Disclaimer: I DO NO OWN NARUTO
A knock on Sakura and Hikari's home was heard early in the morning. Fortunately they were having breakfast, and discussing yesterday's events. The Takishima got up to answer and was surprised to see Tobirama standing outside with his trademark serious look.
"Oh, good morning Senju-san" they weren't in first name basis yet. He was a damn untrusting person.
"Takishima-San" he nodded "My brother and Madara expect you both at the Hokage Tower in an hour" he was turning to leave, he had given the message and there was no point on staying to have a conversation.
"Hey Wait!" Hikari called, he stopped on his tracks and looked at her with the same plain expression. "Only them will be in the meeting?"
"That is correct" he answered and said nothing more. He sensed the woman had more to say.
"Is it possible that Izuna-San, Takato-san, Toka-san and you could be there?" she said a bit shy, he was really intimidating, it was the first time she had spoken so directly to the Nidaime since the 4th war, and to be honest that had been a pretty intimidating edo-tensei Nidaime too. Of course Tobirama didn't know that, and he was surprised she had asked for their presence in the meeting.
"I don't think that would be a problem, but I have to ask them" he replied never leaving his pose.
"Thank you…" Hikari said "… Oh please tell Kido-san too if it's okay with Madara-san and Hashirama-san. I want him to know our story too".
"Hn" he nodded again very Uchiha-like. He had not failed to notice that she spoke about everybody without their clan's name.
"Thank you Senju-san" she bowed. She looked like she was aware of him or that she didn't fully trust him.
He grunted and turned to leave again but stopped and without turning back to look at her he said: "I'm not an ogre Takishima-san. I just want to protect my brother and the Village."
"We want that too" she spoke back secure "that's why we told him the true, both him and Madara-san's trust in us deserve that." Tobirama had been searching through her chakra the whole conversation and he couldn't find any sign of lie or doubt in her words. Suddenly he felt some foreign chakra that seemed to be stored on a fuinjutsu. That was very suspicious for him, but yet she didn't seem to be hiding anything. She wasn't even hiding her seal.
"That's not the only trust you need to win and protect." He said scornfully and left.
Hikari looked at the empty spot in front of her and sighed. He had felt it, her seal. She felt him just for a second checking her chakra and she didn't hide anything. There was no point in doing that, because if so he would never trust them. Damn he was the best sensor Konoha will ever had.
Tobirama arrived on the tower where his brother and the three Uchiha were. He greeted them with a grunt.
"I've told them the message" the albino reported "and they have asked for Izuna, Takato, Toka and me to be at the meeting. The Takishima girl even asked for Uchiha Kido to be present." The Uchiha looked curious.
"Maybe she trusts him. You've seen how she was when he asked her about her sharingan." Hashirama said thinking out loud. "It was like she could open up to him. Is it okay with you guys?" The three Uchiha nodded.
"I'll send for Kido-san" Madara said and summoned his falcon and wrote a small note to the elder Uchiha.
"I'll go find Toka" Tobirama said and left the room.
When the kunoichi arrived on the brand new Hokage tower the three Senju and four Uchiha were waiting for them.
"Come in" Hashirama answered when the knocked on the door.
"Konichiwa" they said and bowed. The atmosphere was tense, so Toka thought it was okay to make a joke.
"Those are really nice clothing!" the kunoichi said "I like the way you adapted your own style to this era." Now they were dressed like people from their present, but they still kept their "future" essence. Sakura had a long Chinese-like red dress, with caqui pants and shinobi sandals. She looked like a 20 year old version of herself when she was twelve. Hikari had black long pants with shinobi knee length boots over them, and a green long sleeved keikogi. Over that she wore a long opened burgundy vest like his godfather used to. They were almost the same clothes she wore when they arrived, but they fit better and were more modest.
"Um… Thank you" Sakura replied. She knew Toka's intentions were good, but that made them feel more aware of the attention they were receiving. They closed the door behind them and the pinkette told their audience "Thank you for this meeting, first we would like to ask Senju-san if he can cast some protection jutsu." She looked at the albino with a determined look on her face.
"We also want to ask if you could and some muffler and sensor jutsu" Hikari added looking at Tobirama too. The mentioned nodded and proceeded to cast the best barrier he could do. They were smart, he thought. Asking him for that protection was a declaration of trust in his abilities. 'Nice move' he thought.
