Chapter Text
Stepping out into the clearing, senses on high alert and anger churning in his gut, Madara stared at the Senju, Sharingan spinning. Then his eyes were drawn to the hole in the ground beneath an old gnarled tree. A freshly dug grave. Was this an ambush? He couldn’t sense anyone else nearby. And the Senju was without armor. Without any visible weapons. Frowning, he nearly growled out, “What is the meaning of this?”
Standing quite still, expression almost… Sad? ...the Senju lifted his arms out from his body, palms facing towards Madara. “You set your condition. My death for peace between our clans.”
He scoffed. “You expect me to believe you are willing to just lie down and die?”
“If it means the children will be allowed to be children… To grow up without a kunai in their hand and the terror of trying to survive on a battlefield…? Yes.”
Anger flaring up again, Madara hefted his gunbai. Then he moved. In the blink of an eye he had closed in on the Senju, swiping the sharp edge of the gunbai down, slicing through flesh and bone in a diagonal line from his shoulder to his hip. He caught the twitch as the Senju wanted to move, but he didn’t. Not until his guts started to spill out. Then he took a trembling step backwards and fell into the grave. By the time his body landed with a wet thud, his eyes were already staring blindly out into eternity.
Madara froze. He had expected trickery. Had expected the Senju to dodge, or use that jutsu of his to disappear. Not just… stand there and allow himself to be cut down. Icy claws dug into his heart. Had the Senju been telling the truth? Was he really so… selfless as to be willing to die to keep the children of his clan safe? That… Madara swallowed. Fuck. He had messed up, hadn’t he? Hashirama had healed Izuna. And Madara had repaid his kindness by killing Tobirama.
With his Sharingan still active he could see how the chakra in the body was rapidly dissipating. There would be no miraculous rescue. No coming back from this. He deactivated the Sharingan, unable to keep staring at what he had done. Instead he went through hand seals. Doton wasn’t his strongest suit, but he was proficient enough to move the pile of earth back into the hole. Once done, it was obvious there was a grave there, but he had no Mokuton to fix that.
Glancing around the clearing a little frantically he wondered why the man had chosen this as his final resting place. It was a lovely spot, and there was a small waterfall nearby. Had that appealed to the Suiton user? Had he picked this spot for its beauty? Madara would never know. Had lost his chance to know. Fuck. Where his rage had once burned, he now only felt chilled to the bone. Quickly he left the clearing, vowing to never return to it.
⁂
A long moment later, the earth on the grave collapsed down. A sound like a sigh, and faint rustling of the leaves. A week later, the Hatake clan welcomed back a long lost brother.
⁂
He had waited several weeks before he accepted one of Hashirama’s overtures for peace. When they met up to discuss conditions, he had used every ounce of his acting skills to feign anger and disgust when he asked, “Where’s that demon you call a brother? I thought he’d be here to taunt us.”
The hurt that flashed in Hashirama’s eyes cut Madara to his soul, but he was a shinobi, nobody could tell how he truly felt. Hashirama wasn’t as good a liar. “Tobirama is away on a mission.”
Madara caught the flicker of worry. Still he sneered out, “I hope it’s a very very long mission.”
Hashirama made no more comments about his brother. The truce was signed. Madara went home. Looked at Izuna, who was recovering just fine, and locked himself in his rooms. He felt like shit.
By the time the truce was changed into a declaration of peace, Tobirama was officially missing. Nobody knew where he was. Except Madara. And he couldn’t tell anyone. Not when that would destroy the very peace the man had given his life for. Despite how he could tell that Hashirama was grieving.
When work started on the village, the Elders returned to an old topic—Marriage. And all Madara could think of was that he didn’t deserve that kind of happiness. Not when he kept hearing how the Senju spoke of their missing heir. How kind he was to children. How smart he was. How much he had helped them with even the most mundane tasks, creating jutsu that could make life easier even for civilians. Then Hashirama let slip that some of the blueprints they had used for the village had been drawn up by Tobirama years ago. Madara had been so sure the man was dead set against peace. How wrong he had been.
