The beginnings !

Day 32

After several days of sunshine, the weather finally changed. Today was a time to stay at home with a hot drink in his hands. This was the state Haruno Sakura was in on this rainy morning. Sitting at her desk with a cup of green tea in her hand, the other supporting her chin. She was staring blankly at the outside as her brain pondered what to do next.

She had killed Black Zetsu, she was sure, so it couldn't have been him who had ended Hashirama Senju's life. However, he had indeed disappeared a short time ago. Had he died of natural causes ? From exhaustion after his fight with Madara ? Had he been injured by Madara ? Or had a third party of their ilk killed him ? So many questions that Sakura couldn't find answers to at the moment. All she hoped was that the news of his disappearance would take the longest time to get out into the world. For her book : The History of Konoha and its First Kage informed her that it was following his death that the First Great Shinobi War began.

Meanwhile, Madara had just slowly woken up from a good night's sleep. Usually his sleep became restless when he used his Mangekyô Sharingan, but with Sakura's care he had managed to sleep well.

His first instinct was to do what he did every morning and tilt his head towards the outside hoping to see Sakura doing her meditation. She wasn't there... probably because of the rain. So Madara looked around the rest of the room to finally find her at her desk.

Because of what had happened the night before, Madara had many questions for her. He had long understood that Sakura could be a very dangerous person in battle. He had seen what she was capable of against a strange creature at the Valley of the End. However, to see her overpower one of the best members of his clan so quickly was something completely different and sobering.

In that confrontation, Madara had seen a person trained to kill efficiently, quickly, and silently. If he didn't know her, he could tell that this woman had been trained in assassination. Then a thought suddenly occurred to him : did an Uchiha help this Black Zetsu to kill Sakura's family ?

Because after all, she had told him that every Uchiha she had ever come across had tried to hurt and manipulate her. Besides, that murderous, icy intonation in her voice when she overpowered Izumi was what was reserved for the enemy. If this theory was true and an Uchiha was responsible for the murder of her family, then why didn't she kill him ? At least that's what he would have done, world peace or not.

After all, Madara was a very vindictive person, and the world understood that. But the opposite was also true, he protected the people he cared about. And yesterday he had been willing to kill a member of his own clan for daring to hurt Sakura. He still remembered when she was pierced by the dagger, he thought he'd gone completely mad for a second and would have done the unthinkable.

He had been staring at the young woman sitting at her desk for several minutes. She still hadn't moved and seemed deeply immersed in her thoughts before finally sighing.

— "What's on your mind Haruno-san ?"

The sound of the voice snapped Sakura out of her internal reflections ; for a moment she had completely forgotten that she was not alone in the room.

— "Several things really," Sakura replied before taking a sip of her tea. "Did you sleep well despite using your Sharingan ?"

— "Hai... Is it about yesterday that you're worried ?"

Sakura didn't know if she should answer him or not. It was still too early to trust him and tell him everything. Madara was certainly indebted to her, but to the point of trusting him about the future : not yet.

— "Sort of," Sakura opined before blowing on her cup to cool the contents slightly. She took another sip, and the warm feeling in her throat felt very good. "Let's just say I'm afraid for the future."

Madara frowned as he hadn't seen Sakura afraid of anything since he'd met her.

— "Why ?" He asked.

Sakura got up from her seat and headed for the kitchen only to return thirty seconds later with a second steaming cup in her hands. She moved towards him and placed the new cup on the bedside table before settling down beside him.

— "A few days ago, a rumour appeared in the village below. A wanderer from Hi No Kuni stopped by on his way back to the capital of Ta No Kuni," Sakura said, giving half-truths to avoid talking about her history book. "The world knows of your fight against Hashirama and the elemental nations are now aware of your death."

— "Is this what worries you ?"

— "On the contrary, it makes me feel better that you'll be able to recuperate peacefully without having an assassin at my door," Sakura retorted, her face still upset as Madara grabbed his own cup of tea. "It was the fact that he also said the shinobi seemed worried... but worried about what ? I wonder."

— "Is that why you left for Hi No Kuni these past few days ?"

— "Hai, I needed to know what the village of Konoha No Sato was worried about."

— "I assume that given your troubled state, the land of fire is in a delicate position. What did that idiot Hashirama do now ?" He asked sarcastically.