They all sat around a kotatsu that was placed with tea in the middle of the room. It was obvious that it was a provisional thing because there was a desk in the office, but since they have not decided on a leader yet they didn't use it. Hikari and Sakura sat on one side, in front of them were Hashirama and Madara. To the pinkette's left (Hashirama's right) were Toka and Tobirama being the latter next to his brother, and to the Takishima's right (Madara's left) were Kido, Izuna and Takato, this time the middle brother next to the Uchiha patriarch.
"Well, we hear you" Madara said serene. "Tell us about yourselves"
Hikari sighed and asked "Where to start…"
"Just tell us who are you, and why you are here" Tobirama said serious. Sakura stiffed a little bit, but then she sighed and started speaking.
"I'm Haruno Sakura, I'm going to be 20 years old soon. I was born in Konoha like 60 years or so in the future, and I'm an active elite Shinobi of the Village" she heard the gasps of everybody, it felt surreal to be explaining this stuff, but she continued "I'm a civilian born, my parents are shinobi though, but they went off duty when I was born, that's why I said I am not from a shinobi household, all I know I've learnt it at the academy and studying with my Shishou. We were related to a merchant family, but we don't really have a clan."
"I'm Takishima Hikari, soon to be 23 years old. I was born in Sunakagure no sato, another hidden Village, but my parents were from Konoha. I'm also an elite shinobi of the Leaf" This time Hikari spoke. She had continued over the questioning about another hidden village. That piece of knowledge made Hashirama happy to think that their idea will replicate, but also made Tobirama and Madara aware of the same thing. They looked to each other without even realizing, but knowing what they were thinking. "As I've told you, my parents left me when I was four years old, and I had recently found them a year ago. I am from two different clans, the Takishima from my mother's side, and the Namikaze from my father's side, two quite powerful clans of the Village long time ago, that now don't exist anymore, except from me and my cousin Naruto."
"Why do you have your mother's last name?" Toka asked curious. Not minding the interruption Hikari explained.
"I was born in Sunakagure because my parents were hiding from something that was chasing the Namikaze Clan, and my dad adopted my mum's Clan's name so that could divert the attention from me." She explained easily and felt relieved, that hadn't been so hard to tell. It seemed it had eased the Senju kunoichi's curiosity for a while.
"Okay, we know who you are, but why are you here?" The albino asked impatient.
"We were sent here by some kind of demigod to stop an evil that led us to the greatest war in shinobi's history and almost destroys the world." Sakura said simply. She had practiced this sentence for a while. Everybody looked at her like she had grown a second head.
"Do you think we're stupid?" Tobirama couldn't hold it anymore. "I still don't buy this 'we're from the future' story, and now you speak about deidities?"
"Hey, we know you're sensing our chakras, so you actually know we're not lying!" Hikari intervened a bit mad.
"That may be true but you're still hiding stuff, you're saying half-truths" the albino retorted.
"Okay, I'll prove your point." Hikari closed her eyes and continued "Hamura please come out" From her chest a light started to glow and then a caped white figure appeared in front of them. They all were in awe and the youngest Senju was trying to find the genjutsu, but there wasn't one. She really had her eyes closed and was not emitting any chakra signals.
"Good morning to everyone" the white figure said. He looked human but had two small horns that looked like rabbit ears. Everybody was taken aback with this apparition.
"Hey, I've felt you!" Takato exclaimed "The other time in the refuge, I couldn't see you though…" he explained. Hamura was a bit surprised that this human could feel him like that, he had felt he was sensitive that time too, but didn't expect that much.
"That was because I can make myself invisible and suppress my chakra signature" the man said "My name is Ōtsutsuki Hamura, please to meet you all" he smiled.
"Ōtsutsuki Hamura?" Kido san spoke for the first time "As in Ōtsutsuki the Rikudo Sennin?" Now everybody looked at him in disbelief.
"How do you know that was Rikudo Sennin's las name?" Tobirama harshly inquired the Uchiha.
"You should do more research on your Clan's history, boy" the elder answered putting the albino on his place. "The Uchiha have some ancient scrolls with legends and history. That's where I first read about Ōtsutsuki". The Senju was outraged but said nothing.
"That's right Kido-San, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki was my brother" Hamura said and seeing his surprised expression he added "I know all your names, because I was invisibly present on that meeting."
"Okay, that sounds fair I think." Kido answered. 'Creepy' Izuna thought. "And may we ask why we have the honor to have you here with us?"
"These girls here were fighting with a descendant of mine on the moon…" he started
"The moon!?" Izuna and Tobirama exclaimed in unison "Come on…" But they were interrupted by the demigod as if nothing had happened.
"I found them on a temple and I realized their chakras could be the ones to stop an evil that had caused innumerable pain to endless amount of people in our history, so I sent them to the past". He explained.
