Otouto

This is a big, big time AU fic. Certainly off canon a lot so give it a try before deciding to hate, but if you don't like…let me know.

Please read if you want. Review if you want.

Still own nothing. Nothing.

Chapter Nine

School went well, but Madirama felt himself being sized up by a few of the students after school while he walked to meet his friends at the park. He stood his ground and remained neutral like his Bima-nini had taught him. "Never allow your emotions to show lest those emotions be used against you."

"You're that kid that lives with the First and Second Hokage," a red-haired boy blurted as Madi turned to him.

"Those are my brothers," Madi agreed, "Hashirama and Tobirama take care of me since Tousan and Kaasan passed away. I call them Hama and Bima and they are the best brothers ever."

"Your parents died?" a dark-haired girl asked, "That was nice of the Senju clan to take you in then."

"I'm a Senju," Madi snorted, "Of course my brothers would care for me. Hama-nini and Bima-nini are awesome."

"You're not a Senju," the same red-head spat, "You're an Uchiha. I heard my clan talking about you and how you're not really even a part of the Senju clan. Uchiha clan sucks!"

"Hey," a voice called as the children turned to see Sasuke Uchiha, "There is not one clan that sucks within this village. The Uchiha were a strong clan that did make mistakes, but those mistakes allowed Konoha to grow and now my clan will rebuild and help our village strengthen. There may be Uchiha blood in Madirama, but he is fully a Senju."

"Uchiha?" Madi questioned, looking lost as he gazed at Sasuke and the other children, "I have Uchiha blood? But…Hama and Bima…but…"

Sasauke reached for the child right as Madi turned and fled. The boy choked as some glaring questions he'd had for a while now pushed forward. Why was his hair raven-colored when Hama's and Bima's were so different? Why was his brothers so much older than he was? He'd been told a little of Konoha's history today and knew his silly Hama-nini had settled this village. That meant that his brothers were really, really old, but they weren't. They looked no older than his Genny-kun.

"Hama!" Madi cried as he burst through the door, "Nini!"

"Madi-chan?" Hashirama called as his running footsteps could be heard while he rounded the corner, "Otouto, what's wrong?"

"I…the kids said…Nini?" Madi whimpered as tears formed while his Hama kneeled to pull him close, "I'm not a Senju? I'm not your brother?"

The words shocked Hashirama very much. This wasn't a conversation he thought he'd be having just yet. Who in the world had brought this up to a child this young? The stress of the situation was clearly written all over Madi-chan's distraught face. Anger welled before the elder's reason set in and he realized he needed to handle this quickly and carefully.

"Oh, Baby," Hashirama crooned as he lifted the distraught boy to walk them both to sit on the couch with the child in his lap, "You are my brother and Bima's brother too. You are Madirama Senju which means you are a Senju without question, Otouto."

"But…but Sasuke-san said there was Uchiha blood in me when the other kids were saying that I'm not your brother," Madi sobbed, "I don't understand, Hama. Why did Sasuke-san say that about me?"

"That damn Uchiha!"

Hashirama jumped at Tobirama's outburst since he'd not sensed the man's arrival. This was a rare display for most to see. The silver-haired nin rarely lost his composure. Madi-chan glanced up to see Tobirama scowling in the doorway before the man reached and lifted a familiar album and came to stoop near the couch.

"Look, Madi-chan," Tobirama instructed as he opened the album and showed his brother the first picture, "Otouto, families come in a lot of shapes and sizes. You are our brother because we wanted you to be. Look. This is our first picture with you when Hama-nini and I brought you to Konoha, Otouto. See how happy your Hama-nini is?"

"Hai. I'm little there," Madi sniffled as his brothers chuckled.

"Madi, we've told you about the Sage of Six Paths before, right?" Hashirama pushed as the boy nodded while the elder settled him more comfortably on his lap, "You see, Tobi and I lived a whole life prior to ever getting to meet our baby brother. The sage found a special, little boy years and years later that needed a home and out of the entire world…all the people here, only Bima and I were supposed to be your family which means we were destined to be brothers from the very beginning. The Sage brought us back to life and personally gave us our most precious Madi-chan to be our brother always. Your parents had died and you are originally of the Uchiha clan, but on the day this picture was taken you became our brother one hundred percent. You are a Senju. Not just because we adopted you, but because we love you and the Father of all Chakra chose to add you to our clan. That was the best day I've ever, ever had."

"But my parents weren't your parents," Madi choked, "So I'm not really your otouto?"

