Your sister was fast, but not fast enough. The speed of a Kyubi was far more overwhelming than hers, outside of her Seishingan, there wasn't much she knew how to do. She'd never bothered with it, being able to control any ghost she wanted at any moment – to take their own abilities for herself, but that didn't mean she was a master at it. She tried to trap you in a cage of wood, but you gnawed on it and dug your way out.
She tried the flying raijin, the technique Tobirama created himself, but for one—it was far too mentally taxing, and two—any distance she created between the two of you was closed within a matter of seconds. She stumbled over tree stumps, nearly losing her footing.
She wasn't aware that she had completely run circles—until the two of you ended up on the same cliff you began at, your teeth bared and yellow eyes shining at her. Her chakra was spent, her chest heaving as you finally ran her into a corner. She took a few steps back, until the sole of her foot nearly caused her to lose balance and fell.
This was it—she knew it, too. The horror-stricken look on her face combined with the heavy sweat on her face giving away what she felt. The Seishingan in her eyes faded away, leaving just her normal colored eyes. Eyes full of terror—that you didn't feel any remorse for. The two of you seemed to be frozen in time, throughout the entire chase, you hadn't even used Ninjutsu, the only use of chakra being the overwhelming elements of fire, wind, and darkness you used to build the atmosphere...
Her dark colored eyes were on yours, her breath heavy. She knew there was no way out of this, a plead with only have her down for the counter faster than she already was. She noticed the way your beast-form began to suck in the air around the two of you. Well, she knew it was more like a meal to you, stripping the air in her lungs—air that she was already short of as she hyperventilated. As if your Chakra wasn't already 300x more than hers, you went a restored it.
It took her a moment to realize that you weren't restoring chakra, but charging an attack. An attack she wouldn't be able to avoid even if she tried—unless she fell backward, off the small cliff. She wondered if she'd even die on the impact... And now she was seriously considering it.
Just one step back, and she could possibly escape.
One step back, and she took it.
Her foot gave way under her weight, and she fell. She was sure that was it, suicide or a way of escape—she was fine with either outcome. As long as it was away from you, it was fine.
Though, she didn't think too far ahead on her plan.
Instead of falling, you grabbed her by the end of her shirt, keeping her suspended in the air. This time, she didn't restrain the cry she felt bubbling in her throat. A loud, unadulterated cry—letting her terror be known in full. She plead to you, her hands wrapping around your wrist to let her go. She tried her Seishingan, turning on the Kekkei Genkai and turning to look at you. She called out the only person she could think of that could stop you—but he didn't come. Shisui did not come.
So tried Wendy, but she didn't come either. Every ghost that she'd use the blood bond for, didn't answer her call, and instead—she was left with you. Your eyes met for what seemed like the hundredth time, full of malice. Her starry eyes increased your anger, making it boil over into another blind rage.
You threw yourself over the cliff, her in hand as the two of you began to free fall. You didn't let go of her shirt, until her Akatsuki cloak tore under the pressure of her weight, and under your sharp claws. As she fell, you let out the wind attack you had charged up and directed it straight toward her. She hit the floor with a loud thud, a crater forming under her.
She coughed out blood on impact, a streak of blood staining her chin and forehead, seeping down her face. There was a wheeze to her breathing as she stood herself up—staggering blindly toward the darkness as she cried. Tears and blood met on her cheeks; her condition already having met the same level as yours had been after 1000 deaths. A few attacks of yours led to that much damage.
She limped, a desperate look on her face as her Seishingan had been forced to deactivate once more. You landed close behind, the floor giving way under the weight of those dragon-like claws. She didn't stop moving—despite being bloodied and bruised, her Akatsuki cloak so torn that it had slipped off her,
Leaving her in the clothes she left underneath. One step of yours closed in five of hers, your energy like body fading as you got up onto your two feet.
You finally took the appearance of yourself—somewhat. You looked human unlike before, you had the same-colored hair, and other features that would lead to the conclusion that you were... You. But there was a difference, like the look of bloodlust in your eyes that didn't look human. They were slitted, like a cat, or in this case, a dragon. The color of those eyes matched the weird marks under your eyes. That at first glance, looked like some sort of makeup, but they were only a result of state you took on. Not as animalistic as before, but still driven by somebody that wasn't you.
No, she couldn't say for certain that it wasn't you who was closing the gap between the two of you so swiftly. Her efforts seemingly meaningless as you managed to close the gap in a few seconds.
