Quick A/N: This story is a huge A/U! I tried my best to flesh out the weird parts of cannon, but, really, I'm not the best at making anything too cohesive. If there's anything that sounds odd, trust me, it isn't a typo. It's there because it's an A/U.
Enjoy~
~..~..~
"You're different."
Silence.
He wasn't surprised to be met with said silence. If anything, he kind of expected it.
"What's happened to you? You don't feel the same… Stronger, even…" Hashirama pursed his lips minutely as he narrowed his eyes to truly look at the teen before him. "Not that I'm surprised, really, you always had the makings of being a strong fighter… But… It's almost unnatural- how you feel, I mean."
The male before him was very similar to the same child that had come to assassinate him about a year or so ago. He still wore the same mask and a similar outfit that covered his whole body, save his head; although the jacket sleeves were longer this time around; covering his hands completely, even; and the pants reached to his ankles, rather than just his mid-shins.
Wind breezed past them as the teenager continued to glare at him. Nothing else was said, for Hashirama waited patiently to be answered honestly.
He counted a whole minute to pass before the teenager finally broke.
"I am different."
Well, he guessed that was all he would be able to get out of him.
With a pleased smile, Hashirama motioned to the door behind him, "Would you like to come inside for some tea? I'm sure Mito wouldn't mind making some more."
The teen's oddly colored eyes narrowed as they shifted for a quick second to the door, then back at Hashirama.
"I'm not an idiot."
Hashirama blinked in confusion, "Of course you're not. I didn't say you were… I was just offering you something to drink."
Last he had checked, being a polite host was not an insult.
Young people were truly strange.
"But if you don't want tea, I could always offer you some food. Would you like anything at all? I know that traveling isn't easy, especially if you had to sneak into Konoha after traveling just to get here." He pressed, turning around so he could open the door that led away from his balcony and into his room. "You must be tired; please, come in."
As he crossed his room and walked towards the door that would, in turn, take him into his home, he didn't even worry about the teenager's actions.
Tobirama would scold him on his lack of paranoia later on, but he didn't really think it was warranted. He'd fought the teen before and had come out on top- why would he be worried about anything now? Especially after he hadn't tried to attack him while Hashirama had been dozing away on his balcony?
He didn't know the kid's name. He didn't know what he was doing in Konoha again. And he also had no idea just why he had appeared in his home like he had. But what he did know was that a trip from Takigakure to Konohagakure was not easy or short.
How could he not offer the kid something to eat? That was just rude.
~/~
"No, he isn't much of a talker, Mito. But don't worry, I'm sure he loved your tea."
His wife didn't seem all that reassured by his warm smile.
"Hashirama, that is a dangerous man that tried to kill you. Why in the world are you willing to house him?"
"Because it's the right thing to do? Mito, he came all the way here. The least we could do is give him some food before we kick him on the road again."
From the way her dark eyes hardened, Hashirama could tell that he would not be allowed to sleep in their comfortable bed tonight.
"I am going to go get Tobirama. You are going to stay here with that menace and make sure he does not escape."
Hashirama shrugged softly and walked back into the living room. Behind him, he could hear his home's door slam shut behind his angered wife. He allowed himself to breathe out a small sigh and shake his head in slight annoyance before he put on a smile and walked up to the quiet teenager.
His lanky frame was seated rigidly on their large sofa, back ramrod straight with his shoulders so tense it made Hashirama's own hurt. In front of him, on the small coffee table, there was a drained cup of tea and a completely empty plate that had previously held a small amount of snacks.
Hashirama had not talked with Mito for more than five minutes… The kid must have been starving.
"So, how about we get to know each other?" He offered after a moment of silence. "My name is Hashirama Senju. How about you?"
As he spoke, he picked up a chair and placed it opposite the teenager, on the other side of the coffee table. He then sat down and looked at him with an eager smile on his lips.
The teenager glared at him for a good thirty seconds before he answered.
"Kakuzu."
Hashirama nodded softly, took note of the lack of a last name, then decided that maybe that wasn't really a question he should be asking right off the bat. No, that was something personal. He knew plenty of people that refused to use their last name because of rather traumatic experiences. It would be better to start up a conversation about something else.
"So, did you like the tea?"
The seconds ticked by in which the teenager- Kakuzu- blinked at him. Then he nodded minutely; it was nothing more than a small tilt of his head. He didn't say anything, though, and remained staring at him with a blank look on his face.
"Would you like anything with more substance? I'm not the best cook, but I can make you something if you're hungry."
The teen shook his head rather quickly and Hashirama stopped himself from sighing.
It wasn't like he'd poison him.
Still, one couldn't really convince a ninja that an enemy wouldn't try to kill them via poisoning, so he decided to change the topic of the conversation.
"So, what are you doing here? Did your village finally decide to agree to alliance talks? Are you a messenger?"
Again, his only answer was a tense shake of a head.
"Oh… Well, what are you doing here?"
He never did get an answer to that question. Kakuzu remained quiet after that question and didn't say anything else, no matter how many other questions Hashirama made him. And for the rest of his life, he remained quiet as to the true reason why he had come on that quiet night to Hashirama's home.
It was a reason only Kakuzu would ever know.
~/~
Tobirama was not happy with him.
Hashirama was pretty much used to this, so he didn't mind the anger.
Mito was unimpressed and extremely wary.
This also did not surprise Hashirama.
Kakuzu glared at all of them but remained quiet throughout the whole argument they had right in front of him.
Again, Hashirama was not surprised by this.
His brother wanted to arrest Kakuzu as quickly as possible, take away any and all kinds of weapons he had on his body, and then throw him into a jail until he was prepared to talk. Mito just wanted to get the dangerous ninja outside of her home before he slit their throats. And Hashirama tried to convince him that Kakuzu was perfectly trustworthy; if he hadn't tried to kill them all yet, then he most probably wouldn't try to kill them at all.
