Older Sister

"Kono-san, you're almost there, keep pushing!"

"Hnng! Ahh!"

In the fire-lit room, Kono laid on her back, gripping the thick cloth. At her legs was a middle-aged woman prepared to receive the new life. Natsume knelt at Kono's side and held her hand. It was her first child, and she was scared. The pain was not like anything she had ever experienced. Fortunately, Natsume was there to console her and wipe away her sweat. Tajima stood outside in anticipation, he would frequently ask the guards with children how long it took, and they kept giving him the same answer, "as long as it takes."

When the sun began to rise, the final push released the child from its bounds. The nurse didn't even get a chance to look at the baby before he screamed.

"Ah, very vigorous!" She exclaimed. Hearing the crying baby, Tajima instantly entered. "Tajima-dono, it's a boy."

"Ah, my first child. From this day you shall be known as Izu—"

"Madara, my sweet Madara, let me hold him." Kono cut him off and Natsume gave Tajima an awkward expression. It seemed that the legendary Uchiha was almost named something else. Seeing the determination in her eyes, Tajima coughed awkwardly and walked over with their son.

"Of course, Madara… Uchiha Madara!"

Natsume looked into the newborn's black eyes. They were innocent and untainted. This man was a bringer of calamities as Indra's reincarnation. Natsume remembered some of his personality traits as an adult and couldn't help but wonder what kind of child he would be. 'Is it possible for me to influence him enough to grow up differently?'

Natsume had been thinking about that the whole delivery process. The crux of the problem is beyond her control. Senju Hashirama was simply a monster. The god of shinobi cannot be beaten, only reasoned with. However, his righteous heart and hope for peace was his fatal flaw that propelled the ninja world into four great world wars. Konoha had to be built, but she would not allow her family and clan to be subjected to the same treatment as from her memories.

'If all else fails, I'll just have to become the Hokage myself!' Natsume didn't care for leadership, but she remembered that the turning point in Madara's life was when Hashirama took the first position as Hokage. If an Uchiha could sit in that position, he would have no reason to betray Konoha. An argument could be made to allow neither Senju nor Uchiha to take part in the leadership of the village, but that contained too many variables.

Except for that, she had to do her best to fill Madara with love instead of hate. Thinking through her memories, Natsume would frown whenever the concept of the Uchiha being cursed came around. She did not like that designation but couldn't argue with it. The Uchiha experienced everything in the extreme, whether its love, hate, grief, etc. If she could fill Madara with love then perhaps the future will change.

"Natsume, do you want to hold him?" While she was in a daze thinking about the future, Kono offered for her to hold the little calamity. Of course, Natsume definitely wanted to hold Kono's child, and it being Madara was a bonus. She looked down at the crying baby and for a moment their eyes met. The baby stopped crying and reached up to play with Natsume's dangling hair.

"Awh, Madara likes his ne-chan."

Tajima frowned and seemed to be unable to step into the little world between Natsume, his wife, and his son. He gave a gesture to the Uchiha next to him, and they slipped into the darkness. He gave one last glance to his son and disappeared as well. Everyone that saw Madara knew he would become a genius. As a newborn, he already had detectable chakra.

…

Taking care of a baby was a lot more work than Natsume expected. She had some memories of taking care of younger siblings, but the world in her memories had many more strange tools that Natsume had never seen. Fortunately, her body was strong and as a shinobi she could stay awake for a few days at a time. Due to Madara's powerful chakra, he was quickly adapting to the world around him and already began to recognize his mother and Natsume.

Whenever she wasn't taking care of the baby, Natsume would go to the training grounds and try to apply some of her memories in using Jutsu. Her memories contained an excess amount of knowledge about the Naruto universe which included some scenes of shinobi using various types of Jutsu. She had attempted to duplicate some of them and had succeeded. This was how she ended up with several earth release Jutsu.

As for her Mangekyou Sharingan, she didn't dare to use it. From her inherited memories, Natsume was able to determine a few things. Overusing the Mangekyou Sharingan would lead to blindness without evolving it to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. And based on how rare it is to unlock, it was very unlikely she would meet the requirements to unlock it.

'And taking my siblings eyes… I can't imagine the torment Madara-kun experienced.' Her heart ached for little Madara, whom she already began to consider like a little brother. Although she didn't activate her strongest sharingan, her three tomoe sharingan had become stronger as well. Her dynamic vision and perception had markedly improved.

The next step for Natsume was to improve her ninjutsu. She recognized the value of taijutsu, kenjutsu, and shurikenjutsu, but the absolute destructive power of ninjutsu was too intoxicating. Her mind instantly deconstructed the possibilities. Being Fire and Earth natured meant that she had the potential to use Lava release. A kekkei genkai required more factors than just having the right natures, but Natsume always felt that there was something strange about her Fire and Earth release.

'Perhaps this feeling is a kekkei genkai?' Natsume pondered.

The sun rose, marking an end to her morning training. Natsume returned to the clan. She had plenty of time during the winter to go through all of the memories and figure out what plans to lay for the future. One thing she had in the back of her mind was always the Senju clan. She needed to become stronger in order to protect herself and the Uchiha.

"Waah, waaah." Madara's cries began as soon as Natsume opened the sliding door. She stepped in and swaddled him while rocking him back and forth.

"Don't cry Madara-kun, I'll protect our clan. I promise."