translated by me!

i want to thank my translator prinzfr for helping me - mahkota daun wouldn't be translated this quickly without her! also my cat for the emotional support and occasional allergy trigger. and to you too!

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"He changed."

"What's changed?"

"Not long after we moved to Konoha." Shimura Keita sighed deeply, and gazed into the sky, to the faint waves rippling under the clouds. "Oh, is it done?"

"Not yet, it's just a prototype." Tobirama stepped back, observing two jounin at the end of the graveyard. Their hands made a similar seal. Chakra flowed out from their back, joining the mix of colors in the sky. "What you said—whom did you refer?"

"Hisao-san," Keita mumbled, glancing at the tombstone by his leg. "He changed indeed after losing Masao… he tended to isolate himself since we moved. Mentioning Masao-kun more often."

After ensuring the pattern he saw was like the sketch, Tobirama closed his scroll. "We have a guess about who—what talked to him."

"So this is for that…?" Keita pointed skyward.

"Yes. it's impossible for Izuna and Inoha-san to check everyone who entered Konoha. This fuuinjutsu barrier is more practical. The size is huge enough to engulf the entire village, even underground." The kekkai dome protected the village by remembering its resident's chakra identity. If a foreign chakra entered the kekkai, the guards would know.

"Amazing…" he said so slowly, still looking up. "I haven't heard anything like this."

"The Uzumaki developed it. Just never been used before." Tobirama pocketed the scroll, started walking away from the graveyard. Right now most of that place was still covered in grass, but a smaller part had been occupied by the shinobi who fell in the battlefield.

"Uzumaki…?" Keita repeated. He walked by his side. "Aren't your relation with them—"

"Yes."

"A research like this is impossible to be given away easily."

Before they passed the graveyard gate, Tobirama stopped walking. "Uzumaki Mito left it for me," he admitted in a low voice. "All her fuuinjutsu research notes."

"Really—?"

"It's labeled for me."

One of his cousins brought a scroll from the room Mito used in the Senju main house. He initially thought it was left behind since the three Uzumaki left so abruptly after the duel, but there's a note with Tobirama's name attached to it. When it was opened, the contents were more scrolls sealed inside. All about fuuinjutsu. The Konoha shinobi needed another month to decipher the contents and do the intricate jutsu in them.

"By the way, Senju-san," Keita called, cutting his musings. "Is there any news from Hokage-sama?"

"They left for Iwa a week ago from the capital city," Tobirama told him. "That's all I know."

The clan head's shoulders slumped, but he didn't ask further. Tobirama was glad; the information pertaining Hashirama and Madara's whereabouts was highly concealed. Even a fellow clan head might not know anything.

After separated ways with Shimura Keita and returned to the Hokage office, Tobirama found Izuna was there. She leaned at the desk with a roll of paper in her grasp.

It's still odd seeing her without a blindfold.

"Ohh, there you are," she exclaimed in relief. "Teaching adults is such a hassle. I blabbered for half an hour, then they innocently said they don't understand a single thing! But nobody bothered to ask anything! I nearly cried in class…"

Tobirama held back his laughter. "Is this the last…?" he asked while tidying a pile of documents on the shelf, then picking one of them.

Izuna shook her head and placed her tea down. "Still have three… four more classes. At least i could scold my kid students. These people are older than me, I'd look disrespectful. Not even ninja too! Hopefully they truly understand Konoha's security protocol…" She looked back, finding multi colored ripples in the sky. Her face turned serious.

He glanced at her. "What?"

"Is there… any signs of that?"

He shook his head. "Foolish if they still linger in Konoha. Inoha is combing the entire country looking for them too."

Before leaving the village, Hashirama told him she sensed a presence with a malicious intention. Izuna too said the same. Both incidents happened at the same place and time: at the Uchiha residence, after Hashirama dueled Nobuo. Neither Madara or Tobirama could sense the presence. No sensing ninja could, until Yamanaka Inoha said he felt it too by predawn. He and Izuna mapped chakra identity they felt to be woven into the village kekkai.

"Call him back. It's futile chasing without any guide whatsoever." Izuna gathered the stack of papers on the table. "I'll work on this. Is there anyone I can…?"

"Library," said Tobirama without waiting for her to finish her sentence. "There's a scribe."

"Mm, thanks." Izuna had reached for the doorknob when she turned around, kissing her fiance's cheek, then leaving the office with sparkling eyes. "Later!"

When he turned to tidy the document shelf, Tobirama found a strange pattern behind it. Like a part of a long and deep scratch. The dented wood seemed to be patched with wood too.

He reached forward. The wall was thick with his sister's chakra. Guilt surfaced in his heart.