"Madi, being family is not just about sharing blood," Tobirama continued as the boy cocked his head, "Being family means that you love someone and want them with you more than anything else in the world. That is just how Hama-nini and I feel so you are our otouto without any question. There are many families here in Konoha that are similar to ours. Who is Naruto-kun's brother?"

The boy blinked a few times before smiling brightly as he remembered.

"Iruka-sensei!" Madi chirped as he got the message, "So you are always my Bima-nini just like Hama is going to always be my nini too? I'll always be a part of the Senju clan?"

"That's right, Otouto," Tobirama soothed as the boy was hugged against Hashirama's chest, "We will always be family. You are Senju."

"But you are also Uchiha."

Tobirama snarled as he glared at Sasuke over his shoulder.

"We did not give you leave to enter our house," Tobirama snapped before pausing as the younger man waved him into silence.

"Madirama, I told you with those kids earlier that you are fully Senju, right?" Sasuke asked as Madi nodded while his two, older brothers blinked before exchanging a look, "You are Madirama Senju. However, you do share blood with me, Little Cousin. Through distant relations, we are extended family. You will one day awaken your bloodline limit and I will teach you how to use the sharingan at that time, but never doubt that your older brothers are not your own. Your brothers adore you very much. Older brothers are very precious, right?"

"Hai," Madi grinned out, scrubbing a hand over his teary face, "We're cousins?"

"That's right," Sasauke agreed as he stooped next to Tobirama, "I will be your jonin teacher when you are a genin and I will also help you train with your fire jutsus since we share blood, but only when your brothers allow. Can your Bima-nini teach you fire-style jutsu?"

"No. Bima is of the water," Madi giggled, "He'd make steam."

The group chuckled as the boy relaxed among his family. A five year old's mind could rally quickly and Madirama had been soothed and felt content again. Anyone could see it in his shining eyes which made him elder brothers relax too. One crisis averted.

"Feel better?" Hashirama asked as Madi nodded, "Do you want to stay with us or go play in the park until I pick you up?"

"Park," Madi chirped, "I have two brothers and a cousin. I'm going to tell my friends!"

Madi took off excitedly as the Senju leveled a look on Sasuke.

"Cousin, hm?" Tobirama questioned once the boy was gone, eyeing the younger man, "Good thinking. That was a perfect way to explain the relation to the Uchiha clan to Madirama. You have my appreciation, Sasuke-san."

"Mine too," Hashirama agreed as he stood, "I knew that it was time to tell Madi-chan the truth about being adopted soon, but I never expected it on his first day of school. Thank you for being there for our otouto, Sasuke-kun."

The Uchiha blushed a bit as the two nin bowed deeply. These were the First and Second Hokages.

"We train every Saturday at 1:00 within training grounds fifteen," Tobirama stated, "I expect you to come to as many of those that you can when you are within the village. Madi will need your knowledge as he grows and develops his jutsu skills, Sasuke-san."

"Hai, Tobirama-sama," Sasuke nodded out, "Um…do you happen to remember the tiny problem that happens when a young Uchiha begins to learn fire jutsus?"

"Oh," Hashirama groaned softly, "They sneeze bits of fire at times until they get a better handle on their chakra control. I forgot. Does Iruka-sensei remember that from when you were younger, Sasuke-san?"

"I'll remind him," Sasuke decided, "I can sense that Madi has a decent bit of control over his chakra already so the sneezing shouldn't be too much of an issue, but I'd continue training him on manipulating his chakra effectively. Uchiha youths were always trained on that very early so we wouldn't burn down the compound. I singed my father's eyebrows off when I was about Madi's age. Please don't share that one."

"I dosed my father with a water dragon, armor and all, when younger," Tobirama deadpanned as the younger Uchiha chuckled, "Learning always has bumps in the road. You should have seen the first time Hashirama discovered his wood release abilities."

"I hung myself from a tree by the back of my tunic," Hashirama whined as Sasuke held back laughter, "Tobirama has never let me live that one down."

"There were stories of a young Madara that were told among my clan," Sasuke offered as the brothers straightened, "It was said that his first attempt to do a fire jutsu ended up with a Majestic Destroyer Flame that dried up the lake his father had him practice over and blew him right off his feet and straight into the man's chest. Broke three of the Clan Head's ribs. It was said that Madara had a thick skull."

"Note to self…don't stand behind Madi when he is training and practice his fire jutsus far, far away from the village until he has a handle on things," Hashirama chuckled before sobering, "I wonder if Hagoromo-sama will release your full chakra, Tobi, to help handle an out of control fire with your water release?"

