Author's Note: Wow, guys! Over 300 reviews! I am so flattered! Thank you so much! And, I am really sorry about the wait. I just started my new job and hadn't had much time to write. Thank you all for checking up on me. Just know, I'm not giving up on this story. Or any of my stories. I am just going to be needing more time to finish the chapters. I know I usually answer reviews at the bottom, but there is almost 100 and I don't think my hands can take it. I will just say thank you all and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Warnings: Nothing much, maybe language.
Word Count: 6,859
In the short time that Sakura has known Hashirama, she has never seen him move so fast. The ground cracks and splinters, groaning in pain beneath Sakura's strength and Hashirama comes flying out of the rubble like his ass is on fire. He hits the ground and scrambles away a few feet before turns around and staring at Sakura with large saucer-like eyes, looking a mixture of horrified and shocked.
She sort of expected that look, it's usually the look she ends up getting, but seeing it on the face of someone that she admires so much is kind of jarring. It was funny when it was Kakashi's face, but Hashirama's face is hilarious. It takes a lot of Sakura's will power not to bust out laughing at the look on his face. When her gaze slides over to Tobirama and Madara, Sakura really couldn't control herself.
Tobirama's usually narrow red eyes were wide and his jaw was slacked, his signature sword, the Raijin, was dragging across the dirt as he stumbles to a stop in what was probably an epic charge toward his Uchiha opponent. But nothing was as funny as the stupefied look on Madara's face. His battle fan was held over his head in a downward strike when Sakura cracked the planet in half and now his balance is teetering with the weight, until it slides out of his hand and hits the ground hard. The crowd of shinobi and civilians let out yells of fear and scrambled back even though Hashirama was in the most danger.
Hashirama's right left was half hanging down into the destroyed earth, his eyes huge. His jaw was half way down his chest, opening and closing, as if trying to understand what had just happened to him. All three of the legendary founders were staring as Sakura as if she was the Shinigami incarnate. That, or he was floating behind her, waiting for her to say the world and drag their souls into his gut.
"Found you, Hashirama-sama," Sakura says playfully, she couldn't help herself. This was a game, and she was having too much fun now. Perhaps she was overthinking it before. Even with a bum leg, he managed to escape danger pretty quickly. She has to applaud him. She knew he was an amazing shinobi, but to be able to of moved at those speeds, with the damage she did to his leg? Amazing.
"Am I dead, Sakura-chan?" Hashirama finally asks, chest heaving. Sakura raises slowly from her striking position at the opposite of the large crater. She lets out a little laugh when all three men flinch.
"No, Hashirama-sama, you're not dead," Sakura says, unable to believe how badly these men were taking her strength.
"Oh, and here I was worried my heart had either stopped beating... or it was beating so fast I could no longer feel it..." he says softly, before whipping his head around toward his slack jawed little brother. "Switch opponents, Tobi!"
Tobirama, who was staring at the crater, then to Sakura, trying to do the math in his head, and understand what had happened, finally closed his mouth when Hashirama spoke to him. Tobirama glares at him. "Hell no."
"I'm scared," Hashirama whined, pushing himself up onto his one good leg. "Besides, Madara will get jealous if I ignore him anymore."
"No," Madara says, slowly pulling himself from his shock to look over at Hashirama. "No, Hashirama, I would never dare pull you away from your fight. That would be disrespectful to Sakura," he says devilishly, smiling wickedly.
"But-" Hashirama says, looking horrified.
"Finish what you started, you big baby," Madara says. Hashirama gives them both a droll look before glancing over at Sakura from over his shoulder.
"You know," he says slowly, pushing himself to his feet, still keeping off his bad leg, "I've been doing the calculations in my head, you know, since I narrowly evaded Shinigami-sama's grasp," Madara rolls his eyes at Hashirama's theatrics, "and it is impossible for someone as tiny as you to make... well, that." He gestures to the large crater that separates them.
Sakura nods slowly, unable to hide her amusement. "Oh yeah? Would you like another demonstration?"
