Wabi-Sabi

***

When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

Ronald Reagan

***

Day 6

Recording: Outside mean temperature: 113˚ F [45˚C]

Uchiha Kiko looked a little better cleaned up, but she certainly didn't look beautiful physically, anyway. The miracle of life and all that was amazing, and everyone adored her, including Tobirama. But apparently, it took a few days for the wrinkles and redness to start fading and the baby's features to smooth out and start resembling something human.

She also had a weird cap of skin on her skull that started to dry and peel the next day, with downy little patches of dark hair peeking through.

Ren, apparently unsurprised by all of this and highly amused by the surprise of all those who didn't share this secret knowledge (pretty much every male of any age and any female too young to have given birth), let Tobirama do a few scientific sketches while Kiko slept against her chest. She'd tried breastfeeding that morning, but the constant heat from the fire, her slow healing, and the lack of food, despite Madara ordering Ren to receive full rations, had dried up her breast milk. 

It had done the same to all the wet nurses they'd sought, and they'd been forced to turn to formula without Ren being able to breastfeed her baby even once. Hashirama had decided to serve as Ren's personal doctor and checked in on her and the baby every couple of hours after Madara had installed them in a luxurious room in the main house. 

Kagami had become a frequent visitor, fascinated by the sight of a human younger than him and unafraid to ask all manner of invasive questions. 

A few of which had made Madara, when he accompanied him, or whatever other adult was around, clamp a hand over his mouth and apologize profusely. 

It's after one of these meetings, when Ren had turned pale with exhaustion and frustration at her inability to feed her baby, and Hashirama has kicked them out, that Tobirama found himself sitting with Aiko, Touka, Sana, Aunt Emi, Renji, and several of the calmer -at times- Uchiha, Kasumi, Itachi, Yoruichi, Kisuke, and the twins, Aki and Ami.

And Kagami.

Who is not calm at all, ever, and lasts all of ten minutes sitting with the adults before he runs off, mind and mouth going a mile a minute. 

They have another meeting this afternoon. An attempt to share responsibility among both clans. To learn about one another. Hashirama always gets this stupid, meant-to-be-encouraging-but-really-it's-just-pitiful look on his face as he implores them all to understand and love one another.

So far, every single meeting has gone off the rails. Starting with the very first when questions about Kaguya and Zetsu had devolved into tearing apart the histories of both clans to try and figure out what was Zetsu's fault and what was their own foolishness.

Patrol rotations had turned into a debate on education and training practices when it had come out that Madara had little to do with the patrols because he was still teaching Kagami and the other children to read and write. Tobirama's still not sure how it developed into the clan leader's responsibility, but it was an interesting contrast to the Senju's more mainstream schooling system.

A recounting of the wounded and treatments going forward now that the heat was impacting chakra recovery had turned into a bunch of pregnant women comparing birthing techniques and the revelation that the Uchiha struggle so with reproduction. 

Hashirama had nearly given himself a hernia when Tobirama asked if they'd burned Izuna's wife so quickly because of her condition. Hashirama had managed to cover by saying he meant her injury and then pulled Tobirama aside afterward and begged him never to share the knowledge.

It seemed ridiculous to think that could cause so much damage that it would panic Hashirama, but Tobirama didn't consider himself a cruel person either, so there was no sacrifice in agreeing.

He hadn't seen Izuna since that first day anyway. Hashirama had helped Madara carry him into his room and assigned Sana to monitor him constantly, though Madara and Hashirama also spent most of their free time with him. He was catatonic, according to Sana, locked in a deep sleep courtesy of Madara's Mangekon to allow his heart and mind the time they needed. Apparently, Tobirama had been right when he'd noted it felt like Izuna was dying during the pyre, but he still didn't understand why.

Who knows how the meeting today will go?

Tobirama is not looking forward to finding out. Kami knows what they'll end up arguing about since the constant light from the fire has started impacting people's ability to sleep. 

The Uchiha run hot, and the Senju run cold, so the Uchiha have been losing more and more clothing as the days go on. One of the Senju Elders threw a fit when he caught a few Uchiha women relaxing in just their underwear and no bras and immediately demanded they dress and stop shaming themselves and their families.

None of them had moved. Tobirama's even been assured that one of them had given the Elder a particular gesture that nearly sent him through the roof.

Hashirama had been nearby for that one and put an end to it by telling the Elder that he'd have to re-dress, too, if he was demanding it of them. The Elder's argument that his age made him more vulnerable and, therefore, an exception, hadn't flown with anyone, especially since, "At least our tits aren't wrinkled and sagging, old man! Nobody wants to see that shit either!"

Seriously? How are the Uchiha a noble clan?

So far, they're defiant to all reason, over-emotional and uncontrollable, and lack any sense of shame or modesty.

Ren has barely ever put clothes on since she gave birth, but Ren gave them Kiko, so she's the exception to everything as far as most of them are concerned. 

Including Tobirama.

Even Madara's been wandering around in nothing, but pants rolled up to his knees. Tobirama's heard a few of the Senju women muttering about his form.

And they weren't insulting mutters, either.

And adorable little Kagami just streaked past in nothing.

It only took minutes before the other children, Senju and Uchiha alike, were following suit.

Tobirama turned a blind eye to it when he saw a few disapproving looks among the adults. 

Instead, he turned his attention back to the conversation that's sparked between his Senju and a few Uchiha. 

Honestly, it's more surprising to see Aunt Emi and Touka sitting together than to see the Uchiha and Senju together. Emi and Butsuma had not gotten along despite being siblings, and Touka and her mother didn't see eye to eye on anything. Hashirama, Tobirama, and Touka are old enough now to realize that Butsuma had cut her out of their lives, but it's hardly been long enough to start repairing that relationship.

Aiko was Aunt Emi's student. That's how Tobirama met her, and he took a moment to admire his mother's necklace around her neck before focusing back on the conversation.

