Madara arrives at his home hours after his meeting with the Kaguya clan in a relatively good mood. While he is still a bit salty from the White Eyed Demon humiliating him, manipulating those War-minded Kaguya clan is always an effective way to improving his mood. Oh, yes… he HAS done this before… Multiple times, in fact. Hey, if they can't see beyond their bloodlust, it's their own fault! Madara never tells them they HAD to do stupid things… They just do it themselves! They are lucky they are one of the most durable clan in the lands.

Once Madara reaches his room, he changes out of his mostly dry clothes and into a fresh, new set. Once he finishes, he leaves his room to train in preparation for the inevitable rematch with the White Eyed Demon, which he will attempt, once he gains more information on her. Someone is bound to know something about her and her family! That long-ranged, chakra-fueled kick is something none of his other enemies ever did! If only he had his Sharingan active at the time… It would have helped! Though the way she swung her legs… Madara deduces that, unlike majority of the shinobi population, she can probably release chakra from more than just her hands and feet! She must be from a clan! But WHICH?! He will figure it out, one day!

"Brother?"

Madara looks back in response to those words. He stands, face to face, to his last remaining sibling, Izuna. Izuna, keeping himself up with a walking stick, stares back, questioningly.

"Where were you? You were gone longer than you said you would be."

To tell the truth or to lie? Izuna REALLY hates the Senju and will probably react accordingly. Also, there's the whole humiliation that ruined Madara's predicted time of his return…

On the other hand, Madara can't lie to his brother. Izuna is the one person who knows him so well! Madara was hoping that once he and Hashirama finds a suitable location for a village, the two of them will spend the rest of the ceasefire in hopes of finding a way to placate their clan's hate for one another.

He has no idea why his clan hates the Senju so much. The Senju's strong body compliments the Uchiha's eye prowess so well! A child between the two clans can become a God. No one ever listens to Madara's unification idea, though.

Well, time for the ugly truth, then…

"I was with Hashirama-" Before Madara can finish, Izuna interrupts him.

"What were you doing with the enemy?!" Just as he expects. It must be in their blood to forever hate the Senju. Madara suspects that he is the one freak exception.

"He had an idea!"

"And you listened?!"

No good. Izuna's hate towards the Senju just burns as intensely as the Sun… And that is BEFORE that brother-hurting asshat Tobirama crippled him! This is going to be a long explanation… and that is not counting the real reason for Madara's lateness: the humiliation.

Speaking of asshat, at another location, Hashirama is sulking as his brother, Tobirama, chides him for doing things that impacts the clan without consulting him. Why is Tobirama so mean about this? True, a lot of their people die at the hands of the Uchiha, but those battles were mostly funded by the lords, damn it! If an alliance forms between their clans, the lords will no longer be able to force a battle between them! They will just need to work with forgiveness. But no one ever listens to him… People listen to Tobirama, however. If Hashirama can convince him that this is a great idea, the rest of the clan will listen!

At this moment, Tobirama finally ends his rant. "Do you understand?"

Hashirama continues in his sulking. "Yes, Tobi…" He then realizes the opportunity in front of him. Now that his brother is no longer steaming at him, the pause he needs is right there! He will need to do this in a way to convince his brother… It is now time to test his ability to sway a person.

"Okay, I know that for generations, the Uchiha and Senju have always been at war with each other…" A great opening, if Hashirama does say so, himself. "As a result of all these wars, we became strong, but so did the Uchiha clan…" And now, for the main hook. "But imagine if we join our strengths with the Uchiha? No longer will we lose our numbers to the Uchiha clan. As a single alliance, we will be unstoppable! Other clans will fear us… We can enter an era of peace!" Fish, meet hook. And now, for the meal! "We can let children be children until they are ready to become a shinobi! We can spend our new found time to create new techniques to better protect our people… We can build a facility to better train the ninjas of tomorrow!"