— "That's the problem, he's disappeared," Sakura said, knowing that this revelation would be like a bomb for the dark-haired man. And indeed, a thousand questions were running through his head : Why ? How ? What had caused this man to disappear ? Or had someone killed him ? Sakura hadn't been wrong, seeing Madara's expression was enough to understand that he was disturbed by this announcement.

— "I don't know why or under what circumstances... I did manage to find some information though, but it seems that he literally vanished into thin air," she explained without the dark-haired man having to ask. She was not yet ready for the First Great Shinobi War and her concern was obvious. "If this information became known to the world, it could create a domino effect across all nations."

— "War..."

— "Hai, and unfortunately I'd like it not to start too quickly," Sakura explained, setting her cup down on the bedside table before leaning back more comfortably in her chair.

— "You're really planning on putting your vision of peace into place, aren't you ?"

— "Ours," the young woman corrected in a neutral tone.

— "What do you mean, ours ?" Madara questioned, until proven otherwise, he had never agreed to bend to her vision.

— "You were right, Uchiha-san, my vision of peace has many gaps. But I also listened to your approach and I can't help but think that somehow it could work," Sakura said before turning her head towards Madara to look him in the eye. "I long for peace Uchiha-san, perhaps I have the solution to bring peace, but the next question would be : For how long ?"

It was a thought-provoking question. After all, every clan often asked itself this question. How long before the next battle ? When will the next carnage take place ?

— "As I said, I have the means to bring peace. And after analyzing your words, I realize that you may have the method to keep it !"

Madara did not answer immediately. This was the first time in his life that someone had thought about his vision of peace. At the same time, it was also the first person he had confided his ambitions to. But did he really want to fight again for this rotten world ? Did he really want to bleed for these people ? Would they even have the means to succeed ?

— "How long do you think we have before a possible war breaks out ?"

Sakura thought about the question for a moment, wondering if killing Black Zetsu would speed up or slow down the date of the First Great Shinobi War.

— "Maybe six months, a little longer if we're lucky... a month in the worst case scenario."

— "How do you plan to raise the money for such an effort ?" Madara asked, knowing that any war is expensive. In men, money, food, weapons and all other resources.

— "I am rich."

— "That won't be enough," Madara retorted, knowing that a few thousand Ryos wouldn't make a difference.

— "You misunderstood me, Uchiha-san, I am rich... rich enough to make all the elemental nations pale in comparison."

At this point, Madara became suspicious. How could a woman from nowhere boast of being as rich as all the elemental nations combined. If that was really the case, he would have known about it ages ago.

Then he saw Sakura raise her hand and in it appeared a gold Ryô coin, then a second, then a dozen followed before she stopped.

— "When you study science in order to be able to heal human beings, you study chakra at the same time. It is the basis of everything, so I just have to manipulate it in the right way like a fire specialist would. By shaping my chakra as a formula for Fûinjutsu, I can make it have the properties of money, and thus, I have an unlimited resource with me," Sakura elaborated to a shocked Madara.

It was the best way Sakura could think of to justify the millions of Ryo sealed on her. All that money from the loans she'd taken out would soon be put to use.

— "Do you realize that countries would destroy entire nations for this knowledge !?" Madara exclaimed, still reeling from the news, and was imagining many possibilities for the future.

— "Hai, and that's why you're the only person in the world with me who knows about this."

— "Why ? Why me ?" Madara demanded, wanting to know why this woman wanted his help.

— "Because you're Uchiha Madara ! Because you have the experience ! Because I may be smart, I may be strong, I may be rich, but I'm still only one person and I'm still a woman ! We're in an era where I'm considered by most men to be a distraction !" Sakura replied angrily at the harsh reality of her words. "But you Uchiha-san ! You have the reputation, you're a strong person, you have a clan and you have the charisma to bring the world together ! You've already done it once with Konoha. And above all, compared to all these scum, you are a scum who wants peace ! And that makes all the difference to me !"

Yes, they were scum, beings who lived only to kill... they were only tools for others. They did the dirty work so that other more innocent people wouldn't have to. And that, Madara couldn't deny, but he couldn't understand how she could have so much faith in him. Yet they had only known each other for a month and she seemed to be putting the future of the world in his hands.

— "Konoha is a failed experiment !" Madara retorted.