"They have an unique chakra?" Madara asked surprised.
"Well, actually Hikari-chan does have an unique chakra." Hamura wasn't lying though "Sakura-chan has a perfect chakra control and medical abilities and they work pretty well as a team." The girls blushed a little with all this praising. Then Hikari remembered something.
"The seal you felt on my chakra today…" the Takishima told Tobirama "That seal hides that chakra." she was so serious and secure that the man didn't need to check her chakra for lies. Of course he did It anyway, he was a really paranoid person.
"Was that the reason of the Namikaze clan being chased?" Madara asked her, he was very clever. They all were, they were the founders for Kami's sake.
"Yes." She only answered.
"And was this evil thing the one that was chasing after them?" he asked again.
"You could say so." Hikari said again. The Uchiha remained silent.
"So, you girls are shinobi from a future Konoha that were selected by Rikudo Sennin's brother to save our world from an evil that almost destroys yours and was after Hikari-san and her Clan?" Hashirama resumed efficiently. Even Tobirama was surprised with his attitude, he was serious and analytical, he didn't look like his anija at all.
"That's pretty much the story" Sakura said nodding.
"But you said that evil almost destroys your world, does that mean he was already beaten there?" The Senju patriarch asked again, some things didn't add up to him. Hamura looked a bit nervous; they were cleverer than he had anticipated.
"Yes, but it had cost many lives, physically, emotionally and mentally" he explained "I thought that sending them to the past would change things, that they would have a better life. But actually it ended up opening another dimension and they can't go back anymore". Everybody was astonished that he had confess that openly. They looked at the kunoichi, and her expression were of defeat.
"You're stuck here" Izuna said absentmindly.
"That is a way to put it, yes" Hamura sweat dropped. Silence fell on the room; it was a lot information to take. Hashirama, as always, tried to lighten up the mood.
"Then the questions of who they are, when or where they are from and why they are here are answered." He smiled at the girls "Is there any other thing to talk about?" he asked to the present.
"I have a question to Hikari-san" Kido-san asked. She knew already what that question was, in fact that's why she had asked him to join the conversation, she wanted for him and the Uchiha for not see her as a threat. He looked at the girl and she nodded allowing him to continue. "Tell me about the Takishima clan" he said "How did you and your mother inherited the Uchiha's dojutsu?" There was a long moment of silence, Hikari looked at her friend and her brother and sighed.
"The Takishima clan is a descendant from the Uchiha Clan" Madara, Takato and Izuna held her breath. Kido didn't say anything but looked at her questionly. "Some years ago from this present of yours, a man called Takishima Uchiha was expelled from your Clan because he wanted to do some experiments to heal the Sharingan's blindness, he was sort of a scientist. He almost died by the hands of the Clan leader but someone found him on a river coast and healed him and his eyes. He started to wonder and save all the Uchiha that were given by dead on the battlefields and healed them and their eyes. Those healed people started to follow him and they created a community. They changed their Clan's name to Takishima to honor him, and to reject the Clan that had turned their back to them." Once she was finished the four Uchiha in the room were stunned.
"Aniki, wasn't that the man that Father said he had killed when we were little?" Izuna asked Madara.
"Yes Izuna-san" Kido answered "that was one of your father's biggest mistakes" he lamented. Hikari was curious now.
"Why do you say that?" Madara asked a bit surprised of the man expression.
"I was friends with Takishima" he said with sadness "He only meant good. He was very smart and powerful, so your father thought he might overtook his position. That was silly, he was older than me, and he wasn't even interested, he only cared for the Clan."
"Father was a very destructive person. Had I known earlier about this man, I would have tried to help him" Madara lamented. He really hated his father, he ruined everything.
"Well, Takishima Uchiha is supposed to be my great grandfather" Hikari said. "That's why I have the Sharingan, and also the reason I have an eternal Mangekyo without eyes being transplanted. He could fix that reproducing his cure." That statement surprised the Uchiha.
"Do you know healed him?" Takato asked.
"No, we don't." the girl said "That's almost all the knowledge I have from my Clan." There was a moment of silence and suddenly Hashirama almost choke with his saliva. Everybody turned to look at him.
"Anija?" Tobirama asked. Madara looked at his friend fearing what he was going to say.
"I-I think it was me…" The Elder Senju said.
"WHAT?" Everybody exclaimed in unison.
"How could you?" Madara asked "You're not supposed to be able to heal others with your healing chakra"
"He helped an Uchiha woman in the battlefield, remember?" Takato reasoned with his brother.