"My brother has absolutely no sense of self-preservation…" Tobirama lamented at one point during the discussion, then shifted the discussion from detention and incarceration of Kakuzu to 'what in the hell are we going to do with him?'
It was a good question.
"Hey, Kakuzu, are you going to leave?"
Kakuzu stared at him and lifted his shoulder just a fraction, enough for it to be taken as a shrug.
"Would you like to stay here with us?"
"Hashirama! You can't make that sort of decision without consulting your wife!" Mito growled and Hashirama smiled at her.
"Oh, come on, Mito. Look at him! He hasn't done anything to make us doubt him-" He did not miss Tobirama's growl of 'Assassination attempt, you simple minded buffoon'. "-and he's most probably got nowhere else to go. Why can't he just stay the night?"
Upon hearing this, Mito let out an 'my husband is an idiot', while Tobirama used the same sentence, although with a 'brother' in the beginning.
"He is a ninja from an enemy village that has already tried to assassinate you once before. If you were a normal person, you'd see just how stupid you're being right now." Tobirama growled at him, but Hashirama merely waved him off and walked behind Kakuzu, placed his hands on the back of the couch, and smile broadly.
"Nonsense. He's a smart kid with a good head on his shoulders. Right, Kuzu?"
The teenager glanced up at him with a quirked eyebrow.
Hashirama had to stop himself from cheering when he saw that the kid had more than just 'monotonous glare' or 'unimpressed stare' in his repertoire of facial expressions.
"Did you already give him a nickname?" Tobirama asked in stupefaction, stunned for a mere second before his glare came back with full force. "Hashirama, you have to be kidding me! You cannot befriend a dangerous enemy!"
Mito shook her head and lamented her husband once again. Then she looked Kakuzu directly in the eyes and walked up to him.
Kakuzu continued to look at her and Hashirama did as well, wondering just what his wife was up to.
Once she was directly in front of Kakuzu, she crouched down just slightly so their eyes were at an almost leveled height.
"Kakuzu, do you swear you're not here to hurt my husband?"
Tobirama let out a cross between a hiss and a scoff before lifting his face to the sky without saying a single thing. Hashirama guessed he was internally questioning every single thing that had brought him to this moment in his life.
Kakuzu nodded. But this time around, it was more than just a slight shift in his head. It was a bigger movement, where his chin actually seemed to bob down before lifting once again.
Hashirama smiled at what this meant- Kakuzu was making sure that Mito understood he wasn't there to hurt him.
Mito huffed, planted her hands on her hips, and looked Hashirama directly in his own eyes.
"He's your responsibility. If he does anything dangerous, it's up to you to stop him. And you have to feed and clothe him too."
Kakuzu grunted in what Hashirama assumed to be displeasure at the statement, but didn't fight at all.
The oldest of the Senju brothers smiled at his wife and clapped his hands together. "Great! This'll be great, Kuzu, you'll see!"
~/~
That one night Kakuzu stayed with them turned into a week in seemingly no time. And then that week turned into two weeks. And then that blended into a full month. And that finally melted into a good four months in which Kakuzu stayed with him and Mito.
At first, Mito stayed away from Kakuzu. Even though she had accepted the teen into her home, she still did not trust him completely. Hashirama could not blame her for this, of course, but he did not accompany her in the venture of ostracizing the boy. Instead, he forced friendship onto him until he actually spoke to him with more than just corporeal language.
Eventually he was able to pry out his love for reading. And that was the end of Mito's distrust of Kakuzu- once she found out he loved the classics she made it her mission to bring him as many books as possible so they could bond. Because of this, Mito and Kakuzu managed to bond over books after a whole month of the teen living with them.
Hashirama forced Kakuzu to bond with him through training, conversation, cooking lessons, and budget planning. Kakuzu taught him how to cook more than just the basics and eventually helped him get his home's budget under such excellent control that Hashirama began to wonder if he should convince him to help with Konoha's own books- under the table and unofficially, of course, because he was sure Madara would riot if he even heard a whisper of a non-village ninja getting his hands on anything that was not generic public knowledge.
In turn, Hashirama sparred with him and told him all sorts of stories about his life and Konoha's history, gave him a place to stay, and gave him enough money to buy himself whatever he wanted.
Kakuzu never bought anything with that money. Instead he stored it. Odd, but Hashirama could respect his lack of frivolity.
About two months into his stay, Kakuzu met Tsunade. And promptly showed a side of who he was that Hashirama had never seen before- the kind that got flustered easily and had no idea what to do with children.
"Braid hair!"
He tried to move away from the one year old's eager hands, but the fast appendages grabbed onto a lock of his hair and that was the end of him.
Hashirama smiled as Kakuzu glared at him, silently promising him a thousand deaths for watching and not helping him.
"Braid good!" The blonde informed him with a flourish, beginning to tug and pull at his hair with absolutely no abandon. "Be pretty, Kuzu."
The nickname had stuck. Mito, Tsunade, and Hashirama all used it to talk about him. Tobirama still called him by his whole name, but that was because he was still wary of the teenager that had- still - not done anything to make them doubt his intentions.
Every now and then, Kuzu would wince at the harshness of the girl's hands. But he remained quiet, accepting the pain without a single complaint.
"Careful, honey, don't pull on Kuzu too hard."
She stuck her tongue out at him and continued to pull on the poor boy's hair. Hashirama shook his head and looked around his office.
Tsunade wasn't like many kids. She actually liked spending time inside of his office every now and again. She enjoyed running around and playing with her friends like any normal child, but she also made sure to make time to spend with her grandfather.
Having Kakuzu around to bully into playing hairdresser was just a perk that made the overall experience much better.
There were documents all around and he was pretty sure that he had a meeting with the Clan Council in a couple of hours… But Tsunade and Kakuzu were here and he suddenly had the craving for ice cream.
"Who wants ice cream?"
Tsunade cheered. Kakuzu grunted in discontent. "That's a waste of money."
"It's not a waste if you eat it all." Hashirama smiled back at him. "Finish up the braid, honey. Once you're done, we'll go for ice cream."
