The night came and everyone went to do their own things, the Chief actually doubled the number of soldiers 'protecting' his guests, he was quite alarmed by what Madara said yesterday, but well…. Since when could a shinobi with a sharingan be spotted by these people? Especially one that has all of these skills and knowledge such as Madara?
Arriving at the Spirit Oasis, Madara jumped down from the ice walls and landed softly on the grass.
Looking around he spotted Yue already there and he couldn't help but grin.
"It seems I was the one that came late today," he said.
She had a small jump scare and looked at him with a frown and a pout "Don't do that!"
He laughed and sat down by the pond, tonight he could see Tui and La swimming in circles, and the Yin and Yang symbolism mesmerized him.
"They are pretty, aren't they?" asked Yue with a gentle smile.
Madara just nodded but couldn't take his eyes off the black and white fish, he felt like all the noises around him muffled, going silent for a few seconds.
The eyes of both fish glowed under the water and Madara felt a pull, suddenly he was standing on a vast ocean with no land in sight, the only thing other than water in this place was a glowing moon in the empty sky.
Looking around he was quite shocked, was he pulled into a vision by the spirits? He knew that it was possible, even Roku did that to Aang countless times to tell him about Sozin's Comet and his own story with the Fire Lord, Madara also believes his sharingan works in a similar way, it's not really genjutsu, but a spiritual vision that he can use to pull people that he stares at, as for the limitations? He doesn't know.
[We finally meet, young one] said a soft reverberating female voice.
[We have been waiting for you to show up] said a soft reverberating male voice.
Both voices were very similar even if they had different genders.
Looking around Madara saw two huge koi fish, one white and one black, both with glowing blue eyes and glowing blue markings all over their bodies.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tui and La," said Madara with proper respect, these two were very ancient spirits after all.
[How curious… you feel like an Avatar but at the same time you feel completely different] said the female voice as the white fish slowly moved around him.
'Ho, so the female voice is Tui, and the male voice is La…'
[You indeed feel like an Avatar… what spirit fused with you?] asked the male voice.
Madara stared at La for a few seconds and decided to tell him, it, they? Well, whatever...
"It's a spirit called Susano'o" Madara had no reason to hide this, especially from spirits since they can sense it anyway, its better to show goodwill and befriend spirits, especially old, wise and powerful ones.
[Susano'o? I have never heard of this spirit, but I feel its power, it's tremendous… ] said Tui swimming around Madara with curiosity.
[Why do I feel some… connection… to your spirit?] asked La with a bit of shock.
Madara raised an eyebrow, as far as he knew the Susano'o had nothing to do with them, not the Naruto one at least... unless... 'Did the voice give me the ACTUAL Susano'o?! No, it can't be, the mythological one is considered a God after all, but he might've given it some properties to turn my Susano'o into an actual spirit, such as a domain…'
Clearing his throat Madara responded with a rather unsure tone "Well, from what I know... Susano'o is related to the Sea and Storms, but I don't think those are its domain." 'Not my Susano'o anyway..'
The black koi nodded, which looked a bit funny to see.
[It seems that's the case, I can feel a small connection, but your spirit seems much more violent than us… it's like… it's always craving for a battle.]
This made Madara grin with satisfaction, he didn't know that but to think that he and his spirit were so intuned 'This really is the perfect spirit for me heh...'
[But I never heard of this spirit before, this Susano'o… It feels really powerful… Really really powerful… it's hard to believe that it's an unknown spirit] Tui interjected.
Now Madara became nervous, what the hell should he tell them? If they really demand an explanation he is bound to lie, and his lie is bound to be discovered instantly. If he refuses to answer, these spirits might not really allow him to leave this place, as for speaking the truth?
Heh, yeah, right…
Sensing the nervousness in Madara, La moved closed to Tui.
[Let the boy keep his secrets, you and your bad habit of wanting to know everything about everyone that comes in touch with you] said the male voice.
[…] Tui was in silence, Madara could very faintly see the spirit struggling to let go of its curiosity.
'To think that they have such humanity in them…' He smiled gently.
Tui lowered its head, slightly, displaying a tiny bit of shame for its behavior.
'Oh, now you are just cute, hehe.' thought Madara.
The black koi turned towards Madara.
[We felt you arriving in our domain, we wanted to get to know you… We are rather happy that you aren't the Avatar because we initially thought you were.]
Madara was confused "You dislike the Avatar?"
Tui this time answered [We don't really dislike the Avatar, but they decided to close the portals to the spirit world without our say in it… How would you feel if someone locked you outside of your house behind your back and just told you afterward, saying that they judged it was better that way?]
Madara had a thoughtful expression 'Well when you look at it that way…'. "But you can just go back to the Spirit World at will, can't you?"
La answered [Yes, but our influence in the human world will be severed, without us here there will be no waterbending, if the portals were open, we could reside anywhere in the Spirit World or here, and still have our influence.]
"Tsk..." Madara frowned, honestly his plan was to never open the spirit world portal, he would prevent Korra from even having to deal with the whole season 2 drama by getting rid of Unalaq right away… He honestly was afraid of the Spirit World, everything about him made him a target to powerful ancient spirits, especially Koh the Face Stealer and his mother.
He decided to just avoid that topic and asked "Okay, but why did you want to talk to me? I mean, you welcomed me and all but I never did anything for you two."
La answered with a hint of teasing towards Tui [Part of it was due to curiosity of someone… But mostly because I feel a connection with you, it's ironic that you are a Firebender while holding a Spirit related to the sea.]