Hashirama blinks. "What?"
Sakura leaps high into the air in an arch, pointing her leg toward the future First. The horror that crosses the brown haired man's face was comical before he leaps away with his one good leg and a pillar of wood to put distance between them. Madara and Tobirama even cleared the area as fast as they could, but she could feel the Sharingan, and more than one pair belonging to the patriarch Uchiha, on her.
Sakura hits the ground with a thump, but didn't put any of her chakra or enhanced strength behind it. She grins playfully at Hashirama whose face was slightly pale for a moment. "It is a show, after all, right Lord Hashirama?" She asks teasingly.
Hashirama, big brown eyes wide, blinks a few times in question before grinning. He manages to hide all the horror from his face and nods slowly. "That, you are correct about, my pink haired friend." He falls down onto his butt, and half crosses his legs. "You make me have to cheat, my friend. Hate me not, for while this is a show, I do have my pride." He winks but Sakura doesn't really understand it. Does that mean he has no pride? That he won't actually take this seriously like he wants people to assume? What?
Sakura didn't know, but when he started to do hand signs, she knew immediately that he couldn't continue. She quickly closes the distance but right as she was three or four feet away, she heard Madara call out, something that sounded like, "Clone" which made no sense to Sakura the first nano-second, but when the second one rolled around, she understood, and by then, it was too late. Another Hashirama, made completely out of wood, appears out of nowhere, grabbing Sakura and throwing her a safe distance away from the original.
When she regained her footing, silently cursing herself for forgetting something else the man was famous for - his wood clone technique -and looks up just in time to see the clone right on top of her, not at all hindered by the real Hashirama's injured leg. Once again the dance began again. They spin, twirl, side-step, back step, turn, strike, block, jump, crouch, back step, spin, jump back, once more.
In between the step, Sakura spots another Hashirama in front of the real one, acting like a second line of defense. He's going to make it as hard as he can for her to get close. Now he's sitting back, watching with an analytical eye, sending the occasional glance Tobirama and Madara's way. Perhaps to make sure they weren't planning to fight to the death. Sakura has noticed, with relative ease, that Madara and Tobirama do not like each other. Sakura wouldn't say that it's shocking, but it's still a little strange to see.
Madara and Tobirama don't appear to have any issues with anyone else of the opposite clans, but a serious issue with each other. Sakura wonders if there is some sort of story behind that. A part of Sakura recognizes that none of it is her business, but at the same time, she can't help but be curious. And yes, she has heard what curiosity did to the cat. But still, since she began to learn things about these men that not many people remembered, or knew in her time, makes her a bit greedy about them. Her hunger for knowledge certainly knows how to rear it's ugly head.
A particularly hard kick to her chest, blocked by her arms creating an 'x' in front of it that sent her skidding back a couple of feet, pulled her back into reality. A split second decision and the space between Sakura and the wood clone required, made the next move possible, and ultimately greatly worth it. When the Hashirama clone closes the distance, she lets him, taking a swift, and painful, kick to the left ribs - no doubt bruising them - she grabs hold of the red breast plate of his armor, before pulling her hand back, yelling "Shannaro!" one more time, before punching him hard in the chest and sending him flying away.
The second reaction was almost greater than the first. Both Hashiramas watch the third go flying over their heads and into the forest behind them, hitting the ground hard before bouncing high into the air before hitting the ground. When they heard the soft thud of the other Hashirama hitting the ground, the other two flinched with looks of absolute horror.
Tobirama and Madara both falter again, staring in the direction of the other Hashirama clone.
"Oh my Kami," the real Hashirama says with a mixture of playful horror and actual horror in his voice and on his face, as he turned back to Sakura. "He was alive all the way to the end of the line. You broke everything in his body but his right femur! He did nothing wrong! He wasn't really hurting anybody!" Sakura raises an eyebrow amused. "He lived only a few seconds... and Tobirama," Hashirama looks over at his little brother, who slowly drags wide red eyes over to the brown haired Senju, "his last words were, 'tell Tobirama, I love him.'"