Someone whistled shortly from the door. Tobirama stacked more documents to hide the scratch before he turned around. A tall woman leaned at the doorway, smiling meaningfully. Her body was wrapped in a simple brown attire like a wanderer. Her hair was dark green, curled in a tight bun atop her head leaving some bangs covering half her face. He needed time to recognize the thin profile.

"...Touka?"

Senju Touka strode into the Hokage office, looking around its tidy yet packed interior. "Congrats," she said. "Isn't that Uchiha Izuna just now?"

Tobirama merely nodded while pulling the Hokage chair for himself.

"I heard she lost her eyes," she continued, her forehead creased as she looked at the doorway. "Was there another Uchiha who gave her eyes…?"

"From her cousin Ayano, who died in Iwa battlefield."

"So she can use sharingan again…"

"Not really. Ayano had no sharingan. She's also far-sighted." Tobirama pulled a sheet of paper. "You want to move to Konoha?"

Touka looked at him. "Of course. But," her tone turned sharp, "answer my question first." She placed a hand on the table.

Tobirama looked up, raising a pale eyebrow at her.

"With whose money you're going to pay the Senju debt? Don't tell me it's from Hashirama's personal belongings—I know that won't be enough. Uchiha Madara is impossible to possess a mountain of treasure, said Uncle Joji." She sighed, sounding tired. "I met him and Aunt Mayuko."

Senju Joji and Senju Mayuko chose to leave Konoha after the duel. They left a week after Hashirama, heading to Uzushiogakure without any other company. Tobirama didn't try to prevent them leaving; he knew it'd be in vain.

"Do you have another question?" he asked calmly.

"Yes—it's been a month, it shouldn't take this long just to go to Iwa and back, no?" Touka circled the table, approaching the window that showed them clouds gathering to darken the afternoon sky. "Especially your sister is pregnant, if something happens to her…"

"Madara is with he—"

"An expectant mother is easily tired. She could fall ill. Do you even trust him?"

"What kind of question is that, Touka?" Tobirama replied with a question, his voice skirted close to danger. "Uchiha Madara is the head of one of Konoha's founding clans. One of the strongest shinobi in Hinokuni. It'd be foolish of me for not trusting the Hokage's life in his hands."

Touka was silent, observing the Senju clan head's expression. She finally relented. "Alright… I just need to know why her journey takes so long."

The tension on his shoulders loosened. "She needs a rest," he said, his voice lowered. "Here in Konoha she's always busy with village matters. Stress. Not good for her babies. Twins, by the way."

"Ooh." Her eyes widened.

"She's also hunting the bijuu—"

"Sennin's sake!" his cousin hissed and slapped her forehead. "For what—?"

"Paying our clan's debt, of course," he said nonchalantly, shrugging.

"How—?" She started again, but stopped as a sheet of paper was shoved to her face.

"This is the form for requesting to change residence, Touka-san," Tobirama explained as formal as possible. "Please fill and give it to the residency staff downstairs. I still have stuff to do." He gestured at the pile of documents on the table to underline his words.

Touka stared at the paper and him in turns before grabbing the form grumpily. "And you stopped fighting Tsuchinokuni!" She launched another question, "the road posts have more samurai now. What does it mean? How do you fund this village—?"

"Mission requests still come in." Tobirama's fingers entwined on the table. He had to prevent himself from sounding satisfied by hearing all her question. "Escort, security… there's no difference from the missions we had before Konoha is established. The price we offer varies, so even a regular civilian can hire a shinobi. The samurai only works for the Emperor, no?" He ended his explanation with a wide grin.

Touka's nose flared. "How cunning," she said as she turned around.

"Don't forget to report your foreign observation, Touka-san!" Tobirama added as she reached the doorway.

She replied with a lazy wave, without even looking back.

He had taken documents pertaining the repayment from Hyuuga clan when he heard the office door's creak stopped, followed by Touka's surprised voice.

"Would you like to enter—? It's alright, please…"

Touka left after closing the door. Her spot was replaced by a slim middle aged woman with long hair. Her thick eye bags made her looked drowsy, but her stare was vigilant. Her hairdo was tidy, and her attire simple. Yet her bearing was graceful, unlike the people he met daily. Her hand was placed before her waist, right atop left, as if she were waiting for a command. It reminded him to the servants and handmaidens in Daimyo Matsudaira's family. She bowed briefly as their eyes met.

"I apologize for taking your time, Senju-sama," she greeted him with a voice only slightly louder than a whisper. "I have submitted my request downstairs, but I was asked to come here instead."

Tobirama straightened his back, placing his hands tidily on the table. "What kind of request?"

"My family—my children live here, but…" She hesitated, glancing at the floor before continuing, "but I heard my son isn't in the village, and my daughter might not recognize me anymore. I do not dare mentioning their names, you surely understand…"

At first glance she was clearly not a shinobi. But a kunoichi was adept in disguise… no—if she was a kunoichi, the people downstairs must had realized it too. She had an understanding about ninja security protocol. Not a regular civilian. An informant, perhaps?