Even Izuna had changed his tune. One day, while seated on their brand new engawa drinking tea imported from an island beyond Uzushio, his little brother had looked at the new koi pond with a thoughtful expression. “Tōka-san told me that the idea for the Academy came from Tobirama. They found it in his notes after he disappeared.”
It wasn’t a far-fetched topic for Izuna to broach, since he had volunteered to teach at the academy. To make sure Uchiha-kids were treated fairly. But it was still strange for him to mention his long lost rival. Madara refused to give any indication he was interested in the topic. It just brought with it new waves of guilt, which was very unwelcome since he had only just managed to start pushing back the old ones.
When the village was finally finished, several clans had already agreed to join. And Hashirama had been instated as Hokage. Madara was fine with it. There was no way he would have been comfortable in that position considering his own contribution to the peace was such a deplorable act. No, he was even considering stepping down as clan head, to allow Izuna to take up the position. His excuse would be that he was a relic of the war, and that Izuna was much better suited to govern in time of peace. Doing so would also free Madara up to run missions. Preferably out of Konoha as often as possible, so he wouldn’t have to look at Hashirama’s sad expressions every time something reminded him of Tobirama.
Mind made up, he went in search of Izuna.
⁂
When the Hatake joined Konoha, they were given land close to the Aburame. This suited them perfectly, as most civilians in the clan were farmers, something that Konoha welcomed eagerly despite their Hokage having the Mokuton. The shinobi of the Hatake clan were also very welcome, seeing as they were considered some of the best hunters and trackers in all of Land of Fire.
Hatake Arata was immediately promoted to jōnin, and assigned to the tracking unit. With his silver hair it was assumed he was part of the main family, but nobody ever confirmed or denied it. The lower half of his face was obscured by a cloth-mask, while the upper half was partially hidden behind his new hitai-ate. However, a seal could be seen painted on each temple, just at the corner of his dark gray eyes.
He quickly gained a reputation as one of the absolute best trackers in Konoha. Which was one of the reasons he was assigned to Uchiha Madara’s team for a mission to recover a kidnapped Uchiha teenager.
Quietly he had packed what he might need for an extended mission, met up with the rest of the team, which consisted of the former clan head of the Uchiha, a Nara woman called Sumiko, an Aburame named Ryo and Senju Tenpi, a distant cousin of the Hokage. The five of them set out at a rapid pace. The kidnappers had a thirty-six hour head-start, since Uchiha Hinote had been a part of a team on a mission outside Konoha, and his own team had not noticed he was missing until it was his turn to take guard.
Having already spread his senses out and found all of the more common fiery Uchiha chakra, and the less common crackling of the Raiton users in their clan, Arata had been able to pinpoint the one who was clearly unconscious yet still moving. Towards the newly established hidden village of Kumogakure, which made sense since the shinobi clans of Land of Lightning had long traditions of such heinous crimes. Since none of the other people on his team were trackers, nobody questioned the direction he took them in once they had gone past the spot where Hinote was last seen. He would occasionally pause for up to ten seconds, mainly to make sure none of his team were flagging, but also to give them the impression he was following a trail. Then they took off again.
After nearly a day and a half of constant running, Madara made them stop. “We rest for three hours. Eat something, and get some sleep.”
He then summoned a clowder of cats and sent them out to guard the area. Stuffing a small onigiri into his mouth underneath his mask, Arata mulled over the incongruity of one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha, or possibly even the whole world, having cats as his summons. Though, presumably he could summon cats of varying sizes. Something to ask his own summons about the next time he spoke with them.
⁂
Madara had been a bit concerned. The Hatake was leading them in almost a straight line towards Land of Lightning, which was an obvious destination for bloodline thieves. Perhaps a bit too obvious. So he had worried that the shinobi was guessing more than actually tracking, since he barely stopped once or twice every hour, and never for more than a few seconds at a time. But then, on one of the breaks, Madara stretched his own senses out as far as they could go in the direction they were running. And found Hinote. After that he trusted that the Hatake knew what he was doing.