~/~
Tobirama believed that Kakuzu was a bad influence on Tsunade.
"Wanna bet?"
Kakuzu grunted in slight pleasure- Hashirama had learned how to gauge his grunts by the second month with him and had become an expert in the past year- as Tsunade tried to hustle Jiraiya out of the sticks of dango he had just bought.
Hashirama watched as Jiraiya blinked at his friend for a moment, then proclaimed that there was no way a girl could ever beat him in an arm wrestling contest- he'd win no sweat!
Tsunade lost the first round, then offered double or nothing. Jiraiya, like a fool, fell into the trap and agreed.
The bouncing blonde bounded towards Hashirama and Kakuzu with three sticks of dango, gave one to each, and then sat down on her grandfather's lap to enjoy the spoils of her victory.
Tobirama may have been right to believe that Kakuzu was a bad influence on the young girl… But Hashirama didn't think he was all that bad. Tsunade had always had a money oriented mentally- he was sure she would have eventually figured out how to trick people out of their money; with or without Kakuzu's help.
~/~
After two years of Kakuzu living with them, he finally asked Hashirama if he could do anything to earn the money he was being given.
Hashirama stared at him for a moment, all the while Kakuzu did everything in his power to glare right back at him.
He was no longer the completely lanky teenage boy with more limbs than muscle. He'd grown into his body, packed on muscle, and he'd somehow managed to get even taller. Hashirama swore that one of these days he would be able to surpass him in height. He still wasn't completely sure of what age he really was, or what he looked like beneath the mask, but he didn't really mind. Kakuzu was a secretive kind of guy. But when he wanted or needed to say something, he would say it.
The fact that he hadn't shown anybody what his face really looked like most probably meant that he either didn't care about his looks or he didn't want to be shunned over a dirty secret hidden by the mask. Either way, Hashirama respected his wishes and didn't pry.
"Well… Your best skills are in money handling and fighting, right?"
Kakuzu shifted his head just minutely to mimic a half hearted nod.
The Senju leaned back in his chair and looked over the dozens of different mission reports he needed to sort through.
Kakuzu was, officially, a renegade ninja that had abandoned his home, slaughtered dozens, and was still at large. He didn't know that Hashirama knew about his horrid actions, but the Senju made a point of ignoring the worried part of his brain that told him to return Kakuzu to Takigakure before they found out Konoha was housing one of their most wanted traitors.
Tobirama believed that war would eventually break out again. If he really wanted to keep Kakuzu around, he just needed to keep him hidden until it did. Then he wouldn't have to worry about sparking conflict with Takigakure because he adopted one of their traitors- the conflict would have already begun. Besides, it was common for warring clans to recruit traitors to their cause. This was kind of like it, albeit a bit more deceptive.
Unfortunately, the chances of officially proclaiming Kakuzu as a ninja under Konoha's protection kept coming closer. The world was tense and the villages were just waiting for that final spark to ignite the inevitable fighting.
"Strategy. I'm good with strategy too."
Hashirama clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he absentmindedly nodded at what the teenager had said.
"Alright. I'll have you meet with Tobirama so you can start coming up with ways to strengthen village defenses and come up with contingency plans in case of invasion. I'll pay you on an hourly rate. Is that satisfactory?"
Kakuzu nodded stiffly, shifted his stance just a little, and simply asked, "War?"
Hashirama squeezed his eyes shut, rubbed them with his thumb and forefinger, and sighed heavily.
"War."
~/~
Hashirama did everything in his power to avoid a full scale war among the villages. He tried to send emissaries and encourage diplomacy among the world. He tried to convince villages that war would not be the answer to the growing displeasure and he tried to keep the order within his own village.
While he tried his best to maintain the peace, he had Kakuzu and Tobirama working with a special taskforce tasked with preparing Konoha for any instance of battle on their territory. Kakuzu earned the respect of those that knew he was in the Village by taking his jo seriously and offering all sorts of creative strategies that would undoubtedly help save hundreds of lives if anyone tried to attack the village.
He was no fool, though- war would come, no matter what he did; all he could do was push the beginning date back. With heavy pain in his heart, he decreed that all ninja, no matter what age, needed to rush through their training so they would be prepared for conflict and other decrees that would prepare Konoha for the inevitable conflict.
A week after the First Shinobi World War broke out, Kakuzu was officially declared as an official ninja of Konoha, given his very own hitai-ite with Konoha's symbol, and began to receive public missions that helped with the defense of the village.
Takigakure, two weeks after the war broke out, sent word that if Konoha did not rescind Kakuzu's citizenship and send him back to the village so he could be tried like the criminal he was, peace would never be settled through diplomacy.
Hashirama, without telling Kakuzu of this, asked Tobirama if sending him back would truly change anything.
Kakuzu had grown to be an important part of the Senju's life in the past five months he had been with them. Hashirama saw him as more than just some kid they had taken in on a whim- he was family. But Konoha was his family... Every single villager he had under his rule was an equally important part of his family. If giving up Kakuzu would save the rest of his family- the rest of his village- from war with one village… then… maybe giving him up would be worth it... Although he'd do it with a heavy and pained heart.
Tobirama had never liked Kakuzu. So Hashirama knew that his answer was as honest as it could get- it wasn't clouded with any kind of sympathy for the teenager.
"No matter what you do, war has already broken out. Takigakure has looked for all sorts of excuses to start conflict- even in times of relative peace. Send him back or not, they'll find a reason to never settle on peace… If you send him back, though, you'll have one less ninja to care for, brother."
He promptly sent a letter asking for the leader of Takigakure to kindly stop harassing Kakuzu, he was under Konoha's protection now, and if peace would never be found because of this, then it's a shame they would never be allies.
The day Hashirama proclaimed him Hokage was the worst day of his life.
Tobirama had always known there was a possibility he would take the reins of the village they had all had worked so hard to create. He had also always known that there would be a possibility that his brother would not live to see the peace he had so valiantly fought for… But knowing it did not mean he was prepared to face the reality.