"You haven't seen each other for awhile?" he asked without lowering his vigilance. He took a plain paper from the pile.

She shook her head. "My son, just once when he visited the Autumn Castle during the Yearly Offering. But he went home without saying goodbye, then I heard Konohagakure was in danger. I couldn't leave my work until a week ago when the samurai was sure Konoha is safe."

"I can look for your family," he said, this time taking a pencil from the drawer. "Please write your name and your children's as well."

She smiled shyly. "I… I can't write…"

Tobirama gave her a reassuring smile. "It is alright. Your name…?"

"Ageha."

His scarred chin covered in a tattoo itch. His pencil scratched the letters of her name, but his brain kept perusing through his memory for where he heard that name mentioned recently…

"And your children—?" Before he finished asking, the office door slammed open.

"Tobirama, want snack—oh!" Izuna's voice sounded from behind Ageha. "Sorry, sorry…" Her apology was faint, followed by the door closing back.

But Ageha had turned around. Tobirama couldn't see her face because her hair blocked it, but he could hear her breath hitched.

The door never met its frame.

"...Okaa-sama—?"

Both women stared at each other, shook hands, then Izuna broke the awkwardness with a shy smile. "So you've met Tobirama," she said, tucking loose strands behind her ear. "He's my fiance, by the way."

Ageha pretended to be shocked, slowly turning to face him again. "Senju again! What would your father say!" She grabbed her chest, right above her heart.

Tobirama gave her a defeated smile. "What else we can do, the Uchiha can't resist us."

"Oh shut up!" Izuna shouted, but her laughter exploded loud enough to reach downstairs.

Ageha too laughed until her tears fell. She calmed her breath before asking, "by the way, where are your brother and sister…?"

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Tobirama was twenty four, and Izuna twenty five.

To leap using hiraishin was limited by distance. There was a limit Tobirama couldn't pierce through—the limit he found on the third week since Hashirama left the village. Neither she nor Madara said for how long they're going to wander. Tobirama and Izuna never wondered, letting the news of their whereabouts from trusted sources spread in the village so nobody guessed their siblings ran away.

Besides, no ANBU reports confirmed such guesses.

When the winter reached its end, Tobirama started to worry. Hashirama's pregnancy had reached its last term. In the north, the winter lingered. No matter how strong his sister was, low temperature could endanger her and her two unborn children.

So in every sunrise, Tobirama took a pebble. He sent it to the hiraishin mark carved on her back. Many times he failed, his destination was far beyond the limit. Only when the purple wisteria showed up, his pebble disappeared. Without wasting more time, he took a message he had composed with Izuna. Tobirama sent it after the pebble. His sister wouldn't be able to send a reply, so while waiting for the desired results, he took care of the preparation.

"I'm serious," Izuna huffed, her breath created fog in a blind morning, "if they don't arrive on time, let's just get married right away, Tobirama."

A silver scaled fish wriggled and rippled the lake's surface. As its glittering tail disappeared underwater, Tobirama commented, "your mother would be disappointed."

"More because Nii-san isn't home yet," she said, pouting. "We've put the village on a day off today, everyone is ready to have a feast."

"Add more days off?" Tobirama tightened the scarf on his bride-to-be's scarf.

Izuna threw her arms in frustration. "They got married even without telling us."

"My sister wouldn't want to miss this, don't worry."

"I know that." Izuna kicked a pebble into the lake. "I just miss them both."

They went separate ways soon after, going to different directions. A room in the Uchiha residence had been lent to Tobirama so he could change into his black formal kimono. It was smoothly sewn, yet heavy on his shoulders. His clan symbol, embroidered in white, seemed to stare back as he looked at the mirror.

He wondered what Senju Butsuma was thinking when he wore this kimono. Tobirama guessed he didn't think anything but his duty to the clan, marrying a woman who had seeds of mokuton in her blood to awaken the Senju's legendary power. Maybe Tobirama was the first who shouldered this kimono without solely intending to serve only his clan.

The Senju was no longer alone facing the world.

He took a deep breath, smoothed his kimono, then smiled faintly. "I'm going," he whispered, not to anyone; the room was occupied by him alone.

Eight clan heads had been waiting outside. They walked behind him, followed by the Senju's younger cousins. The yard in the Uchiha residence was surrounded with trees and flower bushes. All bloomed to fill the air with their fragrance. Violet, yellow, pink crowns decorated the blue edges of the sky.

His steps stopped in the center. Senju Azami awaited him, clad in a kimono as white as egg shells.

"Nervous?"

"...Mm."

They exchanged a smile, then together they stared at the opposite end of the yard. To a doorway hidden by a large cloth with a red-white hand fan painted on it.