— "That's just it Uchiha-san ! You know what must not be done !" Sakura rebounded at Madara's last words. "And now Uchiha-san... with Hashirama potentially dead, who could really stand against you ?"

Madara frowned as he pondered the question, there were very few people who could give him a hard time. The only people he knew of would be Tobirama Senju, Gengetsu Hôzuki the Nidaime Mizukage as well as Sakura Haruno and that was if they didn't use the power of the Bijû. Maybe now he could bring peace. Maybe with the help of this woman he would succeed. He had nothing to lose by trusting her, it was enough to give time to time and see how the world would turn out. And if the opportunity arose to bring peace... then they would.

Madara gazed into Sakura's eyes for a long second, searching for any hint of cheating, any hint of lying... but found none.

— "The Daimyô is the first step," Madara finally agreed without answering the previous question.

It was one thing for him to accede to her vision of peace, another to reveal her possible weaknesses. But the young woman didn't seem to mind, on the contrary, she wore a beautiful smile and God he enjoyed seeing her smile, it suited her so much better.

— "He must be aware of our ambitions, we should be able to have an interview with him in order to convince him, or to manipulate him," he said.

His great strategist's brain was coming into place. He had to leave no stone unturned and their plan could not be carried out without the support of the Daimyô. In fact, since the countries had been formed, the Shugo of each province, who were governors, agreed on a new status : that of Daimyô, who would be the representative of the entire country. It would be he who would decide with the Kage on the steps to be taken to manage the country. So, it would be impossible to implement their project if he did not have the support of the Lord of Ta No Kuni.

— "Would a letter be enough ? If we incorporate a Fûinjutsu doubled with a Genjutsu," asked Sakura who also knew how the world worked in the brown man's time.

— "Explain yourself Haruno-san."

— "It's common knowledge that the Daimyô all have their own ring. All I would have to do is to put a Fûinjutsu seal on it, which will only unlock the scroll for the owner of the ring from the land of rice fields. And the Genjutsu so that only he can read it," Sakura explained, once again demonstrating her intelligence.

— "Ingenious... that might work, get a nice scroll," the Uchiha recommended, impressed by the young woman's ideas.

Sakura hurriedly got up and walked over to her desk to pull out one of her finest scrolls. She settled herself comfortably in her seat and prepared to write.

— "I'm listening, Uchiha-san."

To the attention of the Daimyô of Ta No Kuni.

The Muromachi period is now over and it is time to turn to the new Sengoku era ! The peace that has been established is only temporary and the beginnings of war are at the doors of the elemental nations.

I have the power and the means to make Ta No Kuni a place of peace and prosperity. A place that will be so powerful that no one will dare to attack this country, but will instead want to join it ! Unfortunately I cannot meet you in person at the moment, as my projects require my presence.

But if in the future you are interested in such a future, let me know and an interview will be arranged. The eagle that brought you this letter will stay in your domain for two days while waiting for an answer from you.

— "I don't sign ?"

— "Apply wax to the bottom of the page, my clan leader's seal will be enough to make him understand who I am."

— "Are you sure it's a good idea to announce your survival ?" Sakura asked as she approached Madara with scroll in hand after pouring hot wax on the bottom of it.

— "No Daimyô would pass up such an opportunity, they're supposed to be smart, so he should be able to keep his mouth shut," Madara reassured her before applying the seal of his ring to the still hot wax. Once that was done, Sakura once again walked over to her desk and began to inscribe Fûinjutsu seals on the back of the parchment. This would now be opened only by the Daimyô of the rice country.

After about thirty minutes, accompanied by the sound of rain, Sakura finally applied chakra to the seal to activate it. She rolled it up before walking towards the dark-haired man.

— "Could you not use your Sharingan."

Madara nodded before performing the ram seal with his only able-bodied hand before a small amount of chakra was felt in the room.

— "There, that will do the trick, just wait until the weather is nice before sending it."

— "I assume you have a summoning contract with the eagles for mentioning it in the letter."

— "I'm repeating myself, but you're too smart for your own good," Madara said, tired of being so easily read.

— "I know... Anyway, we'll discuss this later Uchiha-san, I'm going to prepare dinner," Sakura interrupted before leaving the main room for the kitchen.

Day 34

After two days of incessant rain, the sun was showing its face again. And it was with undisguised pleasure that Sakura could resume her meditation on this beautiful morning. She was so close to succeeding that it was becoming frustrating for the young woman. For days and days she had been close to finding the answer to all her questions. She had understood that her chakra was the mixture of physical and spiritual energy, but there was something missing.

