Hashirama had gone to visit Aroka alone after his brother vehemently refused to come along, he had told her about the situation with Madara and how the clans' conflicts seemed to be slowing down, all of which she'd already known, of course, and she advised him to continue as he had been, that things would come together sooner than he thought.

A month had passed since then and, true to her word, everything seemed to be progressing nicely: both sides had begun to actively avoid battle, territorial clashes were few and far between, and casualty rates were dropping steadily.

Just three days ago, Madara had confronted him on the battlefield and, much to everyone's surprise, offered a truce. Hashirama was more than ecstatic, despite the Uchiha's claim that it would only be temporary, and immediately agreed.

Being far more skeptical of this apparent resolution, Tobirama had a been disgruntled witness to his brother's non-stop celebration these past few days. Hashirama was cheerier than ever, the insufferable grin he wore all day was beginning to get on his nerves and he honestly didn't know how much more he could take.

"Tobirama~!" an all too happy voice sang from behind him.

Sighing heavily, he turned to see a smiling Hashirama bouncing towards him.

"I've been looking for you all day! Why does it feel like you've been avoiding me?" he pouted.

Sighing again, Tobirama ignored the older man and continued walking.

"I have an idea!" Hashirama declared as he moved to catch up. "It's about time we pay Aroka a visit and tell her the news! She'll be excited to hear about the treaty, don't you think?"

"Brother, you've been suggesting that for the past three days."

"Have I? I must have forgotten! But anyways, she should still know, right?"

"Write a letter."

"No, no, we should tell her in person! After all, we wouldn't have gotten here without her help!"

"No."

"Don't be such a grump, Tobirama, we should go thank her!"

"No."

"Come on, it's only polite!"

"No."

Hashirama sighed at his brother's stubbornness; he was still holding onto whatever grudge he had against her. Racking his brain for ideas, he considered his options for a brief moment before a sly grin crept across his face.

"Ah… I know why you don't want to go." he stated, nodding wisely. "You like her."

Tobirama stopped and turned around, glaring at him sharply.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't worry, I get it. You think she knows you like her and you're embarrassed, I understand~!"

"That's not-"

"OH YOUNG LOVE!" he shouted, hand over his heart and leaning on the wall dramatically. "What a beautiful thing! I'll have to tell our friend Aroka that my dear little brother likes her! I'll make sure you two are the cutest couple the shinobi world has ever seen!" he declared with gleaming tears in his eyes.

Tobirama sighed yet again, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"If I agree to go will you shut up?"

Hashirama broke out in a grin.

"Yes! Then it's settled! We leave for the Imada tomorrow!" he smiled triumphantly, swiftly patting him on the back before skipping away and out of sight.


"This better give us something useful."

"Lighten up! We're visiting a friend!"

"I wouldn't consider her a friend."

"You should, she's helped us a lot. Besides, it's been over a month, don't you want to check up on her? You were pretty upset when you found out about her… you know."

"I was not upset."

"Mm, if you say so…"

The Senju brothers, having spent the whole day traveling, were quickly approaching their destination and, judging from the gradually thinning forest around them, they shouldn't be much longer.

As expected, the trees soon dwindled and disappeared as the pair emerged from the forest, the familiar little village lying just on the other side of the field before them. Something was different about it though. As the brothers drew closer to the gates they noticed the increasingly colorful decorations dotting the houses and streets of the town as well as the abnormally large number of villagers moving about.

"What's this?" Tobirama asked, squinting at the lively colors. "A festival?"

"I'm not aware of any that would be happening now." Hashirama mused curiously as he nodded to the guards who quickly opened the steel gates.

"Impressive."

Now inside the village, the brothers were both surprised at the extent to which the whole place was decorated. Multicolored flower wreaths hung prominently on the stone walls lining the streets, spaced evenly with large white silken bows adorning the top of each. Above these hung strings of white square lanterns, surely holding candles that waited patiently to shine their light. Intermittently, with each stone post they came upon, they noticed large eight-petaled bows made with intricately designed silk ribbons shaped in a way that must have been impossible. They displayed every color and pattern imaginable, though many of them, oddly enough, bore depictions of what seemed to be small white worms.

As they drew closer to the central compound, it became abundantly clear that whatever event was happening must be of enormous importance to warrant this level of decoration.

The steps leading up to the entrance were entangled in endless strings of flowers, wrapping around the handrails and dotting the walkways with multicolored petals. Paper lanterns hung near the top of each and every wooden beam, identical to the ones they'd seen a moment before, and two large, skillfully designed silk bows adorned either side of the main door, both of a vibrant purple hue.

Making their way into the compound, they noticed a distinct lack of people around. Though they knew the compound had quite a small number of servants for such a large building, there were always at least a handful of people in the halls at any time. Today, they hadn't seen anyone inside the compound, much in contrast to the rest of the bustling village.

Soon, the brothers arrived at the familiar double doors in front of which, much to their relief, stood Mila.

"Oh! Senju-sama! I didn't know you were here." she bowed swiftly, surprised at their sudden appearance.

"It's good to see you again." Hashirama grinned, "Say, where is everybody? The compound almost seems empty."

"It mostly is; many of the servants have gone home to prepare for the festival and the members of the main branch are having a private gathering at the moment." Mila explained.

"Is Aroka there as well?"

"No, actually, she doesn't like going to those kinds of things. She's inside." the brunette nodded towards the door behind her.