"How can you not have divorce?" Renji's parents have both been divorced multiple times.

Kasumi rolls her eyes at him, "We only marry for love, Peashoot. And a Uchiha's love only ends in death."

"That's impossible," Touka, whose infamous lack of patience, affects her personal relationships just as much as her professional ones.

"It's true," Itachi murmurs. "There's never been one." He's the one whose house Kagami supposedly burned down.

"That you know of. How detailed are your historical records?" Aiko asks and gets a bunch of blank Uchiha stares in response.

"They could have been altered," Tobirama offers to support her. That's what good boyfriends do, and she's asked him to work on that in the past. 

She gives him a brilliant smile in response, but the Uchiha still look lost.

"Our records are perfect," Ami says.

"They can't be altered," Aki adds.

"How is that possible?" Aunt Emi looks as confused as the rest of them.

"The Sharingan?" Tobirama guesses. "Do you have people memorize the texts?"

Kasumi gapes at him, "Holy shit."

Yoruichi, on the other hand, looks victorious. "I fucking told you."

"Please tell me I'm not the only one who's lost," Renji muttered.

"You're not the only one," Sana offers.

Yoruichi grins and slaps Tobirama on the knee, "Petal and Dara are utterly convinced you've figured it all out, but I told them it was too much of a leap, even for you."

Tobirama bristles, "What is?"

"It's not a bad thing," Itachi jumps in, "It's, there's no one that would make the leap without being told."

"The Sharingan gives us memorization. We never forget anything." Aki begins, and Ami finishes, "Including the memories of our ancestors."

It takes a minute even when they're telling him right to his face because they're right. No one would ever make that leap. 

"You have a genetic memory?" Tobirama can't quite keep the disbelief out of his voice.

"All the way back to Indra," Kasumi says. "They're stored in our blood and the Sharingan. All I have to do is go back and look, and I can relieve any moment from the life of any Uchiha. I can feel the pain and fear my mother felt when the blade cut through her neck."

Aunt Emi flinches.

"I can remember the victory and exhaustion my great-grandfather felt when he finally slew the Hagaromo he'd been fighting for hours."

"We can feel the loneliness and rage Indra felt as he took his final breaths. We can see the forms Zetsu took when he whispered in his ear and the last words that Indra and Asura spoke to one another."

"There's no need for us to maintain physical records, so we've never bothered." Kasumi finishes. 

"You…." For once, Touka has no words.

"How do you forget?" Renji looks horrified.

"We don't," Kasumi kicked him in the shin. "That's the point. We're Uchiha, we never forget. We never fall out of love once we've fallen in. We never fall in love a second time because we can never forget the first."

"So Izuna…" Izuna will never love again if he survives, Tobirama realizes. He's Tobirama's age, and he's now destined to be alone for however much longer he lives.

That can't be right.

"No." Aki looks sad. "We're one and done. And it's rare for one half to survive the loss of the other. It's part of why we allow anyone to join the clan."

"That's dangerous." The amount of risk in allowing strangers in, especially with their dojutsu is mind-boggling. Tobirama would never allow it. But Kisuke is sitting right there, proof positive of what they're saying.

And the Senju are living in the Uchiha Compound, willingly or not.

"Uchiha are not meant to be alone. We don't do well. Or live very long." Ami and Aki share a look. It's only been a few days, but Tobirama's already noticed the twin's relationship is…intense. The Uchiha seem to turn a blind eye.

"One of your elders, Oda, speaks of arranged marriage?" Emi asks, and Yoruichi's lip curls.

"My father's a fool." Yoruichi spits out, "And barely an Uchiha. He deludes himself."

"That's terrible," Aiko murmurs, but none of the Uchiha seem to agree.

"The Sharingan gives many gifts, but we are well aware of the weight that comes with it. All power requires sacrifice." And then Kisuke looks right at Tobirama. "If you wish to truly learn about the Sharingan and our memory, you should speak with Madara. He is the most knowledgeable of all of us. I'm sure a man of your intelligence would find it fascinating."

"Oh, get him to show you shunko," Yoruichi perks up, "Then we can spar!"

Shunko is the Uchiha Clan's fabled taijutsu. Rarely seen in modern times but rumored to be impossible to defeat. Tobirama's always been torn between a burning curiosity to see what makes it so dangerous and an equally strong survival instinct to avoid it at all costs.

"We're not supposed to use it against humans," Yoruichi continues, "We use it on Yokai Hunts. And against Kaguya."

"So all those stories were true?" Sana looks a little overwhelmed at the thought.

"Well, yeah." Yoruichi cocks her head, Sharingan spinning to life, and Tobirama's not the only Senju that stiffens. "Our last hunt was years ago now because there aren't many Yokai left, but the Senju fought beside us the last time Kaguya tried to break free. There was…Tai?"

Tobirama shares a look with Touka, "Our great-great-grandfather. He used to tell stories about it. Claimed he lost his arm to a Uchiha using shunko." 

Yoruichi's sharingan keeps spinning, and then suddenly, she grins. "Oh, ouch. Yeah, he got in the way on accident. Want to see?" 

Her chakra pulses but fell away the immediate, panicked No's! 

"Too soon?" Kisuke smirked.

"I'd like to see," Sana volunteered, the only one who hadn't screamed 'No'.

"Let's save that for another time." Tobirama sent Kisuke a grateful look. "We're late anyway."

That's right, another meeting. This one discusses the evolving effects of the heat.

But it does beg the question. 

"Why have you welcomed us so easily?" Tobirama asks, halfway convinced he might get an honest answer.

Yoruichi and Kasumi and Ami look at him with something like amusement, something like pity. "You really don't know? You are our brothers and sisters now. Our allies in the war against Kaguya. It doesn't matter what came before; it only matters what happens now."

"We have been enemies for generations," Tobirama insists. Aiko and Renji and the others nodding along in support.

