A/N: I want to give a big, ginormous THANK YOU to all the lovely people that reviewed, faved/ followed. Thank you so much! My happiness knows no bound. Seriously, I have all this happiness stacked up and I don't know what do with it.

And holy shit Naruto chapter 627! Ooohhh my god, I cannot wait for a Madara-Tobirama showdown!

I just hope they don't just use jutsus but actually get, you know, physical. ;) hehehe.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this particularly long chapter. I am really bad at endings so I didn't know where to stop so kinda kept writing until I was like 'okay I have been sitting in front of this computer for 8 hours, without a break, trying to get to an ending this needs to stop now!'

Okay, I am gonna stop typing now. Sorry about that rant. Hope you like this chapter :)

Warning: Yaoi and language.

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.


"Is he in there?" A very flustered Koharu asked an equally flustered Hiruzen in a hushed voice.

"Yeah...He's working...as usual" Hiruzen replied in a low voice as he peered into the office through a slightly jarred door.

Homura stood behind Koharu, or more like hid behind her. His glasses hung on the tip of his nose yet he made no attempt to push them up since all his attention at the moment was settled on the man in the office.

The three aspiring ninjas were standing in front of the Hokage's office. In an effort to make their presence as clandestine as possible, the three whispered to each other and inhibited their use of chakra.

"Go in and ask him already!" Homura hissed and urged Hiruzen to enter the office, not liking the fact that they were sneaking around the Hokage tower like spies.

"I don't know...I mean what if he's …part of it too?" Hiruzen turned his head to look back at his teammates. "You know like that one time...with Madara Uchiha."

The mention of the Uchiha's name awakened some unpleasant memory in the children as all three of them supported a look of absolute horror. Koharu shook her head to block off the dreadful thoughts.

"Don't be silly...That time he was in a clown costume and jumped out of a bush! It was obvious that it was genjutsu. This ..seems too real to be genjutsu...right? "Koharu faced the slightly trembling Homura behind her for confirmation.

Homura immediately nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Hashirama-sensei looks normal."

"Too normal." Hiruzen said suspiciously. "Tobirama-sensei probably made him to look like that! So we would fall for it! We are definitely still under the genjutsu!"

"Just go and talk to him already! You are being so ridiculously suspicious!" Homura whispered in frustration.

"You've got some nerve to say that, Homura. Don't you remember the fish?" Hiruzen retorted and narrowed his eyes at Homura.

A horrified frown appeared on both Homura and Koharu's faces. Homura gulped and hid further behind Koharu who stood wide eyed and frightened almost to the point of tears.

"That's right. If it weren't for me, Madara would have beaten the both of you up with a giant halibut!" Hiruzen whispered smugly.

"You know you guys can come inside. There is no need to loiter outside the office."

The three were so immersed in conversation that they had forgotten to keep watch on Hashirama, who had been fully aware of their presence this whole time. He could have called the three in from his desk , but decided to get up and walk to the door instead. It was about time he took a break and if an excuse to not do paperwork was knocking on his door, literally in many ways, then he would be a fool to pass on it.

The trio gasped loudly as the door they were hiding behind flew open. Koharu screeched and grabbed a hold of Hiruzen. Homura made an attempt to run for it, but stumbled and fell clumsily on his butt.

It was fair for Hashirama to be completely baffled by his student's reactions. All three were breathing heavily; their eyes almost bulging out of their skulls. Hashirama distinctly remembered checking his face in the mirror today. He had looked no different than his usual self and the last time he checked his usual self did not make children cower in fear.

"Are you guys alrig..."

"Don't make another move, Madara Uchiha!" Hiruzen exclaimed and pulled out a kunai knife and pointed it at Hashirama with a shaky hand.

Now Hashirama was just straight up confused. His face twisted into a questioning look as he tried to make sense of the situation.

"Hahaha. Very funny guys..."

Hashirama thought it was safe to assume that this was some kind of joke, a very odd joke. Those terrified looks that were plastered on the faces of his students, however, did not seem feigned. They were genuinely scared shitless of the Senju in front of them. Hashirama had a slight suspicion that Tobirama had a hand in this, who surprisingly was nowhere around the kids. The thought that his students were running around the village completely unsupervised made him instantly concerned. He moved closer to his students to figure out the real reason for their current state.

The kunai in Hiruzen's hand made his way towards Hashirama right when the Senju took a step closer towards the youth. Hashirama easily caught the badly-aimed weapon in his hand and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hiruzen, what in the world is going on?" Hashirama said as he let go of the door knob and decided to restrain the kids before any other attacks followed.

"He's reaching for the fish! RUN! NOW!" Hiruzen yelled. He took a hold of Koharu's arm and dragged her with him as he ran down the hallway.

Homura, who still had not recovered from his fall, miserably crawled backwards away from Hashirama.

"Homura..." Hashirama said in a concerned voice and moved towards the quivering boy on the floor to help him up.

"No, please..." Homura shrieked as Hashirama walked closer to him. With eyes that were now welled-up with tears, he saw Hashirama move his hand towards him and entirely out of instinct bit the Senju's hand.

"Ow!" Hashirama cried as he felt teeth sink in the flesh of his hand, the very hand he had so lovingly provided his student for support.

Distracted by the pain from the bite, Hashirama didn't have the time to stop Homura, who had gained enough balance to make a hasty escape.

"Homura, wait!...Homura Mitokado come back right now!" Even Hashirama's authoritative voice, which was able to visibly shake the likes of Tobirama, did not stop the child from fleeing away.

"Where the hell is Tobirama?!" Hashirama exclaimed, now beyond frustrated.

