The Moon is White

Chapter 40

"So... this little thing will help to ward off evil spirits?"

Madara made a random, affirmative noise through his nose at Hashirama's gullible question. The latter was crouched near the ground, a hesitant finger poking at the dormant seal he had just drawn inside an unused shed situated on the leftmost edge of the Senju clan compound. Knowing that it would seem suspicious if he kept his silence, Madara tried to explain the properties of the seal as much as possible without giving away its true purpose.

"Rather than the evil spirits themselves, the seal is more of a protective barrier to prevent mental corruption from outside forces. And if someone is already possessed, staying within the barrier will gradually release the evil spirit's hold on them, though the length does depend on how long they've already been possessed for.

"Take example the Yamanaka clan's mind-arts. Within this barrier, they would not be able to enter another person's mind and/or body since the seal works as a repellent. Although there are ways to get around it –since nothing is foolproof– said person would need to know more than just the basics of fuinjutsu to be able to work around it."

Since Hashirama was a shinobi first and foremost, explaining it in a way that would benefit the clan was better than superstitious crap, even if said person was a scaredy-cat and did believe in the existence of ghosts. Who would be dumb enough to refuse a free seal that could potentially prevent the Yamanaka from snooping in their territory, anyway?

Pausing slightly, he crouched next to Hashirama and tapped his tessen on the seal, thus activating it. To the untrained eye, the squiggles merely glowed for a couple of seconds before completely vanishing from sight. To the trained eye, however, the effect of the seals could be felt, extending outwards and covering a quarter of the clan compound.

Hashirama turned curiously at him, and without needing the Senju to ask, Madara was already elaborating.

"It would be counterproductive for the seal to be visible since the evil spirits could simply order their possessed host to destroy it either via overwrite or property damage. Thus, I made it so that after activation, it would be hidden, though be warned that sensors and fuinjutsu masters could easily tell that something is here. But don't just take my word for it; show this to your lovely wife or Tobirama and confirm it yourself."

Hashirama hummed quietly, eyebrows scrunched as if he were in deep thought. Madara left him to it and stood to stretch, pleased that he was finally on the right track again.

Zetsu would no doubt be frothing at the mouth and throwing a hissy fit as soon as the other three seals were drawn and activated, thus boxing the Senju clan compound in an unseen, protective barrier against mental corruption, just like the one at the Uchiha clan compound.

However, before the control it has over Kawarama could be permanently cut, the cunning being would do anything to prevent that from happening. Madara would need to find a way to keep Kawarama inside the barrier at all costs – which was easier said than done. If Kawarama had been an Uchiha, Madara could just throw him at Ryouta. Alas, Madara has no control over Senju clan members.

Although Kawarama was already benched by Tobirama, Zetsu could easily pull some strings to make it so that Kawarama would be needed elsewhere, maybe even on a long-term infiltration mission until he was able to build discord amongst them, which would lead to further bloodshed. Or at least, that was what Madara would have done that if he were in Zetsu's shoes.

"Well then," Madara chirped whilst extending a hand to Hashirama's crouched figure. "Shall we continue?" Three more seals to go, all placed at the corner most edges of the compound (north, west, and south left), before the barrier could truly work its magic.