But it doesn't budge the Uchiha.

"So what?" Yoruichi asks. "You are enemies of Kaguya now. You are our allies. You are our family. Who cares what came before?"

"You literally can't forget it," Tobirama points out, but he just gets blank stares back.

"But you are against Kaguya now," Ami says. 

"We are family," Aki adds.

"It's not that simple," Touka insists, but even she begins to flag in the face of the Uchiha's unserving assurance.

"We are blood now," Itachi insists. "We live together. We will never be separated again."

"Never?" Tobirama's voice breaks halfway through because he was most definitely not aware that this was not a temporary thing. Hashirama hasn't said anything that would suggest he has no plans not to go back to the Senju settlement when all is said and done.

....

He hasn't mentioned his village at all since they've been here.

......…..

Motherfucker. Are Hashirama and Madara planning something else they haven't mentioned?

Or has this been part of their plan all along?

He dismisses the thought as soon as it enters his mind. Hashirama and Madara are egotistical dreamers, and they have proven to be vicious and calculating, far more than he thought was possible when he was younger, but the sheer number of losses the Senju have suffered…

He does not believe either of them would do it on purpose.

A shiver runs down his spine, a harsh whisper from a distant voice he will never recognize and that no one else seems to hear, "Hashirama and Madara are capable of far more than that, snowflake. It is the reason they were chosen to suffer so. Envy them their ability to love, that which makes them so capable, but do not envy them anything else. They will pay for their capability and heart in ways you cannot begin to imagine. In ways you would never wish on your greatest enemy."

Yoruichi grins. "Hear something, Senju?"

Tobirama narrowed his eyes, but the young Uchiha had no tells. 

Yet.

Suddenly, her eyes darken, and the air around her stills. "Your blood now, Senju. You can ask."

But he can't. 

The words won't come. Stuck in his throat like he didn't chew enough or swallow right.

It's starting to make sense.

The Uchiha haven't suddenly come around or changed their minds about anything. They're just OBSESSED with defeating Zetsu and Kaguya and Hashirama and Madara, and this is likely their greatest achievement ever, have convinced the Uchiha that the Senju are necessary for that victory. 

To the Uchiha, that simple fact is enough to overlook generations of hatred and pain because nothing mattered more than defeating Kaguya.

The Senju will never be free of the Uchiha, and the thought makes his stomach turn.

The Uchiha will never be free of the Senju and that thought makes amusement bubble in his stomach.

They're stuck with each other now, no matter what the future brings.

Conversation: 8

Participants: Uchiha Kasumi, Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Yourichi, Uchiha Kisuke, Senju Renji, Senji Emi, Senju Touka, Senju Aiko

Subject: Inter-clan relations

Conclusion: The Uchiha are insane, and now the Senju are stuck with them.

***

Day 7

With each 0.5°C (1°F) rise in core temperature, nerve cells misfire, leading to headache, nausea, or even vomiting. 

Hashirama was expecting far more yelling than he's seen so far. At the very least, Tobi should have figured some things out by now and come to beat sense into his older brother.

But all he's done since Kiko's birth is glare at Hashirama with beady eyes, careful to stay out of arm's reach. For fuck's sake, he even hissed at Hashirama this morning over tea!

Given Tobi's lack of interest in anyone too young to fight, he's taking this whole thing about Ren's birth a bit personally. 

"He is, isn't he? Yes, he is! It wasn't his vagina I stuck my hand up, was it!" He cooed at Kiko, whose tiny black eyes blinked up at him in innocent bewilderment.

Across the room, Madara squawked, "Hashi! You fool, she's too young for that language."

"Aw, she doesn't know any better. Do you, sweetheart?" He nuzzled her soft baby skin and frowned when he registered the heat coming off her. She'd been red since the moment she was born, though that wasn't completely out of the realm of normal, but it should have started to fade. She was far underweight as well, but given that, all they had was weak formula…He pushed healing chakra into his palm and pressed it gently against her belly. She let out one of those tiny baby sighs and squirmed at the cold touch.

Madara hovered over his shoulder, "How is she?"

Kiko blinked at her clan leader, tiny arms swinging. 

Hashirama smiled, "Ready to fight. Is there more formula?"

"The rest of this batch went bad. I sent Hikaku to open another."

"How much is left?"

Madara looked away, fussing over a stack of papers, and said, so quiet Hashirama almost couldn't hear him, "Not enough."

Madara could never be a healer, Hashirama muses, because he's too invested in every life he comes across. He took everything to heart, and every loss added another fracture, no matter how unavoidable it was.

Kiko fussed when Madara left her sight, but the clan leader was too afraid to hold her himself, so Hashirama propped her on his shoulder, pressing a cooling hand to her back while she watched Madara work. "The wards are keeping it cooler than we expected."

But even with Hashirama and Madara feeding their own chakra into the wards, it wasn't going to keep the temperature down forever. They were stalling for time and the moment was coming when they would fail.

Madara's temperature that morning had been 103 degrees. Hashirama's had been 101. They'd both begun to notice the sluggishness, the clumsiness, and the cramping start setting in. Hashirama had been afraid to try taking the temperatures of anyone else lest it caused a panic when the experienced healers realized what the rise in internal body temperature meant. It had taken twice the chakra it should have for Hashirama to heal Ren's tears from the birth, and she was still bedridden. 

Even Hashirama and Madara were suffering from extremely slow chakra recovery, and not just because they were pouring extra chakra into the blood wards. 

Neither of them had eaten in three days, but the food stores were dwindling to dangerous levels because even Mito's seals couldn't keep the heat out entirely. There was no cool water, only warm. Anything not eaten immediately went bad in a few hours. Even the old granny's garden that Hashirama had worked so hard on had wilted and died completely the day before, and none of the other gardens had survived any longer. That meant no fresh vegetables or fruit. They couldn't leave to hunt, and there'd been a vicious fight Uchiha Itachi had had to break up that morning when a starving civilian man had tried to kill and cook his neighbor's dog. Any shinobi with summons had sent them away. 