⁂
Arata had spent half a year learning a new way to fight. Most of that was spent unlearning a lot of the old ways he’d been doing things. Things that might trigger a memory in people who had known him. When they caught up to the kidnappers, he was glad he had made the effort. Otherwise Madara would have caught on, he was sure of that.
Ducking underneath a swing, he sliced at the hamstrings of the shinobi attacking him. Not bothering to finish him off, he just moved on to the next one, hearing a gurgle behind him as the Nara used her shadows to great, and gory effect. The shinobi carrying a bound Hinote started to sag, and fell over, foaming at the mouth. Ah, the Aburame at play. A great fireball encompassed three of the kidnappers, leaving a disgusting smell of burnt hair and flesh. They only screamed briefly, then they never moved again. Tenpi had cleaved one of the kidnappers in half, then he rushed over and checked on Hinote, before standing over him to keep him safe in case any of the remaining kidnappers would attempt to reclaim him. Less than two minutes later none were alive to try.
The return to Konoha was much more relaxed. Partially because Hinote was still woozy from whatever the Kumo nins had given him.
As soon as they had signed in, Arata tossed a scroll to Uchiha Madara. “My report.”
Madara grabbed it, lifting an eyebrow, but it was Tenpi who asked in an incredulous tone, “When did you have time to write that?”
Arata shrugged. “While we were running.”
Sumiko frowned. “I’ve been running behind you all the time. When?”
He just gave her a smirk, knowing it would be visible by the way the mask moved. “Not my fault you didn’t notice.”
Before she could do more than grumble at him, he turned back to Madara. “Am I dismissed, taichō?”
The moment Madara waved him off, Arata disappeared in a shunshin, eager to get home. Or, mostly eager to get away from Madara. Being so near the Uchiha made his skin crawl.
⁂
The successful recovery of Uchiha Hinote didn’t only make the Uchiha clan as a whole relax more, but it also made the Hyūga less disinclined to join the village. In fact, they offered up a mission which, if successful, would almost guarantee that they would join. One of the main branch members had been missing for three years, believed to be somewhere in Land of Lightning. All attempts to find him had been unsuccessful, but the Hyūga were reasonably certain he was still alive. After all, for bloodline thieves, a male was more valuable than a female. A woman could only give birth to one child every nine months, but a man could get any number of women pregnant in the same time-frame. And Hyūga Kaisei would soon be old enough to be put to that kind of use.
Madara was given the mission. And his first pick for the team was Hatake Arata. Then, seeing as they were going to have to go into Land of Lightning, he wanted some heavy hitters. Akimichi Tuya, Senju Tadaaki and Senju Tōka fit that description fairly well. He should also have someone good at infiltration. Yamanaka Kangiten and Aburame Kuebiko. And, because it had been some time since he got to spend time with him, Uchiha Hikaku. He would have brought Izuna along if he could, but with his new responsibilities as clan head, there was no way Izuna had the time to spare for such a long mission.
⁂
When he was told the mission, Arata knew he needed to visit the Hyūga compound. Madara had looked at him strangely when he told him that, but relented when Arata insisted that he needed to see the place the boy had been stolen from. Then, for good measure, he asked the mother for something the boy had used, and made a show of sniffing it. He could feel the incredulous stares, and heard the Yamanaka whisper to the Akimichi, “Is he really going to track by scent?”
Arata let them believe that. But the true reason for the visit had been to get a good feel for what Hyūga chakra felt like. Then, while he was still sniffing that blanket, he sent his senses out, towards Land of Lightning, searching through the country for a similar signature. And found nothing.
A bit disheartened he sent his senses wider, knowing that he was already taking a little too long with the show of memorizing the scent. But then, in the mountains of Land of Wind, something pinged his senses. A faint, but steady glow, surrounded by completely different types of chakra. He quickly handed the blanket back, then moved to the house the boy had been living in three years ago. And set off.
⁂
Madara couldn’t help it. He frowned. There was absolutely no way that the Hatake was able to follow three year old tracks. But the man shot off like he had a clear path in sight. The team sprung into action, following the crazy tracker. If he pulled this off, his legend would be set.