He did not want to go look for the three obviously delusional and potentially dangerous whippersnappers, neither did he want to make any other shinobi take responsibility of a task so...belittling. He contemplated about classifying the ninjas in Konoha by level of skill, so the less skilled ones can go look for missing deranged kids or runaway cats.

Hashirama, to this day, can't understand why in the world shinobis, out of all people, are considered best suited to look for a damn cat. He also didn't understand why all these cats in the village have all of a sudden become hell bent on escaping households that clearly care about them seeing as how they are paying ninjas to insure the safe return of their little feline fugitives.

"I don't believe he left his room at all today."

Hashirama turned his head towards the source of the voice and found Mito standing to his side, elegant as ever. She was holding a teacup in her hands which she promptly presented to her husband.

"Your afternoon tea." She held the steaming cup towards Hashirama and gently smiled.

Mito's hospitality made Hashirama uncomfortably flustered. It had already been a couple of months since they got married, yet Hashirama could not stop himself from becoming nervous around her.

In all honesty, she intimated the Senju a little.

Her calm and collected demeanor contrasted starkly with Hashirama's childish and giddy disposition. Since his marriage, Hashirama had emulated mannerism of a mature, adult alpha male brimming with machismo and sophistication in hopes to impress Mito, but more importantly not to embarrass himself in front of her. He did not want her to think she had married some uncivil child. The whole Hokage thing was working great for that, but there were still instances where Hashirama's inner child would peek out, just like the one right now. Hashirama felt horrible for yelling and creating such a racket out here in the hallway.

He reached forward and took the teacup from his wife's hands, being careful not to drop the piece of china and embarrass himself further.

"Ah..th-thank you, Mito." Hashirama internally admonished himself for stuttering. He quickly brought the cup to his mouth and sipped the hot liquid.

"You should let it cool a little first." Mito advised in genuine concern.

On its way down Hashirama's throat, the scorching tea painfully seared his tongue. The Senju gritted his teeth in pain but kept a straight face. Though his tongue protested, he forced himself to speak.

"No, it's...perfect." Hashirama lied and smiled at his concerned wife who smiled back unsurely.

"I am a little worried about Tobirama. I suppose you should check on him. His students are also acting strangely; they believe they are under some kind of genjutsu." Mito explained calmly.

"Are you sure Tobirama is still in his room? It's afternoon, he should have left by now."

"I am not entirely sure, but I did not see him in the kitchen this morning. He is there every morning for breakfast."

"Hmm..." Hashirama found this strange. He knew what a dietary freak his brother was and skipping the most meal of the day was unlike him, so was letting his students run around the village like lunatics.

Hashirama did not like this feeling of trepidation arising in him. He tried remembering his last encounter with the younger Senju and figured it was seconds after the big meeting from last night had ended. While Hashirama had been busy conversing with the clan leaders, Tobirama had vanished out of sight along with...

'Madara...'

Hashirama's eyes widened as frightening thoughts filled his mind and apprehension tightened its grip around him.

Tension between the Uchiha clan leader and the younger Senju had been thick since the peace treaty between the two clans. The two kept their detest for each other on the low - only exchanging contemptuous glares once in awhile - but Hashirama was aware that his presence was the only thing keeping them from getting in a full blown battle without a moment's hesitation.

He knew that it was entirely impossible for him to keep watch on them 24/7 and luckily the two haven't really been within feet of each other anywhere other than the meeting room and the Hokage's office. Hashirama was present at both the locations to restrain the two if things got out of hand, but was it possible the two had met elsewhere away from Hashirama's supervision?

Oh God he hoped not. The older Senju wished, prayed that Tobirama was in his room like Mito said and not out somewhere trying to murder Madara or getting murdered by the Uchiha.

"I will go look at him. Um...keep this; I'll drink it after my return." Hashirama handed the cup, still full of tea, back to Mito and hurriedly made his way down the hallway.

"Oh and tell anyone that comes here that I will be back shortly!" Hashirama yelled from the end of the hallway and quickly exited to run towards the Senju compound which was thankfully located very close by.

"A-Alright.." Mito said and heard the door slam shut. She was a little disconcerted by her husband's distressed state and decided to drink the tea herself since it didn't seem like Hashirama would be returning as shortly as he had stated.


Tobirama's head was stuck between two boulders that were slowly moving towards each other. The pressure from the pressing rocks was squeezing his head painfully which seemed ready to burst at any second. He tried moving his body, but found that he was incapable of doing so. Every muscle in his body was contracted and sore, the pain was so intense that he wished the boulders around his head would crush it into bits already so he can escape this misery.

As if this wasn't enough, the boulders suddenly started to pulse in a rhythmic fashion. He cringed and balled his hands into fists, the ache going from tortuous to outright unbearable.

'Tobirama?' He heard a muffled voice say. 'Tobirama, are you in there?!'

The voice only added to the acrid pain and Tobirama, unable to endure the torment any longer, let out a loud, painful groan.

With blinding ferocity the rocks around the Senju's head exploded which immersed him in a sweltering wave of pain. He felt two callous hands grab a hold of his face and slightly shake his head. Tobirama slowly peeled away his heavy eyelids from his eyes and instantly regretted his decision as light pierced his retina with the fury of a thousand needles.

"Tobirama..."

"...Brother?"


Hashirama, in a state of complete horror and panic, knocked loudly on Tobirama's bedroom door. He called out to his younger brother, but heard no response and went back to knocking vehemently on the door. The door was locked from the inside which indicated that Tobirama was most likely present, but what reason did he have to not open it? Especially when Hashirama was banging on the door like a madman. Hashirama's dread increased by every second along with his desire to just break the lock and force himself in, however, he did not want to create a commotion and disturb the other members of his clan.

'The hell with it...'