It was a bittersweet feeling, really… He had always wanted control of the village; there were so many things he would have done differently if he had been in power from the very beginning; so many things he had not been able to do because of Hashirama's soft heart... But he had also never wanted to see his brother die.
As soon as he had heard that he had been passed over for Hokage again, Madara had tried to set up a revolution within the Uchiha so he could get rid of Tobirama and take power himself.
His need for control of the village was, luckily enough, less than his need to see his Uchiha family live.
Almost as quickly as the revolt had started, it had ended.
Tobirama had not needed to lift a single finger.
Kakuzu had shown his power for the first time and it had been terrifying.
Probably, if he had tried to fight Madara, Kakuzu would have lost. But he had not. Instead of going for the head of the snake, he had attacked the weaker, much more vulnerable body all the while Madara tried to make a mad dash for Tobirama. Uchiha died by the dozens on the day they tried to revolt and Madara had been forced to stand down unless he wanted to have no one in his clan left by the end of it.
Madara was incarcerated and placed in a room with chakra draining seals that was so deep underground that only a select handful of people even knew it existed; and even fewer knew where it was.
The Uchiha revolt was only a blip in the mountain of problems Tobirama had to deal with as soon as he became Hokage.
He admitted it with much chagrin, but he knew that if it hadn't been for Kakuzu, he would have committed a lot of idiotic mistakes during his first few months as Hokage.
"Focus on the war. The Uchiha are beaten and wounded dogs that don't even have a proper leader anymore. I'll keep my eye on them; I'll be their leash."
He had never trusted Kakuzu. He had always expected to one day hear from Hashirama how he had finally turned on him and tried to assassinate him.
He was thankful that this had never happened.
The Uchiha were all placed under martial law until the war ended, Hashirama was buried in a secret place only a select few knew of in a funeral only Mito had shed one single tear, and Konoha renewed its mission to finally put an end to this stupid war.
With his permission, Mito ordered Senju armor to be crafted for Kuzu to wear for Hashirama's funeral.
Tobirama had never seen armor look so at home on anybody before. Somehow, though, those metallic plates of protection had looked right on Kakuzu.
~/~
A year had passed since he had become Hokage.
The Uchiha were still monitored heavily by Kakuzu, although they were beginning to receive more liberties as more and more of their members proclaimed full loyalty to Konoha and not their clan.
The fighting was still endless and Tobirama couldn't wait for the day that he didn't have to read about how a twelve year old genin was captured and tortured before he was ultimately beheaded and left on full display for other ninja to see as a warning of some village's violent power.
Kakuzu had somehow become his greatest confidant and counselor and he still had no idea just how in the world that had happened.
"I bet you are happy to hear that Takigakure is willing to sign an armistice now that it has lost more than half of its population."
Kakuzu moved one dark shōgi piece with a small grunt.
"I'll be happy once this damn war ends."
Tobirama looked over the board before him, took stock of the pieces he had left, and finally moved to grab a drink from his tea.
Kakuzu didn't say a single thing and left his tea untouched.
None of them knew how he looked like. He still kept a lot of his past a secret. Tobirama wanted to know everything about that past. He wanted to understand just what had happened to this young man that had made him forsake his village and come to Konoha- under complete risk of getting killed- and somehow befriend Hashirama. He didn't pry, though, more than aware that Kakuzu was not the kind to share.
Neither of them were that kind. It somehow worked between them, though… Probably because they mutually respected one another.
"How are the plans for the Academy coming along?"
"Good."
Silence once again.
Tobirama would never have thought he'd enjoy playing a silent game of shōgi with Kakuzu. But it was extremely pleasant.
~/~
Kakuzu was a terror on the battlefield. Tobirama had witnessed it when he had cut down dozens of Uchiha without a single second of hesitation during the Uchiha Revolt. And he continued to witness it from the different reports he would be handed from the missions he went on.
Takigakure had lost an asset that would have helped them at least keep their footing in the war. And Konoha had gained an extremely useful and devastating weapon.
Wherever he went, death followed.
Soon enough, enemy villages started to target Kakuzu only. They would ignore Konoha ninja to instead try and kill the Takigakure native.
Whenever he read about how the enemy had focused the younger male and how they had managed to actually harm him before they were taken out, Tobirama felt his blood boil with the need to make the war prolong so he could get proper vengeance.
Strategic; he knew it was. Cowardly. Despicable. He could understand the need to get rid of Kakuzu, but he still deemed them all cowards.
"Are you okay?"
"Of course I am." He was also on some pain killers that made him somewhat loopy, which meant he was more talkative than usual. "What'd Kumo answer?"
Years of fighting had drained them. They were both tired. Konoha was tired. Every single village was tired of the ceaseless fighting at this point. So Tobirama had sent Kakuzu and a handful of agents to deliver a message to ask for diplomatic talks.
They had been attacked coming back.
Victory had gone to Konoha and the enemy that had attacked- Tobirama didn't even care which village had ambushed them at this point- would never see their home again. Kakuzu had wound up extremely injured, though, and had required emergency surgery.
The doctors had never seen anything like it.
Kakuzu was an aberration of nature- a monstrosity- inhuman.
Tobirama wasn't even slightly amazed.
His lack of humanity explained what he was capable of doing in the battlefield. And his loyalties were straight and clear- there was no reason to start to judge him for what he was physically. Quite frankly, it didn't matter as long as he was loyal to Konoha.
"They're willing to talk." Tobirama sighed, "I'll be heading out in a day."
"Are you sure that's smart? Should you really be leaving the village at a time like this?" Kakuzu grunted, lifting himself on the hospital bed to look him directly in the eyes.
Tobirama stared back with complete honesty. "For peace I'm willing to go into hell."