The dwindling water supply and heat had led to a…smell that permeated the entire compound that no one was ever going to un-smell. 

The fire burned so bright they had not seen a nightfall since they'd become surrounded and despite attempting to stick to a schedule using the Uchiha clocks, what little sleep anyone had managed was barely enough to stay sane.

Even the wind kicked up by Zetsu's inferno just added another layer of misery.

Hashirama hadn't put on clothes in four days, and he'd even passed Kasumi using a terrified Renji as a personal cooler, lying sprawled on the frozen Senju in the weak shade of an engawa. Poor Renju had looked terrified, arms flung out to the sides, and Hashirama had almost said something before he'd realized the color in Renji's cheeks was less from the -former- enemy shinobi and more from the naked woman using him as a cooling pillow.

Hashirama had almost wanted to stick around and see what happened when Kasumi decided to move, but he wasn't willing to leave Kiko unattended that long, and there was a high chance the rush of blood would just render Renji unconscious anyway.

Kasumi was far from the only Uchiha that had resorted to that method of cooling down, anyway. He'd passed a few similar groupings, though none promised to be as amusing. Even Tobi seemed to have consented to letting a few Uchiha sit close. 

He'd told everyone to stop using their chakra to cool anything unless it was life or death, but they'd already started losing that battle. The first of the elderly civilians had died the night before, bodies unable to fight against the heat. More had followed first thing this morning, and Hashirama knew there would be even more by nightfall.

Madara had forbidden any funeral pyres for the time being, and no one was willing to throw the bodies into Zetsu's cursed fire, so with no room to bury them, there was a pile of neatly wrapped corpses slowly filling one of the far-training areas.

They'd start losing the ill and the weak next. 

Then, the children.

And that would be the beginning of the end because parents never recovered from burying their children. 

But until Tobi and the others recovered more of their strength, there was no other option. Hashirama and Madara could not leave them undefended, as there was no doubt that Zetsu was lying in wait.

And that he had more than just this fire at his fingertips.

So they were chained here until the others were strong enough to withstand him, and Hashirama and Madara could find a way to put out the fire.

"Have you found anything useful?"

"No. It all says to put the fire out before it becomes too big to control."

"Helpful." 

"The next suggestion is to starve it of fuel."

"That would kill all of us as well, Dear Heart. We'd have to start all over."

Madara's stricken expression is more than he can bear to look at. Madara's spent every free moment digging through his memories and the few physical records the Uchiha's have to try and find something. There's no other clan alive with so much knowledge of fire.

But even that, hundreds of generations of dedicated study, wasn't enough to know every truth about fire. The only truly uncontrollable element. The one that brought the ash of destruction and creation to the world and did as it pleased.

It was a stroke of genius on Zetsu's part, but Hashirama doubted the monster truly understood what he'd done. Zetsu's creativity and understanding were limited to what he learned from Kaguya, and even in all the lifetimes he'd managed to take them by surprise, it had been due more to Hashirama and Madara's distraction than his own great skill. He'd stumbled into a brilliant tactical maneuver with the fire, and if he was a degree more intelligent, he would have seen the opportunity to force their hand by now.

They existed on borrowed time, and it was not a feeling either of them was comfortable with.

"Tobi is healing. It should only be a few more days before he's close to full strength."

"He won't be able to stand alone. Izuna has shown no sign of waking. Hikaku and the other captains are still recovering."

"So are the Senju. Tobi's always been unique in the speed with which he recovers, but he'll die if he tries to do it alone."

"He takes care of himself almost as well as we do." The Uchiha's militant mindset stretched to the care of their greatest weapons, their bodies. Hashirama didn't agree with all of their healing practices, but even he would admit they took excellent care of themselves, sparing no expense when it came to chakra or gold. 

It was the only reason they were able to withstand the constant rising of their internal temperatures. With a temperature of 103, Madara should have been under a dedicated healer's care, but he was still capable of functioning thought and movement after a few days of nothing but limited water.

The human body could only survive to 107, but any time above 103 guaranteed brain and organ damage. And it could only survive any external temperature below 140. 

They were running out of time on all sides. 

Conversation: – (Off the record)

Participants: Uchiha Madara, Senju Hashirama

Subject: Survival

Conclusion: Not guaranteed

***

Days 8 – 10

Outside mean temperature: 128˚ F [53˚C]

As heat exhaustion begins, the body starts to sweat excessively, electrolytes become unbalanced, and cramping in the muscles begins.

The following days were nothing more than a haze of miserable, never-drying sweat and steadily blurring vision. They were down to rice and pale miso soup by the tenth day, and a few pets that had starved to death had been…..

Well, better not said since all the adults agreed none of the children needed to know. Touka had broken down into tears when she'd gone to help find another bag of formula and found out they'd all gone bad. 

Tobirama had sacrificed two nights of sleep to keep the hawk alive. Had even run into Madara once when he was returning to check on her and found the clan leader hunched over on the floor with birds perched all over him. They'd stared at one another in wide-eyed surprise until Tobi had backed out, pretending he'd entered the wrong room.

Kagami and many of the younger children had developed heat rashes that couldn't be treated, and that had apparently been the last straw for his grandfather. The old man had approached Madara and asked him to adopt the boy on the ninth day, then said goodbye to his beloved grandson and spilled his blood over the wards to strengthen them and lower the temperature that had risen two degrees in six hours.

Kagami had been inconsolable, but more so, the action had stunned the Senju who had witnessed it. It had been generations since the Senju had used blood wards, and the lack of knowledge had resulted in a screaming panic until Kisuke and Aki had shown up and calmed everyone down.

Three more Uchiha elders had followed his example before midnight, and now accusations were flying about who was at fault and how it was barbaric, and even whether or not he was really dead. 

