Forgotten Uchiha

十五

E M B R A C I N G   T H E   D E M O N S

      Tsunade templed her fingers as the group stood in her office. The uncomfortable tension loomed over us, both Kakashi and Yamato were weary of me already and having them both watch over me along with Kuma and Naruto was unsettling.

      "And you say the real Madara Uchiha appeared in front of you," Tsunade frowned. I stayed silent; Kuma was my voice as he explained what happened at the Uzumaki Temple. "It makes no sense; you're a vessel for Shinigami? The Fourth Hokage, Minato, used Shinigami to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto, how could you be a vessel?"

      "Shinigami is an entity, owned by no one. Those that know the sealing jutsu that concerns Shinigami, can use the power to manifest his form, but as a living thing, resides within my body," I said. "I'm not a Jinchuriki, but for this power to be safe. . .I must tame it. Otherwise, nations will find a way to exploit it." 

      "You'll take the man's word that did this to you?" Tsunade slammed her fist against the taped part of her desk.

      "If I will win this war for you," I hissed. "Then his word is your best shot at success." 

[Time Skip]

       Shinigami had explained that my sealing had slowed down the erosion of my chakra. Due to the sealing, his chakra was attempting to absorb all of mine so I could become a literal vessel. A blotched marking which resembled a summoning pattern had become visible on the underside of my forearm and was only going to extend if I didn't tame Shinigami's chakra. 

       There were twin waterfalls pooling into a circular pond that swirled around to represent the Uzumaki Mon. 

      I could feel Shinigami's chakra roil when in proximity with Naruto, of course, his essence was used to seal the Kyuubi. Naruto fist bumped me as I stepped into the swirling water and onto the circular grass platform in the centre.

      "These twin waterfalls are different so you won't see your other half on the other side of the water but who knows, both entities are similar," Kakashi observed. "Yamato and Hikari go in first followed by Naruto and Kuma; I'll stay as the look out."

      "Hn," I grunted.

      I stepped back into the water and faced the two waterfalls. They weren't as loud as the one in the valley by Konoha, but they radiated with energy, life energy. My hand reached into the veil of cool water and retracted, I didn't feel anything on the other side to bite me.

      I passed through the waterfall to see a calm stream only three meters long, I stood on the water's surface and looked around, there was a demon dragon head carved into the rock arch above and water gushed from its mouth.

      There was an echo of a grunt and a black silhouette formed behind the water before me. The rest of my party backed up towards the first water fall, I took a step forward and armed myself with Izuna's katana. I activated my Eternal Mangekyou and waited. 

      Behind me, Yamato read out from the scroll that the first step of entrance to Shinigami's Temple was to tame my hatred seeing that Shinigami stayed out of mortals affairs due to what their hatred caused. For my admittance into the temple, I had to have a clear mind. 

      There wasn't much room to move around so I ordered Yamato to keep the group closest to the waterfall as possible so I wouldn't have them in the way. The only figure that stood in front of me was Madara, though it puzzled me, I didn't hate him. I stood awkwardly with my hands raised in a defensive stance, this Madara was nothing but an empty apparition with no power.