While Tobirama isn't a fan of children, he loves using that smart brain of his to create new techniques and teach his fellow clansmen… And Hashirama is going to ABUSE the HELL out of that little fact. He can see Tobirama almost crack at the little speech. Hashirama believes that he deserves a cheer for convincing his stubborn brother.

"Alright, I can see the benefit of this…" Yup, Hashirama wins, for once! "I'll think about it. Once you are made the clan head, we'll talk about this some more." Hashirama cheers inwardly at this.

"By the way, how did you and Madara end up in river with your weapons and armor missing? You two are too powerful to be defeated by a single enemy."

Ah, yes… The Ruiner of Dreams… Hashirama returns to his sulking. "That woman beat me with a fruit…"

Tobirama stares blankly at him. "You're joking, right?" Tobirama just doesn't know anymore. THAT is a stupid way to lose… Unless the area Hashirama speaks of contains a monstrous, colossal fruit with a hardness that can break rocks.

Of course, no such fruit exists in the heart of the Land of Fire. There is a giant forest, however, which Hyuuga Haru, the fruit user, is glaring at. Due to her clan earning a lot of money from assassination missions that the lords pay them a LOT for (since the targets always end up dying with what people believe is a heart attack), they have been delaying the one thing that will make them even MORE self-sufficient: agriculture.

While the soil is great in this area, Haru can't figure out how they can produce their own food while remaining hidden. Oh, her people know how to farm. They have a tendency to get so bored, they will double as shinobi and farmer back in their old home. In fact, her clan grew so bored when they moved here two years ago, several people used their chakra, and transformed it into fire, somehow. There was then a period of her people seeing if they can do it with the other elements, and they could.

Of course, that weird time is over, now. While chakra-to-element transformation is a neat trick (that uses a LOT of chakra, especially for the more destructive feats), it is about a year since her people mastered it, and now, her clan is growing bored… again. Haru curses her clan's ability to just control their chakra like it is a normal thing! Other clans train to achieve such a control!

Her clan's quickness to boredom is starting to piss her off! They act so weird once their mind's stimulation stops! Last time she checked, the head healer was cutting himself to see if he can use chakra to heal a wound faster than the medicinal cream her clan currently uses. He almost died of bloodloss… That idiot…

And now, Haru realizes that she is NOT thinking of a discreet way to farm! To make it worse, she can sense her happy-go-lucky brother approach.

"Ah, my sweet sister! Why the glare? I'm sure the trees did nothing to deserve such treatment!" Her brother says in a jovial manner.

Haru just glares at him. "Shut up, Yami… I'm doing my job as the clan head! You're ruining my thinking space!" Haru returns her glare to the trees.

"Ah, but thinking is done in another world entirely! The physical world is where I walk and speak… There is no way I can interact with your mental world!"

Haru can feel her blood pump. "Stop trying to sound smarter than you actually are! You'll give me heart problems with all the shit that leaves your mouth…"

Yami just flips his hair at this. "Feces..? Leave my mouth of someone who achieved perfection such as I? Perish the thought!" Of all the delusional crap… He is lucky he is next in line to lead and he is a skillful warrior! No one will tolerate his shit otherwise.

As Haru thinks of ways to convince her clan that her brother is, in no way her relative, a Yamanaka clan member lands in front of her. "Lady Haru, our border seal has been triggered. The one that triggered it came with others. They don't seem to be moving from their spot, however. What are your orders, ma'am?"

One problem after another. Well, better than dealing with Yami's narcissism. "I'll check it out… Yami, back me up. Stay hidden and do nothing unless I give you an order. Yamanaka, inform the others then establish a mental link with me, just in case they are hostile."

"Yes, ma'am!" The Yamanaka leaves.

"Alright, Yami, let's go!"

"Roger that!" Despite Yami's endless stupidity, at the very least, he can follow orders. Small blessings, they were. Haru activates her Byakugan, looking for the disturbance before heading to its direction.

