Redeemer's Cross

2

"The concept of hope is nothing more than giving up. A word that holds no true meaning." – Madara Uchiha, the Bane of Konohagakure.

::

He follows the river upstream, walking against its flow because he knows that where the river came there will be people. He would've followed it downstream but Madara has no intention of seeing the sea. He needs to know where he is, or at least when he is to determine his next move.

He cannot jump to the conclusion of being in the Warring States Era just because he is twelve.

The distance between him and the spark of chakra he senses grows larger with every passing moment and he curses his puny stature. His legs are short and so are his strides and he hates it. Still, he is a shinobi and he easily closes the distance. For a very brief moment, he thinks he senses two signatures. One being very weak and the other seemingly swallowed by the first. Eventually, the pursuit comes to an end and he finds himself watching a strange figure from a safe distance.

A carriage, he notes and watches intently, waiting for its rider to reveal themselves. One person. Mid genin to high chunin level of training.

Of the other chakra signature there is no trace.

The horse shifts and lazily glances around. Madara crouches down lower to avoid its gaze.

The carriage door opens and a young woman steps out.

She is young, he observes, barely old enough to be considered an adult by civilian standards. He would put her around fifteen years old—seventeen at the most, if he were pressing it.

(Old enough to be considered blood-tainted, a darker part of him thinks but he ignores it.)

She has green eyes, hair like ashes, and a feminine face.

It is suspicious that she is travelling alone.

"Hello," she calls and he stiffens as her eyes fall upon his general location. "Is anyone there?"

He debates revealing himself.

He is a child, technically, and has no obvious affiliation with anyone. But she is obviously chakra trained and is basically an unknown.

He is also Madara Uchiha and his worry is not whether he will win or lose a battle but whether a battle can be avoided in the first place by not revealing himself.

The young lady reaches into her carriage and pulls out a bag—inside are nuts and dried fruits—and lays it on the ground.

"I'll leave this here," she says and backs away with an intentional slowness.

Madara snorts at the bribe and her head twitches towards his hiding place.

No point now, he thinks and with a show of something like timidness, reveals himself.

He sees the thoughtfulness in her eyes as she examines him with critical detail.

A medic, he thinks because there's something about the look in her eye that reminds him of one.

"Hi," she smiles encouragingly. "Are you hungry?"

What a question.

He bites back a sarcastic remark because she has done nothing (yet) to earn his snark.

"Everything in that bag is yours." She says and points to the bag. "If you're worried about poison just throw one at me and I'll eat it."

Madara is tempted to do just that and throw one at her head to see her reaction.

But no, he doesn't do that.

(Why would he do that? He is a grown up man in mind not an immature child, thank you very much.)

He picks up the bag and eyes it's contents critically.

Nothing is poisoned.

Huh.

And so he eats one because although he's fully capable of foraging for his own food it's actually nice to taste salt. Even if in the simple form of roasted and salted nuts.

The kid (he calls her that because he is technically old enough to be her grandfather) smiles and offers him some water.

To be polite, he accepts and drinks some but not all.

"I'm Sachiko," the teenager says and stared at him expectantly.

Hm?

Oh.

Oh.

She expects him to give her his name.

Madara decides against saying 'Madara' for obvious reasons. He also isn't very creative when it comes to naming.

He draws a mind blank.

Sachiko is still staring and he realizes that he must give her a name soon or else be thought of as either weird, retarded, or amnesiac.

"Izuna." He says before he can stop himself.

"Izuna," she repeats as though trying to determine if it is a good name. "An odd name... but you wear it well."

He thanks the Sage that he didn't say Hashirama instead.

"Thank you." He says because she fed him and it's the polite thing to say.

"Where are you from, Izuna-kun?"

"Hi no Kuni," he answers because it is the truth.

She perks up.

"Really? So am I." She tells him with a smile.

It dawns on him that this is his chance to figure out when he is right now.

"Where in Hi no Kuni are you from?" He asks.

"Konohagakure," she answers and he nods.

After the founding then, he thinks.

"What generation?" He asks and she pauses thoughtfully.

"My grandfather came to Konoha during the Second Hokage's reign." She says after a moment's thought.

"That's... cool." He says lamely and uses a word that Obito loved to add to many of his sentences. "I used to live in a village in the western region... near Ame."

He could vaguely recall the existence of said village between Ame no Kuni and Hi no Kuni's borders. He passed by it once after giving Nagato Uzumaki his rinnegan.

"Ah," Sachiko nods, "You've come far from home, then. We're near Northern Hi no Kuni now."

She pauses and regards him with thoughtful eyes.

"Would you like to come with me?" She asks, "I'm actually a kunoichi of Konohagakure. Technically."

Technically? He quirks a brow.

"I used to work at Konoha's hospital," Sachiko tells him after a moment's hesitation. "After Sunagakure's invasion the hospital was destroyed and rebuilt. Then Senju Tsunade became Hokage and changed the program so that some medic nin are required to be stationed in outpost villages to teach and provide medical aid. I'm heading to an outpost village now, actually."

Hashirama's granddaughter was Hokage?

Then Obito is somewhere out there hunting jinchuriki...

Madara sighs and glances up at Sachiko.

I need to plan carefully.

"Take me with you." He says and she smiles.

"Alright," she agreed easily, "come, Izuna. You can rest while I ride. Don't mind the boxes. They're just storage scrolls filled with medical supplies."

Madara nods and climbs inside.

It'll be nice to be able to sleep inside an actual structure tonight.

From inside, Madara can hear Sachiko singing unfamiliar melodies that remind him of home.

He falls asleep and dreams of a mother humming to her child.