"Yes, but that's because Sakura-Chan explained to him how to pass chakra to her" the Uchiha Patriarch eyed his friend from the side.
"I was little" Hashirama started to explain "I believe this was before we knew each other. He kind of did the same thing Sakura-San did. I mean, he explained to me that maybe with my chakra I could help him. He said something about chakra coils in his eyes, and I only directed my chakra there. He didn't seem a bad guy…" the last thing he said it to his brother that was enraged.
"HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY HELP AN ENEMY!?" the albino shouted at him. "I always knew you were stupid, but you're always surprising me."
"Hey, I was a child, this was an old almost dead man that meant no harm!" Hashirama defended himself "I'm not going to turn my back to a fellow shinobi that was in need. He had been rejected from his Clan. He was alone by himself"
"That could had been a trap!" Tobirama exclaimed.
"Well, what's done it's done" The elder brother sentenced serious and a bit annoyed, Tobirama was taken aback by this attitude. There were only few times that his Anija behaved like the elder brother and had an authority aura. "I helped him, we never heard of him and his Clan until today, and he did no harm." Tobirama fell silent and in deep thought. Hashirama looked again at Madara and then the rest of his clansmen "I'm sorry I've never told you. We had both swore that we'll never tell to anyone, and with time I forgot about that. I'm sorry Madara". The Uchiha sighed, he wasn't really mad at him; it was odd hearing that even as a child he had helped one of his clansmen, even though he was kicked away from the Clan.
"I don't see the problem there. You did what was right for you" The Uchiha answered "We'll see how it develops and where things go in the future with that new Clan". The albino was still thinking and with Madara's words he thought about something.
"Takishima-san, you said your Clan lived in Konohagure, right?" Tobirama asked. "How did they co-existed with Uchiha?"
"They moved to Konoha fifteen years after it was founded. Takishima was dead, and the Uchiha that had 'converted' didn't tell anybody who they were since almost everybody didn't recognize them. They only said that they were descendants from Uchiha defectors" the kunoichi explained "but eventually the elders found out, and that's when the animosity begun" the atmosphere became suddenly dense.
"What happened?" Takato asked.
"I don't know for sure, I lived the first three years of my life in another Village, and when we moved to Konoha I never knew what was going on" the girl continued "My parents never told me anything or spoke badly about the Uchiha. In fact they were friends with the Clan's leader and his family, until that day…" Her voice was a bit shaky, she made a pause and didn't continue.
"Until what?" Toka enquired.
"My Clan's massacre when I was four" Hikari sighed and looked down. The silence became longer and deeper. The Senju kunoichi felt bad for her, she remembered what she had told them on their first meeting. Takato remembered their conversation near the lake the night before. She had said she had been the face of their dishonor, that only meant…
"It was our Clan, wasn't it?" The middle Uchiha sibling asked leaving two astonished Madara and Izuna "Our clan killed yours, that's why you told me yesterday that they hated you because you were the representation of their biggest mistake. You were not supposed to be alive either." She opened her eyes widely and felt them grew hot. Sakura put a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"It's okay, I can tell them this part" she reassured her. Hikari nodded because she didn't trust her voice. She didn't want to cry again, she was going to take some time to regain her composure.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude" Takato whispered feeling a bit ashamed.
"Don't worry, she's not mad at you. She's just being sensitive as I am" the pinkette said "it's hard for us to be here and tell you all of this." Madara looked at her and nodded.
"Please continue, Sakura-san" the girl nodded too.
"I only know the story because my parents told it to me what happened in the Village, and later Hikari-chan filled the blanks with the inner side of it." She warned "The day of the massacre her parents were intercepted by the Uchiha Clan's leader who had found out that some of his clansmen were plotting to put an end to the 'thieves of the Sharingan' as they called them. He first tried to reason with them and they seemed to have regained their senses, but that was a trick. Fortunately Uchiha-san was smarter than them and kept an eye on that group. When he found out the truth he went directly to Hokage-sama and confessed what his piers were up to."
"Hokage-sama was my uncle, my father's brother" Hikari interrupted, she was alright now, a bit emotionless for Takato's liking though. "The Leader helped my parents and arranged with them that I would stay with my Uncles until everything was fine. He helped them escape from Konoha, but it was too late for the rest of our Clan. They killed everybody."
"I knew Uchiha was a rotten Clan…" Tobirama spat with hatred.
"Hey shut up, idiot" Izuna reacted "Those were not even us, it was in the future, we would never slaughter a Clan out of envy. Not even yours that used to be our enemies" Tobirama was about to reply but Hikari looked at him with anger in her eyes.