Madara chuckled "It's alright, it's not Susano'o main domain anyway…"
Tui nodded [Sadly we are no Lion Turtles, with a Spirit like that I don't doubt you would be an amazing Waterbender.]
Madara chuckled "With my personality? I doubt it… I'm as aggressive as Susano'o, and one of my greatest pleasures in life is having worthy battles… I don't think I have the mentality to be a Waterbender."
La chuckled [Yes, I've noticed, your bloodlust yesterday was… interesting… to think that you changed because of a little talk with the little princess Yue.]
Madara snorted "That's not it, if anyone does me or my family any harm, I will hunt them down… but Kaliya's situation is a bit... Complicated…" sigh "If I followed through with my plans, our relationship would be permanently cracked, her happiness is above my selfish need for vengeance… If Pakku wasn't the last living member of her family I would burn him to ashes."
Tui was quite satisfied with his answer, its eyes even morphed into crescent moons, displaying her happiness [Good human! You have the heart to hate and the heart to love, although it is not how we do things… at least you understand that not everything can be solved with might.]
La chuckled [Indeed, you seemed very worried about her… Is she your mate?]
Madara started coughing "W-what? No... she is like... 9 years older than me," he scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression "And she hates rules... She once told me that she would never marry because that would be extra chains binding her, although she said she would be faithful to whomever she falls in love with… She would never actually marry or have kids."
Tui chuckled [What a troublesome child, hehe… But why is getting married and having kids so important to you? I mean, I can feel your vitality, you will live way more than regular humans... Probably twice or thrice as long…]
Madara was shocked 'I only opened 5 chakras and my vitality already skyrocketed to this point?! I didn't know that!... Good to know!' he then shrugged "I am the last member of my clan, my family… I want the Uchiha to spread their name… That and… Having a family would bring me many new experiences that I never had." Once he said the last part, he became a bit melancholic, how could he not? At this point he could be considered almost 40 and never met anyone blood-related to him, he never had the warmth of having parents, but at least he can enjoy the warmth of having kids one day.
The spirits just remained silent, it was not their business anyway so they decided to change the subject.
[We heard that you requested the Princess for our spirit water, may I know why?] Tui was rather curious.
"I wanted to heal Kaliya's scars and burns… I don't know about her eye though, I don't think that even with your spirit water it can be fixed," said Madara a bit dejected but with a hint of hope that the Spirit would say otherwise.
La was rather shocked [You want our water for that? Although what you said is true about her eye and everything… But, with enough of our water, you could deepen your connection with Susano'o… I can feel that you two are connected but not 100% compatible, it's very taxing to use its power, isn't it?]
"Wait... What now?!" Madara was gobsmacked by that information, what the actual fuck? Spirit water can make his Susano'o better?! He has been racking his brain to figure out a way to reach certain phases of the Susano'o without an answer and they just gave it to him... Like that?!
"… I thought... that with time my compatibility with Susano'o would increase and it would be easier to use its power… you know… like Avatar and Raava…" he thought out loud.
La was shocked [Naturally? as if! Even the Avatar had the need some sort of a buffer to fully merge with Raava, which method they used we don't know... but... you know quite a lot, don't you?]
Realizing his mistake, he gulped "Well... I did spend three years inside Wan Shi Tong's library, I learned many things…" 'Sorry buddy, take one for the team will ya?'
Tui was curious [OH?! How is that cute little owl doing nowadays? Haven't seen them in a long time…]
This made Madara's eyebrow raise in amusement "They are a bit too dedicated to their books, never leave the library, and display distrust towards humans… but deep inside they are a little tsundere owl, a lovable one."
La was curious [What is a … tsundere?]
Madara's face morphed into a blank poker face, Saitama is back baby. 'Oh boy…'
"You know… When someone has feelings but is too proud to display them, or simply doesn't know how to express them… They try to double down on their persona to try to trick everyone else into believing that they don't have those feelings."
The two spirits stared at one another for a few seconds before bursting out loud into a laugher.
[[HAHAHAHAHAHA]]
[That is definitely Wan Shi Tong! Oh, the spirits! HAHAHA!] said Tui.
La on the other hand was a bit more composed, he stopped laughing after the initial burst and had a thoughtful expression on his face.
[I know so many spirits that would fit that term…]
Madara's Saitama face intensified. "..Oh… you have no idea…"
There's a reason for this chapter coming before the duel, you will understand when the next chapter comes out :3
But enough of that, i hope yall are enjoying the sunday! it was suposed to be my day off today but im pushing to tomorrow because i felt inspired to write this chapter ^_^ if tomorrow i feel inspired again i will push my day off again :D so .. fingers crossed!
Many people might disagree with him saying he is almost 40, and you are indeed right in disagreeing, but let me prove you wrong shall we? he was on the late 20s before transmigration, so lets settle it for a middle term between 25 and 29.. 27, lets consider him 27 years old, he spent 3 years inside the void, so he became 30, then he transmigrated into a 8 year old madara, right now he is 17 so 9 years, he would be 39, remmember he didn't live the initial 8 years of Madara's life, he was 'created' as an 8 year old.
This was a slow chapter but many things needed to be settled before moving foward, the canon is approaching so i need to settle everything in a way that feels Natural and not rushed, and i also HATE flashback chapters, those are the worst, they don't feel like the Author planned ahead, but that the Author changed the past to fit the present and future.
I hope yall are enjoying your weekend you lovable sausages! by the way i am now obligated to order a Wan Shi Tong plushie for my wife -_- anyone knows anywhere that sells or can make one?
Stay awesome guys! you are the best :3