The fan was split in the middle, and the cloth was pushed aside.

Uchiha Izuna's hand was the first to appear, her wrist disappeared into a long, dark bride kimono sleeve wrapping her body. Her hair cascaded past her shoulders, her bangs covered her bowing down face. Her footsteps were gentle on the soil. Nearby, Tobirama found dark red patterns circled her kimono like lines of fire. Her nose tip turned red by the passing breeze.

"Hi."

The whisper was nearly voiceless; he only saw her red lips moved at the same time as the leaves rustled, then her hair was messy again, and one hand faced the earth while the other skyward—both he welcomed and grasped so tight as he pronounced his vow.

He first encountered her fifteen years ago, still swearing to behead her and all her relatives. They crossed blades so often, becoming the first and last opponent in each battlefield, and only ended when he nearly sent her to death's door.

Tobirama never regretted Hashirama's decision to save Izuna anymore.

The bride and groom didn't notice the air rippled as a gigantic being made of chakra blocked the sky's blue and gathering clouds, didn't notice the guests' heads were raised to welcome a pair of shinobi landing from the susano'o's palm. The crown petals were thrown into the air, some tangled into Izuna's hair, who continued her vow without a pause. Nobody protested the late guests, not even the bride herself.

"Late—?"

"Late." Izuna put a half smile, then released her hand to grasp Madara's fingers who approached them. Her brother was still fully armored, now decorated with many new scratches. Sand was still scattered upon its red.

Tobirama broke the eye contact, welcoming his sister who stood leaning on her husband's arm. Her belly was larger than a watermelon, and her forehead was flooded with sweat. She wore a black kimono with wheat colored haori. Her smile was hidden behind a hand, and she struggled to hug him.

"Congratulations, Tobirama."

He couldn't reply. His voice hitched. Hashirama patted his shoulders, her body smelled like the wilderness. She then hugged Izuna tightly. Madara stood apart from the groom, exchanging a brief, wordless nod with him.

Slowly the guests mingled, congratulating the bride, the groom, and their only parent present there. Tobirama said his thanks so often that his lips dried. Izuna's cheeks were wet with tears, and her smile never disappeared as she greeted the guests.

This time the bride and groom didn't notice their siblings sneaked away from the yard.

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The ceiling blurred in Hashirama's watery eyes. The wooden planks gleamed gold from the lights surrounding her bed. Her entire body was drenched in sweat, dampening the pillows supporting her back. Hyuuga Kyoko was ready by her side, with clean cloth and warm water. Her face was fully focused, veins throbbing on her temples.

"A bit more, my dear, just a bit."

It hurts.

Ageha's whispers didn't lessen the pain. Hashirama was used to pain; she knew her body would lessen the pain and heal wounds in a blink of an eye, but now she clutched the blanket's edges until her fingers were numb, telling her body not to sew back her torn muscles and skin.

Not now. Not yet.

Her thighs tensed, her teeth gritted. She took a breath, pushing as her mother in law commanded.

Push.

Push.

Every time her eyelids closed to blink, what she saw wasn't wooden ceiling, but green and brown. Green and brown. Leafy greens fluttering on brown twigs as they trembled. The creeping fear on her exposed arms. The silent universe. Her rapid heartbeat.

Hashirama shattered the silence in her mind with a sharp scream. Sweet iron scent. She gobbled up for air. The water splashed.

"One more—!"

Another one followed soon after. Her belly was empty all of a sudden. A long relieved sigh left her lips. The water splashed again.

The leaves rustled.

Kawarama being restless on their branch. Itama crying in her arms.

The cry was too real. And double.

"Ba—" Hashirama gulped, dampening her throat, "my baby…"

Kyoko placed a baby wrapped in cloth in her arm. The cry slowly stopped as their skin made contact. The baby's face calmed. Hashirama's eyes were wet again.

When she looked up, Kyoko had disappeared from her side. Replacing her was a man near her blanketed feet. Ageha placed another bundle on his muscled arm, whispering advice so he wouldn't be so stiff. She patted his arm, beaming to her son and daughter in law before she left the four of them alone.

"Madara—"

Madara knelt, but his eyes were locked at the crying bundle. Hashirama touched the cheek, caressing it until the cry disappeared like the other one.

"They're boys," Madara choked up.

"They looked just like you," Hashirama chuckled.

He snorted, half proud half satisfied. Candlelight fell on his face, and Hashirama realized she never saw her husband smiling this widely and softly.

For a moment Itama and Kawarama's faces under the lush foliage crossed her mind, then faded away. She looked at her babies in turn. They wouldn't end like their younger brothers who left too soon. Never.

Hashirama was twenty six, and Madara twenty seven.

They would ensure their twin sons survive far beyond tomorrow.

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thanks for reading until the end! i hope you enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed writing this :D