"I think the problem was not actually the Uchiha Clan per sé, but a deficient way of Village leadership." She said in monotone. "My Uncle was very busy because we were at war at that time, but the previous leaders had not treated right the whole Sharingan users deal. They put them all together to see what would happen; they didn't meddle because they didn't trust them. That aside, there was a psycho council man obsessed with our dojutsu and who we later discovered had plotted with the group of men that killed the people and collected the deceased's eyes." Toka's expression was pure horror.
"How could someone steal a corpse eyes, that's just wrong" she said desperate. "What the hell happened in your time that people would do that to their comrades?"
"That evil force was the one that fed on the peoples negative emotions and led them to commit those atrocious acts" Hamura explained calmly.
"That may be true, but not with him. He was only envious he could never made it to Hokage, and he was also envious of Uchiha" Sakura intervened.
"Anyway, as I said, it was not an Uchiha thing. The perpetrators were caught and they were only 8 men, so it was definitely not a Clan thing." Hikari stated. "They were judged and If recall right they were sentenced to death for treason to the Village."
"And what happened with our Clan?" Madara asked "How did it cope with that?" Hikari's eyes went wide.
"I don't believe we should tell you more about the future" the pinkette suddenly said "You don't need to know."
"I'm sorry, but I don't think you get to decide that Sakura-san" the patriarch scolded her. She looked at him offended
"Yes I do. It may influence your actions, and we don't want to mess things up more than we already had" she retorted.
"Mess things up?" Madara asked raising his voice a little "How did you mess things up? Everything is going fine, the Village is formed and both Clans are in peace and safe!" Sakura was speechless, he was right.
"I-I… you may be right…" She said "But it's not ethic. You may have an advantage, and that also may create another future that could be disastrous!"
"Or that could be just fine." He sentenced "You don't know that, is our decision." He looked at the other Kunoichi and said "Please, Hikari-san, tell us what happened with our Clan."
"I-I don't think that…." She debated to tell it.
"Hikari-san" Takato called, she looked at him nervous "I don't think you being here is a coincidence you know? And I think I already know what you think you have messed up" Everybody looked at him curious "We were supposed to die in that battle, am I right?" The girl's eyes couldn't get any more wider. "I mean, Izuna and me." Seeing everybody's faces, he decided to elaborate "I have an ability that allows me to follow chakra into the near future, I use it some days before any battle. First I couldn't feel Izuna, then I couldn't feel anybody. Suddenly the day before that battle that changed, I felt Izuna and everybody again. And I also felt two new chakra that I didn't know where they had come from. Now I know, It was you." He made a pause and continued "You arrived one day before the battle..."
"That's true…" The pinkette said
"Then, the battle had not yet happened, and I felt everything again. We were going to be saved. Fate had been twisted." Madara's realization hit him hard.
"You mean that they were meant to save you?" he asked his brother and then looked at Hamura "You did that on purpose?"
"No, I could not feel the exact time to do that. I only sent them here, and they arrived on that Village." The Ōtsutsuki said. He had had another agenda in mind and now he was realizing he could have really messed things up if he had sent them late. "They didn't even know what was happening, so you might say that it was a new destiny forged to them too."
"I'm sorry, I still don't get it" Hikari said a bit pissed.
"What I'm trying to say is that you arrived one day earlier from the battle" Takato spoke to her directly "You could have gone everywhere during your encounter with the Hyuuga, but you arrived on our battlefield, between Tobirama and us. He would have probably killed us that day, but that didn't happen, and it was because of you." The Albino felt a bit of discomfort with the Uchiha's words. It felt weird to think he would have killed them. And what felt weirder was that he was ashamed to admit that he really would have.
"So.." this time Sakura spoke, she was doing some really deep thinking.
"So, you were meant to mess things up. It wasn't your fault. You saved us and in a way you anticipated the truce, I believe" the Middle Uchiha said, the girls nodded absentmindly. "So, please tell us about our Clan, It may fix another problem." Hikari looked at Sakura and then at Hamura.
"Um, okay. We will tell you." The brunette said. She took a deep breath and started "There's something I did not say about the day my Clan was murdered" everybody was expectant on what she was going to say "As I said, I was left with my uncles when my parents left. The thing is my aunt was pregnant with my cousin Naruto. She was the nine tails jinchuriki and my uncle had a safe house prepared for her to give birth because her seal would be weaken. My uncle mastered fuinjutsu so he would keep control on it. Some hours later that day my aunt went into labor and we moved to the safe house. When we were there, a masked man appeared and killed everybody except us, Naruto had just been born and he took him and menaced to kill him too. My Uncle had to grab him and use his teleporting technique to escape but that choice made him leave us alone. The masked man teleported my aunt and me to a place, chained us and he extracted the beast from her. That same night Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi." The group was silent, nobody dared to speak. "My uncle arrived and saved us, leaving my aunt, Naruto and me in the safe house again. He fought and beat the masked guy and teleported the Kyuubi far away from Konoha with Hirashin." She could hear Tobirama's gasp so she stopped and looked at him waiting.