Tobirama scowls at him, breaking his surprised look just for Hashirama. "'Is nothing serious to you, Hashirama?"
"But I am serious," Hashirama pouts. He shakes his head, clearing it to look over at Sakura and slowly pull himself to his feet. "Well, I don't want to die today, so I think we end it here, aye brothers?"
Tobirama sheathes his sword, letting out a huff of air while Madara sends his battle scythe and gunbai fan away. Both of them relax from their battle stances and straighten up. People begin clapping slowly, as if surprised at the abrupt end to the match, not sure who was the winner.
"Do you see what I'm talking about?" Sakura asks, putting her hands on her hips. "It's a lot harder to hold back against powerful opponents like yourselves."
"Yes, well," Hashirama grins, looking relaxed again. "Thank you for the bout, Sakura-chan. And for scaring greater respect for the fairer sex into me."
Sakura barks out a laugh, walking over to the future First, kneeling down right in front of him, and reaching out for his injured leg. He shifts back a bit, so that she can see his leg. She touches the cloth, noting the unnatural bumps beneath the skin for the ripped muscles. Sakura underestimated the damage she had done, this had to hurt like hell, yet the First had yet to complain about it.
Sakura pauses a moment to glance up at the First Hokage, but he's looking elsewhere, suddenly appearing embarrassed. Sakura stares at him blankly for a moment, wondering what the look was for. Had he forgotten he was hurt? Obviously not, since he hadn't accidently put weight on it since he got the injury. Was he embarrassed that he hadn't healed the wound himself? He is a legendary healer, but something about that just didn't seem right. Hashirama never really appeared to care much for his own image in how he was viewed by others. Could Sakura have been wrong?
"You can sit, Hashirama-sama," Sakura says slowly.
Hashirama glances down at Sakura again, scratching the back of his head and letting out a little laugh, but it felt forced and made Sakura more curious about the man's odd behavior. Well, Hashirama Senju was anything but normal but he was acting more odd than before.
"Oh," he says, looking over at Tobirama and Madara, both also suddenly appeared a bit uncomfortable. "Oh," he says again, but this time to them, before plopping down onto his butt like a very large child. Now that he's on Sakura's level, he appears normal. "What next, Sakura-sama?"
Sakura blushes at the title, surprised to have been called that by the First, but quickly hides her embarrassment with a glare. "Pay close attention, Hashirama-sama, for I will show this to you only once."
Like the childish young man that he is, the future First solutes to her and nods, "Yes, ma'am!" He folds his good leg beneath him, letting the other one stick out toward Sakura. "Show me your medical wisdom, Sakura-sensei."
Relieved that he's acting normal again, Sakura reaches out and takes the two tan hands and places them on his thigh. One above the severed muscles and one below it. She places hers over his, and with a quick glance up at the future First to see that he was in fact paying attention, Sakura sends healing chakra to her hands and pushes the muscles back together. After just a split second, Hashirama follows suit, sending his own chakra to his hands.
Where Sakura's healing chakra took on a light green color, Hashirama's was a deep forest green. And just immersing her hand in his chakra, even while he's probably not even trying, a small cut Sakura got on her hand while making breakfast earlier that morning that she didn't feel the need to waste chakra trying to heal, was closing up.
It was strange to think, and under any other circumstance, Sakura wouldn't, but the thought came to her: Was Hashirama as powerful - medically wise - as he was known for in Sakura's time.
It was a crazy, insane thought that Sakura quickly dismissed. But ask they were sealing Hasirama's muscles back together, the thought just kept jabbing at the back of her head. He was no doubt exceedingly powerful, especially in his healing arts. But could that be because his chakra has is that of healing nature, and not just because he's worked hard to be a medical shinobi?
His chakra naturally heals without much thought or action on his own part? Sakura's chakra was guiding his, and at first it was clumsy, strange, as if it was a rampaging horse, healing without actually knowing what it was healing. That was a powerful asset to have, but also dangerous. If Skaura's right, then he hasn't been healing people with his own knowledge, but rather with his body's own natural ability to do it. He's as untrained as Aya or Salma but no one could tell because his chakra heals naturally.
