Rebirth [MADASAKU FIC]

A Brother's Duty

Madara stormed into the village, his thunderous expression earning some curious looks from the Uchihas. Aikena and the kunoichi from before scurried quietly after the young clan heir. Sakura and Kin remained silent, watching Madara's view intently.

"How long has he been missing?" Madara finally spoke up.

"Since yesterday, but the alarm was only sounded when he didn't come home last night." The kunoichi answered quickly.

"Does Father know?"

"Yes. He sent out a search team. He gave me the orders to find you in case you had any information and to ensure your safety."

Madara nodded grimly, continuing his way to the clan head's house in their small village.

It seemed that not many people knew that their clan leader's son was missing. That, or they simply didn't care that another of their own might have been lost.

Madara however, Sakura could tell, was fighting back his growing despair at the thought of losing his last blood-related sibling.

At the moment, Sakura came to a revelation. Until then she had never really thought of Madara as anything but the adult she had known him as in her previous lives. But here he was nothing but a teenage boy who was fighting his hardest to simply keep his head above the water while the chains of his scars kept trying to drown him. Madara was only fourteen years old here, yet he already knew the horrors of war and had lost so many people who were close to him.

She couldn't tell if it was his or her sadness that brought her close to tears.

By then, Madara had arrived at his intended destination and was bursting into his father's office without knocking.

This was Sakura's first time seeing Madara's father. The man couldn't possibly be that old, but his hair was already loosing is ashy colour and his face seemed to have already been touched by the cruel fingertips of time. Yet his back was still rigidly straight and his figure still very imposing and intimidating as he turned to face Madara.

Madara dropped to his knees in front of the man, bowing his head quickly before speaking. "Have you made any progress in the search?"

A long sigh rattled through the Uchiha's lips as he turned his back to his son once more, "No."

"What happened?" Madara urged on.

"He disappeared from his room yesterday. No one saw him leaving and he didn't come back home at night. The search started early this morning. I've got two of my shinobi searching for him."

"Only two?" Madara exclaimed, anger flooding his vision with red. "Father! This is your youngest son! And one of the only two you have left, the rest are dead, shouldn't that have taught you something? The entire village should be out searching for Izuna!"

The clan head whirled back on his son, his eyes flashing with enough anger to match Madara's. "Do you think I can spare even one other ninja on this little matter? You're lucky I even sent out a search team for that weakling. What will we do if we're attacked? We're two whole shinobi short. There's bound to be losses, and there's nothing you can do. This is war, you stupid boy!" He stopped yelling, his chest heaving, before continuing in a much quieter voice. "Now get out of my office and go home. Your mother is quite upset over your brother's disappearance. It's your job as a son to comfort her."

The silence in the room was crushing as Madara blinked back the tears in his eyes and trying to regain his voice. It still quivered when he finally spoke up. "It's my job as a brother to find him." With that, he left.

Sakura glanced at Kin, surprised to find her still there. Her vivid green eyes were wide with fright as she stared at the image in front of them, clearly not used to such aggressive encounters.