Darkness.
Not the quiet kind or the kind that comes when you close your eyes at night and feel safe knowing morning will come. This darkness pressed in from every direction like I was submerged deep underwater but still somehow breathing.
Pain came first, It was everywhere. A dull, crushing ache that made it impossible to tell where my body ended and the darkness began. I tried to move my fingers. Nothing happened. Tried my legs. Nothing. Panic bubbled up in my chest before I even realized what I was feeling.
Am I… dead?
My thoughts echoed strangely, like they didn't fully belong to me. My voice, when I tried to speak, came out hoarse and distant.
"Am I… am I dead? Where am I?"
A voice answered me. Calm and an Old one.
"Between this life and the next."
I jerked mentally toward the sound. Even without sight, I could feel him there.
"My young Uchiha… huh."
Young Uchiha?
"Those eyes—no way," I said quickly. "Gramps, I see you're an Uchiha too. Well—"
My relief was instinctive. Stupid, maybe, but instinctive. If he was an Uchiha, then maybe he wasn't an enemy. Maybe this wasn't hell.
"Perhaps I am," the old man said.
Something about that answer bothered me. It felt incomplete.
"He rescued me… but wait," I said, forcing myself to focus. "You said between this life and the next. Where exactly is that? It's dark. I can't see anything. And besides, Gramps, who in the world are you? Don't tell me you're actually the Death himself. You know, the guy who escorts people to heaven or hell."
There was a pause. The Old man took a while to answer. Maybe the Old age is getting to him.
"A simple fact," he said at last, "that you are able to feel such pain means that you are still alive. However, the fact that you survived at all could be called miraculous. It is incredible those boulders did not crush you."
Images flickered behind my closed eyes. The cave-in. The screaming rock. Kakashi's voice. Rin's face.
"So where did you find me?" I asked quietly.
"Inside an underground passageway that I had created," he replied. "Collapsed next to some crumbled rock. Still… half your body had been mostly crushed. I patched you up as best I could."
My chest tightened.
"But… are you saying you saved me?" I asked. "Gramps… thank you."
I meant it... every word.
"It is too early to thank me," he said immediately. "And besides, I still intend to have you repay your debt to me. After all, helping the elderly is your motto, isn't it?"
That caught me off guard. My mouth twitched despite everything.
"Oh. Well… yeah, I guess so," I said awkwardly. "But um—what do you want me to do? Help you with bathroom stuff?"
"That would be good," he said, dead serious.
I almost laughed.
But the feeling passed as quickly as it came. Reality came rushing back like cold water.
"I'm sorry," I said, more firmly now. "I can't stay here forever. Now that I know I'm alive, I've got to get home. There's a war going on. My Sharingan finally awakened. I can protect my comrades better now."
"Protect your comrades better," he repeated, slowly.
Something in his tone made my skin crawl.
"What's wrong?" I asked defensively. "I am afraid with the body you have now, your life as a shinobi is over."
The words hit harder than any boulder.
"No," I said immediately. "No, no, no—but I finally just got this eye. I'm confident my combination attacks will be even better now. And at last… at last I'll be a shinobi who can protect his comrades."
That mattered to me more than anything.
"Wake up to reality," the old man said.
His voice sharpened, cutting through the dark like steel.
"Nothing ever goes as planned in this world. The longer you live, the more you will realize that the only things that truly exist are pain, suffering, and futility."
"What is wrong with this old man?" I muttered. "Seriously."
"Listen," he continued, unfazed. "Wherever there is light, there will always be shadows. As long as there are victors, the vanquished will exist. The selfish intent to preserve peace initiates war. Hatred is born to protect love. These causal relationships cannot be separated."
He paused.
"Normally… in exchange for you getting injured, another was saved. Was that not the case?"
I didn't answer.
Because it was.
Rin lived. Kakashi lived. That was enough for me.
"Great," I muttered. "He's lecturing. Old people never stop once they start. So where are we anyway?"
"Look," I snapped suddenly, frustration spilling over. "Just shut up already. I can't stay in here with you forever. I've gotta get out."
"Fine," he said. "Then you may leave—if you are able to move."
I tried.
Nothing.
My body could not move from head down.
"Wait," I said slowly. "Something's weird about this. What's a geezer with Sharingan doing here all by himself? I know all the geezers in the Leaf Village, and I've never seen you. So you're not from the Leaf."
I swallowed.
"Hey, Gramps… you're a rogue ninja, aren't you? Who are you?"
"I am merely an Uchiha," he replied. "Madara."
My heart stopped.
"Uchiha Madara?" I repeated. "My ancestor Madara died ages ago. What kind of joke is this?"
"Let me guess," he said dryly. "You're more likely to believe I'm the Grim Reaper."
"…Yeah," I admitted.
"Well, I may as well be," he said. "For truly, this reality is hell. I am a cheater of death. Without the chakra I siphon from the statue behind me, I would already be dead."
"I'm going home," I said immediately.
"Do not bother," Madara replied. "There are no exits. And even if there were, neither of us can leave with these bodies. Move, and the synthetic Hashirama tissue I attached will peel off. Do you wish to die?"
I froze.
"There are many things I want you to do for me," he continued calmly. "I saved you at great cost. Do not rush to your death."
My anger flared.
"What do you want from me?" I demanded. "What does a crazy geezer like you even want from a brat like me?"
"I want to sever the fate of this world," Madara said.
"A world of only victors. A world of only peace. A world of only love. I will create such a world."
"So what?" I shouted. "Who cares? I just want to go back home!"
"And as I told you," he said, "things do not go as planned. In time, you will realize this. If you wish to die so badly, go ahead."
There was a pause.
"But I will take that Sharingan of yours."
My blood ran cold.
"Why?" I snapped. "You already have one!"
"My original eyes are elsewhere," Madara replied. "This one is a spare. I need more. Only with two together can the Sharingan's true power be unleashed."
"And that means Kakashi and I will be even stronger together," I said fiercely. "We'll protect Rin properly. I'm not staying here."
I forced myself to move again. I fell off the wooden slab and crawled dragging my body with my chin.
Kakashi. Rin.
"Just you wait," I whispered. "I'm coming back. I promise."
~~
A/N: Upto 20 Advance chapters available @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0
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