Red String of Fate

Chapter 22 - I shall defy the Heavens then!

It was basically nighttime as Madara carefully ventured towards the West of the woods, he'd been trying to find the smallest hints of tracks left behind by the three.

"Ugh." Madara grunted in exasperation and sat down on the ground, leaning his back against the tree. It's been three hours since he'd left his house, yet he hadn't traveled much in distance at all. He was trying to find tracks instead of rushing towards his enemy blindly, but gosh did they barely leave any tracks behind.

Madara stood up and used the moonlight to guide him, after five minutes or so he finally found the river.

"I'm only around ten minutes away from Konoha at full speed." Madara commented, feeling even more downhearted, he went to fetch a bottle of fresh water.

After chugging the water, Madara easily caught a fish that was swimming downstream in the river and gathered a pile of sticks and twigs.

After setting a small fire, he cooked his fish and consumed it with an unsatisfied sigh.

"I miss him." The Uchiha whined. The small fire crackled and exuded enough warmth to keep Madara warm in the cold breeze. Feeling rather drowsy, Madara slowly drifted to sleep.

————

"So that's what happened." Tobirama tiredly sighed, glancing over at Gento, who sat next to him with wide eyes.

"Yes, he should've found the enemy by now." Tadashi spoke thoughtfully, also glancing over at the wide eyed Gento.

"M-M-Madara? The Uchiha Madara?" Gento stuttered in shock, the two older men stared at him with surprise.

"How have you not noticed yet?" Tobirama asked with genuine concern.

Gento heard his suspicions confirmed and nervously cupped his knees with his sweaty palms. I was so goddamn disrespectful to him all the time! Ahhhhhh-

"Gento? Gento? Are you alright?" Tadashi asked, Gento looked up at his beloved sensei and felt invisible tears stream down his face.

"Do you think Madara-sama dislikes me?" Gento asked with a depressed pout. "I gave off such a bad impression when we first met..."

"Haha, don't worry. I'm pretty sure he finds you amusing enough to not dislike you." Tadashi laughed, ruffling his disciple's soft brown hair.

"Back to what we were saying before." Tobirama spoke, glaring coldly at the hand that caressed Gento's head. Feeling targeted, Tadashi reluctantly withdrew his hand and felt like crying inside. Why were all the closest people around him being robbed away from him by the Senju?

"I'm guessing Madara also drugged my elder brother?" Tobirama inquired, Tadashi nodded in response.

"I see, there's a few minutes until the next meeting. But I recommend you keep an eye on my elder brother. I have a feeling that when he wakes up, he'll have a rough idea on what happened." Tobirama plainly explained, watching as Tadashi's expression became anxious.

"Well, have fun." Tobirama stood up and walked over to the door.

"Let's go, Gento-kun." Gento loyally hopped up and followed Tobirama out the door, leaving Tadashi by himself in the lonely hallway.

————

Madara walked cautiously through the woods, it was around the meeting time before he neared a large clearing. A vast empty, rocky clearing laid in front of him so he began to slow down.

Suddenly, Madara felt alarms go off inside his head and he stealthily hid behind a tree. This feeling... It's been a long time since his sharp senses have experienced this, but he wasn't mistaken.