Chapter 76: A Taste of Sweetness
Exhausted, Uchiha Madara let his Susano'o dissipate. The chakra drain was immense, and the backlash from his newly awakened Mangekyō was a searing pain behind his eyes. Only his exceptional stamina and willpower had allowed him to maintain the colossal entity for so long.
"Lady Katsuyu, how is he?" Raizen asked urgently, arriving at Madara's side and looking down at the grievously wounded form of Uchiha Senna.
"The damage is… extensive," the small slug replied, its voice gentle but grave. "I have stabilized him for now, but his life force is fading. Only my main body in the Shikkotsu Forest possesses the power to heal him completely. In his current state, he would not survive the journey."
"What are you saying…?" Madara whispered, his voice cracking.
"I am sorry. Even with the most advanced regeneration techniques of my clan, it would not be enough now. The time for that has passed."
A weak, rasping voice came from the ground. "Elder Raizen… Big Brother… please, don't worry about me anymore." Senna's sightless eyes, now pale and clouded, were turned toward the sound of their voices. "I wanted… to stay by your side, Brother. But it seems my path ends here. Even though I will be gone… my eyes can stay with you. Take them. Use them to see the world for me. In that way… I will always be alive."
"No, Senna! There has to be another way!" Madara cried out, dropping to his knees and gripping his brother's hand.
"If even the Slug Sage's power cannot save me… then there is no other way," Senna said, his voice gaining a final, heartbreaking clarity. "Brother… people die. That is the way of the shinobi world. But we live on… in the hearts of those who remember us."
With a trembling hand, Senna raised two fingers. There was a sickening, wet sound as he plunged them into his own eye sockets. He did not cry out. With his last ounce of strength, he held out his two Sharingan eyes to his older brother. "Brother… would you let me die… with this regret?"
Madara was trembling violently, tears streaming down his face, mixing with the blood from his own Mangekyō. He reached out and, with the utmost reverence, took his brother's eyes. He brought them toward his own face… but then stopped. Instead of implanting them, he carefully sealed them in a preservation scroll and tucked them into his armor. Raizen, his attention fixed on Senna's failing life force, didn't notice the action, and Senna could no longer see.
"Madara, we're leaving. Now," Raizen said, his voice firm. He gently lifted Senna into his arms, then helped a nearly catatonic Madara to his feet.
"Elder Raizen, I…" Madara began, his voice hollow.
"Not now. We go home." Cutting him off, Raizen activated the Body Flicker Technique, carrying the two brothers away from the site of their tragedy.
Back within the safety of the Uchiha compound, Raizen delivered them to Madara's residence. He did not stay. This was a time for the brothers, however brief it might be. Their final moments together were not his to intrude upon.
Raizen returned to his own home and sat heavily in the courtyard, the weight of the night pressing down on him.
"Raizen, did something happen out there?" His sister, Uchiha Kuna, approached, her voice soft with concern.
He let out a long, weary sigh. "Yes. A great deal of trouble. I fear… our days of stability are over."
Uchiha Shiori joined them, her expression worried. "Is… is the war starting again?"
"Perhaps. I don't know how many will die this time." He looked at his two sisters, his resolve hardening. "Listen to me. Both of you. From now on, if you have to leave the compound for any reason, you do not go alone. You come to me first. Is that understood?"
"Understood," Kuna said, her tone serious. Then, she forced a brighter note into her voice. "Raizen, don't sit here brooding. Come, let your big sister make you a proper meal."
A small, genuine smile finally touched Raizen's lips. "Thank you, Sister."
As he sat there, he thought of Madara. He now understood the depth of the other boy's torment on a visceral level. Madara had lost his last remaining brother. The pain Raizen had felt at his clansmen's sacrifice was a fraction of what Madara was experiencing now.
And it was worse, far worse, because Madara had just been given a taste of sweetness—the warmth of a brother's camaraderie and the promise of a loving wife—only to have it all ripped away. For a man who has known such sweetness, the return to bitterness is the most agonizing poison of all.