With a huff, the ghostly pale man with the stitches marring his body let himself fall back onto the bed. "Well, at least I'm now sure you really are Hashirama's brother…"
His body would have terrified a lesser person. It was inhuman in the worst definition of the word. It would unsettle just about anybody- it looked as if he was some kind of zombie that had been stitched together by an unearthly demon.
To Tobirama, it was just another reminder of how truly fucked up the world could become.
They lived in a world where good men died and bad men rose to power. They lived in a world where the kind hearted suffered while the corrupt caused the suffering. They lived in a world where fathers buried children and whole families were wiped out in the name of trying to finally end a war. They lived in a world where someone with a good enough heart was cut apart and stitched together, left to live the rest of their lives looking like a demonic rag doll.
It was just the world they lived in.
~/~
The next time they met in a hospital, it was because he was on the bed in terrible pain and Kakuzu was silently judging him from the chair.
The Raikage and he had been ambushed, left for dead, and now Kumo wanted his head on a pike.
He should have known better than to seek peace.
"The Brothers have been apprehended. We have them locked up in separated cells. What do you want to do with them?"
Tobirama would have been surprised by the speed in which they had captured the Gold and Silver Brothers if it had not been for the fact that it was Kakuzu informing him of this. He was inhuman- he could do things that no other could. Of course he was able to track down the traitors in record time.
"Kumo will want their heads."
"Just like yours. It won't matter what we do- they'll forever hold you responsible for the Raikage's injuries."
Tobirama pursed his lips at the anger badly hidden within Kakuzu's voice.
The younger male wanted revenge. He wanted to make the brothers hurt as much as they had hurt Tobirama. He wanted to destroy everything they were. But before he finished with them, he wanted to make them suffer.
Tobirama knew that it would be better for diplomatic relations to offer the brothers to Kumogakure.
"Do whatever you want to them as long as they're alive by the time Kumo can send a caravan to pick them up."
He'd work for peace. And he knew these two would be perfect tokens to try and buy the peace with Kumo.
If he wasn't wearing that dark mask, Tobirama was sure that he would find the younger smiling with sick and deranged glee.
~/~
His only true regret about sending his team away to distract the enemy was that he had not been able to send Kakuzu a final message.
He had dozens of other regrets: He wished he had accepted Kakuzu's loyalties sooner; he wished he had told his brother how much he truly loved him before he had died; he wished that he had tried to form a better bond with Izuna so he wouldn't have wound up paralyzed and Madara wouldn't have had a concrete reason to hate him; he wished he had spent more time with his family before they had died; he wished that he had been born into a better world.
But he seriously suspected would haunt him even in death was that he was never able to tell Kakuzu how much he had truly enjoyed and appreciated their time together. He had never been good at forming close bonds with anyone but his brother. But, somehow, Kakuzu had managed to make him care. The younger male had proved how much he deserved Tobirama's trust... Unfortunately, they had only been allowed a handful of years to work together to make the village progress.
He had proclaimed Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Third Hokage even against Danzo's wishes and Konoha would have a new leader by the time the team returned to their home.
By the time they had arrived and Hiruzen was proclaimed Hokage, his soul would no longer be hosted by his body.
Sincerely, he wished Konoha would finally reach peace. And he hoped Kakuzu would help Hiruzen deal with Konoha's troubles as he had helped him and Hashirama. Hopefully, for as long as that demonic body of his allowed it, he would continue to guide all of Konoha's Hokages with the same intelligence and patient clarity that had helped him see that the Uchiha were not the enemy once Madara had been locked up.
Maybe in the next life they would be able to spend more time together. With Hashirama, Kawarama, Itama, and everyone else they had lived to see die.
Hokage.
He was Hokage.
There was peace in the world and he was Hokage.
Hiruzen never thought this day would come. He wasn't even sure if he had even wanted it to come.
He wasn't completely convinced that reaching this point in his life was worth his teacher's death.
Tobirama Senju's burial was attended by only a handful of people trusted by him- not Hiruzen, Tobirama. This meant that there less than ten people in the funeral... Danzō not included.
The Senju was laid in the ground beside Hashirama and seals were place all around his coffin to ensure that nobody would ever be able to open his tomb.
In a couple of days, they would do the same to Hashirama's own coffin.
Mito didn't cry as loudly as she had with Hashirama. Instead she held onto her son's and granddaughter's hands as she said goodbye to the last of the great Senju Brothers and allowed two stray tears down her aging cheeks.
One tear for each brother.
The mysterious man that had been the one to bring back Tobirama's body stood behind the widow, odd eyes closed in what some might take as serenity or sadness. He was wearing armor very similar to what Hashirama had once worn into battle- Senju armor. This would be the second time he wore the armor; the first time was at Hashirama's funeral.
Hiruzen wasn't sure what to think of him just yet. All he knew was that he had been in Hashirama's own funeral. And, somehow, he had managed to recover the Second Hokage's body, even though it had been in a no man's land that was supposed to have killed anyone that dared step inside… It had killed Tobirama Senju… How had it not killed this man?
Young Tsunade squeezed her grandmother's hand one final time before she moved onto the man, raising her hand so he could grasp it.
The man didn't even look at her. He raised his hand without opening an eye and took the young girl's hand and she continued to softly cry.
This man had been his teacher's advisor. He had been one of Hashirama's most trusted ninja.
Yet Hiruzen knew almost nothing about him.
Just like with many other things, he had no idea how he would proceed.
The man raised his left hand to pat Tsunade's head and the girl hugged his leg tightly, refusing to let him go.
Hiruzen decided that he did not care about who the man might be. He just cared that he had brought back to his teacher's body. And for that, he would forever be grateful.
~/~
The armistice was a flimsy bandage that would not hold the large, gaping wound that was dissent in the world for too long.
They needed to prepare for the war that would undoubtedly come.
"The Academy needs to be strengthened, maintained, and new students have to enroll. The Uchiha Police Force is helping keep the peace within Konoha, but they can't have full power over anything. And the Clans needs to get their heads out of their asses before they start thinking another Clan Revolution might be a good idea."