You walked ahead a few steps, catching her off guard as you turned your head to look at her. You stopped moving, and turned your body toward her as well, directly Infront of her and blocking her from continuing forward.
She stopped a hand on her upper arm—presumably broken—as she stared at you with that terrified expression.
You stared. Just as you had been during this entire fight, you stared—eyes returning to their normal state. But she didn't let her guard down, her breaths shallow. Her entire life had built up to this, her every action having led to this moment. She shook in a shaky breath as you got closer...
And you hugged her.
Her breath hitched, catching in her throat to restrict her from taking in any more air. The hug was hardly noticeable to her, she could barely feel the arms you wrapped around her until a fist pierced through her chest. It was as painful as it was hot—your arm had been set on fire before you attacked, it was out of pure instinct. The attacked caused her to take in a harsh breath, eyes widening further as her head angled to look down at the point of contact, blood pouring from her wound as you held onto her, lowering her onto the floor until she was completely laid out.
She was stunned at the shock of it—or perhaps she entered shock as she stared at you. And you stared back, your eyes that once sought the goal of killing, only looked tired. And her own eyes that had been possessed by the Seishingan had been replaced by her normal eyes and the expression of pain.
"[Firstname], I..." She tried to speak, but she couldn't find the right words. "I'm sorry." Her voice was faint, hardly audible, but there was nothing overpowering it as the howling winds had calmed, and the sun overtook the darkness that had previously filled the area. "Everything went wrong..."
Despite not believing she was sorry, you let her speak her last words before she was officially dead to your hand. "I wanted you to hate me. I wanted to hate you... Because I knew our confrontation was inevitable..." She admitted, eyes half lidded, "Whoever came out the victor, I didn't want either of us to feel remorse for something that was destined to happen. But now that it's happening..."
She took a moment to wheeze in another breath. "I can't keep it up... I was the reason they attacked our clan. I told him that I was the one who was the Jinchuuriki... When they found out I wasn't, they got so angry. I just wanted to feel special—and I did it all wrong. When I found out you weren't even in the compound when it was attacked, I was so relieved...." She confessed. "...Because you're the only family I had left. We were the last [Lastname]... And I took the wrong path. I wish I could have been more like you, but... All I've done was seek the approval of others, and it all went wrong."
"...Even if we were only in each other's lives for a little while... I... Still loved you the entire time. It was just to get over my own guilt. And I only made it worse." Your eyes widened for a moment, lips parting open at what she just said. Why would she say that now? When you'd already put your arm through her chest and surely killed her, why would she say it then?
"If you take my eyes, you can save those that I used the blood bond on." she said, a small smile coming onto her face. "That's all I can really do now. I'm sorry, sister..."
You watched as her eyes fell shut, her smile falling. You hadn't even noticed your Poltigan activate. After years of trying, you finally unlocked your final stage—but it seemed like a worthless prize now. That undying anger you felt earlier subsided into remorse. You were tired, physically and mentally tired of all the events that had played out. These past 24 hours had been more mentally taxing than anything you'd gone through before.
Now you truly were the last [Lastname], knelt in front of your half-sister's dead body after you were the one to end it.
You buried her.
You had to bury your baby sisters' dead body—that you had killed after having gone through 1000+ deaths. You even took her eyes as she instructed, and it left a stain of blood on your hands you couldn't get off.
The walk to the Leaf felt like a constant swaying motion, eyes out of focus and vision blurry. Time felt far slower than it should have been, minutes felt like dragging minutes, walking without clear purpose until you reached your home.
Only to see that here was none. The Hidden Leaf was reduced to nothing after Pains invasion. Your sister mentioned something about it, but you didn't take it into consideration, not when all you saw was red. There were various reasons why you wished that you listened now, or that you just took a moment to really think about what you were doing.
Seeing the smoke coming from various destroyed buildings, as well as the big crater in the middle of the entire village was what finally made you fall onto your knees, everything that happened hitting you all at once with a dose of reality and made you cry.
You cried and cried, because as far as you could see—there was nothing left for you.
You woke up with the most head-splitting pain in your head you'd ever experienced in your life. Your vision blurry and out of focus as your eyes opened, squinting at the dimly lit room. Surely not the first time your vision had been so impaired, and not the last. You weren't even aware that you cried yourself beyond the point of exhaustion and knocked yourself out.
