The Fail-Safe

by Athe-spirit

Story Adopted: "In that small amount of time that he'd been here with us he put the puzzle pieces together and devised a a fail-safe, safety-net if you will inside of the girl" A Time-Travel Jutsu was their last resort to save the world. Sakura would need to make sure that changing Madara's life around would change the outcome of the war they had lost in her reality.

5. