Epilogue: Hashirama, part 1

This was no longer the Konoha that Hashirama knew, and yet at the same time it was. Well over forty years had passed since his death, enough time for a lot to change.

The village had grown, and whether one could still speak of a village at all was questionable. Konoha had been destroyed and rebuilt several times in the past, so there was not much left of what Hashirama had once known. The village had long since outgrown its old boundaries and was far larger than he could have ever dreamed.

But the trees, they remembered him. Trees never forgot. Wherever he walked along, they rustled their leaves and welcomed him. He constantly let some of his chakra seep into the ground to greet his old friends.

The five Hokage, four of them dead and one still very much alive, had gathered in Tsunade's office along with Mito and Kushina. Tsunade's assistant Shizune was also present, on her arm a little pig who went by the name of Tonton. Hashirama was very excited about the cute little animal.

"Grandfather, could you please leave Tonton alone," Tsunade said, not for the first time. "And stop going through my things, Tobi-ojisan. This is my office."

Tobirama waved a stack of documents. "But this used to be mine, and I didn't teach you to leave such a mess. You can only get that from Hashirama."

Hashirama pouted. "I wasn't that bad."

"Yes, you were," Mito stabbed him in the back.

Tsunade put her fingertips to her temples and took several deep breaths. "Why?" she muttered.

Tobirama was undeterred and continued to work his way through the filing cabinets. Hashirama let go of Tonton and turned to the single yucca palm that stood somewhat forlornly in a corner. He stroked its leaves, which it immediately stretched gratefully, and then pushed it closer to the window, where it got more sun. Tsunade watched him wordlessly and said nothing in response.

"I will abdicate," she announced instead.

That was as far as she got, for at that moment the door was violently yanked open and Madara rushed in. Not caring about the others, he went straight for Tobirama and grabbed him by the collar. The documents Tobirama had just been trying to sort out flew fluttering away.

"You ghoulish bastard, what have you done with my corpse?" hissed Madara, baring her teeth.

The only ones who remained composed at the sight were Hashirama and Mito. They were used to this from Madara and Tobirama and if Madara was really out to harm Tobirama, it would look different. The rest of them took several steps back. Kushina couldn't seem to make up her mind whether to protect Minato or let him protect her, and Hiruzen was visibly considering whether to rush to his sensei's rescue. Shizune had taken refuge behind Tsunade's chair and Tsunade herself looked as if she was about to commit murder. Tonton squawked miserably.

"The fuck I did!" snarled Tobirama back, freeing his pelt from Madara's grip. "I sealed your body and that was it!"

"Ha!" cried Madara triumphantly. "A clone you sealed and you didn't even realise it. I outsmarted you in the end after all, with your own jutsu! But then how is it that an inscription has been added to the stone tablet in the Naka Shrine, meticulously listing the secrets of my body? Huh? Hashirama certainly didn't do it, though he was the one who stabbed me in the back. Of all of us, you're the one who delights in experimenting on corpses, or we wouldn't be standing here now."

"Like I'd touch your maggot-eaten carcass!" snarled Tobirama. "I don't know how that inscription came to be, but I have nothing to do with it."

Hashirama stepped up to Madara, wrapped his arms around his chest and breathed a kiss on the tip of his ear. They had never shown such gestures in public when they were alive, but now they were

"Please let me have my brother in one piece, my little bird," he cooed. "But Tobirama is right, he didn't touch your body."

Not that he hadn't tried. It had been one of their few serious arguments and the first and only moment Hashirama had ordered his brother to do anything as Hokage. He had wanted to give Madara a proper burial because it was what he deserved, but in the end Tobirama had been able to convince him to seal Madara's body and lock it away. However, Hashirama had not permitted experiments on his body.

Madara did not comment on what Hashirama had called him. He even leaned into the embrace a tiny bit. Being dead had its advantages, Hashirama noted.

"Maybe it was Zetsu," Mito offered quietly. "He had tampered with the inscription before, after all. Why not in this one?"

"Son of a bitch," Madara grumbled.

"Enough," Tsunade interrupted her, pointing at Madara. "Actually, you have no right to be here and are only here because Grandfather wanted you to be."

