HI there! Well here we go. The first chapter and part of the second sort of set things up. I actually wrote chapter 4 as the first chapter and then decided I needed to set the scene up first. Enjoy!
Love the Lady
Tobirama sighed. It was the third day since they'd left Konoha, the village he and his brother had founded to help encourage peace in the area. He felt as if he hadn't been home in months. In reality he hadn't, at least not for long. They'd founded the village, Hashirama, his older brother, had been made Hokage and then Tobirama, as his adviser, had been sent out to make contact with nearby villages and clans, forming alliances. The alliance they'd made with the Uchiha clan, in order to form the village and maintain peace didn't sit well with him but he knew that it was necessary.
He'd just arrived home when the request from the Village Hidden in the Stones had been received. The leader of the newly formed village wanted to form an alliance also. He and Hashirama had some apprehension about this request. The Village Hidden in the Stones had been formed by the alliance of several clans living close to each other, the largest two being the Hata clan and the Kamizuru clan. They knew that Atsushi Hata was not only a clan leader but the village leader as well. They also knew that Hata had close ties to the Uchiha clan and that Tobirama might be walking into a trap. Which was why he had made this trip with four of his most trusted ninja.
He had chosen to travel with Dai, one of the best ninja in the Uzimaki clan. As the cousin of Hashirama's wife he was a trusted and talented ninja that Tobirama knew he could count on in a fight. He was also older than the others and therefore more familiar and comfortable in battle, knowing when to engage and when to back off, and in good control of his emotions, not allowing them to rule him.
The other three that traveled with them, Hideo, Isamu and Kin were several years younger than he was, in their early twenties but they had also seen war and were talented ninja in their own right. Kin lacked the superior emotional control that Tobirama and Dai had developed but Tobirama knew that, in time, he would achieve it. None of the men he had chosen for this mission hailed from the Uchiha clan, he still had trouble trusting them, he had chosen his men from the Yamanaka clan, the Nara clan and the Akimichi clans respectively.
He wondered what the enigmatic leader, Hata, wanted and how he intended to form an alliance. In other villages they'd either agreed to trade diplomats, or in a few cases to share training techniques in order for the village they were allying with to feel better prepared to defend themselves. He figured he would offer to spend a few weeks in this village training with them, accept a diplomat, appoint one of his men to stay, as a diplomat and trainer and then he'd get to go home again. He considered the men he had brought, despite their youth the three young men he had chosen already had established families. It was only Dai who had remained single. He felt that Dai was a good choice to leave as a diplomat and trainer anyway.
As he walked he thought about how much he missed home and the excellent cooking of his brothers wife, Mito. The companionship of his family and his friends, and the peace of falling asleep at night knowing you were safe. Those where all things you took for granted when you were home. When you'd been traveling for months, with little break in between, you realized just how much you took them for granted. He longed for the safety that Konoha offered within its walls and the bed he occupied in his brothers house.
He looked up at the horizon, guessing the time of day to be mid afternoon, hopefully they would make it to the village by sunset, he didn't feel like sleeping on the ground again. The ground had slowly shifted from the forest that surrounded Konoha to grassland and then to rocky soil. There were mountain ranges all around them, though they had been able to pass through without having to climb any. As his sharp eyes scanned the landscape the village came into view.
To the untrained eye it was merely a bump in the landscape, an outcropping of rock but Tobirama's keen crimson eyes recognized it as more than that and an hour later he knew he'd been right. He alerted his men by calling them and pointing. They stopped to discuss their approach.
"No doubt, we've been spotted. We may as well stay together and approach as a group. If it's a trap we'll deal with it then. Until then we assume that we are in friendly territory." Tobirama said.
"Ok." They all agreed.
He liked traveling with these men. None of them were particularly talkative, willing instead to pass a whole day with just a few spoken words. But in battle they were team players. They knew how watch each others backs and avoid being injured. He appreciated the individual skill of each of them and felt that they made a good team.
They resumed their walk and in two hours the gates of the village were looming in front of them. The guard at the gate stood to greet them.
"State your business." He said gruffly, although the look on his face said he suspected this was Hata-sama's long awaited guest.
"I'm Tobirama Senju. I'm here at the request of Hata-sama to form an alliance between our villages." Tobirama hated the etiquette that politics required.
"I thought you might be." He turned to one of the younger men attending the gate with him. "Nao, Please escort Senju-sama to Hata-sama's main house. And be sure he's alerted that his guest has arrived."
"Yes sir." The younger man jumped up. "Follow me please Senju-sama."
As he led them through the streets of the village Tobirama took the opportunity to observe it. It was not unlike Konoha except that in Konoha the structures were mostly wood, owing to the fact that his older brother had used his wood release to build most of them. The buildings here were almost exclusively stone, Tobirama wondered if they'd been painstakingly carved out of the mountain they were nestled in or if someone had used earth release to build them.
