless with relief, Hashirama clasped Madara’s hand, and the first step towards peace was taken.
/…/
“The Kyuubi can’t be killed!” Mito shouted over the roar of the approaching demon. “We need to find what’s driving it this way and get rid of it!”
“Do that!” Madara, slashed a hand through the air. “Izuna, go with them! Tobirama’s with me. Everyone else, fall back!”
“What about back up?” Hashirama hesitated, Mito and Izuna next to him.
“I don’t need backup.” Madara snarled, swiping both hands through the blood leaking from the gash on his arm and slamming them down. “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”
“Time to go. Now-now-now.” Izuna grabbed Mito and Hashirama by the arms and hauled them along into the upperbranches of the trees as the smoke billowed up. “Try not to get eaten before we get back, Senju!”
One hand on Madara’s shoulder, Tobirama barely held back the curses that wanted to escape as they rose up through the smoke. Giant hawks swept in, plucking fallen and fleeing Konoha shinobi from the ground and winging away back towards the Village. On the ground feathered crests in a multitude of colours were lifting in challenge, hissing chatter escaping fanged muzzles.
“Madara-chan.” Under Tobirama’s feet, a massive white head lifted, and a booming voice rumbled out like the crash of falling mountains. “You have not called on me before, child. What drives you to do so now?”
“Aku o saku-sama, Queen of Raptors.” Madara smiled and Tobirama bit his own tongue to keep silent. Whatever these creatures were, they were as different from Madara’s hawks as a shark was to a goldfish. The Uchiha stood and gestured to the approaching Kyuubi. “My nest and hatchlings are threatened. I would beg your assistance in hunting down my enemy.”
“A hunt worthy of me.” The white feathers rippled, spreading out and turning red in a brazen threat display. “How exciting!”
“It’s a hunt!” Feathers edged in crystal blue, a comparatively smaller raptor cackled from down below. Tobirama stared at the teeth, and the sickle claw that explained a lot about Madara’s fondness for the kusarigama when the gunbai was impractical… and wondered with hysterical calm why Madara had never summoned these demons on the Senju while they were at war. “We get to hunt with Madara-sama!”
“Eyes on me, ladies.” Madara smiled as the attention of every predatory gaze landed on him. Tobirama tried very hard not to look like prey. “You see the big fox over there? Go get it.”
Shrieking with glee, the smaller raptors lunged forward to disappear into the underbrush. Aku o Saku rumbled in amusement, then she herself began moving and a wall of wind almost smashed Tobirama from his perch.
“Don’t eat anyone I don’t tell you to!” Madara shouted after the running pack of Raptors, grinning like a madman as he held tight to white feathers. “That’s my kill!”
“Stingy!” A green one shrieked before swerving away to take her place in the vanguard.
/…/
Izuna watched the red eyed white demon that was his elder brother’s Boss Summon clash with the Kyuubi no Youko and winced. “Ah, we’d better hurry before someone gets eaten.”
Mito turned her shocked stare away from the scene and onto Izuna. “Is that a concern?”
“Just…” Izuna hesitated and look warily down at the underbrush. “Just try to stay as high up as possible. Raptors really like ambushes.”
Hashirama blinked and tilted his head to one side. “… do birds usually have teeth?”
Izuna’s face was blank as he stared at Hashirama. “These ones do.”
“Huh. No wonder Madara wins all our bets.” Hashirama mused as they started moving again. “That’s an awful lot of hen’s teeth.”
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