Over the past two months she had come to understand that her brain was the source of the spiritual energy that then flowed to the rest of her body. Then it mixed with the physical energy, not in one particular point, but of course the whole body. But that was the problem : where was her physical energy ? It was her body, she was sure of that, but which part of her body ? Was it the flesh ? Was it the organs ? The cells ? What was it that was producing energy throughout her body ?

Then suddenly the answer came to her : energy. The human body was constantly making energy, her whole body was a source of energy. The cells by their very existence were energy and that was why it was so dangerous, because to use that energy was to use a part of oneself. In her discovery, Sakura couldn't hold back all the joy that was buried inside her.

— "Yes !" Sakura shouted as she left her seated position and jumped into the air with her fist raised. "I did it ! Finally, after all this time, I did it ! Yoo-hoo !"

A wide smile was on her face before a pleasant laugh escaped her lips at her discovery. After so much effort, she was finally rewarded.

A soft smile also appeared on Madara's lips as he watched the young woman jump for joy outside the house. He had learned to appreciate her rare moments of joy and he loved the freshness of her youth in this moment, though he wouldn't mention it. So it was a smiling Sakura who returned inside the house.

— "Oyahô Uchiha-san, did you sleep well ?" Sakura asked as she started the medical ritual.

— "Hai, why the show of good cheer ?" Madara asked after wiping the smile from his lips.

— "I finally did it ! I finally figured out how to do regeneration without affecting the human body," Sakura said proudly.

This woman had once again surprised him and continued to impress him day by day. Regeneration was something that many people had tried, to no avail. Then his thoughts turned to his arm and eye, they were finally going to be healed.

— "Could you regrow any severed limb ?"

— "Not that much... but I'll be able to work on your eye and arm soon," Sakura replied as she ran her chakra-covered hands over Madara's body. "Any pain or discomfort to report ?"

— "No. It's healing well."

— "Good, it's healing properly... are you ready to make your summons ?"

— "Do you know the signs ?"

— "Hai, focus and I'll take care of the rest," Sakura said before biting her thumb to get some blood flowing from it. She waved her hand before placing one of them on Madara's arm and pinning the second to the ground. She provided the blood and chakra and Madara provided the target to summon.

— "Kuchiyose no Jutsu !"

A large circle of Fûinjutsu appeared on the floor of the house from her hand. The blood was sucked into the seal before a cloud of smoke appeared to make way for a beautiful golden eagle. It looked around and when it saw Madara on the bed, it leaned forward.

— "Uchiha-sama."

— "I need you to take this scroll to the Daimyô of Ta No Kuni in person. I'm waiting for an answer from him and I'll give him two days. If you can stay close to him to listen to his reactions, that would be ideal," Madara explained, handing the scroll to the bird.

— "It will be done, Uchiha-sama," the golden eagle bowed once more. Once the scroll was in place, it flew off to its destination.

— "That was a beautiful animal," Sakura commented as she tended to her thumb wound before heading to the kitchen for dinner. "Would you like to continue reading ?"

— "Yes," Madara said before grabbing the book Sakura had written.

Lesson one : Dodge !

If you're dead, you're useless. If you're injured, you'll have to take care of yourself first and your companions may die. Your priority is to stay alive ! So before anything else, you need to train your body to react.

Find a training partner and dodge whatever he throws at you. Let him go harder and harder, faster and faster. This way your body will gain muscle memory that will save you precious seconds between life and death.

Don't rest on your laurels once you have achieved this. Don't get cocky and make it hard for yourself, because a ninja will never attack you head on. Ninety percent of deaths are due to attacks from the back. So get several partners to continue this training to be attacked from several places at once. This will teach you to be aware of your surroundings, to analyse, and most importantly, to work on your visual memory.

The more you train your eye to dodge projectiles as well as hand-to-hand opponents, the more your eye will get used to it. This way, your brain will analyse by itself without you noticing it. With years of practice, you might even be able to anticipate attacks and see where your opponent will strike next.

That last paragraph made Madara a little nervous. He felt like he was reading a description of one of the Sharingan's abilities. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe he had become a little too paranoid and was seeing traitors and spies everywhere.