Half an hour later Madara called for a halt. “Where the hell are you going?”
Arata blinked, tilted his head, and nodded it in the direction he’d been running. “They went this way.”
Pointing in the opposite direction, Madara nearly growled out, “Land of Lightning is that way.”
The look he received in return was clearly questioning his intelligence. “I know. But the kidnappers went this way.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?! There’s no way you can know that!” In his anger, Madara’s eyes reacted, activating the Sharingan, and that was the only reason he caught the way Arata flinched just a tiny bit. But he couldn’t miss the way the tracker wasn’t meeting his eyes anymore. It cooled his rage a bit, realizing that at some point in the past, the Hatake must have fought against the Uchiha.
Body tense, the tracker flexed his fingers, possibly itching to pull a kunai. “Look, you picked me for this mission, so let me do my job? Otherwise we have to go all the way back to Konoha so you can find a replacement. … Or, you can head to Land of Lightning, and I’ll go to Land of Wind. You can pick up another tracker when you pass by Konoha.”
Madara was sorely tempted to do just that. Annoyed, he wanted to teach the tracker a lesson. “Fine.”
He turned around towards Konoha, expecting a protest. Instead he saw his team stare, and felt the tracker leave. Turning back he stared at the forest. What. The. Hell?
Cursing up a storm he set out to catch up to the tracker so he could yell at him. Half an hour later, he, and the team, had to admit that they had completely lost him. The man had had less than half a minute head-start, and now he was just… gone.
⁂
He knew it had been stupid. It was obvious Madara had not meant it, both from his body-language and his chakra. But Arata had grabbed the opportunity with both hands. There was no way he was eager to spend the next two weeks or so together with Madara. And Tōka. Besides, it would be much easier for him to slip in undetected and just nab the kid. He reached for the Hiraishin marker he had left by the border to Rain on a previous mission. That would save him almost a day of travel-time.
⁂
Standing in the forest, Madara was fuming. Without a tracker there was no reason to go forward. But if they went back, he would have to admit that he couldn’t control his own team. Still, they needed a tracker. Incredibly annoyed, Madara ordered his team back to Konoha for a replacement.
That annoyance just escalated when, upon reaching Konoha, every tracker they asked turned the job down, either with an embarrassed shake of their head, or, in the case of the older ones, with a scoff. “You can’t track something passing through an area three years ago. A thousand things will have crossed the path, muddying the tracks. Plants will have grown. The rain and snow will have washed away every clue.”
It wasn’t until he asked a Hatake tracker, that he got another answer. “Uh, Uchiha-sama, if Arata-san said they went that way, then going to Land of Lightning is a waste of your time. You’d be better off taking another mission and just wait for him to return with the kid.”
In the end, that was what he did. A week went by. Then another. And another. They were well into the fourth week before commotion at the gate caught his and Hashirama’s attention. It was Hatake Arata. Hyūga Kaisei was with him. And about ten other kids. That explained the delay. The kids could not travel at shinobi-speed.
Madara wanted to yell at him, but he knew that it stemmed from embarrassment. And he still remembered that small flinch. Besides, Hatake Arata had been right, and if Madara had insisted on doing things his way, the boy would not have been found. Turning around, Madara went back to his office, letting Hashirama deal with it. His pride prevented him from acknowledging the situation.
A month later, the agreement was signed with the Hyūga, and they moved to Konoha.
⁂
Arata had thought that maybe their last mission together had left Madara disinclined to request him for another mission, but that only lasted two months. Then he found himself standing in the Hokage’s office once more with the surly Uchiha beside him. Aburame Ryo was back, and Aburame Kuebiko. Apparently this was a mission the Aburame clan head was paying for.
He looked at the Hokage and scratched his neck. “You want me to track bugs?”
A quick nod. “Can you do it?”
His sensory skills would not be of much use for this. The amount of bugs in any given area was too vast to separate out a single type even if he was able to sense their minuscule amounts of chakra. No, he would have to rely on his intelligence and powers of observation. Which meant he had to alter the seal on his eyes. Pushing a finger under the edge of his mask he scratched his chin. Then realized what he was doing. Madara being this close made his skin itch. Quickly stilling his movement he let out a breath. “I’ll give it my best shot. When do we depart? I have some things I’ll need to prepare.”