"That technique…" the albino said
"It's yours." Hikari cut his speech. "That's why I know it. I had seen my uncle doing it, but it wasn't until I found a scroll and was older enough that I could learn it"
"For him to teleport himself and the most powerful tailed beast is just… impossible." Tobirama said thinking out loud.
"Minato-oji-san was the most powerful ninja in his time." She said smiling sadly, but full of pride. "The point is that he could isolate the Kyuubi but he attacked again our shelter so he had to teleport us again to a clearing in the middle of a forest. He was near chakra depletion. The beast find us and the last thing I remember is that both my aunt and uncle were taking care of Naruto and planning what to do. Then it all went blank."
"How is that so?" Hashirama asked. He looked like he was hearing a horror story.
"It seems I lost my senses and in an act of full rage tried to attack the Kyuubi." She explained, they didn't need to know the real truth even though she wasn't lying. "Anyway, he hit me and I passed out. I woke up in the hospital in a bedroom with my cousin besides me. My uncle and aunt had died protecting us and sealing the beast inside Naruto." Toka sobbed hard. Kido's eyes were moist. The rest was deeply silent, until the albino decided to say something.
"I'm really sorry to hear what you have experienced, but why is that related to the Uchiha?" Tobirama asked. Hikari understood his point.
"My mind was read by the intelligence department since I was the only witness alive that could understand what was going on" she said "the masked man had a hole in his mask and you could see his eyes…" she stopped. Madara shifted in place.
"He had the sharingan" he continued the Takishima's sentence. "It is said that our dojutsu can control the tailed beasts because is the same Rikudo Sennin had. Am I right?" he added looking at Hikari and then to Hamura. The Ōtsutsuki nodded.
"Our shinobi knew that the sharingan could control the Kyuubi, and with my memories they confirmed it." Hikari said. "If you add that to my clan's massacre, people didn't trust Uchiha anymore"
"What did the authorities do?" Kido san asked.
"Nothing" Sakura intervened. "Apart of the massacre's perpetrators judgement, the Clan was left to be, because they fought defending Konoha from the beast. But it was highly mistrusted." Tobirama snorted.
"I keep saying that you were not to be trusted" he had his arms crossed and was sarcastically smiling. "This is a bad Idea, to form this village with you people". Before the four Uchiha said something, Hikari spoke.
"That's the idea that triggered Konoha's almost downfall" she said with an angry voice.
"What!?" the albino exclaimed
"That idea 'Don't trust Uchiha, they are bad, or just ignore them'" she mocked "That egotistical way of thinking ruined everything. If someone could have really committed to the village looking further from his bellybutton a lot of things could have had not happened."
"So what do you suggest?" Tobirama said. It had become a two people conversation.
"I don't know" she shrugged "but if you mistreat people and don't even try to speak to them, to reason with them, they rebel. They ended planning a coup de tat"
"SEE!" the younger Senju exclaimed "That proves my point, there's no good in Uchiha"
"NOR IS GOOD IN A LEADER WHO SENDS A THIRTEEN YEAR BOY TO KILL HIS ENTIRE CLAN" Hikari exploded knocking the table with her fists. Everybody gasped, what had she just said? She inhaled and calmed down. "You weren't there, you don't know what happened." She sounded hurt, her voice was shaky again.
"Hikari-san, please calm down." Madara tried to sooth her. "Can you explain what you have just said?"
"I'll do it" Sakura answered him to give her friend some time to recover "Since the Hokage and his wife died on the Kyuubi 's attack, and the massacre had happened the same day, people in Konoha started to mistrust Uchiha. Years went by and they started to plan to overcome the current Hokage because they were left apart in almost everything related to the Village. They were even being watched. Suddenly one day the Uchiha heir killed his entire Clan, sparing the life of his little brother. He escaped and was marked as a traitor." She stopped talking because she knew it was a lot to take to her listeners.
"Our entire clan… wiped by one man?" the Patriarch said in disbelief.
"We knew the truth lots of years later, but at that moment it seemed that Itachi-kun had lost his mind." Hikari explained a bit hurt "He was my best friend, and a genius for his age."
