-Adventure-

All my life, I was raised to think, know, and believe that I will be cherished for my manners, my appearance and my ability to act flawlessly in any social circumstance. My father was a political councilman and frowned upon the life of a ninja. Sure, he was a sealing scholar in his own right, but he liked to think of the Uzumaki gift as more of a theoretical capability rather than practical.

I did not mind that. In this world, there are fighters and there are scholars, and in a strategical and political battleground, there was none as sharp as my father. But I was not content with the role he had assigned to me. I always wanted more, and although I had made peace with the idea of being some nobleman's elegant tea server, I did not like it one bit. I wanted an adventure! I wanted to put my vast knowledge to the test!

You can imagine how excited I was when I realized that I was about to get my fill of both.

.

.

"Ashina-sama, please, I beg of you!" Mito stood before the Uzukage in a perfect bow, her eyes trained on his tabi socks. "I am more than capable of doing this, and surely my future husband will take care of my safety!"

Uzumaki Ashina looked at the girl before him with a stern face. She was a skilled seal master, despite her young age, but she was still a child… a baby, even in his eyes! At almost sixty years of age, Ashina was in the prime of his life by Uzumaki standards. By comparison, Mito, at her 15 and half years, was nothing but a toddler.

A toddler that was slowly getting on his nerves with her insistence.

"Mito, I have a deep respect for your father, he is a dear friend of mine. And that is the only reason why I have not thrown you out by now. But you have received my answer the last six times you asked! This is too dangerous for you. As much as you are skilled in sealing, you are not a fighter!"

The girl, barely a girl anymore, still not quite yet a woman, straightened her spine, looking at her leader with a solemn gaze. "I understand where your concerns lie, Ashina-sama. But I have a duty to these people, to my future people. What sort of wife will I be if I do not give my all to aid my husband?"

She would not give up; she would not give in! These thoughts gave Mito the courage to stand her ground. A few good seconds passed in a staring match, a battle of wills and stubborn personalities, until Ashina finally sighed.

"A good wife would know her place." He then dismissed her with a lazy wave of his arm. "You will take Kou with you, as a chaperone."

"But…"

Ashina's voice was like thunder. A very exasperated thunder. "In the name of all sacred girl, know your place! You not only want to go there in some foolish adventure, but you also want to go unchaperoned? Have you lost all your senses?"

Mito knew a lost battle when she saw one. So she bowed, swallowing her pride and calling this a win as she graciously accepted to be escorted there by Ashina's second son, Kou. Honestly now, she had no problem with Kou as a person. He was a perfectly lovely and competent warrior. It was merely the idea that even outside the limits of Uzushio, even if she were off the island, she was not free. Well, in the end, it will be a small price to pay. "I apologize for me outburst Ashina-sama. I would be honored to be escorted by Kou-sama."

"You leave at daybreak."

Mito smiled but kept her bow low as they moved back from the room. "Yes, Ashina-sama."

As soon as she was out the door, her smile turned into a full-blown grin. She was going on an adventure!

.

.

When Madara saw the scout run toward their camp like there was an army at his heels, he knew something had happened. No one ran so fast to bring trivial news. So when the man reached him and did not start talking immediately, Madara's patience was… tested.

Just the previous day, he received a letter from Mito written in a less than perfect script. In all the months she and Hashirama had corresponded, he had never seen anything less than utter perfection in her strokes. Hashirama, in his complete lack of personal boundaries, was more than happy to share his fiancé's letters with him. He had claimed that he wanted them to get along, but Madara suspected that he simply did not want him to be left out. Which was… truly beyond him why his friend thought like that. What did he plan, that he will sit there and hold his hand forever? What a silly thought…

But as he had seen her latest letter, Madara could see beyond her words; she claimed she would discuss with the Uzumaki leader about their beast problem, but he could see more than that. It was as if he could read the excitement in her strokes, and it did not bode well. Apparently, the girl was under the impression that she had found the solution to their problem.

From one letter.

And now she was hell-bent on solving that problem for them! At first, he really did not plan to give her words much meaning. After all, he had met Uzumaki Ashina, and he was really not the kind of man who would let a girl like her just prance around all over the land and… solve problems. So he put the issue out of his head, made sure that Hashirama was almost drowning in plantain tea as he planned their next attack.

But slowly, a seed of doubt entered his mind and took root.

What if the little nuisance really did convince the Uzukage? She convinced him to do her bidding, and nobody convinced Uchiha Madara to do anything. So if he had fallen for that, would the stern Uzukage fall as well?

The question did not give him peace, so when he saw the scout, Madara envisioned the worst. The scout's silence did not help a bit.

"Talk!" he barked, making the man jump.

"Sir, two people have been spotted at about two hours travel distance…."

The man seemed reluctant to say anymore, so Madara felt the need to remind him of who he was talking to. In the blink of an eye, his Sharingan had activated and was glaring menacingly at the slim scout. "And?"

"One of them was a woman, sir, a red-haired woman."

Something akin to panic came to his mind. "Was?"

"They were attacked, sir, by some of the enemy clans."

The scout did not even have the time to look surprised. Once second, Uchiha Madara, second in command and right hand of their general, was glaring at him and the next he was… gone.

Madara did not think that he had ever moved so fast in his entire life. Nor did he think that he ever cursed so much. If Hashirama were to hear that this intended had been lured here by the stories he told her in a personal letter and thus found her death at the hands of some no-name idiot from the clan, 'I don't give a shit,' his life was forfeit.