But the sacrifice of Kagami's grandfather and the other three elders had lowered the temperature by half a degree, and while Madara and his captains were unwilling to say anything that might influence anyone's choice, other members of the Uchiha and Senju hadn't been as quiet.

Tobirama had been forced to step in when he'd caught several Senju elders attempting to coerce three Senju teenagers who weren't considered very promising as shinobi to do the same.

Of course, Tobi's intervention had also caused an uproar because he'd physically dragged the Senju elders to the wall and demanded they do it first. All three had refused, but before Hashirama or Madara could get there, the families of the three had heard and come for blood. It had been a full-out brawl by the time Hashirama and Madara had reached them, with all the Uchiha and most of the Senju demanding the elder's blood and the entire body of elders arguing that they needed to survive to carry their knowledge and experience to the next generation.

Hashirama had not been sympathetic, and Elder Naoka, one of Butsuma's dear friends and one of Hashirama's chief opponents, had seen the writing on the wall and frantically pointed out that Madara had the final say.

Even Tobirama, who'd been one of her prized students, had looked at her like she was a fool.

Any doubt that Madara would hesitate to execute the Senju sheltering in the compound was put to rest with his words, "You should only shed the blood of others if you're willing to shed your own."

"You wouldn't da-"

The wards had rippled and gleamed as the blood of the elders splashed over it.

The bloodshed that had followed had been…contained. 

Mostly.

A dozen or so had died during the fight, including several more elders. By the time Madara and Hashirama had resorted to unleashing their chakra to oppressive levels, and the mokuton and Sharingan had physically restrained the rest, the temperature had dropped by a full five degrees. 

There was no celebration.

Madara had been incandescent with rage. His chakra turned abrasive and burning.

Hashirama had ordered the dead wrapped and put with the others, warned that the next person to cause conflict would die by his own hand, and ordered everyone to return to their sleeping areas.

The clocks had ticked over to the eleventh day in shocked silence. 

Conversation: 10

Participants: Uchiha Madara, Senju Naoka (Deceased)

Subject: Blood

Conclusion: Sacrifices are necessary to survive, but victory will only come to those willing.

***

Day 11

Outside mean temperature: 130˚ F [54˚C]

Once the core temperature reaches 40°C (104°F) organs start shutting down, and cells deteriorate. 

The only sound in the compound this day was the crackling of the flames pressing against the wards.

After the events of the previous day, the compound was quiet for the first time since they'd all been crammed in here together. Tobi was shaken, and he was far from the only one. Aiko and Touka had both been pale and still since the bloodletting, and they'd both avoided the Uchiha.

Madara had been sequestered away in the main house.

Sana, interestingly enough, had been unafraid to return. to her work caring for the unconscious Uchiha despite witnessing Madara slaying four Senju elders without remorse. 

Hashirama's fury and disappointment had kept everyone away from him. 

Even Tobi had been disappointed in the behavior of both clans and avoided everyone for the day. He'd been walking patrols to do something, but Hashirama and Madara's warning was being headed. Thank kami. Maybe the truth of their situation was finally sinking in.

He walked the compound wall through the civilian neighborhood, nodding politely when he needed to and ignoring the few attempts to speak with him. 

There were no children running around today; most of them had been corralled and placed under the care of the healers. 

Most of the elderly that were left had refused, unwilling to take care and attention away from the younger generations.

It would be moving if Tobi had the energy left to be emotional. 

Instead, he was a seething mass of resentment and annoyance and impotent fury with nowhere to go.

They were hemmed in on all sides. He couldn't hirashin out even now that he'd figured out the missing connection because the markers he'd been experimenting with had burned in the fire, and there weren't enough resources left to re-create them.

That, more than anything, made Tobirama feel as though this was the end. 

All the ink in the compound had dried into blocks, and it was so hot blood dried too quickly. Even their scrolls were drying out so much that paper had become brittle and delicate and nearly impossible to handle.

It wasn't a situation even Tobirama had ever expected to be in. Sure, he'd expected that someday he'd be in such dire straights that he wouldn't have access to any other it. Wounded and cut off from his allies after a difficult mission, most likely. 

But it was all still here. Everything they needed to survive was rendered useless by the heat.

The blood had lowered the temperature temporarily, but it was already climbing back to where it had been before, and people weren't lining up to volunteer their blood.

He paused, looked at the wards that shimmered and danced as the fire pressed against them. They wouldn't be visible normally, but they were strained under the constant attack. 

The fact that they'd held this long was incredible and Tobirama had been filing away what he'd learned about them for when the Senju returned to their own compound.

...

If Hashirama and Madara didn't try something. 

There was a headache building behind his eyes, and he took several deep breaths in an attempt to ward it off.

He looked up and tried to see the stars, but the flames reached so high the sky hadn't been visible since they'd become trapped here.

Nothing but fire and enemies in all directions. 

Before this week, Tobirama would have bet everything he loved that he would have died at the hands of a Uchiha. Tobirama was skilled, one of the best alive, but the Uchiha had been the Senju's main rivals for a reason.

He'd honestly never expected to die any other way.

Now, he was going to die beside a Uchiha instead. Probably several.

Kami, at some point, Hashirama was going to make him make nice with Madara.

Hopefully, he died before then.

It was entirely possible. They were down to rice and miso soup and tea leaves that had no flavor left to give, and Tobi had already noticed a significant loss in muscle mass. His body was eating itself to keep going.

The sudden, inexplicable urge to see his brother rose with a fierceness that took his breath away and Tobirama turned and cut through the housing area, through the merchant's street, and sprinted to the main house at the far end of the compound. 

Ren and her husband were asleep on the ground floor, and he clocked Sana's resting chakra in the same room as Izuna's muted signature. 

Mito and her cousins were asleep in their room and didn't stir when Tobirama made his way by.