"Hn," Tobirama snorted with a raised eyebrow, "Let's hope that isn't needed. Madara was being trained for immediate war back then. It isn't needed for Madi to be pushed too far too fast in these more peaceful times. We'll just be careful."

Hashirama found a much happier boy playing "ninja" at the park later and then was surprised as Madi jerked him by the hand over to the other children.

"This is my Hama-nini," Madi introduced, "His real name is Hashirama and he was the First Hokage. He's really strong, but sometimes he cries when he gets sad so I have to hug him. Hama is my oldest brother and he cooks yummy food and teaches me lots of stuff and can control wood which is really cool. That's why I told you all that he's awesome just like my Bima-nini."

The looks of awe on the kids' faces made the elder Senju blush, but then the kids swarmed him to ask if he needed a hug and everything was normal again.

"Thank you for the hugs, but my otouto and I need to go home now," Hashirama declared as he stood from greeting the children, "You all work hard and be good comrades to one another."

Madi waved to his friends and practically skipped as he held Hashirama's hand on the way home. The upset of earlier was gone as the boy told all that happened during school and about the new friends he had made and how he didn't like a redhead named Eiji because he was mean.

"Is Eiji in your class?" Hashirama questioned as Madi shook his head, "Then you will rarely deal with him so no worries. Sometimes children act a little mean because they aren't sure how else to act. Just be calm around him, Otouto. Any homework?"

"Worksheet," Madi admitted and was promptly settled at the table to work as Hashirama began to cook dinner.

"Bima-nini?" Madi called a little later as his brother looked up, "What is this picture? I can't tell. It looks funny."

Tobirama came to glance at the sheet and frowned before showing the drawing to Hashirama. What in the world of shinobi?

"A very badly drawn shuriken," Tobirama answered, "So you are supposed to write all the names of the pictured weapons, huh? How were you supposed to know what this one was? That drawing looks like a kind of giant stingray."

"Uh-huh," Madi nodded out, "I thought it was a stingray too, but a stingray isn't a nin weapon. Did I answer everything right?"

"Hai," Tobirama agreed after checking over the sheet, "Good job, Otouto. Go put your homework back in your school bag so you don't forget it."

"I'll talk to the Hokage tomorrow," Hashirama hummed, shaking his head as the boy scampered to finish his task, "I think some of the school worksheets need to be changed and updated, Tobirama. That was a pitiful excuse for a drawing to help teach children."

"Agreed," Tobirama snorted softly.

The elder Senju ended up becoming a big part of the academy after speaking with Kakashi. The sixth Hokage had agreed that some updating was needed and Iruka was delighted with any help Hashirama could offer. Several old textbooks and worksheets were immediately discarded as the Senju began to put together a more comprehensive text that was easier for a child to learn from.

"Look at this," Hashirama fussed as Tobirama read through a manual thrust out to him and groaned softly, "Poke a person with a kunai to see if they are wearing a henge? We'd have bloody children roaming the academy. Now I see why Iruka-sensei refused to use this book. That is a brilliant teacher, but his strong backbone hasn't won him a lot of friends within the school board."

"Honestly, the school board needs to be replaced," Tobirama advised, "The members are getting too old to understand that times have changed and thus school materials need to change over time. A lot of Madi's worksheets are handwritten by Iruka-san. I like what I'm seeing. Madi-chan is learning at a rate that is perfect for his age and abilities. Plus…Madi?"

"Um…ow," Madi sighed, holding his bleeding hand as the brothers tripped over one another to get to him, "Eiji's mean, Hama-nini."

"Let me see," Hashirama ordered as he looked over the wound, "Is this…you've been bit! These are human teeth marks."

"I was walking home with my friends and then Eiji said that if I was a Senju then he was an Inuzuka," Madi huffed, "I ignored him and then he bit me and started barking like a dog. Hokage-sama saw everything since he was walking by and was really angry and told me to tell you Tsuna-chan is on her way and he'd talk with Eiji's clan and my hand hurts, but I didn't cry because I'm a tough shinobi."

"Of course you are because you are a Senju," Tobirama said as he lifted Madi to rinse his hand in the sink, "What is Eiji's clan name, Madi-chan?"

"Kondo," Madi answered as Hashirama scowled, "Will I get rabies? Mai-mai Nara said I'd get rabies, but Eiji's not really a dog."

To be continued…

I will be out of country until January so this is my last update until January 4, 2016. See you next year!