千手一族ならConcerning the Senju

"Oh really," Madara wasn't surprised. The rivalry between the clans had gotten worse over the last two years. The Senju and Uchiha were like hunting groups of carnivorous animals. If wolves and tigers hunted in the same territory, they didn't and never had to fight each other, as long as both groups found enough food. But soon both groups would grow too big and fights over territory and food would be the consequence. These fights wouldn't stop until the groups had decimated each other to numbers that stopped getting in each other's ways again.

Uchiha and Senju were not fighting over food or territory. They were fighting over missions, the favor of big sponsors like local lords… Some years ago only the Uchiha had been talking to benefactors. But recently the Senju had changed something in their administration and entered the market.

Madara was sure that Hashirama and furthermore Tobirama had gotten a chance to prove themselves to the elders. The later one was called a genius throughout the land and it had probably been him, who had proposed the change in direction. The best option Uchiha had, was to secure their biggest supporters and to slowly grow the network. Madara knew this. And so did his father.

But Uchiha Tajima was a stubborn old man. It had taken all of his mental strength to allow having fixed patronage for some time already. He had been raised the old way, he would stick with the old way.

That was one of the reasons Tajima didn't like his son. Madara wanted to try out new things, while Tajima wanted to not take any unnecessary risks. And therefore, Tajima didn't trust his son.

"As long as you don't systematically slaughter children again," the young Uchiha's eyes darkened. He remembered an incident some years ago. His father had ordered to especially target children on the battlefield, to devastate the parents. Madara had never forgiven his father this one command. He bent over the map and looked at the markings. They recently had found some small Senju bases, similar to the Uchiha base in Uzu no Kuni, with almost only children and old people.

"Yes Madara… But we all would be very pleased to hear how it is going with the young ones and why it again is Izuna who is training them," Tajima looked at his son with cold eyes, "and not you, who is supposed to."

The question was stupid, the answer obvious: It had been Tajima who had called Madara to the council and had established the rule that every mission report had to be handed in ASAP. He was simply searching for a way to make his son look… not favorable as heir in the councils eyes.

Father and son looked at each other for a second. The other council members had stopped talking and were hesitantly watching them. Should they interfere? Or rather let them handle it themselves? Madara took the choice from them.

"I personally think that my brother is doing a splendid job as a teacher. He is really suited for it and a great replacement in times, when I am busy with other important tasks."

"He is doing your task. Why are you not doing it yourself?"

"Because I am right now handing over my mission report," Madara put the scroll down, "and because you ordered me to be at all occurring council meetings. And since both these duties are sadly more important than the youths education, which is perfectly done by Izuna, I am not training them myself right now."

There was only silence for a second.

"You are my son," Tajima coldly stated, "therefore you are able to do all these tasks. If you are not, you might think about your current position and if it is the right one for you. Now go. You smell hideous."

Madara didn't answer. He took a deep breath, bowed and left the tent quickly.

"If he doesn't want me there, he should just tell me," Madara muttered, while walking to his own tent. He didn't have his father's trust, so he had to camp a little further away. The upside was, that his tent was close to a river.

The day wasn't exactly hot, but he didn't care. The Uchiha pulled his black turtle neck over his head. It really smelled like dried blood and sweat. It was nice though: you didn't see blood stains on the black fabric. He threw it over a close tree branch, together with his pants and submerged naked in the river. After soaking completely, he grabbed a small piece of cloth and started scrubbing his muscles.

In these five years since leaving Uzu no Kuni, he had changed a lot. Not only had his hair grown, but through constant training he had gained a muscular body, any girl could dream of. And not only his front, but his back was a sight for sore eyes. Thank god not only his body had advanced and it didn't take him long to sense the greedy eyes behind him.

"Hey there young lady," he said as he scrubbed over his arms.

"What gave me away," a female voice answered. A black haired girl in Uchiha fighting clothing stepped up to the lake.

"You thought I wouldn't feel it, if you roasted my butt with your stares?"

"Hm you are right," she shrugged.

Madara turned his head towards her, "if you are still interested: my tent is free tonight." He didn't smile, grin or anything. He looked simply bored.

"See you tonight then. Mind if I bring someone?"

"As long it's no other guy, its fine." Madara dived again to get his hair clean too. When he got back up, the woman was gone.

Situations like this were common. Madara was a good-looking young man, the best candidate for being the new leader and he was single. He was a grown up in his mind and as long as he didn't produce any 'accidents', nobody cared about his activities (off duty). Honestly, it was no one's business what he did in his tent at night.