Madara's chakra was still blistering and boiling in his office next to the dead garden, but Hashirama's was nestled in the opposite end of the house as far as he could get from the rest of the occupants of the house.

Hashirama didn't normally like to be alone. 

He'd failed utterly at every meditation he'd attempted and was well-known for making friends on solo missions.

It had driven their father up the wall.

He flew into Hashirama's room with a tad more energy than he'd meant to. A small private study he hadn't seen before. 

Hashirama jumped when he burst in, a small form in his arms and tear tracks on his cheeks.

A small…still form.

...….

So still.

So quiet.

Oh.

Fresh tears welled in Hashirama's eyes, "Tobi-"

But he couldn't-

He ran.

Conversation: 11

Participants: Senju Tobirama, Senju Hashirama

Subject: The child

Conclusion:

***

Day 12

Outside mean temperature: 135˚ F [57˚C]

Uchiha Kiko lived for six days.

On the first, she welcomed the world.

On the second, she learned the warmth of her mother's arms.

On the third, she met her blood kin.

On the fourth, she learned the pain of hunger.

On the fifth, she learned even her mother could not fix everything.

On the sixth, she learned the peace of death.

The funeral pyre for Uchiha Ren's tiny daughter measured from the tips of Tobirama's fingers to the inside of his elbow. 

It was the smallest coffin he'd ever seen.

Smaller even than Itama's, who'd died at the age of seven and had always been small for his age.

The next time Tobirama saw Zetsu, he was going to rip that inhuman creature of rot limb from limb.

He'd been in a fugue since he checked in on Hashirama last night and found his brother crying helplessly over the small, still form in his arms. All he'd been able to do was leave, just run and run the border of the compound until the rest of its occupants had gathered for the funeral.

After the heat had dried up Ren's milk, and the wet nurses and the formula had gone bad, Hashirama had been using the Mystical Palm Technique to try and treat the baby's hunger…

Hashirama must have known it wouldn't work. His healing ability and knowledge were far beyond Tobirama's, and Tobirama knew it wouldn't once he actually stopped to think about it, but he'd used his far-to-slowly recovering chakra to try anyway.

For days.

His brother was probably the only person alive who would waste every drop of his chakra on what he knew was a lost cause.

Madara, holding a dazed Kagami, hoarse from crying and exhausted from the heat rash the healers hadn't been able to treat, had stood like stone at the head of his clan, his Mangekon spinning relentlessly, tears of blood dripping down his cheeks. 

An observation to add to his records when he wasn't feeling quite so uselessly emotional: All Uchiha cried tears of blood. Even those without the Sharingan.

It was a striking sight. Oddly beautiful in its terrifying sadness.

Ren's husband had carried her from the healing bed to the funeral. She'd been the only Uchiha who hadn't cried. Instead, her hearth-warm chakra had been so full of rage and loss that Tobirama doubted Hashirama or Madara would have taken her in a fight at that moment.

Even the Senju had cried as the pyre of the first child born to peace between the clans burned.

The lament had started quietly. Madara's voice breaking every other word, unable to maintain a steady tune. But more joined with every word, even the Senju, once they'd recognized the melody. Uchiha and Senju joined together in mourning, voices straining to be heard over the flames.

Around a funeral pyre so small it only burned for an hour.

No one left until the embers had gone dark.

***

Day 13

Any rise in temperature above 40°C (104°F) brings on heat stroke. Sweating stops. Cardiac arrest is on the horizon. Hallucinations begin. Seizures occur. Internal inflammation begins. The first organs to go are the kidneys. Death occurs within a few hours.

The crack as Ren slammed the rice bowls down made everyone in the Hantahoru jump. 

Madara and Hashirama, wide-eyed and frozen where they were seated at the head table, as she snarled. "You will eat."

There's defiance on the tips of their tongues, but it never materializes as Ren continues.

"You will eat. You have not since the third day, did you think we had not noticed?"

Tobirama and Mito had both snapped around at that, along with many of the Senju and the civilians of both clans.

"You have not eaten, and you have been using your chakra to bolster the wards. That is why you have not recovered enough strength to end this."

Madara and Hashirama shrank at her words, shoulders coming up defensively as Hashirama found his words. "If we had not, no one would still be alive. The temperature is too high."

"It's too high now, and now you may be too weak to ensure victory." Ren snarled. "You bought time and safety instead of assuring freedom."

"Everyone needed time to heal," Madara mutters, and he's not wrong, Tobirama thinks -to his own surprise-. The healing has been slow, but both he and Mito have recovered a decent portion of their strength. So have most of the other shinobi. Only Hashirama and Madara had not, but both Tobirama and the Healers had assumed it was a result of the extensive overuse of their chakra and the simple fact that they had so much to recover. 

Tobirama had not noticed that neither one wasn't eating, and now he feels like a selfish fool. Irrational, Hashirama will say, but that doesn't make the feeling go away. Hashirama is always so concerned with him, with making sure Tobirama is safe, that everyone else is safe. He never thinks of himself. Tobirama spends so much energy proving he can take care of himself that he forgets to make sure Hashirama is doing the same.

But it's been thirteen days in close quarters…

How did no one notice?

And how did the Uchiha find out?

"Why do you still doubt yourself?" Ren roars.

Madara flinches.

"You are our Shishou. We will follow you into the flames, as we always have. We are not children. We do not need to be taken care of. We need to be led into battle. That is the purpose of all Uchiha. We die in battle, Shishou, or we do not die at all."

She shoved the rice bowls at them.

"Do not let us linger here in this slow death. We are meant for action, for war. You are meant to lead us, so lead us into battle!"

"You will not survive!" Madara roars, then seems to remember where he is and who's watching and closes in on himself.

Tobirama's never met a man so big who can make himself seem so small.

"Then so be it." Ren hisses, "We do not deserve to live if we are not strong enough to do so. We do not deserve to follow you if we cannot keep up."