It was Madara who replied. “You’ve got two hours. Meet up at the northern gate.” Arata gave him a bow and shunshined out of there. To the library. It was not much time to do research, but it would have to do.
⁂
If Madara was quite honest with himself he had accepted this mission, which was really far beneath his skill level, simply for the opportunity to finally see the Hatake flounder. After the disastrous—for him—rescue of the Hyūga kid, Madara had only heard praises for the tracker, and it annoyed him. Someone so disrespectful shouldn’t be held in such high regard.
There was not really any urgency in the mission, and the journey progressed in silence. The two Aburame would sometimes converse silently, but didn’t make any attempts at getting to know either Madara or the tracker better. And Arata would dig out huge books from a sealing scroll every time they made camp. How he could read in the dim light was beyond Madara. His own sight had been steadily declining, so he was using the Sharingan and the Mangekyō sparingly. And certainly not for something so frivolous as reading.
They were nearing the border to Land of Wind, and had camped out underneath an overhang in a small canyon. Madara had the middle shift, sitting on a rock, peering up at the night sky. Clouds had started to block out the stars, making the poor light even worse. But he had his sensing skills, so he didn’t worry.
A noise behind him had him turn slowly, looking at the tracker. Every night he slept utterly still. Almost unnervingly so, but right now he was moving, looking a little restless. Suddenly his eyes flashed open, and for a very very brief moment Madara thought they were red. Sharingan red. Then, with a blink, they looked black. And Arata was scrambling out from under his blanket. “Get up! We have to move!”
Spreading his senses out wide, Madara couldn’t find what it was the tracker had detected, but the man was already packing up his sleeping mat and blanket, stuffing it into a scroll. The two Aburame had rolled to their feet quickly, doing the same. Not wanting to find himself in another embarrassing situation because he had ignored the Hatake, Madara grabbed his stuff. But he was frowning while doing it. “I can’t sense anyone. Why are we moving?”
Pausing briefly, the Hatake pointed to the sky. “Rain.”
“Rain? You’ll have us pack up camp in the middle of the night because it’s gonna rain? We’re under an overhang. Doesn’t it…?”
Before he could finish the sentence Arata gave him another one of those looks that clearly questioned his intelligence. Then he swept his arm in a wide arc, indicating the canyon they were in. “This will soon be a river.”
“What?”
“The land here is too dry to absorb the rainfall that is coming. Where do you think the water will go?”
“Oh…” He did not argue any more, just followed when Arata jumped up onto the edge of the canyon. And then he could see it. Dark clouds sweeping towards them with a dense curtain of rain below.
They found another shelter higher up, watching the rain come closer. Soon they could hear a roar as a wave of water crashed through the canyon below them in a flash flood. If they had lingered… Though, how had the Hatake known? The mystery of the man was only increasing, and Madara found himself watching him even more intently.
⁂
Reaching the area where the bugs they were tracking were said to be numerous, Arata crawled over rocks and peeked into nooks and crannies on the cliff-side. Being a desert landscape, everything was dry and windswept.
He noted that the two Aburame were more lively than they had been the entire trip, and that some of their own bugs kept buzzing through the air silently. The only one who was still was Madara, standing there with his arms crossed, ostensibly keeping an eye out for threats, but Arata could feel how most of the Uchiha’s attention was on him. Doing his best to ignore it he quickly scaled up a small crack, peering inside. It was surprisingly full of critters, but not the ones they were looking for. He leapt down again and moved along, feeling those dark Uchiha eyes on him.
⁂
Paying so much attention to the Hatake, Madara had to admit that the man appeared to know what he was doing. A scorpion was snatched up and held out to Aburame Ryo, who wobbled his head a bit, then fished a box out of somewhere, opening it so Arata could drop the scorpion into it. Not the critter they were after, but clearly, if it was tiny, creepy, and had an exoskeleton, the Aburame were interested.