Perhaps Hashirama's deep interest in all of Sakura's medical endeavors has to do with the fact that he's not just learning upon skills he already has - he's learning some things for the first time! Sakura prayed that she wasn't right in her somewhat scary presumptions. Sakura is going to definitely have to keep a close eye on the Senju clan leader. His healing abilities, while incredible, are dangerous if not tempered a reigned in.
Sakura scoots close to the side of his leg, needing to use a bit more strength to push the thick, strong muscles together, before sealing all of them back together cleanly. Sakura then takes a moment to check over his leg, bending it up and placing her hand on the underside of his thigh to make sure all of the muscles were sealed together perfectly before standing up, dusting off her backside before holding both hands out to the brown haired man. Hashirama looks up at her curiously for a moment before taking them and pushing himself to his feet.
At first he didn't put much, if any, weight on his right leg, but when he did, it was experimental until he was certain it would hold all of his body weight. Then he smiles boyishly as Sakura and patted the top of her head. "You are such a good girl, Sakura-chan! I'm so proud of you!"
"Proud of us," Sakura says, not minding the treatment. "We both did it."
"You're right," he says, then laughs. "Yay us!"
Sakura holds up a hand for a high five. Hashirama stares at her hand for a moment, wondering what she wanted from him. Sakura blinks in surprise at the man's blank look. "Slap your palm against mine," Sakura says, sounding ridiculous to herself.
Hashirama gives her a weird look, but obeys. He stares at her, holding his hand up a few inches from hers after their high five, wondering if he had somehow done whatever she wanted right. Sakura laughs, slapping his palm back. "It's congratulations!" A pause, then, "High five!"
This time, Hashirama slaps her palm, and smiles. "That's... interesting. It's still for celebration?"
Sakura shrugs. "I suppose. But don't think too much about it. It's just a more fun way of saying good job. Nothing much more to it." Hashirama nods in understanding, smiling.
"I like it."
"Good," Sakura says.
"Alright," Hashirama says, turning to the crowd, "the demonstration is done. You all may start your matches!"
All the shinobi and civilians alike bow before splintering off in other directions. Most of them huddling together and casting glances over at the three founders and the pink haired girl as they go, whispering amongst themselves. No doubt their battle will be talked about for a while. Sakura rubs the back of her neck, running her fingers through her long pink locks before lifting it up and waving her hand to blow cool air against the back of her neck. She needs to get her hands on a ribbon to tie her hair back or something. Cut it, maybe.
Sakura looks over at Madara. "Draw?" He nods, walking over to her and stopping about a foot in front of her. Sakura looks up at him with raised eyebrows, curiously. "Yes, Madara-sama?"
"I knew it was smart to believe you," he says softly. Sakura stares at him blankly, not understanding, until it just came to her. That day in the forest, when she punched a tree down. She told him that she punched it, and he just believed her. It was flattering at the time, but now it just warms her entire body. It was like flattering times one hundred.
Sakura sways back and forth from one foot to the other, trying to hide her embarrassment. "Thank you, Madara-sama," she says, lightly scratching her cheek, hoping that it wasn't obvious. She smiles shyly.
"I have learned a lot today," Madara says, voice still soft. "Is it presumptuous of me to ask for your help later on, when you're free? I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries. There is someone that I was wondering if you could help..." Madara suddenly looks nervous. He reaches up and rubs his large, messy black mane, avoiding Sakura's eyes.
Sakura tilts her head. "Is someone hurt?" She straightens up, glancing around for someone hurt. The crowd that was watching them had finally broken up, people heading off to have their own fights or witness them. Before most else, Sakura is a medic, and Madara coming to her with an issue is like a once-in-a-blue-moon type thing.
Madara doesn't answer right away, which eases Sakura a bit. If someone was badly hurt, then there would have been more urgency from the slightly uneasy Uchiha patriarch. Because he isn't jumping the gun, then maybe it's not too bad.