"We need as many as possible-" Hashirama's attempt to defend their actions quickly tapered off when the two pregnant Senju women flanking her crossed their arms.

"You will eat. You will recover what strength you can, and you will put an end to this."

"We are not stupid, Lord Hashirama. We know we are of little use in this battle and that you are afraid to leave us. But we will not be alive to fight in the war if you do not leave us now, so you must go. Those of us who are left after will still fight alongside you when the time comes." 

"I don't understand," Aunt Emi broke in, "Is there some way to defeat Zetsu's fire?"

Ren's gaze didn't leave Madara. "I don't know, but if there is one, my Shishou will find it."

Her faith is astounding, Tobi thinks. So strong, so unwavering…so blind. The Uchiha are, strangely, unnecessarily devoted in their loyalties.

It's almost as if Ren is answering his unspoken thoughts, "In all things, we are strong. In all things, we love. In all things, we are devoted until death. If this is to be our death, so be it. We will die with blades in our hands and honor in our hearts. And you will go on. No matter what."

Madara ducked his head. It took a moment to realize he was trying to wipe away tears before anyone saw.

Was this what they had come to? Following two men who so openly worried? Who showed their confusion alongside their confidence? Could trust be placed in leaders who were just as human as the rest of them? The Daimyo claimed divine birth. Clan leaders were chosen from the children of clan leaders, who were chosen from the children of clan leaders. 

Even Mito looked apprehensive and confused. Her father was a king. Had she ever seen him cry? Had her mother, the queen, ever admitted weakness?

Neither Bustuma nor their mother had ever done either. And they had not looked kindly on those who had.

Shinobi did not cry.

Yet Hashirama fell to tears daily, and Madara, the Great Calamity, cried unabashedly in front of his kin.

The image stuck him, suddenly and ridiculously, of following Hashirama into battle while he sobbed loudly and dramatically -because that was the only way he knew how to cry- while the mokuton raged.

At least tears of blood were intimidating.

Hashirama and Madara have been playing it safe, he realizes. Sacrificing the chance to make a fatal strike to ensure the survival of as many of the clans as possible.

It is not necessarily the wrong decision, but Ren is also right. They have surpassed the time when defense is the most valuable course of action. 

They may have even waited too long.

Apparently, patience is not an Uchiha trait, because before anyone else can speak Yoruichi shoves her rice away. "No one else will eat until you eat, Shishou."

She definitely didn't coordinate that with anyone ahead of time because she gets some truly mutinous looks from her own clan and the Senju. The throbbing pain of hunger in his stomach almost makes Tobirama argue, but then Aunt Emi pushes her bowl away, and it causes a cascade of bowls shifting across the tables. 

Some of them are clearly reluctant, mutter about individual choices -which only matter when the majority disagrees with them, it seems- and if the fools want to kill themselves, let them like they aren't the sole reason all of them have survived so long so far.

Tobirama offers a pointed glare in the direction of the mutters as he pushes his bowl away. "Eat the damn rice, anija."

Even so, Hashirama hesitates, sharing a forlorn look with Madara before they both start with small bites so as not to upset stomachs that have been empty for days.

Tobirama gives them a few bites before he asks, "What's the plan?"

He knows just from the squirely look on Madara's face that he won't like it.

And he was right.

***

Their clan members try to make them eat more, but neither Madara or Hashirama can stomach taking more than a single bowl.

To head off the coming argument, Madara announces, "It's time. Gather all the children, elderly, and those incapable of defense in the heart of the compound with the healers. Every able-bodied man and woman report to the wall."

Despite their losses, there are still enough people in both clans to make them 4-5 individuals deep along the wall of the compound, armed with anything they could find.

Madara and Hashirama exit the main house in full battle regalia, already soaked through with sweat, and there isn't an eye anywhere else as they walk to the main gate. This confinement has been the first time in Madara's life that he's gone more than a day or two without wearing his armor for something, and it feels oddly uncomfortable. Like skin that's a few layers too thick. 

He hadn't realized he'd lost that much weight, but Hashirama looked to be in the same boat. Unable to stop fiddling with the fastenings on his chest plate.

Tobirama, Touka, and several others are geared up to follow them, but the Uchiha make no move to do the same. Few of them have put on clothes, fewer still armor.

Tobirama is already preparing his justification on why he should go, but Hashirama forstalls it with a somber shake of his head. "You must protect the compound, little brother."

"At least tell me what the plan is," Tobi insists. "I can help from here."

Hashirama glances at Madara, but the Uchiha Clan leader won't look away from the gates, and his clan won't look away from him.

Instead, Hashirama takes him by the shoulders and kisses his forehead, "Defend our kin. You can yell at me all you want when we return."

"Don't think I won't," Tobirama hisses furiously.

And then it all happens so quickly that even Tobi has a hard time keeping up.

Madara stills, then explodes, pushing chakra into his feet and launching himself through the wards and into the flames. Hashirama's chakra spreads, searching, but he is not the sensor Tobirama is, and despite the distraction, when Hashi snaps, "Tobi, where-"

Tobirama knows instantly what he's looking for and only a second later finds Zetsu's oily chakra rising to give chase to Madara's. 

He points, "There!"

And Hashirama launches himself into the fire, the mokuton gathering around him.

Then, there is nothing any of them can do but watch the flames and try to track the chakra signatures. 

Madara's speed carries him across the burning plains, while Hashirama's clashes with Zetsu not far from the walls of the compound.

"Where is Madara going?" Mito wonders. 

Tobirama doesn't say 'I don't know' because admitting he's that far behind the Uchiha is annoying, but also, "What's the fucking plan, Hikaku?"

Madara's cousin and captain didn't look very enthusiastic…

Actually, he looked kind of embarrassed.

