*Authors note: press play :)*
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It had been short of decades. No, centuries. No, was it really a decade?
Perhaps a generation had passed by?
Madara's limp body was afloat in some boundless white dimension, void of anybody, anything, nothing at all. No stimulus. No sign of life except for his. If his could count at all. He looked at his hand. He was real.
I'm not imagining things. I'm all alone. Could this be the after life? Ayumi...?
Madara had thought to himself.
Could this be... Ayumi's doing...?
Madara oddly enough, had felt a sense of relief and comfort. He looked up to see an endless pit of whiteness. No longer would be have to be concerned with the polarizing nature that was the Shinobi World. He had been the best of the best at it, but he realized at that moment, he wish he hadn't known about it.
He remained floating, closing his eyes, thinking about the time he had spent on Earth... the mark he had left... his legacy... the last words he had spoken as he found out he was a ploy after all as part of some grand scheme to destroy the world.
How foolish I had been. If I had just walked your path Ayumi.
Slowly, the flashbacks of his last moments were beginning to flow into his consciousness.
"Hashirama... Where... did I go... wrong..."
"I always... hated... people behind me..."
Slowly, the memories were scattered, but coming together.
Suddenly, the brown-haired man that had been his long-lasting rival came into imagery. Hashirama Senju.
"When we were kids, you once said we're shinobi, and we don't know when we'll die. ... But we're both about to die. Right now, we can drink together, as war buddies." Hashirama had said to Madara in his last moments, with a soppy grin.
Madara now couldn't help but grow a sad smile.
"War buddies, huh? Well... I guess... that's... okay...."
---
"Is that you Hashirama? I guess neither you, nor I could achieve what we wanted." Madara had said, feeling the pain of chakra extraction hurt his body, his cells.
"It's never that easy. Our job is to all we can while we're alive and then bequeath the rest for future generations to accomplish." Hashirama said confidently, and almost consolingly to his befallen friend.
"So naive.. as usual. you.. were always.. the optimist. But perhaps.. that is the correct path. My dream.. was squashed. But your dream.. still lives on." Madara admitted.
"We were both too hasty. we didn't need to fulfill our reams ourselves. it was more important to cultivate those who would come after us, to whom we could entrust our dreams." Hashirama tried to lessen Madara's failure.
"Which means I would've failed anyway. Since I've always hated someone.. standing behind me..." Madara thought of Ayumi.
"When we were kids, you once said we're shinobi and we don't know when we'll die. And that for neither side to die, we'd both have to reveal what's inside of us and pour each other drinks to toast like brothers. But we're both about to die. Right now, we can drink together, as war buddies." Hashirama said, with a sad grin.
A few moments had passed, as MAdara mustered up the last bit of willpower to speak his last words.
"War buddies.. huh? Well.. I guess.. that's okay..."
---
Madara had looked at his hand, and clenched his fist.
If I had only listened to you, Ayumi.
---
"Hamura! Hamura!" Ayumi was all alone in some white dimension, but she could feel him. His presence. Ayumi was growing frustrated, they were seperated. "He's back! Which means.. he has... died...from Earth... Hamura!" Ayumi yelled once more.
And just like that, Ayumi had her wish granted, and she could see her husbands back, far far away. She would run towards him at a speed unmatched.
Ayumi waved frantically while running to him, "Madara! I'm here!"
"Hm?" Madara perked his head towards the direction of the sound.