"What was the truth?" Hashirama asked, he had a bad feeling about this. Tobirama was still upset and maybe a bit ashamed, but he was also intrigued.
"The truth was that Itachi-kun was sort of a double agent for his Clan and the Hokage. He was ordered to spy on his clan. At the end of the day, the Village was his top priority. He tried to reason with his father but there was no hope for them, they were too damaged. His father used to be a good man." The Takishima explained.
"You need to understand that there are two sides of chakra and Nindo. The will of fire is the will of the Village. To protect the village and therefore it's people, to seek for peace." Sakura described "But there also is a dark side, called The Curse of hatred. Uchiha tend to be more adept to it because of their dojutsu. The Sharingan is linked to emotions, and once they turn to hatred it's difficult to repel."
"The Hokage and the Council ordered Itachi-kun to kill his entire Clan and leave the Village to infiltrate in a renegade shinobi association. He made a deal that nothing would ever happen to his little brother in exchange." The Takishima looked at her hands that had turned into fists and her eyes watered again "That idiot thought it was okay to take all responsibility by himself." Takato looked at her concerned. It seemed that boy was very important to her.
"So the Uchiha Heir killed his Clan under the Hokage's order?" The albino finally said "That seems too extreme" Everybody looked at him surprised. "What?" he asked annoyed.
"Aniki, it doesn't sound like something you would say after all what you have said, don't be mad" Hashirama said. Tobirama moved his head aside crossing his arms again.
"Listen, I might not trust or like Uchiha, but I'm not a monster. I need to know something" he looked at the pinkette "I'll ask this to you because it's not your Clan that was involved." She nodded "Did the Hokage try to do an approach to the Uchiha, did he confronted them? Or he just ordered a suicide mission on a boy?" The kunoichi swallowed hard.
"There were no records of an approaching to the Clan." Sakura said "For what we know, Hokage sama and the Village Council preferred to 'eradicate the rotten apple' as it was written on the Village records" his eyes widened when she finished.
"Does the term sound familiar?" Hikari mocked. "If you still want to know, that Hokage happened to be one of your students." The look in the albino's face was of pure awareness.
"Hikari-chan!" Sakura scolded her "You've said to much!"
"I know" she answered bitterly to her friend "but he needs to know how much damage an idea can do. And you know better than I that we're not even telling everything in detail." She was angry. With everybody. She wanted to finish this conversation now. The pinkette sighed.
"We won't say any more stuff about this, nor the conflicts in our Village and our last war." Sakura said firmly "This is all the political information you will get from us, so I suggest to you to think of other stuff to ask, and to decide if we are worthy of live here as Villagers and Shinobi."
"There's no need to be this serious Sakura-san" Hashirama said trying to enlighten the mood. "I believe we know enough of your pasts, even though there must be a lot more to it. I don't know about the others, but I still want you to become a part of this Village, of this family" he smiled brightly and then his expression fell a bit "I am deeply sorry about what happened to you, your Clan, the Uchiha and your friend Hikari-san. I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening" he added solemn. Both girls smiled at him. "Konoha will always be your home no matter what. Madara, what do you think?" The Uchiha patriarch took a moment to answer. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes thinking. Then he looked at his siblings, and Kido and sighed.
"We'll probably want to know a little bit more about everything you've said" He started, and continued immediately before any of them could retort "not now, and not much. Only the important parts, or to clarify doubts. You have to understand this is a lot to take for me, for us. I know we only want peace, what I don't know is what happened for things to go so badly. And I believe you're not going to tell us about that"
"We really don't know all the details, it was before we were born and lots of stuff was badly written in our history books." Sakura said.
"I believe you, you don't have to tell me" he reassured the pinkette and then got serious "but I need you to promise to us that you will do anything in your power to prevent what happened for happening." Both girls looked each other and nodded.
"We promise we will protect Konoha and all of you with our lives" she said. Madara was impressed by Sakura's words, she was honest and fierce. For the first time in the whole conversation he remembered that feeling that was growing inside him, and stopped his mind from sailing away. This was not the time.
"Perfect" he managed to say " then I Believe I speak form my siblings and Kido-san here too, that you're welcome to the Village by the Uchiha." He smirked at their faces of joy.
"Hn" Tobirama cleared his voice "I believe the best way to keep an eye on you is to have you in the village, since you may have a lot of knowledge and it would be stupid to let you go with it." Everybody rolled their eyes at him and Hashirama was about to protest when the albino continued "I'm deeply sorry that my future actions may have led to your Konoha's almost downfall. Kami this is the strangest sentence I've said" he said the last part in low voice like an afterthought and sighed. "You have to know that I'm a forward person and I would have never put the burden of anything that big on a boy, no matter how stronger or genius he is. If anything happens here I will confront it directly."