"Is she busy? We'd like to speak with her if you don't mind."

"Of course, of course." Mila turned and knocked on the door lightly. "Miss, you have visitors." she called.

When there was no response, she knocked again.

"Miss."

When there was again no response, she cracked open the door and glanced inside. Aroka sat behind her table, head leaning downcast against one hand while the other held a loose grip on a book.

"Miss?"

Aroka's head snapped up, clearly dazed.

"Huh? What is- oh! Come in, come in! Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." she rubbed her eyes and quickly tucked away the book she'd held, regaining her composure.

"Aroka! It's great to see you again!" Hashirama beamed as he skipped into the room and dropped into one of the seat across from her.

"It's been months since you last came by, huh?" she grinned childishly, though her smile faltered as she turned to the younger Senju who had now also taken a seat. "Nice to see you again, Tobirama." she offered a small smile.

The man only nodded, not that she could see it.

"So what's this festival we've been hearing about? We were surprised to see the village decorated like that." Hashirama asked, glinting eyes shifting between the two.

"Oh, it's the annual silk festival! We celebrate our history with silk and honor the village's weavers. It's also when the main family holds competitions to choose new house silkmakers." Aroka explained. "It's the biggest festival of the year so people are always very excited for it."

Hashirama nodded with curiosity.

"How interesting! I believe someone told us about it once, I didn't know it was such a big event! When will the festival begin?" he inquired.

"Tomorrow night! You two came just in time!" Aroka grinned, clapping her hands together. "It's a big deal, there'll be music, dancing, performances, and everything else you can think of! The whole village will be there and it'll be lots of fun, I can't wait!" she cheered gleefully.

"Sounds exciting! Do you think we can tag along?"

"Of course! We love visitors, especially during festival season." she grinned before clearing her throat. "But anyways, you didn't come all the way here to listen to me go on about that, so what can I do for you?"

"Actually we just wanted to thank you for all your help. Madara's agreed to a peace treaty and it's essentially already in effect! Things are going just as you said." Hashirama explained cheerfully, "We really can't thank you enough."

"Oh, I'm always happy to help." Aroka smiled, waving nonchalantly. "I'm glad things are going well between your clans."

"I'm glad we could get through to Madara, I don't know how we pulled it off but we definitely owe you!"

"You can pay me back by making sure that village of yours gets off to a good start." she chuckled. "Oh! I just remembered that Toru has something to discuss with you two, he mentioned it when he heard you were coming. Something to do with your medics, I think? His meeting just ended so he'll be in his office in just a bit, you should go, it sounded important."

The brothers glanced at each other.

"Really? In that case we'll go see what he has to say. I hope we can talk again later." Hashirama smiled.

"Of course, we still have a lot to catch up on. Now go, I'll see you when you're done." she waved as the two made their way out of the room.


As the sun began to dim above the festival-laden village, Aroka sighed impatiently as she examined the timeline before her. Tobirama, Hashirama, and Toru's lines had remained still for the past few hours, locked in a three-point formation that she was increasingly tired of looking at. Sure she had known it would take a while, she just didn't think it would take this long. What could they possibly be talking about that would drag on like this, anyways? Though come to think of it, Toru and Hashirama both have quite the mouth on them, they certainly wouldn't have any trouble chatting about nothing for hours on end. If that was the case, her prayers were with Tobirama, she could hardly even think about being stuck in a conversation like that without immediately getting a headache.

Maybe she should rest for a bit, after all it would be a while before those three finished their meeting. She'd been oddly tired these past few weeks for no apparent reason. Maybe the boredom of sitting alone in a room all day was finally getting to her..

Knock knock

Knock knock

...

"Psst! Aroka!"

The seer stirred opened her eyes reluctantly. With a groan, she lifted her head off the table and turned towards the door.

"Oh, Hashirama." she smiled tiredly, "Please come in."

The said main slid open the door and grinned before stepping into the chakra coated room, though he almost didn't notice the change.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." he smiled sheepishly.

"No, no, I was waiting for you to finish up with Toru anyways. Tobirama's not here?" she asked despite already knowing the answer.

"No, he went to speak with the medics, I just thought I should check back in with you. But speaking of Tobirama, how are things between you two?"

Aroka sighed before leaning her head against one hand.

"I don't know, I think he's still upset about what I said last time we met."

Hashirama's expression softened as he rested his elbows on the table.

"He's not upset; he's just worried about you. He doesn't want you to hurt yourself by helping us."

"Mm, I don't know… I don't want him to be mad at me but I don't know if I should say anything. I'm worried I'll just make things worse." she frowned. "Too bad these lines can't help me on this one."

"You should talk to him. I mean, he agreed to come here, right? I don't think he's as upset as you think."

"Really? I hope so…" she sighed again, eyes downcast.

"Hey, don't be upset. Tobirama's never been good at showing his emotions, he might seem cold and indifferent but he likes you a lot more than he lets on." Hashirama winked.

Aroka chuckled quietly, shifting in her seat.

"Sure…" she scoffed, though admittedly she did feel a bit better.

"Hey, it's true! As his big brother I can read him much better than most! I can confidently say that little Tobirama has a soft spot for our dear Aroka!" he declared dramatically, eyes sparkling with inspiration.

The amused woman smiled softly at his antics, tilting her head amusedly. If nothing else, he was certainly fun to be around.

"Thanks Hashirama."