But within the last two years he had built up quite a reputation with the ladies. Still, it was never him that asked for it.

Well, there was that one story: It was said, that Madara once took a castle all by himself. Said castle had been a stronghold at the borders to the stone country, embedded in half a mountain, carved out like a mine. The owner had been a young woman whose parents had been killed by her uncle. She had him hanged at the castle entrance and shut herself off from the outside world. Her grandfather was concerned and asked the Uchiha to help him, to get her out of her self-built stone prison. It was said that Madara one night slipped in by himself and the gates opened three days later without any bloodshed. How he did it? Well there were rumors… But rumors were no more than gossip and Madara didn't care.

After getting clean, he went back to his tent. Izuna was back from the training of the youngsters and had started to prepare dinner.

Madara brushed the entrance cloth away, "mind if I join?"

"Oh not at all! Your tent after all," the young one grinned. He had built a small fire over which he was cooking some stew, "tell me, what did the old man say?"

"That I reek like a dog." Madara sat down, handing Izuna two bowls and a pair of chopsticks.

Izuna returned a filled bowl, "really? I'm surprised: he has his priorities straight!" The boy was laughing as he filled his own bowl with stew.

"He… He wants to destroy the Senju."

"He's been talking about that for years now. I wouldn't take it too seriously."

For five minutes both of them just ate. The older brother nodded to the younger one. The stew was really good.

"Hey brother," Izuna put his bowl down, "our sister wrote."

These news actually made Madara stop eating for a moment, "…and?"

"She wrote me about her need to lecture me about how to handle girls and stuff. And that I should visit soon."

"She is right! I got a glimpse of what you did with Tobirama the other day. Since when do you know shibari? Who taught you," the older brother got himself another bowl of stew. It was slowly getting dark outside.

"That's called hojojutsu! Don't judge me! And what is it with you guys and the girls… like really…"

Madara loved this Izuna. The simple, laughing Izuna that didn't really care what the people thought about him. It made the older Uchiha forget that most other people perceived him as a coldhearted bastard. A capable one, but still a bastard. Also, Izuna was probably the only person alive that was allowed to tell Madara his opinion straight away.

"So tell me," he asked, "what's that with you and Naori from the western branch? She asked me about you and now I'd love to know-"

"This is none of your businesses."

"Oh come on brother," Izuna had a playful grin on his face, "hey can I join?"

"That's it."

Madara got up, picked Izuna up by his shirt and threw the young guy out of the tent.

"Lana-neesan is right: We need to talk with you about this stuff. And now go to your own tent and think about what stupid things you just said.

"You are so mean!"

"I know," the older one grinned back, "I am the worst."

End of Chapter 10

To my dear readers

Thank you for reading "Our Dream" till here!

I have trouble making this fanfiction... more grown up. This is no fun and everyone lived happily ever after story, but I just realized how much stuff is going to happen. But I also see this as an opportunity: "Finding Papa" is going to have it's dark parts, but nothing is going to be as dark as whats coming up over here... And I want it to be awesome.

In this chapter I started to bring in politic and economics. These things are very important for the story line and the character developement. Just look at how different Madara and his father approach the "Senju problem"...

Well as always: thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave me a review or send me a PM, I really appreciate your feedback!

See you next week!

Your Usagi

Review Answers:

Thank you for reading until here and thank you for commenting! :D

HerosReprise: You have left me with so many reviews in the last week, that I don't even know where to start answering :D First of all: Thank you so much! Well here I got!
No, Lana is an original character and has nothing to do with that Izanami woman. Her role in the story is in the beginning more of anti Madara, because of what happened to their mother and because she couldn't protect her brothers. She actually loves Madara as much as she loves Izuna. But since she's confined to stay in Uzu no Kuni, she can't do anything to help them. Even though she is stronger than Madara. It just wasn't common for women to fight on the battlefield at that time.
And yes! Mito is a freaking brat. It'll get better (hopefully) when she grows up. She'll play a vital part throuout the story, I just won't tell you which ;)
For Madara and Tajima: Madara wants to protect his little "heaven on earth". And he knows, if the Uchiha attack Senju directly and hit them where it hurts (killing children, women,...), the Senju won't stand still. It would mean an all out war. So he trys everything to stop his father from being too agressive, what makes Madara look "weak" in the eyes of the leaders... That's what I mean with politics. It's important.
Thank you very much for your reviews! I hope you liked this chapter too! Please stay tuned and see you next Sunday - hopefully :3 Each review from you that I get makes me smile!
Your Usagi