There was a moment of vulnerability that washed over you, tired eyes trained on the orange-hued ceiling—until the illusion of security was broken by someone's deep voice,
"You're finally awake." He began, your head turning toward the one who spoke. A masked man who you couldn't recall why was so familiar. Your mouth opened, but you lacked the words to say. "I've been waiting for a long time to finally speak to you, but I decided you'd want to have a little... Talk with your sister before I got to it." He explained.
You only had the strength to narrow your eyes at him, a heavy sweat on your face as you strained yourself to sit up. The sweat did little to enhance the grimace you tried to spare him. "It was way more complicated than 'a talk'... Who even are you?" You asked. You were starting to remember, now... It was during that mission you'd gone on with Shikamaru, Sakura, and Naruto—but his presence seemed a lot less threatening then.
"I am Madara Uchiha. But who I am is unimportant, it's what I want from you that's important." He clarified, stepping out of the dimly lit corner he was in. He had some sort of black body suit on, covering every inch of his skin. You heard a bit about a Madara, a legend in the history of shinobi altogether. But that was a tale as old as time, behind that that suit was probably just wrinkly skin and weakening bones. "I'm recruiting you."
It was good he put what he wanted into words, or you wouldn't have concluded that he was some sort of predator. You had yet to answer him, which he took as a cue to continue speaking. "The Jinchuuriki host of three dragons—as well as the last and strongest [Lastname] there's been in quite a long time... Getting you on my side has been my plan all along."
'Whose this guy to think I would have ever joined him?' You wondered to yourself, your tired eyes blinking slowly to ease your aching head.
"That being said, you will join me. To become the Jinchuuriki of the dragon king, and to revive whoever it is I tell you too. And in the meanwhile, I'll have you accompany... Another apprentice of mine."
He had just thrown a million expectations onto you without any clear context. Although there wasn't much for you to lose, with any semblance of family dead, as well as the entire Leaf village... There was the Sand, of course, perhaps you could return there. "You keep saying all these things..." You narrowed your eyes, a hand over your stomach. "You think I'd just give in like that... What's in it for me?" You asked.
"I am going to declare war." Madara answered, you didn't offer a response to such declarations. Instead, the steady building sweat on your face grew heavier. "If you agree to join me, then I will guarantee the safety of your teammates I know you hold dear."
"What...?" You narrowed your eyes. "My teammates...? Weren't they killed in the Pain invasion?" You recalled what your sister had called it, as well as the image of your village lying as nothing but a pile of rubble. Perhaps they were out of the village? At that point, you would just throw these covers off you and run back to the remains of your village.
"The Rinnegan is capable of many things, bringing your teammates back to life was only one of them." That was a lie – your teammates weren't in the Leaf during the attack to begin with. But he knew that you didn't know that. "With war on the horizon, I can guarantee they come out alive. No guarantees if you decide not to come along."
You were silent for a second, your jaw tightening. The hell was a rinnegan? A Jutsu at that level was a bit... Extreme. "Then if they're alive... I'll just go back. I said it once and I'll say it again, I'm not a fool. War is war, safety isn't guaranteed for anyone... You won't fool me with empty promises."
"[Sister] herself showed you the fate of your teammates." He answered you.
Your eyes widened; the memory of that vision fresh in your mind. It was dark, there was a beast bigger than Diaval and the other two combined, and then there was Neji – dead and cold on the floor. Then the extreme replicated pain through your gut.
"What... What do you know? Whatever happened between her and I – it was our business!" Perhaps you'd sound surer of yourself if it weren't for the clear strain in your voice. "That stupid thing she showed me was just Genjutsu, you would know all about that, wouldn't you?" Your sentence ended with a rather loud cough. Your sister was the last thing you wanted to speak of, especially with her last words and her blood on your hands.
'Madara' wasn't a stranger to resistance of your level. He had grown a knack for this over time. He'd get you to submit under his ideology before you even realized it. "Her eyes were different from yours. She would be able to witness death as it walks, something not even you could comprehend."
Yes – you were aware that your sisters' eyes were much more advanced and stronger than your own. Being capable of using the blood bond on more than one person – she managed to replicate their deaths and enact them on you, she even controlled each one at her own will. While you barely got the ability to revive one after her death. "But that doesn't make sense, how could she be able to see death before it even happens? If that was the case, she'd be showing me my teammates death during the attack on the Leaf – not some vision during a war!" You reasoned, the stern look on your face faltering with the twitch of your lips.