Kakuzu. That was his name. And he was the smartest advisor Konoha offered… Takigakure offered.
Tsunade cared for and trusted him. Hiruzen trusted her enough to trust who she trusted. And Mito had vouched for his intelligence and trustworthiness. Adding to this fountain of comfort, Hiruzen knew that Hashirama and Tobirama both had used him as an advisor during their time as Hokage.
"Refugees are coming- we'll need to build sectors of the village for them."
"Not sectors. New homes that will be all throughout the village." Kakuzu grunted as he crossed his arms over his chest, "If we leave them all grouped together in just one area, we stand the risk of having them start plotting like the Uchiha. It's better to let them feel like they're accepted into whichever part of the village they want to move into."
Hiruzen nodded in agreement, even as Danzō frowned in disagreement.
"We need to keep all of the refugees in the same place. We cannot possibly keep them all under surveillance if they're all around the village." Danzō sneered with clear contempt.
Kakuzu's true origins were not known by him. But he did not like him at all. He considered Kakuzu to be a dangerous, unknown variable that needed to be put on a leash immediately. Like with many things he had offered, Hiruzen denied him this plan of action. And, just with every other plan that was shot down, Danzō took it personally and further alienated himself.
"We won't need them grouped together because we won't be putting them under surveillance."
Kakuzu didn't even look at the scarred man as he spoke. Instead he uncrossed his arms to pick up some of the reports that informed them about the current status of Konoha's borders and made a displeased noise.
"Suna nin have been spotted. We'll need to strengthen our borders."
"We need to follow Suna's example and send our own spies!"
Kakuzu scoffed at him and shook his head, "Don't you have actual duties to attend to? The Hokage has enough advisors already."
Hiruzen felt a pang of regret hit him when his old friend looked at him with disbelief and hurt clear in his eyes. But he was gone before he could call back for him.
"You…" Hiruzen thought on his words for a moment, then relented, "Have an interesting way with words."
Kakuzu's shoulders shifted just slightly in what Hiruzen assumed to be a halfhearted attempt at a shrug. "I don't beat around the bush and I do call people out on their shit. Now get back to work."
Hiruzen considered himself lucky to have such a crass yet intelligent man with him as an advisor. He honestly seemed to be the only one that didn't have any personal agenda to tend to when it came to pushing for decisions to be made.
~/~
On days when he was swamped with work, Kakuzu would sometimes take over teaching his genin team.
Tsunade loved it when this happened. Orochimaru respected it. Jiraiya always hated it because he said the crazy man was out to get him.
It was nice to see that, even with everything they needed to complete before another war broke out, there were times to laugh still... It had been too long since he had last been able to smile without having to worry about his village's immediate well being. Now he could smile and worry about his village's eventual well being.
Admittedly, he began to regret having allowed Kakuzu to teach the kids when he found out that Tsunade now had almost inhuman control over earth release jutsu and had a penchant for us it against her teammates.
~/~
Twenty years.
The armistice held on for twenty long years. Hiruzen was able to see his students become true adults and great ninja and Konoha was able to prosper and become a stable nation that didn't need the help of any other to survive. Jiraiya and Orochimaru had taken on their own generation of students, although Tsunade had focused almost solely on forcing medical programs to become important in peoples' minds.
The Second Shinobi World War was devastating. But, honestly, it wasn't nearly as bad to Konoha as the First had been. Unfortunately, all of the fighting had affected lesser villages.
His humanitarian and sympathetic side made him feel remorseful for this fact. His logical side merely told him that it was better that the fights had decimated those villages and had barely even touched Konoha.
The War blurred past him without truly astonishing him.
Only two events were able to truly shake him.
First, Mito succumbed to a sickness they had not been able to identify- much less try and cure. Second, Sakumo Hatake had failed to complete a mission and this would then further destroy the already crippled Hatake Clan.
He wishes he could say that the great number of ninja lost caused him true distress. He wishes he could say that he was relieved when peace was found yet again. He wishes he could say that he was heartbroken when Jiraiya and Orochimaru came to him with news that Tsunade had a severe case of depression from the loss of her lover.
But in all honesty, none of that truly fazed him.
It was yet another war with casualties. This was their world.
He would work to change it. But he could not allow every single death or abandonment to hit him personally. If he allowed that, then he'd never be able to actually change anything.
Mito was laid down in the plot to Hashirama's left- placed right beside her husband so she could, hopefully, spend an eternity with her one true love. Her children, grandchildren, Hiruzen, and Kakuzu had attended. No one else was allowed to see where the two great brothers were buried.
For the third time in his life, he saw Kakuzu wearing Senju armor.
For the first time in his life, he swore he saw tears in Kakuzu's eyes.
~/~
During times of relative peace, Hiruzen was able to see something he never would have expected from Kakuzu, the apathetic and detached individual that had become his most trusted advisor: actual human connection.
Before the Second War broke out, he had been able to see how Kakuzu dealt with a young Tsunade to help her deal with the loss of her beloved grandfathers. Afterwards, he was able to see how he would quietly listen to her woes when they believed no one was around to see them. And he was always available to any of Hiruzen's students, prepared to listen to any of their worries or woes before he forced them to get their asses into motion and suck their problems up; life went on.
After the Second War, Hiruzen heard from Jiraiya how Kakuzu grabbed a sickened Kakashi Hatake- apparently, he had been trying to buy some fruit but had been rejected by the merchant and Kakuzu had properly traumatized the man that had refused a child food- and marched all the way to the Hatake home to force Sakumo to get his head out of his ass and take care of his child.
He was not able to see this with his own eyes, he had heard from Jiraiya. But he was, somehow, not surprised to find out that Kakuzu had done such a thing. He completely believed his advisor was capable of making such a scene.
It took some time, but eventually Sakumo began to act like a functioning adult, albeit with a couple of complications. There was no need to try and hide just who helped him recover... Although Kakuzu still insisted on portraying himself as calloused and cold.