With nimble movements the Hatake pulled himself up along another crevice, and Madara’s eyes followed him up. He noticed that the other Aburame, Kuebiko, had paused what he was doing, peering up at the Hatake. Not a minute later Madara nearly choked on air when he overheard Ryo whisper to Kuebiko, “The Hatake are known for their exceptional senses. If my bugs can scent how aroused you are, I am sure he will detect it as well. Control yourself.”
Resolutely not showing that he’d overheard, Madara’s mind was jumbled. Aburame Kuebiko was attracted to Hatake Arata? Sure, the tracker was well built, and moved with a graceful economy that did nothing to deter from his physical appeal, but… He scrambled for something, anything, but after a moment he had to admit that the only thing he really had against the Hatake was his evasive behavior and lack of respect for authority.
Which, after seeing that flinch, he suspected that the man was keeping his distance not out of disrespect, but possibly out of wariness, or even fear. The thought bothered him a little. So he focused on the lack of respect for authority. Only, he couldn’t really fault the man for his disobedience when it had led to the rescue of a bunch of kidnapped children. Especially since their rescue had allowed Konoha to enter into negotiation with four minor clans after returning their children. One clan had already accepted the invitation to join.
With a small sigh Madara had to concede that Hatake Arata was attractive. Both physically, and what little he had been able to glean of his personality. And now that the idea had been planted, he couldn’t help but become increasingly curious as to what hid under that mask of his.
As the day progressed, more and more of Madara’s attention was dedicated to cataloging Arata’s movements. At one point the man had bent over the dry skeleton of a tree, and Madara nearly groaned at where his own mind went to, admiring that firm ass and wondering how it would look naked. Fuck, this mission had been a mistake.
⁂
When he caught sight of one of the small beetles, Arata allowed a tiny sigh of relief to slip past his lips. The attention Madara had on him was increasingly hard to ignore. Especially when he had felt a flicker of something in the Uchiha’s chakra that felt decidedly more friendly than ever before. It was bad enough that one of the Aburame lusted after him, but Madara..? That was a disaster in the making. And what the hell had triggered that? The man had shown no such interest before. Was it some sort of alpha male bullshit? Aburame Kuebiko was not subtle in his ogling. Had Madara caught on and decided to stake some sort of claim? Arata would be sure to shut that down quickly if the Uchiha did anything untoward.
Wrenching his focus back to the beetle, Arata fished out a scroll and unsealed the contents. A rotting piece of meat. It took less than twenty seconds before the first beetle scurried out from a crack, and by the time the two Aburame had joined him, the slab of meat was covered in flesh eating beetles.
With the mission objective completed, they set out for Konoha. And all through the journey Arata felt the attention of the two men on himself. But neither made any move.
Entering the gates, Arata tossed his report to Madara, bid all of them a good evening, and shunshined home. To his empty apartment.
Tossing his clothes in the laundry he stepped into the shower, to wash off the grime from the journey. While he was rinsing his hair he leaned on the tiles, sighing. It had been far too long since he had any sort of sexual interaction with anyone not his own clone, but he simply couldn’t allow himself to be that vulnerable with someone else. Not when his very existence could jeopardize the peace. Perhaps it was time to take a solo mission somewhere far away?
He didn’t get around to it, as he was immediately assigned a new mission with Madara. Had the Uchiha requested him? He suspected so, but was unsure why. Surely the man wouldn’t be so unprofessional as to allow his own desires to dictate who he went on a mission with?
To his relief, Madara made no advances. But he was acting more friendly, and inviting more interactions. Which made Arata suspicious.
It took another month of various missions back to back before Madara finally made a move. Not while on a mission though, so at least he was somewhat professional about it. But it still left Arata blinking at the slightly shorter man. “You’re… asking me on a date?”
He must have sounded as incredulous as he felt, because Madara narrowed his eyes just a bit. “You don’t approve of relationships like this?”
“What?”
“Between two men...?”
“What?! No, that’s not…” He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. “I don’t care about gender. That’s not it. I…”
⁂
Madara waited, but nothing further came out. He pushed gently, “Then why?”