It was a relatively weak lock, but in his frantic state, Hashirama used an unnecessary amount of force to break it which caused a chunk of the wooden door to dislodge along with the lock.

Tobirama's bed was located right in front of the door on which the younger Senju laid twisted in the most awfully uncomfortable position.

He was lying on top of his left arm which was bent at a ninety degree angle. His left leg was almost bent backwards at the knee, the right one drooped off the bed and onto the floor. Tobirama's head was resting on his right arm which caused his neck to arch painfully. Underneath his right hand, which was an inch above the floor, laid a shattered sake bottle.

Hashirama was hit with the pungent smell of alcohol which didn't let him take a breath of relief at the sight of Tobirama on the bed. Careful not to step on the shards of the broken bottle on the floor, the older Senju made his way towards his younger brother in the dark room. He was pretty furious at Tobirama for causing all this trouble, but after taking a look at his brothers face, which was sweaty and contorted into a grimace of absolute agony, his fury melted and concern grew in him.

Hashirama carefully placed his hands around the younger Senju's face, making sure to avoid touching the giant wet spot on the bed sheets where Tobirama had drooled about a gallon of spit, and moved his head into a slightly better position. The movement caused Tobirama to open his heavy lidded, bloodshot eyes and wince immediately after.

Hashirama called out to Tobirama once again in order to test just how conscious the evidently hung over brother of his was. After wincing for a couple more moments, the younger Senju finally eased his clenched eyes. Barely lifting off his eyelids from his brutally photosensitive eyes, Tobirama, in order to verify the identity of the person that had woken him in such a way, called out the one he knew was most likely the culprit.

Hashirama withdrew his hands from his brother's face as Tobirama started to move, with great difficulty, and tried to put himself in a sitting position. Every single movement drew an agonizing groan as he exerted energy that he clearly didn't have to prop himself up.

Hashirama waited for his brother to become a little more comfortable and cognizant before speaking up.

"What..." Hashirama was quickly silenced as Tobirama grimaced and held out his hand signally the older Senju to shut it.

"Can you...close the door?" Tobirama uttered in a hoarse voice

"It is closed. I ..sort of broke it when I tried entering your room." Hashirama replied softly to prevent hurting his brother further, a hint of guilt present in his voice.

Tobirama turned his head towards the door to confirm its broken state and hissed as daggers in form of light stabbed his eyes. He immediately jerked his head away and repeatedly rubbed his clenched eyes in order to sooth them.

"Goddamnit , Hashirama." Tobirama whispered in irritation as unpleasant memories of last night began to settle in his already heavy head.


After returning from his friendly little excursion, Tobirama had promptly situated himself in his bed, ready to get a somewhat of a good night sleep and erase the strain he had willingly brought on himself. But apparently his mind had had other plans and did not consent with his wishes. Relentlessly stubborn as ever, his mind kept reverting back to the object of Tobirama's absolute hatred.

Hadn't Madara already contributed enough to the younger Senju's misery? Will he have to sacrifice his sleep along with his pride for that Uchiha bastard?

Tobirama twisted and turned, trying desperately to position himself in a way that would provide him enough comfort to calm his increasingly restless mind. Flipping over completely, the disgruntled Senju buried his head in his pillow and let out a muffled growl.

'What the hell am I going to do with him?! I have nothing...absolutely nothing!...What if that son of bitch decides to tell everyone..."

Tobirama concluded that flopping around in his bed like a fish out of water was not helping. Declaring his sleep a lost cause the Senju got up and sat on his bed as he decided to sort out a plan of action because without it he was obviously never going to escape this horrible insomnia .

Seduction was his goal, Tobirama was bitterly aware of that, but how? and what and where?! The only possible way Tobirama could seduce Madara is if he allowed the Uchiha to personally decapitate him, stick his bloody head on a spear and place it in front of the entrance of the Uchiha compound for all to see. The sight of that would surely arouse Madara, in more ways than one.

Tobirama's mind was not the only thing in the state of unrest, his stomach, displeased with being so empty, growled causing the Senju to get up and hunt for scraps of food in his room. Tobirama knew full well that he didn't have anything edible lying around, but searched anyway since the activity distracted him from thinking so excessively about his misery.

Under his bed he found a few bottles of sake which he kept there for celebratory purposes. Sake was probably not the best nutritional source, but at this time this was it all he could do. Tobirama opened the bottle and gulped down a rather generous amount of the beverage.

' In celebration of my absolute misery...and the safety of this village.' The Senju thought, pressing his lips together as the sharp flavor of the drink collided with his taste buds.

It was definitely not a good decision to drink alcohol on an empty stomach, Tobirama found as his mind started to cloud up from the dizzying effect of it after he had consumed a couple of bottles.

Tobirama stared out the window located beside his bed. The view of the lush forest trees had calmed him down on every stressful occasion, yet right now they seem to not have the same effect.

Hopeless and hurt he drew the curtains over the window and opened another bottle to drown down.

Seduction was an art reserved for women. It wasn't even particularly hard to master either. All they have to do was show a little cleavage and wear a little makeup and men would start salivating like starving dogs. What the hell was Tobirama suppose to do?!

He obviously didn't have a cleavage to show off and hell itself would have to freeze over twice before Tobirama came within a foot of makeup. Maybe Madara had different preferences since men were his interest?

'Someone like Hashirama...'

Tanned and long-haired, he supposed was what Madara liked. Tobirama's tan was something akin to a third degree burn and there were things that were so impossible that even divine powers could not make them occur, Tobirama growing out his hair was one of them.

The more the Senju's irritation grew the profuse his alcohol consumption became. After an indeterminate amount of time and an indeterminate amount of bottles Tobirama, inadvertently, reached a lovely state known as piss drunk.