"You said it yourself. She showed you death before it happened, not as it had already happened." He explained. His knack for coming up with excuses on the spot gave him a clear advantage in your exchange. "The death of Neji Hyuga will play out as you saw it." Any sense of reason was quickly being stripped away from you, replaced with clearcut worry. If you took the time to gather yourself, you would have questioned the vision of Kakashi you saw in the Leaf, but you didn't see reason right now.
"Don't go around saying his name so freely as if you know him..." You grimaced.
"But I know him just as well as you do." He answered you. "I know how much effort you put into saving him from his curse mark—but if he were to die in the war, it would have all been for nothing. He would fall into a fate he was right about the entire time."
You hated how he spoke so knowingly—and you hated how threatened you were by this guys presence alone. And you especially hated how easily he was messing with your head. "And how are you so sure you could guarantee the safety of my teammates?" You questioned, looking up at him with a heavy sweat on your face.
"The war will be led solely led by my subordinates and I. If you agree to my conditions, I can personally assure the Hyūgas safety." Madara assured.
Your hand instinctually came up to your lips, biting the tip of your thumb. It was a heavy decision – siding with some war-mongering man in order to save your teammate. But at the same time, it wasn't as if you had witnessed the death of Lee. But on a majority rules scale here, there were more dead teammates than not, with Guy Senseis on death having been shown during your battle against [Sister]. On the other hand, if Neji were to die, and Madara assured his safety here, were you changing the outcome of that, or were you setting it into stone? There were too many things to take into consideration to come to a conclusion.
"What'll it be, [Firstname]?" Madara pressured, the calling of your name nearly patronizing.
"You want me to become the Jinchuuriki of the Dragon King... And use my... Blood bond contract to revive some army?" You asked for clarification, looking down at the floor you sat on. "If I were to do that... If I became your lapdog and did as you said, then the people of the Leaf would - "
"The people of the Leaf have never cared." Madara cut you off. "When you left their village, they didn't send a retrieval party as they did Sasuke – you were simply a foreigner. When faced with your life in Akatsuki's hands, they came to your rescue simply for the sake of good connections with the Sand. Even now, with your lack of presence, they haven't even noticed."
"That's..." You trailed off, staring at the floor with shaky vision. "Not true. It's not true and you know it."
"The Hokage herself punished you for returning. Instead of welcoming you, you were demoted and put under heavy restrictions. Whereas they desperately searched for Sasuke in hopes of simply bringing him home... You've searched for the definition of family all your life but were never able to find the answer during all your years in the Leaf." He already knew your mental fortitude had cracked after your battle. All he had to do was push. "Do you truly care what they'd think?"
Lacking the energy to refute, you were cornered into silence.
"I can't revive more than one person. I'm not like [Sister]." You spoke after a pregnant silence – but it wasn't like you had zero interest. But still, ensuring safety during a war didn't sound possible. Even then, even the thought of their safety tempted you. But the list of people you wanted to protect when far beyond simply Neji, Lee, and Guy.
"You have her eyes." Madara spoke, causing you to look up. "Sharing and exchanging visual Jutsus is the same as children sharing candy. What else do you think the curse mark of the second branch of the Hyuga is for? To protect their eyes from being stolen and falling into enemy hands."
You grimaced at the mention of it. Madara knew just what to say to get on your nerves. "So, you're trying to tell me that... You're gonna replace my eyes with hers?" You concluded. It wasn't a nice thought, rather gross if anything. You weren't sure why you had taken her eyes, perhaps in a fit of rage that they were still open to the very end – that those were the eyes that caused you to die over and over and had taken someone important away from you. Shisui... While he had been there last time to stop you from doing anything stupid or life-ruining, he wasn't here now. What would he say about this, anyway?
It hardly mattered, anyway. He wasn't here.
You trained so desperately during those two years away from the Leaf. To improve your Poltigan and free your teammate from that heavy burden – it all seemed like it was worth nothing now – faced with the reality that all it took was some eye transplant to take all of your sisters abilities. But if taking her abilities meant having the same ghosts she brought back to life under your control, that meant that Shisui and Wendy would be...
"Fine." You finally caved, "I'll do it."
Madara hummed. "As I suspected."
...
YALL THOUGHT SASUKE WOULDNT GET SOME!!!!!