After three days of ceaseless downpour, the skies finally cleared enough for the Senju brothers to make their way home. Barely an hour from their compound, however, the two encountered a small band of Uchiha shinobi, just as Aroka had predicted and, true to her word, they had Izuna at their head.
Glancing at each other, the brothers nodded.
Hashirama charged at Izuna, pulling him away from the rest of his men whom Tobirama didn't hesitate to engage. Though they were outnumbered, the brothers knew that they vastly outclassed the Uchihas, even without their weapons. Izuna knew this as well, but running away wouldn't reflect well on his clan, so he needed to rely on strategy instead of strength.
The young Uchiha knew something was wrong the minute the battle began: Hashirama had been the one to move to confront him, not Tobirama. There was simply no way the younger Senju would have passed up an opportunity to fight him.
Something was up, he just didn't know what.
Narrowly dodging a blow to the back, Izuna leapt up and spit a fireball at Hashirama before charging in after it. He unsheathed his sword and swiped at his chest, knowing that his best chance at getting out alive was to stick to short-range combat and to keep his opponent from gaining the distance he would need for an offensive jutsu. Without a sword, Hashirama would have a bit more difficulty dealing with close combat than usual, Izuna just had to take advantage of that.
Tobirama, a short distance away, had his hands full dealing with the remaining three Uchiha. From the looks of it, all three were experienced, higher level shinobi whose abilities he couldn't take lightly.
The largest of the trio attacked first, spitting out a stream of fire directly towards the Senju and following it with a barrage of shuriken.
Darting to the right, Tobirama caught a punch from another Uchiha before twisting away and clasping his hands together. Ribbons of water materialized and spun themselves into a large dragon which launched itself at the first man, unaffected by the weapons thrown at it, while Tobirama turned his attention to the other two.
Charging at the same time, the Uchihas split and attacked from opposite sides. One of them threw a dozen flaming stones while the other blew out a single blazing fireball. Both moved at lightning speed and collided almost instantly, causing a blinding explosion.
A mixture of dust and mist clouded the air for a brief moment before a gust of wind swept them away. The Uchihas' eyes darted around the area, an intense red, searching frantically for the source of the wind. Suddenly, their movements ceased and they collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from where icicles had impaled their bodies. Tobirama pulled his eyes away from his fallen enemies and turned his attention towards the other altercation happening not ten meters away.
Hashirama took another step back just in time to dodge Izuna's sword. He caught the butt of the handle and twisted it in an attempt to disarm him, but the Uchiha only spun with it before aiming a kick at his stomach. Leaping backwards once again, Hashirama racked his brain for a subtle way to get out of this situation before he could no longer avoid a real battle, but just as the thought crossed his mind, something was thrown onto the ground in front of him.
Both men jumped back right as the object exploded and thick black smoke clouded their eyes.
Realizing he only had a moment before Izuna's sharingan saw through the smoke, Hashirama leapt out of the clearing and onto a tall branch, and noticing that his brother had the same idea, continued retreating deeper into the forest.
"That was some quick thinking back there." Hashirama grinned at his brother, offering a thumbs up. "I was starting to get worried about how that would end."
The pair had gotten away from Izuna and, after making sure they weren't being followed, were once again headed back towards their compound. Tobirama seemed concerned, however, as his brows had been drawn ever since they had emerged from the smoke bomb.
"It wasn't me."
Hashirama frowned in confusion.
"It… wasn't you?" He repeated slowly. "I mean, I only saw it for a second but it looked exactly like one of our smoke bombs." He recalled glimpsing the small gray orb just as it hit the ground at his feet, right before it exploded.
"There was someone else there, I saw them out of the corner of my eye." Tobirama shook his head in frustration.
"You did? Did you see what they looked like?"
He shook his head again.
"It was a blur, they were fast."
"That's odd…" Hashirama hummed, unable to think of any reason someone would intervene like that. "We'll have to figure it out later, right now let's just focus on getting home."
"Aguri, how did the meeting go?" a young brunette asked as the said woman entered the room.
"As planned. Tobirama-san just asked for an update on the patient." the old woman, Aguri, answered, easing herself into a chair.
"Speaking of which, Ina's testing the samples we took yesterday." the brunette nodded towards the adjacent room.
Through the opened door, she could see a woman, a number of years her senior, staring intently at something on the table in front of her while a machine beeped softly just out of sight.
Aguri glanced around the room; five beds draped with cream silk sheets sat all in a row along one side of the room, just over a foot of space between each. On the opposite wall were shelves stocked with all types of medical supplies, from gloves to glassware to disinfectants. Next to the shelves stood the door that lead into the smaller connected room, a workspace that was empty save for a filing cabinet and two large desks opposite each other.
"Tsuchi, where are the other two?" she asked.
"Kumi and Sute? They're meeting with Imada-sama." Tsuchi, the younger, replied.
"I thought we gave him an update a few days ago."
"We did, I have no idea what they're talking about." she shrugged.
As if on cue, the door slid open and two middle aged women, presumably Kimi and Sute, stepped into the room, but before anyone could ask them about their meeting, Kimi, the shorter of the two, spoke up.
"He wants to speak to us. All of us." she announced, bearing a rather grim expression.
"Is something wrong?" Agari asked with concern.
"He'll explain." Sute stated shortly, motioning for her to follow as she turned and started back down the hall.
Ina, who had poked her head out from the smaller room, exchanged worried glances with the other two before quickly shuffling after Sute.