The Senju had been pacing around his room,but his severely incapacitated motor skills made him stop. He stumbled around and sat down finally when he made it safely to his bed. His coherence level was at an all time low, yet his alcohol intake remained unhindered.

Somewhere in the haze of his mellow plight, the heavily intoxicated Senju lost his little remaining consciousness and fell haphazardly on his bed, shattering the half full sake bottle in his hand in the process.


Tobirama felt increasingly nauseous as the memories from last night reared their ugly heads making him grimace at his older brother who, thankfully, looked more concerned than angry.

The younger Senju had heard of many so-called cures to hang overs that some idiots claimed to work, but when it came to effectiveness all were miserably futile. The only cure, in fact, was more sake.

Knowing that he had probably left one or two unfinished bottles scattered around his room, Tobirama shifted his sore body to get off his disheveled bed.

"Be careful there's..." Hashirama quickly warned his brother, but was cut off again when he saw Tobirama walk away, miraculously unharmed by the shattered pieces on the ground.

"...glass on the floor."

Hashirama watched curiously as Tobirama started to turn his room upside down in search for something. The younger Senju suddenly ceased moving as he grabbed hold of a sleek bottle from his bedside table and drew it close to his mouth.

Before the bottle could reach Tobirama's lips, Hashirama moved swiftly to take the bottle away from the grasp of his brother.

"Oh no. You are not drinking anymore of this."

Tobirama stood motionless for a couple of seconds, the reality of what just happened taking a longer than normal time to hit him due to his current straggly state.

The younger Senju twisted his neck to look at his older brother, his face warped into a haunting grimace that made Hashirama almost shudder.

The enlarged blood vessels covered up almost all the white in his younger brother's eyes, which, when combined with his naturally red irises, made Tobirama's eyes look seamlessly red.

Hashirama easily classified that as one of the most terrifying thing he had seen in his life.

"Give it back." Tobirama said through clenched teeth.

"No." Hashirama replied sternly as he moved back sensing an attack to follow from his perturbed brother.

"Give it back, Hashirama!" Tobirama clumsily stumbled forward to snatch the bottle, but not being hung over served as a great advantage for the older Senju who moved effortlessly out of Tobirama's reach.

The younger Senju cried out in frustration and charged towards his brother, but before he would make an impact Hashirama lifted the curtains off the window in Tobirama's bedroom.

While his brother was busy howling in pain from the light that seemed to have almost blinded him temporarily, Hashirama poured the contents of the bottle out the window.

The older Senju, magnanimous as ever, felt awful for paining his brother and immediately drew back the curtains.

Tobirama took his hands off his face and blinked his clenched eyes several times before focusing them on his older brother.

"What the hell, Hashirama?!" Though he knew that the bottle was now completely empty and thus completely useless, Tobirama, out of sheer stubbornness and the sudden need for defiance, still leaped forward towards Hashirama to grasp it.

The older Senju hid the bottle behind him and grabbed his brother's mass of tangled white hair when the younger Senju tried recklessly to reach behind his brother to claim the empty bottle.

Hashirama held Tobirama's head in a vice-like grip and pulled the younger Senju up to face him. He stared angrily at his disgruntled brother and noticed how utterly pathetic he looked.

The younger Senju in his grasp was supporting a slight five o'clock shadow, which Hashirama found quite unusual since he had never really seen Tobirama with facial hair. His eyes were framed heavily with dark circles and the skin of his face looked terribly discolored.

"You need a bath."

Tobirama cringed and twisted his head in an attempt to liberate himself from the grips of his brother which only caused Hashirama to strengthen his hold and pull the hair in his iron grip harder.

"Yeah well you need to get the hell out of my room."

The entrapped Senju reached with both his hands and clutched the hand that was mercilessly trying to rip his scalp off. Tobirama soon became aware of the futility of his attempt and in frustration placed his hands on Hashirama's chest to push him away, but like a mountain the older Senju stood unmoved.

"Let go of me, Brother! Right now!"

The dim bedroom was suddenly filled with light as the broken door was pushed open. Tobirama could not see who had entered the room since he jerked his head away at the first sign of light but was able to hear a familiar voice. The voice definitely belonged to a woman and held a heavy tinge of aloofness and slight relief.

"There you are. I have been looking everywhere for you."

"Shut the damn door, Toka!" Tobirama yelled, still in Hashirama's painful grip. He didn't like that everyone had decided to declare his bedroom a hangout spot. Was his whole clan going to show up and take turns torturing him?

Toka raised her eyebrow and tried to analyze the scenario in front of her. It was really not something out of the ordinary to see the two brothers play fight like some baby cubs, however, this seemed more like one of those discipline sessions than play fighting.

"Fine." Toka said and proceeded to slam the already abused door as hard as possible.

Numerous splinters fell off the part that was previously broken by Hashirama and floated down to the floor very much like tears. Seemingly, Tobirama's bedroom door was suffering just as much as him.

The bang from the impact was loud enough to increase Tobirama's migraine by ten folds which caused the younger Senju to take his hands off his brother and massage his forehead.

As Toka made her way towards Hashirama and Tobirama, something under her foot crunched. Upon inspection, the kunoichi found that it was glass. At about the same time she realized that the whole room reeked with the smell of alcohol.

'Hmm...figures.' These were clues enough for her to conclude what was actually happening. She had indeed been right about the discipline session.

"You have way too many things going on and it's not humanly possible for me to remember all of them without writing them down." Toka said as she opened the thick journal in her hand.