He had no illusions over his friend's strength. Oh, he envied it, he hated it and admired it at the same time, but he knew for sure that even with the damn Eternal Mangekyou, he could not hope to kill Hashirama. He had tried and failed, owing his life to Hashirama's stupid honor and friendship he felt for him. Not to be misunderstood, he also had an attachment to the Senju leader, but he was a shinobi who could put his feelings aside as he thought of the bigger picture.

Still, if something were to happen to that pretty slip of a girl, attachment, or no, his head will be on a spike decorating the highest point in Fire country. So with more speed than Madara had ever thought himself to possess, he was approaching Mito's last known location.

What his Sharingan saw made him skid to a stop and just stare.

She was… fine.

The man by her side was obviously a warrior, his leather armor with the swirling Uzumaki symbols hugging his muscular chest and strong arms.

As for Mito, well, he wasn't sure the apparition before him was, in fact, the same Mito he had seen all those months ago. Gone were the gentle movements, gone were the demure looks. Before him was a different person, and for a moment, Madara was stunned.

She wore a rather practical kimono, split to the sides to allow for movement, with loose pants underneath and a leather chest armor tightly secured to her waist. It was nothing like the highly formal and elegant kimono she had worn that day. And her hair, it must have come undone in the skirmish for it was now floating in the wind, giving her a wild, untamed look. All in all, Madara was not even sure that this was the same girl!

As Mito turned to him with eyes like daggers, Madara knew that this girl was trouble. He would have to be careful. And in his decision of being cautious, he was just about to turn her around and take her back to Uzushio himself if need be, when the last person he wanted to see came in a cloud of dust and a bellow of noise.

"Mito-chan!"

It seemed like Hashirama was finally up and about, running at full speed toward them, his chocolate brown hair billowing behind him.

Mito's eyes widened at the incoming presence, especially since he showed absolutely no signs of slowing down. Noticing the change in attitude, Kou stepped in front of her, his taller frame and broad shoulders completely hiding her presence.

As he reached them, Hashirama finally stopped, trying to look left and right over Kou's form at Mito. "Mito-chan, what are you doing here? I dreamt that I saw you, and now you are here! But…" Suddenly he stopped and turned to look at Madara with a severe gaze, his voice losing the enthusiastic tone. "How did you know to find this place?"

For the hundredth time that day, Madara cursed. How much more trouble would this girl bring him? He should have never answered her letter, should have never entered this game, hell he should have never looked her way!

But before he could come up with an explanation to this whole mess, Mito stepped from behind Kou, her features once more schooled and gaze level.

"Hashirama-dono." She bowed respectfully, her back straight as she bent from the waist. The crimson strands of her loose hair fell over her shoulders, and Mito fought a blush at her state. It was unheard of a lady such as her to be seen in public with her hair undone. It made her feel exposed, improper. But, she reminded herself that she had wanted adventure, and it seemed that a life of adventure was anything but proper.

As she stood, she saw Hashirama flash in front of her and grab her hands, an earnest expression on his face. This time the flush did come to her face, and so did a look of utter mortification.

How could he just… grab her like that?

"Mito-chan…" Hashirama looked over her face, drinking in her features, and marveling at her beauty. She really was something else, and with her hair down like that, she looked so much more approachable. He knew that he shouldn't have grabbed her hands like that, but his head was swimming and he felt drunk on her presence. Or was he just sick?

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his vision turning foggy. Suddenly he didn't feel so well. His stomach was turning, bile rising in his throat, and with a look of panic, he realized that he was going to be sick.

Maybe he shouldn't have stood up…

From a few meters away, Madara watched the scene unfold. One moment Hashirama was holding her delicate hands in his calloused ones and surely giving her that puppy eyes look and the next… well, the next thing he knew, Hashirama was down on all fours, vomiting all the tea he drank...

On Mito's shoes.

Angry was an understatement. Uzumaki Mito was mortified, horrified! She had no words for how she felt, and if it weren't for the fact that Hashirama seemed to pass out a moment later, she could have sworn that she would kill him with her own hands. Alas, a twinge of worry, penetrated the red hot fury in her veins.

She was grateful when Kou lifted the tall Senju leader from the ground, although she did not care much for his low chuckle.

Madara approached her with a condescending smirk. Really, it was hard to act all formal when she looked a mess, her face flushed and eyes alight with anger. "Welcome to the camp."

Mito gave him a withering glare, but it did nothing to dispel that smirk of his.

Was he mocking her?

How dare he?

She came here for… why did she come here? Her thoughts were a jumble, and it was only the months of meditation with Shirai-sama and her absolute self-control that made her lift her head, straighten her back and look the infuriating man in the eye. "I have come here to offer my assistance, Uchiha-dono."

The use of his clan name, spoken in such a formal tone, reminded Madara loud and clear who she was, and more importantly, who she represented, or rather who she wasn't. She wasn't someone to be teased by sarcasm, she wasn't someone who he should smirk at, and she sure as hell wasn't someone he should send letters to!

The smirk was instantly wiped from his face, his tar colored eyes hardening. "With all due respect, lady Mito, you should leave."

"No."

No? What did she mean by no? "Lady Mito, the camp here is not safe, as you may have already noticed…"

If her spine were to be any straighter, it would have surely snapped. Her grey eyes were as hard as steel, and Madara wondered if the genteel, well-behaved lady he had seen last time was just the social mask she had worn for their sakes. She took one decisive step toward him, passing by him by a hair's breadth.

"I have come here to offer my assistance with sealing the beast Uchiha-dono, and I shall do what I came for. Have a good day." And with that, she moved past him, her gait elegant and decisive as she practically glided over the upturned grass and mud of the road.