At the location of the disturbance, Kaguya Taketori waits. With him are about fifty other of his fellow clansmen who, like him, wishes to denounce their ties with their clan. Enough is enough! They will one day fight their way to extinction. It is only a matter of time. To die in such a meaningless way… The sane Kaguyas want NONE of that crap!

It is fortunate that, for whatever freak reason, those who possess the Dead Bone Pulse bloodline are not as prone to bloodlust as their bloodlineless, but more belligerent clansmen. Of course those with the bloodline are treated like crap despite their battle potential. Something about being so weak that they need to rely on their ability. Fortunately, they aren't put in prisons for having the ability. Taketori predicts that future children will be though, due to this betrayal. Taketori vows that he will have his future descendents save his clan, one day…

He waits a little longer, and a woman appears from the trees, looking as she is about to spit fire.

"Alright, you jerkoffs… I know that you are waiting for me or something, so obviously you are here for a reason. Just to warn you, I have allies, so don't you dare try anything stupid!" She means it. Fortunately, Taketori and company have no reason to fight. He gets on his knees and bows to her. The rest of the clan follows.

"Ma'am, we are not here for a battle. We wish to join you in an alliance. We have defected from our clan and wish to start anew… While we have no money in our name, we offer our bodies for you to do as you please. I believe my clan's bloodline can be of use for you…"

Haru raises an eyebrow. "Oh? And what bloodline do you have? It better be useful…"

"We possess the bloodline known as Dead Bone Pulse… It gives our body tremendous durability and life force… We wish to work with you… We only ask that you treat us, if not as an equal in the battlefield, then as an ally…"

Haru looks at them thoughtfully. Yes, such people will be useful to her… As strong as the Akimichi are, their durability is nothing in comparison to the powerhouse that is the Senju clan. It's like they are related to a God or something! She will need to fully look into this group's apparent durability.

"Alright, I'm interested. So, any downside to this bloodline of yours?"

Ah, Taketori is a bit hesitant to answer. What if she sees them too much of a hassle to be of use? Well, better she knows now than finding out later. "It is an unfortunate thing with our bodies, but those with the Dead Bone Pulse have a different physiology from other people. It causes our illness to be almost incurable, due to how little info there are with our bodies…" The Kaguya clan have absolutely zero funds for medics. If it wasn't for their high birth rate, the clan would have died out long ago.

Haru sees this as a blessing in disguise. Finally, something to distract the healers! While chakra-only related activities can be learned relatively quickly by her clan, things involving physiology takes them time. This is the perfect distraction for their boredom! Especially for those damn experimental healers! And, if these guys are as strong as they sound, they should make a great sparring partner! Yup, just need to test their sincerity… Ah, the blessing of having the Yamanaka clan as allies…

"Alright, you've caught my attention… I'll need to have your loyalty checked… And you'll have to tell me about your clan, so I can get a better picture them. I'll take you to one of our underground interrogation facility. If you are as sincere as you claim in your defection, then you have nothing to worry about from us…" Luckily, this is only a small group. The screening should be a snap. Haru has one more question, though...

"By the way, you were just standing here… As if you knew something… My clan worked hard to remain a faceless, nameless group of warriors only known to the rest of the lands by our symbol worn only when taking missions from the lords… And I made sure to follow our secretive ways by hiding out in this forest so none can witness our private life… How did you find the exact location for one of our alarms?"

"Oh, I once fought with a man named Yami. He defeated me, but he was impressed with my abilities." Taketori pulls out the small map that was given to him. "He gave me this map, to this particular spot. He said if I ever wanted to leave my clan, I can find his clan here…"

"HE DID WHAT?!" Haru is livid. Of all the stupid things… This place is supposed to be hidden! People are suppose to pass by and think, 'Oh. What a lovely forest!' And then those that pass by and think, 'This is a great place for a village!' will be tied and gagged and convinced to never come back! That idiot.

"YAMI, GET OVER HERE!" She is going to have a long talk with her brother.