Since Hashirama had taken office as Hokage, Toka had unwittingly become his secretary. The Senju clan leader, unable to remember the myriad of things thrown at him, decided to instead throw them at Toka who seemed to have a better memory for these things than he did. The first few times she was able to easily remember the menial tasks , but after some time even she couldn't handle the overwhelming amount of this governmental nuisance.

She would have gladly let Hashirama continue with his scolding, but out of desperate need to organize the older Senju's life and in turn provide relief to her overworked brain, decided to interrupt.

Hashirama's focus was diverted towards Toka which caused him to lighten his grip on his brother's hair. The younger Senju, immediately taking the opportunity to escape, freed himself from the confines of his brother and snatched the bottle from behind him.

Tobirama quickly brought the bottle to his mouth and held it completely upside down in a sad attempt to catch whatever was left in it. A few drops of the liquid fell dismally off of the edge of the opening making the younger Senju frown.

He threw the empty bottle on his bed and finding no reason to stick around with his abusive family members decided to go relieve his achingly full bladder.

On his way to the bathroom he made sure to intentionally bump into Toka to show just how much he despised the presence of the kunoichi.

Toka could have retaliated, but had far more important matters at hand than dealing with her hung over cousin and settled at scowling at the younger Senju instead.

Tobirama slammed the bathroom door to show his displeasure, but realized the stupidity of his action soon as the loud noise caused this already pounding head to ache terribly.

As the Senju went about his business he noticed some streaks of blood on the bathroom floor. The side of his foot was bleeding most likely due to a cut from the glass on the floor. Wiping the blood off, Tobirama washed his hands and splashed his face with the cool water rubbing some of it through his hair to alleviate his throbbing migraine. He sighed as the soothing effect of the water brought much needed relief to his tortured being.

He could hear the murmur of the other two Senjus in his room and despite wanting to camp out in the bathroom until the two left, reluctantly entered his room again.

"...meeting with Madara in a week from today?" The younger Senju heard Toka say as he opened the door.

Whatever shred of relief that Tobirama had gained went immediately down the gutter.

'Why is it so damn hard for me to get a moment ...ONE goddamn moment of peace?!' Tobirama thought severely regretting his decision to leave the bathroom.

"Location?" Toka asked Hashirama nonchalantly as she held the opened journal in her hand.

"Hmm?" Hashirama said, confused by Toka's inquiry.

"Location. Where are you meeting him?" Toka looked up from her journal and explained.

"Oh...umm...I suppose here. The Senju compound. Perhaps my room." Hashirama replied casually.

Toka's jaw dropped slightly and her face twisted into expression that was a perfect visual representation of the phrase 'Are you fucking kidding me?'

This was about it for Tobirama. He had had it. All there was left to do for him now was to get to the nearest wall and bang his head repeatedly on it.

"What?" Tokai said in disbelief.

"Is there a problem? I believe the members of the Senju clan are open-minded enough to have a Uchiha among them." Hashirama said firmly and crossed his arms, his expression was an unusually serious one.

"No! That doesn't...Why are you even ...What ...Just... Why your room?" Utter bewilderment prevented Toka from forming complete sentences.

"What do you mean why?" Hashirama said, not understanding the reason for Toka's bafflement.

"…I mean…why?...Is he sleeping over? Are you planning some kind of slumber party? What …just what makes your room, out of all places, the optimal meeting place? " The kunoichi exclaimed not sure if the vapors from the spilled alcohol on the floor was affecting Hashirama or the older Senju had gone completely nuts.

She could, with great clarity, picture the two clan leaders braiding each other's hair like some tween girls during a nightly get together filled with confectioneries and whispers of boys that have caught their fancy.

The corner of her mouth twitched as she desperately tried to keep her stoic expression intact.

'Mito's going to be thrilled. Maybe they'll make use of some of her nail colors and hair ornaments.'

Toka chewed her lower lip furiously hoping that she can prevent herself from laughing out loud. The images in her head, however, were making her laughter inevitable. She just hoped they don't get into a pillow fight because that had the potential of turning very violent.

"I don't see why you are so bothered by him entering my room. I know you are aware that we are childhood friends. Visiting each other's residence is not unusual among friends, so why is Madara's presence in my room necessarily linked to... a slumber party?" Hashirama shrugged not quite sure why the kunoichi in front of him was so appalled. "It's a casual visit. Maybe I'll go to his one day."

Hashirama was a child at heart and forever be one, Toka knew that. The complexities of adult thoughts didn't faze him sometimes.

"Whatever you say." Toka shook her head as she wrote 'Senju compound' for the location of the appointment.

Standing by the doorway of the bathroom, Tobirama was fuming. Metaphorical smoke emitted from his head as his nerves were set ablaze. He gritted his teeth with enough force to grind them into powder, now way past his limit.

'Everything I am working for ...all this...will amount to nothing...Hashirama, you idiot!'

"Why are you meeting up with that asshole anyway?" Tobirama bellowed as he made his way towards his bed.

Toka and Hashirama had not detected his presence since they were busy conversing but now the two turned to look at the younger Senju who scowled at them bitterly.

Tobirama knew he was going to get chewed out for calling Hashirama's precious little Madara an asshole, but right now his incensed, hung over state made it hard to care.

"Tobirama!" The younger Senju heard that voice.

The darkness in it resounded through Tobirama and made him shake a little. Originally that voice rattled Tobirama's very bones with fear and got him almost to the point of spontaneously urinating at the first sign of it, however, right now he was way too pissed off for it to have the same effect. He was pissed off at Hashirama for being such a clueless idiot and pissed off at Toka for being...Toka.

With feigned disregard to his older brother the Tobirama got on his bed and covered himself with the blanket to avoid confrontation.

