A/N: "O," you say, "What the fuckest is this? A chapter update? In my email? What hast infected this author?"
To which I cry, "THE RONA IS CANCELLING EVERYTHING AND I NEED SEROTONIN FROM WRITING."
So here we are.
I think I have well formulated plot now! Updated the tags to reflect that. I promise nothing but a good time.
No edits we die like men.
Hashirama's not sure what to make of her, this thorn in Madara's side.
One minute there's fire blazing and shuriken flying out of smoke, water roaring and kunai slicing the waves, men dropping to the forest floor, half-buried in the leaves rotting away, and then light so blinding it's as if the sun has been born anew in the gaping maw of the valley.
It fades, leaving Madara, Izuna, and this strange, strange vision in pink pumping chakra into the younger's lacerated chest.
That the wounds are sealing shut, nary a pucker left as evidence, is the second most surprising thing to him. The first is not that Madara has allowed her to touch Izuna. Not even that he snarls at his clansmen to stand down and cease their attacks on the Senju. It's that he watches her, a look in his eyes Hashirama has only ever seen in the battlefield. Only ever seen directed at him.
Respect.
(So maybe it's the other way around - Madara is the thorn in her side.)
She calls herself Sakura.
No last name, no clan affiliation. Tobirama suggests, looking at her hair colour, that maybe she is distantly related to the Uzumaki. Touka posits a Kaguya relation, citing green eyes.
Hashirama thinks it doesn't matter because the second the battle was over, Madara had her whisked away to the parts of the Uchiha compound only accessible to his immediate family. He's likely trying to keep this miracle in a bottle close enough to contain himself, but Hashirama knows better. One look into the Sharingan and he could've left her in one of their storage buildings for days and she wouldn't have twitched.
Stranger and stranger still.
It takes a week for Madara to show himself again, a freshly healed Izuna on his right, Sakura on his left, and a proposal for peace held out between them.
Hashirama can't be certain but when he laughs and agrees in spite of Tobirama's many protests, he asks, "What shall we call this place, old friend? I was thinking-"
"Konoha," Sakura interrupts fiercely, leaving no room for argument as she pins Madara with a look. "Konohagakure no Sato."
He can't be certain, but Madara-
Madara hesitates.
"Konoha," he agrees, "We will call it Konoha."
He knows right there and then this gesture of peace is not born out of a change of heart - it is one Sakura has somehow forced out of him.
(But what startles him is that Madara isn't doing anything to stop her.)
When they announce Madara is to be the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama sees something break in Sakura.
He sees something freeze in Madara.
"Congratulations," she says stiffly, bowing her head just low enough to avoid the titters of the elders. "Our happiness is in your hands."
Unnoticeable to anybody but him, Madara flinches.
"Why did you do it?" Madara asks quietly later on as they work their way through a bottle of premium sake. The elders have retired to their clan compounds to iron out the details of their alliance to the new village, leaving a handful of high-ranking shinobi to mingle amongst their new comrades. It's easy to see where some clan divisions lie: the Senju and Uchiha keep to their corners of the room, steadfastly ignoring each other, while the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi take up the center, talking to anyone who approaches. The few members of the Hyuuga who stayed behind hover near the Uchiha, while the Aburame bounce around freely.
Sakura is nowhere to be seen.
"Do what? Crack this old thing out? It was collecting dust sitting there and fermenting, we'd be long dead before we got to enjoy-"
"Make me Hokage. You would be better fit to lead."
Hashirama toys with the rim of his ochoko, catching his nail in a chip in the wood. "I may not be my brother, but I have eyes, Madara. Something...happened on that battlefield - and afterwards - that changed you and it has to do with that girl. Or maybe it doesn't and she just plays a small part."
"Sakura."
"Tobirama is a good brother. He would make for an excellent advisor, one that would keep me grounded when my dreams become too big for this reality, but he is too detached to help me make good decisions for this village. Sakura, on the other hand…"
He thinks back to the peace offering when Sakura voiced her one demand. Madara might not have done it subconsciously, but his body was tilted ever so slightly her way, ready to meet her gaze before she asked for it. Madara so rarely gives his trust to people outside his family that in that moment Hashirama knew what had to be done.
Prejudices are not easy to overcome even when working towards a common goal. No katon can burn it out of your lungs. No suiton can wash it out of your blood. Tobirama is a good brother but his rampant paranoia and hatred of the Uchiha meant that Madara would never be allowed to serve as council or advisor to Hashirama, forever sowing the discord between the two clans until something had to give. Izuna has none of those reservations - if Madara says the word, he will stand down and stay down.
Sakura will not.
Sakura has no loyalty to any known clan, not even the one giving her shelter, but Hashirama knows she will do everything in her power to keep Konoha standing.
Even if it means being Madara's right hand.
"I trust her to help guide us in an unbiased manner," he finishes cheerily, filling his cup once more and holding it up between them. "Now, let's drink to your future success, Hokage-sama!"
A/N: oooooh Hashirama POV we're getting spicy here
also the happiness line was a jab at madara's whack ass canon speeches about happiness somebody get this man a psychiatrist and like 400mg of midazolam he needs it
please r&r