Hashirama let go of Madara and stood in front of Tsunade's desk. His old desk apparently hadn't survived Konoha's destruction either, he noted in passing.

"Madara has every right to be here," he said firmly. "I said from the beginning that he should have been Hokage and I still stand by that. Without him, this village wouldn't even exist, you of all people should know that, Tsuna-chan. But apparently that's been forgotten within just a handful of decades."

Tsunade looked up at him, disgruntled. "For all I care," she finally agreed. "But you behave like civilised people, or I swear I'll dissolve the Edo Tensei seals right now and sweep your ashes into the dustbin with my own hands."

This made Hashirama laugh. Tsunade was, after all, still the cute little girl he remembered. "Just like your uncle!"

Tsunade scowled at said uncle as he was already tampering with her files again. Tobirama was not impressed.

"Um, am I interrupting? Should I go again?" Kakashi stuck his head in the door and eyed the group.

Tsunade beckoned him in. "No, you're just in time, Kakashi. Close the door behind you."

Madara's onslaught had caused the lock to shatter, however, so Kakashi could only lean the door. With his hands in his pockets, he stood in front of it and waited for what Tsunade wanted him to do.

"What I've been trying to say all along is that I'm going to abdicate," she said. "I've had enough of this charade, and really I had only become Hokage anyway because Naruto had talked me into it. So: I will abdicate and appoint Hatake Kakashi as my successor. I thought it appropriate to inform you, as my predecessors, of this."

Kakashi's visible eye widened considerably. "And here I thought I had successfully averted that."

"No way, Kakashi," Tsunade countered. "Dead present persons excepted, you're the only one with a halfway decent brain to do it."

Madara crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked piercingly at Tsunade. "You appoint him?"

Tsunade met his gaze and returned it just as venomously. "Do you have a problem with Kakashi? If so, I don't see how that's any of your business."

"I have no problem with that boy Kakashi. He can't get any worse than Hashirama." Madara turned his gaze to Tobirama. "However, I wonder what happened to the Hokage being democratically elected."

Tobirama glowered at him. "What are you looking at me for? Surely you are not still jealous that my brother was elected and not you."

Madara made a snide gesture. "As if. I never cared about the position itself. But you were very eager for us to hold this election. And now this. When did that change?"

However, this was news to Hashirama too and he had to agree with Madara. He hadn't gone into this election only to find out now that he had stood up his best friend for nothing else. "Tsuna-chan, tell me, why is the Hokage not elected?"

Hiruzen stirred and took the floor. "Sensei, I'm sorry, but I guess it's my fault. I knew there should have been a formal election, but with the war and the uncertainty of the times, it simply never happened."

Tobirama turned to him with a furrowed brow. "Explain this to me, Saru," he demanded.

"I knew it should have been only a temporary appointment. That especially in times of war there should have been no power vacuum and everything should have been settled formally when the situation had calmed down again. But it never came to that. The war ended and I feared that Danzō would seize power and ultimately abuse it. So everything remained as it was." Hiruzen bowed deeply. "I beg your forgiveness very much, sensei."

"At least the fear with Danzō had come true in the end," Tsunade interjected. "Contrary to his orders, he had not disbanded Root, as I later learned, and had even wanted to use it during Paine's attack to usurp the Hokage's title. Ironic that it was Sasuke, of all people, whom he had wanted to hunt down and execute as a criminal, who ended up killing him for it."

Hashirama did not yet understand all the implications of what was being discussed here, but it was clear to him in any case that a lot had gone wrong in Konoha in the years after his passing. It only reinforced his decision not to have dissolved Edo Tensei yet. If such a thing had been allowed to happen, then it was clear that he had not prepared Konoha enough for the future.

"So you appointed your own student as your successor," Madara hissed. "Hypocrite. Did you end up appointing yourself Hokage as well?"

Before Tobirama could say anything, Hashirama intervened. "Enough of that! Tobirama, like me, was elected after I resigned. But there is no point in mourning spilt tea. Still, I must insist that your successor be chosen, Tsuna-chan. You are welcome to nominate Kakashi for that, and I trust your judgement that he is an appropriate candidate. But there must be an election. Konoha was born out of a democratic aspiration, it was never meant to be a dictatorship."