Toka sensed the blazing ferocity of Hashirama's chakra and knew that idiot Tobirama could sense it too. She really didn't like being around when the two siblings got on the lovely topic of Madara Uchiha.

"He's hung over, Hashirama. You can't expect much from him." Toka said in an effort to placate the situation a little.

The older Senju ignored her and moved to stand by Tobirama's bed to glare down at his brother who was now lying on the bed curled into fetal position underneath his blanket.

"Madara is just as much a part of this village as you, I or any civilian residing within the walls of this village. I expect you to address him with respect, Tobirama." Hashirama said, although he felt like he was beating a dead horse.

Respect was the last thing Tobirama would ever associate with Madara and as much as Hashirama wanted them to be friends he knew that it was out of his hands to extract that deep seated resentment from his brother. However, like it or not, Tobirama was going to keep that resentment locked up tightly if he ever hoped to become the Second Hokage.

"Humph. Whatever, doesn't change the fact that you are loafing around with your friend when you have way more important things to do, Shodaime. " Tobirama said, still under the cover of his blanket which he thought somehow served as a shield against his brother's anger. The acid in his younger brother's voice didn't go unnoticed by Hashirama.

"Is everything alright?" The older Senju asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Tobirama's behavior was evidently a peculiar one. Such flagrant irresponsibility and almost child-like defiance was completely opposite of Tobirama's usual character which was evidence that something was greatly bothering him. The younger Senju was a casual drinker, but never like this and definitely never on a weekday.

Something serious must have happened to his brother and the fact that a certain Uchiha clan leader was the cause of it was all too probable.

"Everything was alright until you two decided to hold a damn conference in my room!" Tobirama replied, wanting badly to be left alone.

He just remembered that he had hopelessly failed to arrange a feasible plan against Madara -getting drunk was also of no help at all- and here Hashirama was planning on inviting the Uchiha into his damn bedroom. For goodness sake, if Tobirama let that happen then he might as well start preparing for the apocalypse instead of wasting his time pursuing his already failing plan.

Having dealt with a hung over Tobirama before, Toka was aware of the vicious beast her cousin turns into when provoked in this state - not that he was any less of a vicious beast in his sober state . The only remedy was to leave him in solitude to recover.

"I think it's best if we leave him alone. Let him sleep it off." She advised the older Senju, wanting desperately to leave Tobirama's room. The noxious smell of alcohol was getting to her head and her lungs yearned for fresh air.

Hashirama kept his gaze on his brother and blinked. Was he being overly concerned? As unlikely as it seems, maybe Tobirama just had a moment of indulgence and got carried away.

In spite of the general contempt, Madara and Tobirama have resided relatively peacefully since the creation of the village, then what reason did they have to stir shit up now? Hashirama had always been really sensitive about this issue, maybe he was just being overly sensitive to the point of thinking illogically. Maybe.

"Well, you can't sleep just now. Hiruzen, Homura and Koharu are going berserk out there thinking they are under some kind of genjutsu. You need to go fix that right now."

'Shit...'

Tobirama had forgotten completely about his students. He gritted his teeth and felt a little bad for neglecting them like that. However, he was more concerned about the genjutsu situation. A couple of times during training, particularly the times he was feeling rather lazy, the younger Senju would cast a genjutsu on his students to test their ability to see past it. It would have been fine if these were standard genjutsus, but these specific ones, designed cleverly by Tobirama, included some very out of character variations of Madara Uchiha.

They must have assumed they were under a genjutsu due Tobirama's suspicious absence. He just hoped the kids don't run into the real Madara or things could get really messy and very, very hard to explain.

"Can one of you go behind them and yell 'release'? Also, tell them I was so disappointed that I decided to send you instead and they are required to write down the list of all possible ways to undo a genjutsu to turn in at the next training." Tobirama sat up as he revealed himself from his blanket cocoon and almost pleadingly asked the two in front of him.

" Are you insane?! You are going to punish them for your own irresponsibility?" Toka yelled immediately.

"They will not believe you otherwise...Please, I don't want them to see me like this..." Tobirama looked up at Hashirama with pleading eyes, hoping to melt his older brother enough for him to comply.

His students saw their sensei as a monumental figure, a mold that they one day would like to fit. Tobirama feared the effects that seeing him in this state could have on them.

"Toka. Go restrain the kids." Hashirama said as he stared intently into his brother's eyes.

"What?!...Agh...Fine!" Toka said as she closed the journal in her hand loudly. She saw those phony puppy-dog eyes Tobirama was giving Hashirama -which she thought looked more identical to the eyes of some crazed demon from the depths of hell- and knew she stood no chance.

'Tobirama you manipulative son of a bitch...'

The Senju clan leader really needed to stop being such a pushover. The enraged kunoichi, having no other choice but to obey, stomped out of the room and slammed the bedroom door again as she left.

Tobirama sighed, relieved that Hashirama didn't force him to go and consequently got rid of Toka too.

"Thank you, Brother." The younger Senju said as he tilted his head to gaze at his benevolent older brother.

However, the expression on Hashirama face was not one of benevolence, but that of a parent who was ready to scold the living daylights out of his child. Tobirama frowned knowing that he was not off the hook just yet.

"You can express that gratitude by cleaning out my office tomorrow morning." Hashirama said gravely as he stared down at Tobirama.

"What?!" The younger Senju exclaimed, his mouth hanging open a little in disbelief

"Consider that a punishment for your imprudent behavior." Hashirama folded his arms as he replied.

"You cannot be serious. There is no way I am cleaning that junkyard of an office of yours."

"Yes I am and yes you are."

"It was a mistake!" Tobirama said, even though he had no idea why he did since declaring it a mistake was not going to help his case.