Nevertheless, he was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Sakura return with two trays. She placed one on the table in the room and approached him with the second.

— "No," Madara said as Sakura moved closer to him.

— "What do you mean no ?" Sakura asked in utter incomprehension.

— "I want to be able to eat by myself at a Haruno-san table," Madara announced as he looked into her eyes. He wanted his pride back and not to be a burden that had to depend on someone else.

Sakura turned slightly and placed Madara's tray on the table next to hers then walked over to her patient's bed. She picked him up before laying him down in front of the table, setting his legs up properly so they wouldn't get in the way. Once he was in a position where he could stand on his own, she sat down beside him.

— "Itadakimasu."

Sakura grabbed her chopsticks before eating in silence. However, her gaze was still on her dining companion to see if he needed help.

— "Itadakimasu," Madara said in turn before grabbing the spoon with his good hand. Thanks to Sakura's care this one had more mobility. He dipped the spoon into his bowl, then brought it to his lips. With this simple gesture, joy could be seen on his features, he was able to eat by himself, he was becoming autonomous again and that was priceless to Uchiha Madara.

Day 35

It had been almost a year since Hashuba Shôta, the Shugo with the most territory and power in the land of rice fields, became Daimyô. Thanks to his influence, he had succeeded in making his country prosper in the cultivation of rice, thus making an announcement to the rest of the world. He did not want any war on his land and was not a threat.

Daimyô Hashuba had made many agreements with the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth, all three of which bordered him. In exchange for agricultural resources, this territory would be left as neutral ground that would not be allied to anyone.

This tactical choice was put in place by the fact that he had no shinobi military force. Three quarters of the people were farmers working in the fields. These people had no awareness of the world around them and the political issues that were taking place.

— "The harvest is going well this year, Daimyô-sama," announced a man sitting at a table covered with parchment.

— "Will it be enough to keep our commitments and the survival of the people ?" Hashuba asked.

He was a man of normal build wearing a brown and white kimono. He was in his forties, clean-shaven except for a moustache and a goatee, with long black hair tied back in a ponytail.

— "Hai Daimyô-sama," replied the person who was in charge of the accounts.

Then suddenly their conversation was cut short by the arrival of a magnificent bird of prey. This one could only bring a message because this was not the territory of such a bird. This kind of animal lived in the land of lightning and generally did not approach humans. Moreover, a small case was hung around his neck. He landed gracefully on one of the armrests of the chair intended for Daimyô and waited. He stared into Hashuba's eyes and seemed to be waiting for him to grab the scroll case hanging around his neck.

He reached out to grab the object before seeing the animal fly away and land gently on the window sill. The bird seemed to be doing its own thing so Hashuba decided to open the case. He immediately saw the quality of the scroll and concluded that it was someone very important and rich who had written to him.

The more Hashuba read the message, the more serious and focused his eyes became, before he widened his eyes as he recognised the signature seal. His brain was racing as he imagined the possibilities of such an alliance with the great Uchiha Madara.

— "Is everything alright my Lord ?" The secretary dared to ask and received only a glare in response. "Excuse me, my Lord."

The Daimyô returned his gaze to the Uchiha seal and pondered the stakes of such a move. Selling the information that the great Madara Uchiha was still alive could bring him a lot of money. But on the other hand, peace and prosperity for his country, as well as power.

Hashuba rose from his seat, scroll in hand, and walked over to one of the braziers in the room.

— "Get me a scroll for special occasions," the Daimyô ordered the only other person in the room, who hurried to comply.

— "I am listening."

The secretary had the quill in hand ready to write, but the words never came. The Daimyô was in the process of throwing the letter into the fire, which flared up in an instant, erasing all evidence of its existence.

— "Get out !" Hashuba ordered with a tone that could not be challenged. So the secretary quickly left, closing the door behind him. Only he and his four personal guards remained in the room.

It was very rare for a Daimyô to write his own mail, but this was a situation where no one but him should read his letter. He sat down at the desk and began to write his reply to Uchiha Madara. After about ten minutes, Hashuba poured wax on the bottom of the parchment and applied his Daimyô seal. He rolled up the scroll and stood up towards the raptor still standing at the edge of the window. He put the scroll in the case around his neck and closed it.

No sooner had the Daimyô closed the case than the bird of prey flew away.

— "Time will tell if I made the right choice..."