i have madara in my basement

Let's reverse the roles, now:

I don't know what to say except that I hate my brain, sometimes, for coming up with this kind of stuff :')

The song is from the incredible animation of Jack Stauber, Opal. This guy is a creative genius, I swear, his work touched me deeply when I first stumbled upon it. I think it was during my last year of middle school or the beginning of secondary school, but it had such an impact on me at the time that I wanted to sub it in French to show it to my friends and family (never took the time to do that in the end...)

I chose to use the song in a very different context, because I have issues and the Madara inserts himself in every media I consume, but I think that it still works well. It's really not the same message, but it's still a gut punch (at least for me) either way.

A small fun way to explain a huge headcanon I have that you can assume is true in any fic I write, the Uchiha funeral rites. I love fictional religions, and I love playing around with devout characters, so how delighted was I when I realised that there was a common characterisation of the Uchiha praying to Amaterasu. I adopted the hc immediately and added some personal twists.

I really enjoy the hc that Madara is fireproof, adopted this one almost as fast, but it pauses one problem. One could say that they can burn when they die, it's a magical ninja world, we can suspend our disbelief for a sec. The one thing that bothers me about that, however, is the whispering voice in my head repeating over and over again "if that's how you want it, then the fireproof character should all end up bald, hm?"

I don't mind that it's not taken into account, like I said, it's a detail, we are talking about magical ninja, animals that can speak and fucking fireproof people, it wouldn't be the first time something doesn't make much sense or isn't realistic. Hell, even I do that with my hc, the fact that Madara is the only fireproof one out of all of his siblings, and that he and all that could have been like him have widely different anatomy in multiple aspects because of their fireproof nature doesn't make any sense.

It's really nitpicking, but it bothered me enough to come up with this. White fire, "sacred", if you will, used to cremate bodies (when they can) and especially important for those who can't burn. To even summon the flame is a hard task, needs a strong fire nature and dense chakra (literally, the few who can make them are the one who needs them).

The most important part is to burn the eyes, though, and there is special beef with Sharingan hunters for that reason (tho Sharingan hunter is an oversimplification, they can also capture Uchiha to sell them, and sell other body part than just the eyes, so they're more Uchiha hunters, all things considered)

Because it's one thing to maim and desecrate bodies, often children's, but it is another thing to knowingly keep them away from rest and doom them to eternal suffering.

The Uchiha clan has a procedure to get rid of them, one that is one of their most cruel. Probably that the most hardcore torture crimes of Madara were made towards Sharingan hunter.

Anyway, that's my headcanon, and the way to free Madara for Blue, who seems distraught at the prospect of having him suffer in this awful in between where he is stuck, having episodes of his past that just breaks any remaining sanity he could have left (poor Madara).

Despite everything...

Here are the images without text before I start yapping

So, I mentioned in my last post that Madara's soul was 'stitched' back to his body, which is a pretty... let's say, unconventional way to raise the dead, especially since one of his eye was already given back to Amaterasu. The eyes are more like a ticket than a true vessel for your soul, in this, but having one burnt still results in a situation where your spirit is one foot among the living and another with the dead. It's this odd situation that creates Madara's shattered identity. He is dead and alive at the same time, like a weird and tragic Schrödinger's cat (except quantum physics won't save his case here, sadly)

His sense of self is torn and incomplete, his memories, or at least, the few that remain, are blurry and lack details. That makes him react to familiar things or people with a visceral reaction, hence why he expresses joy and affection towards Hashirama for example.

But when it comes to his own reflection, it's like two things that shouldn't happen at the same time are happening regardless of logic, his mind and spirit can't accept it. It's the proof of his existence, and he knows deep within himself that it's wrong.

Madara's mind is fragile, but it 'resets' easily. Traumatic events are forgotten sometimes faster than Madara can react to them, if he starts remembering something too clearly, he breaks down and stops and goes back to normal.

He's like a weird zombie (Tobirama would have loved it)

Madara likes Sasuke because of two main reason. One the slight recognition of his brother's traits in him, and the second is the fact his chakra resembles Hikaku's. He'd also like Shisui a lot because of his blurry memory of Kagami (although bittersweet, he mostly has fond memories of Kagami)

The clothes he wears are his mother's old garment. If you have seen art of Taiyō I've made, you probably know that she's tallTM, that's why it's all slightly oversized. If I have to be honest, it's true that I drew him like that just because I thought it looked cool, yes, but I can still explain it with lore (do the design first, include storytelling elements then (I'm joking, don't do that))

See, Madara is literally a walking powerhouse with an almost non-existent sense of self, here, so, although he is mostly calm, if his emotion spike he just... well he just bursts into flames. Now that's not very practical, and like I said before, his memory is terrible at this point.

So Taiyō's clothes are very fitting in this context, fireproof fabric being the only way to not end up with Madara without any clothes and having to buy a ton of them in case he sets himself on fire. It was Hashirama's idea, but it's Nekobaa who provided.

She isn't happy at all with the situation, one she understands, but she can't do anything to put a stop to it with Hashirama around. Hashi is a bit unhinged about all of this...

Oh, Madara...

To be perfectly fair, Hashirama is trying his best to help Madara, but the issue is that he keeps Madara alive (well... alive is a big word, I'm not sure we can say Madara is really... alive, at this point)

He stubbornly refuses to let go, and also refuses to see how it hurts Madara that he doesn't let go. There is also a biological component in his Mokuton clinging onto Madara's existence. It doesn't need Madara's whole soul, but his chakra. Madara always had loads of it and never registered or cared about the fact that Hashirama (unknowingly) leeches onto it. Izuna noticed, and it was one of the main issue he had with Hashirama.

It's also the reason why Hashirama isn't dead at this point of the timeline, too.

Madara's corpse never being consumed by white flames, there was still a remanent of the chakra for the Mokuton to feed onto, esp with the seals preserving the body. That also means, when Madara dies, Hashirama soon follows.

It's just... I really like the codependency in their relationship being translated into something physical they can't control. Madara does also get something out of this, since he suffers heavily from chakra overflow that shortens his lifespan (at least when he was really alive) so Hashirama taking a portion of it like that, even outside of battle, is actually a relief for him. Meanwhile, the Mokuton demands Madara's chakra to grow and prosper, like a plant needs the sun.

It also creates an ironic twist, where Madara inadvertently makes Hashirama stronger with his mere presence, and the more he cultivates his chakra and skill, the more Hashirama grows naturally on so many levels neither are aware of. But it also means Madara would have probably died very much earlier naturally if not for Hashirama, lol.

To come back to the AU, the blue butterfly, the BLUE BUTTERFLY (and I know at least a handful of you already know (I see u, Blue))

Because Izuna is pissed.

Of course he would rather have had his brother live a long life and move on, but he didn't and he can't do anything about that (shikatanai, smh) but at least he thought Madara would finally come back to him and their family- WRONG!

I swear he tried to choke Tobirama when he met his spirit after he died, and it was not because of the fact he killed him.

And know, he has to watch the other Senju brother play house with a disorientated Madara who is just a washed out version of himself.

My artworks for this year Hashimada week! Pheeew I'm proud of myself.