Kakuzu made a point of never answering any of his questions whenever they dealt with any of the children he had somehow seemed to adopt during his time in Konoha.
The Ame kids just about idolized him. But that wasn't surprising, seeing how even Jiraiya couldn't hate him enough to talk too badly about him.
By the time Jiraiya's own student, Minato, was tasked with a genin team of his own, Hiruzen didn't see how assigning Kakashi to him would hurt.
Kakuzu, even as weird as it sounded, was a common factor in the lives of a lot of the people he considered dear. Even Minato had an interesting way of relating himself to Kakuzu, even though the man didn't necessarily like him… Too much.
~/~
When the Third War broke out, Hiruzen was so tired that he wanted to already give up the mantle of Hokage. He was so done with everything that dealt with politics and war that he had even thought of giving the title of Hokage to Kakuzu.
He knew that his teacher would not have been against his most trusted advisor being the Fourth Hokage. But he knew that no true Konoha-native would ever allow such a thing.
So he trudged on through yet another war with hopes that they would come out victorious and the shinobi villages would finally stop trying to gain power they didn't even need.
Luckily for him, this war didn't last nearly as long as the other two.
Unluckily for him, it took the lives of too many Academy students.
He didn't care about this anymore. He loved Konoha, but he couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't willingly send children to slaughter. He couldn't make the choices the village required of him. He was only surviving because he had Kakuzu advising him on one side and his old teammates supporting him (albeit rather selfishly) on the other.
He put forth Orochimaru and Minato's names for the mantle of Hokage and allowed Kakuzu to do as he pleased until a Fourth Hokage was finally chosen.
He had never wanted to be Hokage. He had thought it was a true compliment of his skill that his teacher had chosen him to lead the nation. But now that he had gone through more than thirty years of continuously worrying over his family, he believed it was about time he was given a proper retirement.
Quite frankly, if it hadn't been for Kakuzu, he was sure that he would have committed more mistakes he'd regret than good things he would be proud of. But the man had kept him on the straight and narrow.
He'd been more of a puppet Hokage, really. But, in all honesty, he did not give a single damn.
The day he first met Kuzu was interesting.
Jiraiya-sensei had wound up with his face in the dirt in front of his students because he'd tried to beat the man that had supposedly been Hashirama Senju's greatest advisor.
He'd been- what? Thirteen? Fourteen? Barely out of the Academy and he'd witnessed his teacher getting his ass handed to him by a man in a mask with long hair and an unimpressive and completely inconspicuous Konoha ninja uniform.
On that day, Minato decided that he would do everything in his power to learn everything Kuzu could ever possibly teach.
~/~
He didn't learn much from Kakuzu. At least, not when it came to jutsu.
What he did learn, though, was a thousand times more valuable. Patience, strategy, and a willingness to yield until a weak point was exposed were only a handful of things Kakuzu taught him before the Third Shinobi War broke out. These were things he used on the battlefield. He wasn't as great using them off of it and his normal life, though… He gave into his impulses much too quickly for that.
It was pretty interesting to him, now that he thought about it, how Kuzu seemed to be an important person in his life. He never would have thought it would be like that when he had first met the man. He'd met a strong ninja he honestly believed would have died before he had turned twenty.
He was pretty happy he had been wrong to think such a thing was ever likely to happen.
Kakashi absolutely loved him. He and Sakumo had just about adopted him into the Clan- the only thing that kept him outside of the Clan was the fact that he hadn't yet been given the Hatake name.
Rin and Obito liked and respected him. But they didn't love him to the same degree. Minato guessed that it was simply because of the fact that he tried to make himself seem like such a big and bad guy whenever they were around. But, and he was sure of this, they would eventually grow to love him too.
"What're you smiling at, idiot?"
Minato's smile enlarged even further when he noticed Kakuzu's glare on him.
"Hmm? Minato-sensei?" Kakashi questioned, losing his concentration and dropping his arms to his sides. "What're you doing here?"
Obito growled in frustration as his concentration broke and Rin breathed out in relief.
"Why do you have my students learning earth release, Kuzu?" He ignored the man's question and received a glare as his only answer.
"Ignore the idiot. Back into your stances."
Obito and Rin groaned. Kakashi snapped to attention.
Minato stopped himself from reminding him that this idiot was the very Hokage of the village he served. Instead, he just watched how the man instructed the children on how to build a wall of earth.
He had paperwork to finish…
He stayed and watched the lesson.
~/~
Kakuzu grunted a denial before Minato had even managed to open his mouth.
"You don't even know what I'm going to ask." He pursed his lips and received an annoyed sigh from the older man.
"It'll be something stupid."
"You don't know!"
Kuzu sighed, looked up from the expense reports he had been reading over for the past few hours, and leveled Minato with a disinterested stare.
"Just how old are you?"
Obito had asked him. And when he'd tried to answer, he had noticed that he had no idea- well, he did, just not a concrete answer.
Legend (Jiraiya-sensei) had it that he had supposedly served under both the First and Second Hokage as a perfectly loyal advisor that had never allowed them a single bad decision. And he knew that he had been his own teacher's advisor for some thirty odd years. And now, more than a year had passed since the end of the Third Shinobi War and a long time had passed since the first Hokage of Konoha had been chosen.
Kuzu stared at him for a couple of seconds. Then he turned back to his paperwork and made a whole show of ignoring him.
Hmm… Maybe his age was a touchy subject.
~/~
There were rumors flying around that Kakuzu was a demon from hell sent to infiltrate Konoha and bring it down from within by gaining the Hokage's trust.
Minato had no idea who had come up with the rumor, but it must have been from someone that had wanted to be advisor to the Hokage and had promptly failed because Kakuzu was just that much better than them at the job.
Kuzu being the Hokage's advisor wasn't necessarily common knowledge. But it also wasn't something that was shouted from the rooftops. It was kind of like an open secret. Only those that mattered knew he was an important part of Konoha's government and those that weren't important knew that they would see the shinobi with the long dark hair, dark mask, and unimpressive shinobi uniform walking around Konoha every now and again.