"And mistakes follow severe consequences. You must learn that if you ever hope to become a leader. Besides, it's either that or I forever forbid you to have alcohol in your room." The older Senju continued with his chiding.

"Alright, fine!" Not wanting his right of possessing alcohol taken away, Tobirama accepted defeat and abided.

The angry-older-sibling expression that Hashirama wore, which made him look frighteningly identical to their father, quickly melted and transformed into that all too familiar lovingly-compassionate-big-brother visage.

Lifting the corner of his brother's blanket from the side of the bed, Hashirama seated himself directly in front of Tobirama and looked at him with concern filled eyes.

"Is everything really alright, Tobirama?" Hashirama asked his voice low and solemn with worry.

"..Yes.." The younger Senju answered impassively, certain that they had concluded the state of 'everything' already.

"I mean ...between you and Madara." Hashirama said, still not entirely convinced that there had not in fact been a conflict between his brother and the Uchiha.

'Oh my God! Not this AGAIN!'

Hashirama had this bad habit where he would, without thought, link Tobirama's bad mood to the Uchiha clan leader. Even after the younger Senju had explained to him plenty of times that, unlike Hashirama, his life did not revolve around Madara and that he cared more about the rabid squirrels in the forest outside the Senju compound than he would ever care about whatever the hell Madara Uchiha was up to.

Both claims, however, were completely false. Just like right now, Tobirama's bad moods were mostly due to Madara and he secretly kept a wary eye on the Uchiha.

"Yes, Brother, everything is just fantastic between me and Madara. How can I make you believe that?! You want me to go pick flowers with him? Bake him a cake? Look after his pet falcon? How exactly can I prove this to you?!" Tobirama yelled, completely sick of being reminded of that Uchiha bastard every time he took a breath of relief.

"Just a little respect, Tobirama. That's all I ask for."

"Fine. I'll address him as 'Uchiha-sama The Supreme' from now on. His feet will never remain unkissed in my presence and the shrine of him, that I will build with my own hands, will never be left without the light of a thousand incessantly burning candles. Will that make you happy?!"

"Okay, Tobirama you are creeping me out a little here. Please promise me that you will never attempt any of that in real life." Hashirama said now a little wide eyed, his eyebrows were raised in a show of mock horror.

"I'll try, but no promises." The younger Senju replied matter-of-factly.

The two siblings stared at each other, their mouths twitching as both tried to hold on to their laughter, until Hashirama succumbed and let of out a hearty chuckle. Unable to resist that contiguous glee that his older brother exuded, Tobirama followed suit, enjoying the brotherly moment that, after Hashirama's nomination as the Hokage, have become a rarity among the two of them.

"You are so ridiculous, Tobirama." The older Senju said as he smiled at his brother.

Somehow Tobirama's ridiculous sarcasm thoroughly assured Hashirama that things between Madara and him were indeed 'fantastic', which really meant that no progress was made and the two still hated each other the same. Hashirama was, however, thankful that no harm was done either, he much rather have things stay the same than get worse.

Tobirama noticed his brother giving him his signature goofy smile, which fit him so perfectly even at this age. Since childhood Hashirama was denied the privilege to genuinely smile like that and though Tobirama should be happy that now his brother was finally able to, he could not help but be jealous.

The younger Senju was never the smiling type, but this little part of him wished to one day exchange places with his brother. He wanted to be the clueless fool that rejoiced in blissful oblivion while Hashirama dealt with Madara unbeknownst to him. He wanted to sit there and smile so contently while the older Senju silently dealt with the burden.

Tobirama felt guilty as he realized the selfish nature of his thoughts. What kind of monster was he turning into if he was starting to become envious of his own brother? He concluded that these might be effects of the Uchiha curse, perhaps it was infectious. His theory about the curse was based merely upon assumptions, maybe there were other qualities that he had overlooked.

He just hoped he doesn't develop a sudden interest in Hashirama's eyes. Brown eyes wouldn't look that good on him.


Like expected, Homura and Hiruzen didn't do their assignment and each turned in a crumpled piece of paper on which they had scratched whatever few things they could come up with at the last minute. Koharu, on the other hand, turned in a neatly written list followed by a paragraph worth of apology to her sensei.

Tobirama sighed after witnessing this display of stereotypes at their finest.

"Koharu, you are free to go home." Tobirama said in a placid tone which changed dramatically when he addressed the male members of his team.

"You two are coming with me." Tobirama said darkly which made Homura and Hiruzen visibly anxious.

Koharu smirked at her fellow team members who were obviously in all kinds of trouble. After thanking her sensei, she turned and left to enjoy her free day.

Hiruzen and Homura followed silently behind Tobirama, dreading the punishment their sensei had in store for them. Tobirama knew just what to make his students do and even though it was unfair and downright cruel, there was an office that needed cleaning and Tobirama had close to no desire to clean it himself.

Tobirama grimaced at the first sight of the office. Opened scrolls laid on the floor like twisted snakes, blotches of ink dotted the desk. The whole office looked like it had recently been devastated by some kind of hail storm of paper. For some reason Tobirama felt that his older brother intentionally made this mess to piss him off.

"This place needs to be spotless by the end of today." Tobirama commanded as he turned to look at his curious students.

The two nodded obediently and entered the room without protest to get to work, relieved that their punishment wasn't as horrifying as they were imagining. The Senju felt kind of bad for being so cruel to his students, but not enough to stop them from continuing.

Tobirama sat down on the chair in front of the desk while the kids proceeded to clean the office. It was fairly comfortable, but a little low for the Senju's liking. The realization that this chair along with the office will belong to him one day hit Tobirama a little harder than it should. The thought was ever present, he knew of his eventual ascend to the Hokage position, but physically sitting on his future throne was unnerving.

