The Moon is White

Chapter 2

Madara accepted the mission scroll Tajima gave him, skimming over the contents until he nodded his understanding. Tajima may be a shite excuse for a father, but he was a splendid shinobi with a discerning eye, knowing exactly what sort of missions Madara could excel with his physical age in consideration.

Unlike his first childhood, Madara was by far too skilled to be kept out of missions and battles despite only being physically five-years-old. Furthermore, with how sombre and ruthless he was, taking lives left to right without an ounce of hesitation - his 'first' kill had been swift and unsympathetic - he knew his clansmen whispered about him being a disturbing child.

It stung, but he has always been good at compartmentalization. If he could not inspire love, he would cause fear.

He coped by ignoring every judgemental whispers until it all became background noises, their words unintelligible to his ears. Even now, he doubted that his parents noticed his selective mutism and withdrawn behavior; his father's only concern was to build him into a perfect war general-slash-leader in their battles against the other clans whilst his mother diligently continued to reproduce replacements if Madara were to ever be KIA.

Frankly, he had forgotten how people felt about gender in this time period. Especially for those who were born into a clan that prides in bloodline limits. There were no women in their army, for fear of others capturing them and using them to breed.

To the people born and bred in this era laden by countless clan wars, women were little more than child-birthing machines unless they were insanely strong. Children were little more than cannon fodder or a purpose to strengthen their numbers. Clanless ninjas roaming the place with no other than reason than to kill for food on their table.

Madara loathed the Warring States Period. It was nothing but aimless pandemonium, and as a man who had once fought against the entire shinobi world, he only did so with a purpose in mind; for peace, as misguided as it was.

Madara tucked the mission scroll into his drawstring pouch and waited silently until the man dismissed him, looking directly into his father's dark, narrowed eyes and having no fear of the man's Sharingan prowess. Genjutsu was an ability gained from one's superior will, unbending mind, and precise chakra control. His physical body played no factor as he could easily counter any man-made illusions thrown his way. The only issue he has was with his stamina and small reserves.

Although he was trusted to complete missions that only children twice his physical age were given, proving to Tajima that he was a prodigy, the man looked as if he was contemplating something. Tajima ended up saying nothing after five minutes ticked by.

As soon as he was sent out of the man's study, he grabbed his oversized (to a child) mission bag, kissed Izuna on the forehead, and left the compound immediately.

After gaining a fair distance, he set his bag down and retrieved a senbon and a pigmented ink pot. Having sterilized his senbon with a small fire jutsu, Madara, with meticulous care, inked a seal - white in color - on his right tricep. It took him many months to smuggle the materials to handmake his own ink, but it was worth it.

In this period, only the Uzumaki were masters in fuuinjutsu - and even then, tattooed seals were never thought of before Tobirama came about creating the ANBU tattoo. Jinchuuriki seals were a different branch altogether, and Mito was the one who invented it and became the first ever Jinchuuriki (technically, since nobody knew Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo was the Juubi's Jinchuuriki).

Hence, if he were to unluckily enough to be caught, no one would suspect a child from the Uchiha clan to know anything about seals, much less use it in such a risky way.