“You tried to kill me!” It was blurted out, only for panic to flood Arata’s eyes and he took a step back.
It explained so much, but at the same time so little. The ‘you’ sounded personal, like he meant Madara himself had tried, and not the Uchiha as a clan. Which made little sense. “I’ve never fought against the Hatake.”
“It wasn’t… I wasn’t fighting for the Hatake then. I… It’s not important. … Please, just… Let it go. It… I…” His voice faded out, and he took another step back. Madara let him. It pained him, but he couldn’t push, he knew that much. Especially when he had no idea when he was supposed to have tried to kill the Hatake, what the circumstances had been. Watching the retreating back of Arata he wondered if it had been a mission where they had been on opposing sides.
Going back to his house, lost in thoughts, he made himself tea and sat down looking out into the interior garden. He should have remembered meeting Arata before. Unless the man had been in disguise? That had to be it. Still, he was a sensor. How come he didn’t recognize Arata’s chakra signature? So many questions.
He was still sitting there when Izuna came home. As soon as Izuna had grabbed a cup and joined him, Madara tilted his head slightly. “What do you know about Hatake Arata?”
Izuna took a sip of his tea before answering. “What, the lost Hatake?”
“Lost?”
“Mhm, he was missing for many years before returning out of the blue. Nobody knows where he was or what he was doing. Rumors are rife though. Some claim he worked as a mercenary, while others say he went to a temple to train. Someone insists they saw him in Land of Iron when they went there to guard a caravan, and there’s rumors he was sighted in Land of Water, though the latter could be mere speculation because he’s apparently a very skilled Suiton user.”
Madara looked up. “Suiton? I’ve only seen him use Raiton and Doton.”
“Megumi told me he used Fūton, and Hikaru told me he’s proficient at Katon.”
“So he knows how to use all natures? That is impressive.”
Izuna nodded, then looked down at his tea-cup, rotating it slightly. “He has yet to fail a mission since joining Konoha.”
“Really?” Even Madara couldn’t claim that. Things happened, and sometimes the mission had failed even before leaving the gates. So, to not fail a single one… He had to either be extremely lucky, or be highly selective in what missions he accepted.
He was staring out into the garden, mulling over the new information, when he felt Izuna’s calculating stare. “Why the sudden interest?”
Unwilling to share his feelings, he opted to share the mystery. “He has always been a bit… skittish around me. I recently learned why. Apparently at some point I tried to kill him. The problem is that I have no memory of that. I can’t remember meeting him anywhere before the Hatake joined Konoha, and after that I certainly haven’t had any cause to attack him. So, when did it happen?”
“Hn.”
They sat in silence, enjoying the rest of the tea, and Madara felt a little lighter. Izuna was good at ferreting out information. If anyone could figure it out, it would be his otouto.
⁂
After the confrontation with Madara, Arata couldn’t stay in Konoha. He took a mission to Land of Water, and once that was complete, grabbed one for Land of Earth. The next weeks progressed like this, mission after mission. He was so little at home that at first, upon returning from a quick mission in Suna, he thought it was just a matter of his seals having deteriorated due to him not refreshing the chakra in them. But, upon closer inspection he realized they had been tampered with. Someone had been inside his apartment.
⁂
Izuna poked the scroll he had brought in, now unrolled in front of the Hokage. “Hashi, the man was missing for twenty years. Nobody knows where he was during that time, or with whom. He vanished as a three year old, and resurfaced as a twenty-four year old, with skills that put even the most experienced Hatake to shame. He’s a potential threat.”
The Hokage ran a hand through his hair. “Are you sure? He’s our very best tracker.”
“He’s an unnaturally good tracker. Everyone I’ve spoken to says it’s impossible that he followed the trail of the kidnappers of the Hyūga boy. Impossible. And yet, he found him and brought him back. How? Did he already know where the kid was? Was he working with the kidnappers? We don’t know. And that’s a problem.”
Hashirama sighed, but gave a slow nod. “Put Intelligence on it.”