IZUNA

13

"Why are you helping?"

Madara turned around to face Tobirama.

"Isn't Izuna your enemy?" He asked. "Aren't we enemies?"

"No." Tobirama said. "We are not enemies. She is... my friend."

"Prove it." He said.

Tobirama stiffened.

Madara scoffed.

"As I thought. You can't."

"Wait!" He exclaimed. "She gave me this."

Tobirama showed him Mio's journal.

"She gave me this to decode." Tobirama explained further. "She trusted me to decrypt it."

Madara frowned skeptically.

"Read it." Tobirama said.

Madara grabbed the journal and flipped it open. His eyes narrowed.

"What is this?" He asked.

"This was Mio Uzumaki's journal." Tobirama said.

"W-what...? This... belonged to Mio-san?" Madara exclaimed. "Why did Izuna have this? We were supposed to burn..."

He shook his head.

Of course Izuna saved it.

"I've managed to decipher parts of it." Tobirama said. "But I still can't read—-!"

"Of course you can't." Madara snorted. "You need a sharingan to read the rest."

Tobirama's eyes widened.

"Why would she...?"

"If what you say is true and she trusted you with this..." Madara said. "Then it is likely she either didn't realize you couldn't read it or... she wanted to decode it with you. Izuna can read the Uchiha characters but can't read the fuin script... and you can read the fuin script but not the Uchiha characters..."

Madara activated his Sharingan.

"I'll read the parts you don't know." Madara said impatiently. "Show me."

Tobirama blinked.

"Uh, this one—and here."

"Done."

"And this word."

"Got it."

Tobirama paused.

"What happened to Mio-san?"

Madara sighed.

"I don't know." He admitted. "Father never told us."

Tobirama said nothing.

"Let's hurry." He said after a while. "Hashirama will meet us soon."

Madara eyed him carefully.

"Agreed."

::

They wanted me to marry.

They told me no woman could be greater than her father, brother, and husband.

Fine.

Then they'd have to find a husband strong enough to beat me.

They tried.

They failed.

The old men on the council could go and search for a nonexistent Uchiha man powerful enough to beat me.