"It's alright for now, enjoy the festival. It was your idea, after all," Madara finally says, albeit slowly, as if testing his words. His eyes flicker over to Hashirama and Tobirama, who were approached by the Akimichi and Sarutobi clan leaders. Hashirama laughs about something, throwing his head back to let the sound out without the slightest bit of embarrassment. But it catches Madara's attention, and he just stares at the future First in silence.
"Madara-sama..." Sakura says softly.
Madara looks down at her and Sakura lost her words. She didn't know what she wanted to say. Was it about this mysterious hurt person? Was it about the way he reacted to Tobirama? Was it the way he reacted to Hashirama? Without a doubt, whatever was warring inside of Madara during their battle was somehow soothed by Hashirama, but that in and of itself is a mystery. Why was that? What even was that? Sakura didn't know, nor did she know how to really bring it up.
"What is it?" Madara asks, after Sakura kept quiet, too busy with her thoughts.
"Just..." Sakura hesitates, then says, "just let me know when you want me to look at whomever it is you want me to look at, okay? This is going to be going on for days. I can find some time to sneak away." Did that sound as strange to him as it did her? It sounds like they are planning some kind of shady, secret rendezvous. But Madara doesn't react one way or the other.
"Thank you, Sakura," Madara says, tilting his head slightly so his other eye is revealed. "I appreciate your willingness to be of assistance to me. Thank you, again."
Sakura smiles, happy to see that whatever was wrong with Madara during the battle, that vileness in his eyes, was nowhere to be found. Sakura knows she has no healing nature for him like Hashirama appears to, but thankfully she's not some sort of trigger like Tobirama. So at least she's got that going for her, but it's still a little concerning. Sakura's just not sure she knows how to approach the situation with Madara, but she also acknowledges that she's not important enough to be privy to that information.
And that burns a little bit.
Sakura offers Madara a small smile, which he tentatively, as if both uncomfortable and not used tot he action, smiles back with an even tinier tilt upward of the lips.
Sakura spent a good portion of time, bouncing between battle to battle, participating in a few herself, most of which she won, except for a battle against a familiar Uchiha. The somber faced, soft spoken, Keiga Uchiha. Sakura remembers back to when she first got to Konoha in this time, and offered to help the medical shinobi with their injured, this Uchiha had called her "ma'am" in his soft voice and got her shoes for her. A true gentlemen.
And he was one badass fighter. It was too late for Sakura to notice the color of his ribbon. White for 100 points. And he really lived up to the expectation of a white ribbon. He was smart enough to put great distance between Sakura and he, and was sure to keep his Sharingan active and using jutsu. Sakura didn't have a lot of ways to counter-act jutsu flying at her.
Then he swiftly closed the distance and put her in a position where she couldn't freely swing her limbs before he put her in her place and made her submit. Sakura was greatly impressed by his skills and effectiveness, and then his humble attitude. When the match was over and the audience that was watching began cheering, he lowered his head and blushed, mumbling that he wouldn't need any praise.
"Thanks for the fight," Sakura says, walking off the field next to the Uchiha.
"You as well, ma'am," Keigo says, tipping his head a bit respectfully.
"Keigo-san," Sakura says slowly, looking up at him. His short, wild black hair is rustling a bit in the breeze, as he walks. "I think that you are older than I am. There is no reason for you to be calling me "ma'am". Sakura is just fine."
Keigo reaches up and scratches the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "Yes, ma'am..."
"Keigo-san," Sakura says slowly.
Keigo glances down at her before clearing his throat. "Um, sorry, S...Sakura-san..."
Sakura rolls her eyes, figuring that was the best she was going to get from him. She just smiles up at him and turns to head into the village to see if there is anything that she can buy. She spots Salma in the crowd, moving on with her arm looped through her brother's looking over her shoulder at Sakura, winking and smiling kindly before moving on, pausing only to congratulate Keigo on his victory before moving on.