Tsunade lowered her eyes and eyed the scrolls on her desk. "You are right, of course, Grandfather. So it shall be done."

"Excuse me for interrupting," Mito interjected, turning to Kakashi, "but I've been thinking the whole time about who you remind me of."

Kakashi cleared his throat sheepishly. "Nidaime-sama was, uh, is my great-grandfather. Sakumo was my father and Chioko was my grandmother."

Tobirama looked at him wordlessly. And then, instead of just asking Kakashi directly, he went to the filing cabinet again and pulled out the file on Kakashi. Now that he said it, Hashirama also saw the resemblance to his niece. Tobirama's daughter had married a Hatake, and he also remembered her son Sakumo. Even though he didn't bear her name, Kakashi was of their blood.

"Welcome to the family!" exclaimed Hashirama with a beaming smile. He took it upon himself in his brother's stead to welcome Kakashi with a warm hug. Kakashi made a surprised sound.

Tobirama had found what he was looking for by now. After all, Konoha's entire administrative system was based on his concept. In the office, they had kept all the essential data about the village's shinobi before, too, to have it within reach; the more sensitive information was locked away in the ANBU's archives.

Tobirama flicked through the documents and seemed increasingly dissatisfied with what he was reading about Kakashi. "Academy graduation at five? Chūnin at six?!"

Hashirama froze. How could that be? Madara didn't seem happy about what he was hearing either, and treated Hiruzen to a look full of disdain.

"Uh, yeah?" confirmed Kakashi, not really seeming to grasp what an absolute disaster those numbers were.

Tobirama turned around to Hiruzen and held the documents under his nose. "What is the meaning of this?" he hissed at him. "That was in your time. How can it be that there were children already Chūnin who should not even have graduated? Explain that to me!"

Hiruzen humbly bowed his head. "It was just after the Second Great War and the village needed shinobi. I know that's no excuse, but it's an explanation. I should never have let Danzō, Homura and Koharu talk me into softening the law."

Tobirama slammed his fist against the wall. The plaster cracked and crumbled. The five portraits on the wall swayed and Hiruzen's picture cracked as Tobirama's chakra flared. "You have failed me, Saru. I was your sensei and ultimately it all falls on me. I never thought I could have been so wrong about you. You shame me."

Hashirama remembered the young Hiruzen. He had been such a promising Genin, his father's pride and joy, and had received training from both Tobirama and himself. He had been very close to Tobirama's heart. To hear all this hurt indescribably. How could Hiruzen have lost sight of what the village had been founded for?

"Kawarama had been seven when his dismembered body was brought back to us," Hashirama said much calmer than he felt. "Itama had been six when the same fate had befallen him. Madara and I had ended a blood feud that had lasted generations so that no child would have to suffer what our brothers had endured. There is a reason for the strict rules for graduation from the academy. They are to prevent children from ever dying on the battlefield again. Never again! You should have known that, Hiruzen, we taught you that."

Hashirama's chakra boiled. He was only peripherally aware of the ground splintering beneath his feet and wild tendrils bursting forth, twisting and bending under his wrath. Tobirama was hardly calmer, glowering down at Hiruzen. Madara also gave the impression that he would like to set something on fire. No doubt he too was thinking of his brothers at the moment.

Kakashi pressed himself against the wall to escape the vines, and Minato and Kushina also backed away from the Senju brothers. Hiruzen just stood there and seemed to have accepted his fate.

"Grandfather ..." croaked Tsunade. "Leave my office in one piece."

Mito stepped up to him and gently placed a hand on his arm. "Hashirama ..."

He blinked. Then he calmed the wild, raging sea of his chakra again. The tendrils came to rest. Kakashi breathed an audible sigh of relief.

Tobirama's anger was far from spent, but he too let his chakra subside again. Tsunade would still have to have her office renovated.

"Tell me what happened to Homura and Koharu," Tobirama demanded to know from Hiruzen.

"They are still alive, if you want to have a serious talk with them too," Tsunade said instead. "They deserved it. But I beg you, leave them in one piece. Danzō was the worst of them and he has received his deserved fate."

Tobirama would most certainly have a serious talk with his former students.