There wasn't a better man for the job, really. Many had tried to get into Minato's good graces to convince him that change was needed, but none had managed to yet. And he highly doubted they'd ever be able to. Why mess with something that wasn't broken?
When the time came that Kakuzu would die, then he would choose a new advisor. But until that day, he would never question the man.
Some asked him why.
He always gave the same answer.
"Some people are in it for the money. He's in it to balance spending. Some people just want the fame of winning a war. He wants to save as many lives as possible. Some just want the shiny post. He doesn't even have a proper name aside from advisor. Besides, he's teaching me how to play shōgi and has not yet cheated. What else could you ask of him?"
~/~
On the day Inoichi brought Hidan in, Kakuzu was the first one to tell him whatever he was thinking was an idiotic idea and he should think carefully before he made a decision. But he was also the first one that admitted it might be a good idea to just let Inoichi help the guy out if he truly thought it was worth his time.
Among protests and critiques of complete disbelief, Minato gave Inoichi strict rules (some of which had been offered by Kuzu) about how to keep the dangerous missing-nin. Everyone he knew called him insane for allowing the Yamanaka to host the Jashinist in his home, but, really, it was a no brainer.
If Kuzu hadn't told him to get rid of Hidan as soon as the idea had been planted, then there was complete reason to believe in him.
~/~
The only time Minato ever saw Kuzu in action was during the Nine Tails' attack on the Village.
He'd seen him sparring before. He'd seen him in motion before. He had thought he had a true gauge of how much power was inside of the man, even if he had never witnessed it first hand.
He had been very wrong to ever think such a thing.
Kakuzu had moved like a demon from the pits of hell; seeming to never touch the floor as he ran through the village to keep innocents from harm's way. Every single time he would catch sight of someone in peril, the man would disengage from his battle plan to take down the monster so he could save his fellow human.
Because of his and other brave ninjas' awareness of the battlefield, hundreds of lives had been saved.
Minato knew that if it hadn't been for Kakuzu, he would have lost his own Protection Squad. Genma, Raidou, and Iwashi now all considered Kakuzu to be one of the greatest ninja to ever have existed and wanted to learn from him.
Minato's own need to learn from him was reignited by seeing him in action.
~/~
A large funeral was held for those that had fallen during the Nine Tails attack. Everyone dressed in their darkest garments... Everyone but Kuzu.
The man stood with Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya at the very back of the event, eyes closed as rain fell lightly all around. Hiruzen stood near them, although with enough space between them to not seem as if he were trying to intrude, wearing clothes as black as onyx. The three Ame orphans were huddled near him, eyes closed and heads bowed, all dressed in funeral garb.
Kuzu, though, stood with his hulking frame clad in Senju battle armor. Minato had never seen anything like it before, except in pictures of his teacher's own teacher, and had thought he would never be able to see it either. With most of the Senju dead, there were no metalworkers left to create such piece of equipment anymore.
If Jiraiya-sensei's sensationalized stories were true, then it would make sense for Kuzu to wear such an attire... If he truly had been Tobirama and Hashirama's advisor, then it would make sense to assume that he was gifted the armor at some point by either of the brothers.
With a small sigh, Minato counted his lucky stars that he still had his wife and child, even though the road ahead looked more than just difficult.
~/~
Naruto took to Kuzu much like Kakashi had.
Kuzu lamented this. Uncharacteristically enough, he sometimes allowed that regret to be voiced out.
"Will it ever end?" Minato heard Kuzu ask himself when he thought nobody was paying attention to him. "Or I am I just damned to be surrounded by bratty children for the rest of my life?"
Minato smiled as he carried Naruto over to him and helped the baby grasp onto the long locks.
"I think you're damned, Kuzu."
To the First Hokage, a trusted friend.
(The man had been a fool with too big of a bleeding heart. He never should have accepted into his home; he never should have offered him a place in his family. But Kakuzu had taken the chance he was given and done the best to make the man that had believed in him proud.)
To the Second Hokage, the only ally that had mattered.
(He had never expected for anything to come out of Tobirama becoming Hokage.. Well, nothing but pain. He had expected martial laws to run rampant and for Konoha to eventually tear itself apart. Somehow, though, he had helped avoid such a fate.)
(Never would he say this, but he really missed both Senju brothers. Just like he missed Mito.)
To the Third Hokage, a moral compass that had never strayed.
(This one had been trickiest. He had been surrounded by dozens of snakes that had tried to use him for their own gain. Luckily enough, he had managed to help him stomp them down and maintain a relative atmosphere in Konoha until he finally retired.)
And to the Fourth Hokage, a dear member of the family.
(He still wasn't sure how that had happened... But Naruto called him Uncle Kuzu and he still found himself suffering from genuine surprise whenever he heard such a title.)
Kakuzu had to wonder, what would he be to the Fifth Hokage?
With a small sigh, Kakuzu finished getting dressed in the standard shinobi uniform so he could finally begin his day after his hour of silent contemplation. He ignored the stitches and scars that marred his body as he pulled on his shirt and pants.
(Nobody but Tobirama and Mito had ever seen them. He would like to keep it that way.)
Making sure that he had placed his mask over the lower half of his face securely, he then went on to tie his hitai-ite over his forehead with practice ease.
(It was the same one Hashirama had given him all those years ago.)
After he had pulled on his shoes, he tightened his flak jacket, looked around his room to make sure that everything was in its place and nothing was out of it, and allowed himself a small, barely perceptible, nod. Then, he headed out and began his day of chasing after Minato to make sure he completed his work and chased Naruto out of his dad's office and back into the Academy.
Fifteen years old, scared, shunned by his village, and terrified; Kakuzu had run to Konoha because that had been where the only person to have ever shown him compassion had lived. He had just recently become the monster he still was and he had been too scared to even think about the possibilities of death for going to the Hokage's home.
He had never expected anything out of meeting Hashirama Senju the second time around.
..~..~..
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