Sakura walks around the shops, browsing. There is dozens of shops opened up, up and down what would later be known as the market place. She buys a few necessities that she hadn't realized she missed. Bath beads, tea leaves, a few hair ribbons for when she's working, some food supplies and recipes and scrolls, things like that. It was nice to put more things in her house. It made it look more like home. Slowly, but surely, Sakura's entire house, with the exception of the extra bedroom, is being filled with things that make it appear like someone is actually living in it.
Sakura turned in her ribbons to add to her score before taking her new items home.
As she nears her house she spots a familiar back of the future Second Hokage, standing in front of her home, his back facing her. Sakura tilts her head as she walks up to him.
"Can I help you out with something, Tobirama-sama?" Sakura asks.
"I noticed that you slipped away earlier. I was wondering... is now a good time?" he asks, turning slightly to see Sakura's hands full of her new items.
Sakura nods. "Sure. What can I do for you?" Sakura juggles all of her purchases into her left arm, dropping two of the scrolls onto the deck before deactivating the seals on her house and opening the door. She turns around to grab the scrolls but Tobirama is already holding them. "Thank you. Want to come in?"
Tobirama looks hesitant, which is strange to see on his face, but nods slowly. "Yes, thank you."
Sakura walks in, leaving the door open. Tobirama follows her in, softly shutting the door behind himself and slips off his sandals, laying them neatly next to Sakura's boots that were half-hazardously kicked off with her arms being preoccupied. Sakura quickly puts the items around her house where they belong before coming back into the main living space and taking the two scrolls from Tobirama, and straightening up her shoes.
"Would you like some tea, Tobirama-sama?" Sakura asks, putting the scrolls on the table and walking over to the kettle Salma got for her, pouring some water in it. He may not want tea, but she wanted some.
"Please," he says formally.
"Jasmine alright?" she asks, not looking over her shoulder at the awkwardly shifting future kage in the middle of the room.
"Jasmine is fine, thank you."
Sakura stares at him for a moment before nodding toward the table. "Would you like to sit, Tobirama-sama? No need to wait on ceremony, I'll be right with you." She turns back around to put the tea bag into the water before walking over to the fire pit and working on the fire. She puts some wood into it and before she can dig around for some matches, Tobirama is right next to her, doing a few simple handsigns and breathing out a small fireball, igniting the fire. Sakura watches him go sit back at the table without a word to her, before she puts the kettle on it's perch over the fire and walking over to the pillow across from the white haired man, sitting down.
"Thank you," she says. Tobirama nods once, but doesn't respond. "I didn't know you could do fire style jutsu. Must be a pain, being water nature."
Tobirama shrugs. "I know a few jutsu in all styles. Best to be diverse."
"What if I had a fire style jutsu?" Sakura asks, smiling playfully. "I could have just done that myself."
Tobirama raises his eyes up to Sakura's. "I saw you reaching for something in your pocket. While I don't doubt the possibility of you having a fire style jutsu, I have a strong reason to believe that you don't because if you did, you wouldn't have reached for the matches I suspect are in your pocket. You have pretty full chakra reserves and even if fire isn't your nature, performing a simple jutsu like the one I did wouldn't have depleted it."
Sakura lets out a laugh. That analyses of Sakura's actions is such a Tobirama-like thing to do, that Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "Somehow, doesn't surprise me. But there is still a little flaw in your theory."
Tobirama interlaces his fingers onto the table in front of him. "Oh? Explain."
Sakura shakes her head, still smiling. "While I could have had a fire style jutsu in my arsenal and the chakra in my reserves to perform it, I could have wanted to save that chakra for a battle or something tonight."
Tobirama nods slowly, staring at her for a moment in thought. "While possible, it is highly unlikely. If you needed the chakra, you would have eaten the chakra stimulant pill that you've been rolling around in your palm for the past two weeks." Sakura looks at him surprised. "Yes, I noticed. I make it my responsibility to know what's going on with assets of the village." A pause, then, "It's different then the first one, yes?"
Sakura's smile widens a bit. "Yeah," she reaches into her pouch and pulls out the soldier pill and hands it to him. "How's your chakra?"