The team of five weaved through the halls at a brisk pace, not a word exchanged between them. Upon arriving at the familiar office door, Sute knocked twice before entering.
Toru looked up from the scattered papers on his desk and gave the women a small smile, motioning for them to sit down.
"I'm glad all of you are here." he greeted as Agari closed the door behind her.
"You asked to speak with us?"
"Yes, now it's very important that you keep this quiet, alright? Nothing we discuss today can leave this room."
The women, now slightly suspicious, glanced at each other before nodding slowly.
"Excellent. Well, as you know, it's been a number of months since you've come here and you still haven't been able to improve my friend's condition. I had hoped to see at least some progress by now."
"Sir, we just need a bit more time, she-"
"As I said upon your arrival, time is not on our side for this one. But that's why I called you here today. Seeing as our efforts so far have been fruitless, I'd like to try a new treatment method…"
He unrolled a length of parchment and lay it out on his desk for the women to see.
Agari stared at the worn scroll in disbelief.
"...s-sir, there's no way we can do that." She looked up at him wide-eyed.
"I know it sounds bad, but it's possible that this can buy her some more time. At the rate she's deteriorating, I would say she only has a decade left at the very most, this can give her a few more years which would be absolutely invaluable to us." Toru explained, gesturing to the faded page filled with diagrams and scrawled text.
"No, no, sir, this is far too risky for Miss Aroka." Sute shook her head adamantly. "There's no telling how she would respond to a new stimulus like this, it can cause panic and disorientation and it can make her unpredictable."
"Have you done an operation like this before?" Toru questioned.
"Not on a patient with her condition."
"Then there's no reason to think she'll react so negatively to it. Even if she does, I'll assign additional security to her so she doesn't do anything to hurt herself." He shrugged.
"Sir, the risk is far too great at this point. If we do this now and she ends up reacting badly to it, that's a decade less time than she would have had. Please, if you really think this can work, wait until her condition progresses some more. At that point, trying this procedure would be worth it regardless of her reaction." Ina reasoned.
Toru gazed down at the old scroll, remaining silent for a moment before sighing loudly.
"Alright, I see your point. We'll wait." he finally agreed. "Well, that's all, you're dismissed."
The five quickly stood and bowed before swiftly filing out of the office.
"What the hell is wrong with him?!" Tsuichi yelled once they were out of earshot. Her brows were knit, bewildered at the man's logic. "He really thinks he knows anything about operations like that?"
"Calm down, people are illogical when they're desperate. He just wants to help his friend." Kimi chided. "I'm sure he meant well."
"I doubt it." Tsuichi scoffed. "And did you see those diagrams? Whoever thought that up was an amateur at best, there's no way they knew what they were doing."
"I agree, but at least we talked him out of it. Maybe he'll take the time to think it over and realize how bad an idea it is." Ina sighed in exasperation.
As they bickered, Agari remained silent, barely aware of the conversation around her. Her mind was stuck on that scroll. Disturbing as they were, she wasn't much concerned with the diagrams, it was the words that struck her. For some reason, reading those scribbled notes gave her the unsettling impression that whoever wrote them weren't describing something that might be tested, but rather something that already had been.
A young man silently watched the young attendant from high up on one of the courtyard's trees. He watched her stand dutifully in front of the double screen doors, still and unmoving. For a woman who wasn't a shinobi, she certainly had impressive composure.
"Mila."
The man heard the faint voice from behind the doors call out. He watched as the brunette turned and opened the screen partially, just enough for him to catch a glimpse of the person he was really interested in.
The woman inside, who was seated in the center of the dark room, said something indistinguishable to the attendant who nodded in response before walking off in the direction of what he came to know as the center of the compound.
Even from his distance, the young man could tell the room was absolutely flooded with chakra, amounts that would be formidable even among high ranking shinobi. He had not observed anyone else in the reclusive clan having such large reserves.
'This must be what the boss is looking for.'
The woman didn't seem to do much, in fact she hadn't even left that room since he began watching her two days ago. He wondered why this would be the case; she didn't seem to have any duties of a shinobi nor those of a clan leader, but she was clearly important enough to have a personal attendant as well as receive regular visits from the clan head.
Who was she, exactly?
It was only when the sky began to dim did he notice how much time had passed.
He stood up from his position and leapt away, landing on a tree just outside of the main compound. Quickly, the young man made his way out of the village through the scattered treetops and continued through the forest, zipping through the steadily thickening foliage as if he didn't notice it at all.
A large set of gates came into view. The young man approached and, nodding at the guards in recognition, slipped into the large, imposing compound behind them.
He wove through the heavy afternoon crowds, making a beeline for what was certainly the largest, most impressive building in the village.
He entered the traditional wooden structure, taking numerous twists and turns, and found himself in front of a formidable wooden door.
Knocking twice, he heard a deep 'come in' sound from inside.
Pushing open the heavy mahogany door, the man bowed deeply before daring to speak.
"Sir, I believe I've found the person you're looking for." he reported.
The figure behind the desk stared expectantly.
"There's an woman who lives inside the Imada main compound with an unusually large chakra reserve and strange behavior. She's also had recent contact with Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama, as you said."
The man smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"Hashirama you sneaky bastard…" he muttered snidely. "Well done, Nao, you're dismissed."
"If I may ask, Madara-sama," the younger man spoke carefully, "Is she an ally of the Senjus?"
Madara smiled humorlessly, a mischievous glint crossing his eyes.
"For now."