"I know that" Hikari said looking at him straight in the face.
"I don't want you to hate me or think I am a monster Takishima-san." Tobirama kept speaking and addressed to the whole room "You all know I hate Uchiha. But to be fair, I don't feel hate anymore. I still don't like your Clan, but now I know that we are not really that different" he looked at Takato, who smiled weakly at him. "I can't promise you we will be friends, but I will tolerate and be civilized with everybody. I am aware that the hate me too"
"They don't hate you" Izuna surprised everybody with his interruption. "They just know you as 'The Senju that killed one of the little heirs', that's why. They don't think of the background, on how our people killed yours. Once the village is settle they'll get to know the real you." He made a pause and then added "which is very obnoxious and childish by the way" The albino's vein popped out and he exclaimed "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" but the youngest Uchiha started Laughing and answered "oh, come on, relax a little. It's too easy and so funny to make you anger! "
The mood had lightened a little so both Clan Patriarchs stood up and formally welcomed the new Konoha Kunoichi. The rest followed and stood up too.
"So, Sakura-san, Hikari-san," the Senju said with arms opened "Welcome home!" Madara sweat dropped. The girls giggled and thanked bowing.
"I don't know you guys but I'm starving! It's way past noon! " Toka exclaimed "Why don't we go eat something she said to her now officially fellow kunoichi.
"That would be awesome" Sakura said.
"Okay we are free to go then!" Hashirama said and nodded to his brother who was about to undo the protection jutsu but stopped when the elder continued speaking. "What are you going to do Hamura-sama?" he asked to the Ōtsutsuki.
"Well, now that you know me and I'm here I can stay using a Henge as a person separated from Hikari-chan's chakra." He explained "Only if she's running low I will go back inside her chakra paths." He smiled to his imouto and said "you're free of me being a burden. Please eat well and keep your chakra up"
"You should probably pass by a sibling of mine" Sakura suggested. That way you can live with us, but won't complicate things with the Uchiha, if you passed as Hikari-chan's brother".
"That will do" Hamura said "may I borrow some clothes?" The presents looked at him weirdly. "I can't henge clothes!" he explained "this are part of my chakra!" some almost fell backwards. Takato gave him a scroll with some clothes: a pair of black pants, a pair of black shinobi sandals and a black long sleeved shirt.
"Why do you always have clothes scrolls with you?" Hikari asked entertained and the Uchiha blushed a little uncomfortable. Izuna laugh hard and elbowed on his ribs.
"Aniki you're embarrassed" he mocked.
"Shut up, idiot." He answered. Meanwhile Hamura put the clothes over his astral form and transformed into a young 25 years old man with pink slightly lavender hair and dark green eyes. He was tall and even resembled Sakura a little.
"We're ready to go now!" he exclaimed. "Oh, my name will be Matsu. Hamura might be suspicious"
"So you're Sakura's long lost brother that appeared in the Village today. How's that?" Toka said.
"Good alibi" he remarked.
"And what will we do about Hikari san?" Takato asked his clansmen.
"What about me?" she asked.
"You having the Sharingan" he explained "people will start to speak".
"We should tell everybody that she is descendant of Uchiha deflector two generations back." Kido san said "this way nobody will dig on her past and she can say the truth. She almost didn't know her family. What do you think?"
"I think I can do it" she answered "But please, let me keep my last name" Kido looked at Madara who allowed it.
"Of course darling!" Kido said.
"Are we done?" Tobirama asked impatient. When Hashirama said it was okay he proceeded to turn down the jutsus. "Speaking of last names…" he suddenly said "Haruno-san, Takishima-san, feel free to call me by my name. I mean, it's silly and suspicious that you both have that familiarity with all this people and not with me"
"You're really obsessed with suspicion" Sakura said with plain face. The vein popped again from the albino head. "Just Kidding! " the pinkette laughed " You can call us by our names too." The senju looked at both kunoichi and nodded seriously.
"Done" he said. Everybody decided to leave the office and went to the merchant spot, where the restaurants were being established.
***Author's note***
Finally finished this chapter! I had to change my computer so this took me more time because of that. Thanks for the faves and follows. PRETTY PLEASE leave a nice review pleeeeeeease!
This was one of the heaviest chapters to write but now the slow burn story takes place.
Read you soon! xXxX BElla