He shrugs. "Fine." He studies the small, quarter sized ball, even bringing it to his nose to sniff it.
Sakura puts her elbow onto the table and props her chin on it. "Have you tried the other pill yet?" He shakes his head, still eyeing the ball. "Then eat that one. It's more potent, but at least you'll know what it does."
Tobirama gives her a blank stare, as if daring her to take him for a fool. Sakura reaches over and rips the ball in half, letting him keep the other half and pops it into her mouth, chewing a few times before swallowing. She makes a face and shakes herself, suppressing a gag. "Ugh, yeah, that really does taste like shit. I need to learn how to make these taste better. Maybe I could take a class from the Akimichi? Do you think they'd do that?"
Tobirama gives her a dry look. "I'm not sure, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask." He pauses a moment to watch Sakura. Probably making sure she didn't swell up like a balloon and die or turn green and puke up her guts. Ye of so little faith.
"Try it," Sakura says. "The most dangerous part of that half recipe is the horrible taste. If you can safely suppress your gag reflex, then you should be fine."
Tobirama takes the risk the eats the other half of the soldier pill. He somehow manages to keep his face neutral, even when his throat constricts for a moment, before it relaxes. Sakura laughs out a "nasty, right?" but before he could respond, his chakra levels jump back up to full. His eyes widen a bit before they return neutral, making a mental note of what happened, before nodding his thanks.
They sit in silence for a couple of minutes, just staring t one another. It was only disrupted by the kettle going off. Sakura goes and prepares their tea, putting a cup right in front of Tobirama. He takes a sip, as if worried that Sakura's cooking has somehow made it's way into her tea brewing, but then takes a bigger sip before pulling his hands back and folding them once more.
"I wanted to talk to you about the yang seal we were discussing a few weeks ago."
Sakura drinks her tea. "Really? I didn't know you were still thinking about that? I mean, I'm thankful that you are, I just didn't expect it."
"I told you I would help," Tobirama says, sounding slightly insulted. "I'm a man of my word."
Sakura holds her hands up in surrender. "No, sorry. I didn't mean to insult you. What about it did you want to talk about?" She grabs her tea and takes another long sip, smiling over the rim at the white haired man.
Tobirama lets out a small breath. "Well, I believe I've crafted a seal that will be able to help you." He pulls out a scroll and opens it up before turning it toward Sakura to get a good look at it. What caught Sakura's attention right away was the color. It's a light blue, like the sky. It reminds Sakura of the nuclear fusion sign. Three circles tilted sideways a bit and interlaced with a dot in the center of the three circles.
Sakura runs the pads of her fingers over the seal in awe. "It's beautiful. I could never have imagined anything better myself. Thank you, Tobirama-sama, thank you."
"It does what you want. It stores up Yang chakra and compresses it," he explains. Sakura smiles at him, both flattered and happy. Who else can say they have a seal crafted specifically for them by the Second Hokage? Not many, as far as Sakura knows. It is really an honor.
"After this event is over with," Tobirama says, taking a drink of his tea, "then I can place the seals, if you want. Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a way that didn't require a seal on all the limps. My apologies."
Sakura waves her hand around dismissively. "I couldn't have asked for anything more. Thank you, again."
Tobirama nods, tapping his finger tips against the table in thought. "You're welcome. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to delve deeper into this idea. I, um, get a bit... keyed in on things when it has to do with my interests. I hope I didn't overstep any boundaries..."
Sakura shakes her head. "No way, you did nothing wrong. You really saved me from making a lifelong mistake, I fear. The last thing I'd want to do is somehow mess up a seal and then be dumb enough to put it on my body. So thanks again! Truly."
Tobirama takes a drink of his tea, before nodding to the pink haired girl. "You're welcome."
"Wow," Sakura says, walking alongside Madara away from the feast that the Akimichi had made for the second night of the festival. She rubs her full stomach lethargically. "That was the best food I've had in a while. You?"