People wandered back and forth in the business of daily life. He could hear the market district, but they didn't pass through it. Nao, who was leading them to the village leader, kept bearing to the right side of the village and finally they came to what must be the edge of it. The buildings were shorter here and spread out more. When they came to a second gate Tobirama realized they were entering a compound. At the gate Nao spoke to one of the men guarding it and he nodded as they passed through watching Tobirama and his men with a curious stare.
Tobirama realized that the compound was primarily a family area. Children ran free, chasing each other with sticks and pretending to fight. The buildings were scattered but in an orderly fashion, he was sure that if he investigated there would be sleeping quarters, and working areas, training areas and a kitchen with a dining room attached, and perhaps a formal area for ceremony. He noted that they were also more traditional than the buildings in the village, although they were still made of stone.
They came close to a series of buildings that seemed to be laid out around a man made pond so that the porches could all view it. There was a young girl sitting at the edge of the pond watching something in it with great attention and dropping bits of food in. He surmised that she must be feeding the koi in it. She looked up and made eye contact with him as he passed. He had expected her to look away quickly but she didn't, instead holding his gaze with a questioning look in her eyes. A smile formed at the corners of her mouth. Before he could wonder who she was his attention was pulled away by Nao's voice.
"We are here Senju-sama. Would your men like to be brought to the guest house and be shown the dining hall?" Nao was now standing next to a man who was slightly taller than he was. He had dark hair and very dark eyes, in Tobirama's opinion he looked like an Uchiha.
He looked at his men, they looked tired. "Yes. That will be fine." He pulled Dai aside and giving him his pack, he spoke to him quietly. "Stay together and alert. I'll see you this evening."
Dai nodded and left with the other three following Nao.
He was approached by the man whom Nao had been standing next to. "Hello, my name is Sadao. I'm Hata-sama's personal guard. Please follow me." He walked up the porch of the building they were in front of and, after knocking lightly, slid the door open. "Hata-sama, your guest has arrived."
"Wonderful, Sadao! Thank you for bringing him here. Please come in." The man in the room was older than Tobirama but not old. His face had the mature look of someone who had seen battle many times and lived to tell about it. He had dark brown hair that was flecked with grey, it was held back by the forehead protector he wore. He was about the same height as Tobirama but carried a bit more weight than he, most likely from age, thought Tobirama. He was smiling which either meant he was genuinely friendly or he was a good politician with a poker face. Tobirama had yet to decide which it was.
"Thank you Hata-sama." He entered the room and quickly observed his surroundings. The room had rice paper windows on opposite sides that led to the porches encircling the building, they were open to allow the air to circulate in the afternoon heat. Although the building was stone on the outside the walls on the inside had been paneled with wood that was carved and inlaid in intricate designs. It was very beautiful. The wall on one end had windows in it, the other a door, leading to another room presumably.
"Come sit down." His host led him into the room and indicated some cushions that surrounded a table.
Tobirama joined the man around the table.
"Are you thirsty or hungry?"
"I'm a little thirsty. Some tea would be nice, if it isn't too much trouble." Tobirama nodded.
"Sadao, will you please stop in the kitchen and arrange to have some tea brought, and perhaps a light snack?"
"Certainly Hata-sama." The man exited the room quietly.
"So, you came. I had wondered if you would when I sent the request."
"Did you not get our reply?" Tobirama scowled. What good was a messenger bird that didn't reach it's destination?
"I didn't, I'm sorry." The man looked perplexed. "That's something we'll have to work on, better forms of communication." He looked out the window as if he was forming a plan in his mind and then looked back at Tobirama. "Well, enough of that. How was your travel? You didn't have any problems, did you?"
Tobirama was not one to stand on ceremony. He usually said it like it was and today was no different. "It was travel, hot, dusty and tiring. Lets talk business."
"So soon?" The man smiled at him. "You only just got here!"
"And I haven't been home in months. I am just as interested in making this alliance as you are but I need to get home quickly as well."
"It is the custom to entertain visiting dignitaries for a few days before hitting them up with requests." The man insisted.
"You can entertain me while you are hitting me up for requests, as you so eloquently put it." Tobirama was bored with this man and his pomp and circumstance.
The door slid open and an older woman entered "Hata-sama, I have the refreshments you requested." She set them on the table. "Shall I serve the tea for you?"
"Mmm. Yes please. Thank you." He replied.
They waited while the tea was served and when the woman had left he turned to Tobirama. "Well, I can see you won't be entertained first. Pity, we get so few visitors here. We can discuss the possibilities of an alliance between us then and find one we can both agree on."
Tobirama sipped at his tea and watched the man. He no longer felt that he had walked into a trap but rather the den of a man who thought too much of himself. He sighed inwardly, this was going to be a long trip.