He had so many plans for the village and all of them rushed into his head simultaneously along with the fear that they might never come to fruition.

'Will there even be a village by that time?'

Tobirama exhaled loudly trying to steer away from his dreadful thoughts and started looking through the things spread around the desk in front of him to distract himself. He came across numerous reports and complaints and other banal paperwork which made him feel worse about the whole Hokage idea.

The Senju's worry faded as his eyes settled on a very familiar journal. Smiricking mischievously, Tobirama picked up the journal. Toka could not fathom the mistake she had made by leaving the journal lying around so carelessly. Well, he couldn't expect anything less from someone as stupid as her anyway.

In was not clear when, but sometime in their childhood, Toka and Tobirama became serious frenemies. It could've have been because of their clashing personalities, but Tobirama was convinced it all started when the younger Senju "accidentally' chopped off a significant part of Toka's hair when they were children.

He didn't understand why she was still so resentful about it, it wasn't like she didn't deserve it, that little brat and beside she got her revenge by shaving Tobirama eyebrows off, which even he admits made him look quite horrific.

Looking through the journal Tobirama didn't come across anything interesting, it was all full of Hashirama's boring appointments. He was quickly losing interest until something written prominently in red ink caught his attention.

Homura and Hiruzen heard their sensei let out a low chuckle and turned to look at him. He held in his hand some kind of book and stared at it with his mouth stretched into a wide grin, which the two found unusual, if not a little disturbing.

Tobirama could not believe what he was reading. Toka?! On a date?! Who, in their right mind, would want to take Toka on a date?! Apparently someone from the Nara clan, who, Tobirama suspected, was most likely a masochist or morbidly desperate.

What could they have even bonded over?! Except for maybe their hair.

Whatever it was Tobirama was sure he was not going to rest until he made Toka's life a living hell with blackmail. Sadly the location of their date wasn't included in the journal, but that wasn't a problem for a sensory type like Tobirama.

Quite happy with his new discovery and his new plan to mess with Toka, Tobirama read further into the journal.

His happiness, however, was short lived, like it always was. Flipping through the pages, the Senju sighted a name that instantly drained every ounce of joy out of him and turned him into a hollow shell of misery.

Madara Uchiha.

The man was custom made by some hateful deity and put on this earth for the specific purpose of poisoning every waking moment of Tobirama's life.

Grimacing, the Senju closed the journal and leaned back into the chair. A dismal sigh escaped his lips as he stared broodingly at the ceiling of the office.

Not only did he have to worry about his plan, but now preventing Hashirama from meeting up with Madara had also become his priority.

If he could just get the older Senju to become preoccupied with something more important before the meeting...

Suddenly Tobirama's eyes widened in epiphanous surprise. Taking his eyes off the ceiling the Senju sat up, his teeth digging into his lower lip out of uneasiness as he stared at Toka's journal on the desk.

Should he do it? Yes, no, maybe. No. The cost could weigh out the benefits. Would it even prove to be effective? Hashirama could just reschedule.

'He won't reschedule if he doesn't know he scheduled it in the first place….'

Tobirama groaned internally as uncertainties bombarded him mercilessly.

'This is your chance…..could be your only chance'

The Senju picked up the journal, the weight of it unusually heavier than before. With his jaw clenched, he opened it to the specific page of his interest and took a deep breath as he pressed a finger on the page.

The area around where Tobirama had placed his finger turned a shade darker. The whiteness of it quickly took on a tint of dark gray, as the tiniest amount of water traveled its way towards the ink on the page through the fibers of the paper like a burst of capillaries.

The Senju picked up the journal and placed it up right at the edge of the desk. Drops of dark ink dripped of the paper and created a tiny puddle on the floor.

When all the ink had drained out, Tobirama placed his finger back on the page and within seconds the water retreated back leaving the paper dry like before, only a very trained eye could tell that the paper had been tampered with.

Tobirama, too engrossed to stay aware of his surrounding, didn't notice his students standing beside him.

Hiruzen and Homura looked at their sensei with questioning eyes as he carefully wrote something in the book he was holding previously.

"Sensei?" Hiruzen said quietly, fearing that interrupting Tobirama would make him furious.

The younger Senju abruptly stopped making any sort of movement. He turned slowly to look at his students and smiled at them awkwardly.

"W-What is it, Hiruzen?" Tobirama asked, stuttering a little from the shock.

The two boys grimaced slightly when they saw a terrifying smile adorn the face of their sensei.

Tobirama's teeth were bared; his stretched lips barely curved upwards while his eyes were wide open. Hiruzen didn't think he could really classify that as a smile.

"Do you want to us to clean that up?" Hiruzen said, taking his eyes off his sensei's face and looking at the puddle of murky ink under the chair where he sat.

Tobirama looked at where Hiruzen had set his eyes and noticed the watery ink on the floor.

"Oh…Don't worry about that, I'll take care of it." Tobirama said as he looked around the office, impressed by how beautifully clean it looked compared to before.

"You know what; you guys did a great job so you can go home. I'll take care of the rest."

The younger Senju smiled, this time not so horrifyingly. His two students perked up at the mention of home and became visibly happy.

"Thank you, sensei." Hiruzen and Homura both said in unison as they bowed to show their gratitude.

After the two had scurried out of the office, Tobirama got back to work. He was glad that Hashirama was busy enough to not show up and check on him. His brother would definitely be unhappy that Tobirama had used his students to do what was supposed to be his punishment.

But he'd be far unhappier to know that Tobirama had fiddle with his schedule, and very dangerously so.

He just hoped Iwagakure has a nice place for a very unhappy Hashirama to stay for a couple of days.


Thank you for reading. Review if you can! :)