Madara nods, brushing the hair in front of his eye out of the way, only for it to fall back into place. "Yeah. They are very talented cooks. I could get old and fat off of their cooking."
Sakura barks out a laugh, not having expected that from the usually stoic, and quiet Uchiha. He flushes a bit and looks away, probably not used to being as open with others either. It does make Sakura happy to know that he's relaxing around her. She has to keep an eye on him, her future depends on it, but maybe by being his friend, she can help deter the possible bad things that lead to him leaving the Leaf and later wanting to destroy it.
Looking at him now, he doesn't seem bad at all. He really isn't a bad guy at all. Sakura can't believe that he ends up turning into the monster Sakura later came to know. He was admittedly a bit awkward, but he seems very genuine. There's no charades. No mater scheme to destroy the world. No Moon Eye plan. Nothing of the likes. Right now, he's just a straight up guy that is just trying to see the unification of the clans through. Whatever bad happened to scorn him, hasn't happened yet.
Except there is something that Sakura can't over-look. There is, without a doubt, something raging war inside of Madara. Something that Sakura hadn't seen in the slightest until the day prior. Sakura had no reason to believe, other than her past, or this future, that Madara was going to become homicidal. He was quiet and reserved and even a bit playful when it came to Hashirama, but during the battle with Tobirama, the person he was going to become shone through. But now he's back to being the person Sakura has come to know.
Today, Sakura and Madara were part of another tag team, but this time she was Tobirama's partner and was going against Hashirama and Madara. Sakura took on Madara, which was a little - or a lot - weird, especially when Hashirama stopped taking the fight seriously half way through and started dancing around the battle field. They made sure to be away from the crowd so when the battle ended with them all just sitting around talking.
Hashirama just sat there, running his fingers through the grass, muttering something under his breath before laying down onto his back and staring up at the sky. Sakura had thought it before, and she thought about it again at that moment. Hashirama appears to be exhausted. He's running a village with next to no help. He's trying to keep everyone happy while trying to get a village off it's feet. Madara and Tobirama must have felt the same, because both of them looked down at the long brown haired Senju with identical looks of unhappiness.
But while Madara and Sakura walk away from the feast Sakura feels like she has to ask, "Is Hashirama-sama as stressed as I think he is?"
Madara doesn't answer right away, but when he does, it's quiet. Almost resigned. He nods slowly. "Yeah. This is probably the most relaxed and fun he's had since the war ended. He's happy, don't get me wrong, but he's the type of person that will follow through with everything he says he would. Even if it stresses him the fuck out, he'll do it until he's dead. That's the type of person Hashirama Senju is. He makes it hard to hate him."
Sakura stops and turns to Madara, making the other man stop and turn and face her.
"Do you think..." Sakura pauses, wondering what she wanted to say, before just shrugging and asking, "Do you think that we should try and do something to help lessen the burden on his shoulders? Or at least help him relax? He looks like he really needs it."
Madara nods slowly, stuffing his hands into his pockets to protect them from the cold. The temperature's dropping as winter approaches. Sakura is going to need to add something to her outfit to keep herself warm or she'll catch a cold.
"What did you have in mind?" Madara asks.
Sakura taps her chin. "I'm not sure. What would make Hashirama-sama happy? If not relax him?"
Madara shrugs his shoulders. "World peace, if I had to guess. But a close second might be... oh, I don't know. A pleasant skip through the forest?"
Sakura lets out a laugh. "He does seem like that would relax him. Maybe give him an afternoon off to meditate and give himself some time to let the pressure of this job seep out of him, at least for an afternoon."
Madara nods. "That's not a bad idea. Let's do that, after this is all over and settled down." They turn and start walking back down the road again, side by side. Sakura liked moments like this. There wasn't any drama or anger. It was all just relaxing and stress relieving. Mostly for Hashirama, but it was still a good thing. It was so much better than drama. These last few days had been relatively drama free.
If only that had carried on to the end of the last day. For the third day, before the announcement for the winner was named, someone made a mistake, and Sakura saw someone she didn't think she'd see again.