"Hikaku-"

A flare of chakra, cloying smoke, and hearthwood made them all turn as Uchiha Izuna stumbled out of the main house on unsteady legs. He was pale and weak from the coma and barely resembled the warrior Tobirama had faced for so long. Sana was under his arm, helping him walk.

Mito's gaze locked onto the younger Uchiha like a hunting dog, and if it was any other time, Tobirama would have amused himself with the possibilities of the elegant princess interacting with the boisterous, impulsive baby brother. They were guaranteed to clash, and it was also guaranteed that Izuna would end up smacked around, which Tobirama was always for.

"Izuna, go back to bed." Hikaku sounded exhausted already. Or maybe that was just how he always sounded. So far, Tobirama had only seen him in varying states of tired.

Izuna's gaze looked past all of them, tracking Madara's chakra as it raced further and further away, making its way through the flame-filled prairie toward the mountains beyond.

Where the hell was he going?

"Grab whatever tools you can and start digging." Izuna ordered, "Get as much dirt over the walls as you can."

Tobirama wasn't the only one staring at him in confusion.

"Why?" Mito asked, inching closer.

"We need as much of a physical barrier as possible. There's no guarantee the wards will hold."

"For someone who's been unconscious for some time, you seem to know more than the rest of us about what's happening," Mito murmured. 

Izuna's Mangekon spun to life, turning lazily under Mito's intent gaze. "I know my brother."

"I don't like where this is going," Nadeshinko, Mito's younger cousin, muttered.

Tobirama agreed wholeheartedly. Everyone was following Izuna's order, though, grabbing buckets and shovels and propping ladders against the interior of the wall. They were dumping the first buckets of dirt over in a matter of minutes.

How would dirt help? It would just pile up against the wall. There was nowhere near enough to put out Zetsu's fire.

Where was Madara going? There was nothing but the mountains that way? Even at his current speed it would take far too long to cross Mt. Fuji. The dormant volcano was over twelve thousand feet high and had a diameter of fifty kilometers along its passable area, and it marked the start of the mountain range that stretched all the way to the Land of Snow.

Wait….

Tobirama froze, felt his eye twitch.

He turned to Hikaku, who stared at the ground.

He turned to Izuna, whose gaze turned skyward. 

He turned to Yoruichi, who grinned like a fiend.

He turned to Aunt Emi, who said, "In all things, we are strong. In all things, we love. In all things, we are devoted until death." And drew a blade across her throat, spilling her blood over the wards.

Touka screamed, but Aunt Emi must have planned this because a dozen more Senju followed suit before anyone could stop them.

The wards pulsed. 

"He's lost his mind," Tobirama muttered, staring at the blood soaking into the dirt. He turned back to Izuna and roared, "A FUCKING VOLCANO?!"

Mito paled, but the Uchiha seemed pleased, proud even.

"It'll work," Yoruichi swore.

"Madara's solution is to use a volcano to put out a wildfire," Tobirama stated, voice flat. 

"It'll work," Itachi murmured, and the rest of the Uchiha nodded enthusiastically. 

"A volcano that is so powerful the last time it erupted literally changed the face of the world," Tobirama stated.

"That's how we know it will work," Kisuke insisted.

"It'll be beautiful," Another Uchiha added dreamily.

Uchiha Madara was going to use a supervolcano to put out an unnatural wildfire. It made sense by Uchiha standards, the best way to put out one fire was just to get a bigger, even more uncontrollable one.

Tobirama shared a look of disbelief with Touka. "This is a terrible plan."

Something sparked in Izuna's eyes, "Bet it'll work."

"No bet," Tobi snarled, "We'll all be dead if it doesn't. Maybe even if it does."

"Then what are you worried about? There are hundreds of generations of Uchiha's protecting this compound. You'll never be safer than you are right now."

Apparently, there was one thing Hashirama and Madara didn't have in common. Younger brothers with common sense.

Madara's chakra roared. 

A distant bird song came on the wind.

The air stilled.

Izuna roared, "Dig!"

First, their breath was stolen from their lungs, and then a deafening crack, the likes of which none of them had ever heard and would never hear again, ripped through the air. 

The flames stilled.

A force pushed through the air, nearly knocking them off their feet even though they were leagues away.

The flames shrank, pushed down by the very force of the air.

Madara's chakra signature disappeared. 

The sky became dark, and even the flames could not light it again.

A great rumble began in the distance. 

It became a rolling crash, the sound of an unstoppable destructive force making its way over the land.

Zetsu's chakra signature disappeared.

A heartbeat later, Hashirama's followed.

***

The historical record, as far as most are concerned, will state that the unexpected eruption of Mt Fuji, the first since the time of the arrival of Otsutsuki Kaguya, unleased such a powerful explosion that it was recorded across the world. Reaching as far as the distant islands of the Land of Waves and causing minor tsunamis among the closer islands.

The ash cloud was recorded as covering the entirety of the Lands of Fire, Earth, and Water, visible from all the far edges of the world. It cast the world into a volcanic winter, the likes of which had never happened before in human history. How long it lasted is a matter of debate, depending on who and where you asked.

Unofficially, because no one really wanted it officially written down that Uchiha Madara managed to set off a dormant volcano that covered the Land of Fire in lava and ash and defeated the wildfire that burned a million square miles of prairie land, thirty-three small towns, and the Senju Clan homeland. The death toll was never accurately recorded, as it took several years after the fire to discover some of the destroyed villages, and only shinobi and nobility kept detailed lineage records.

It seemed better not to let the majority know that such a feat was possible, lest someone with less noble sense be inspired.

***

Conversation: 12

Participants: Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Izuna, Uchiha Hikaku

Subject: Extinguishing the fire.

Conclusion: A FUCKING VOLCANO – MADARA IS AN IDIOT – WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND - THAT FUCKER STOLE MY - Uchiha Madara is not allowed to plan anything ever again.

***

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.

Albert Camus

***

~tbc~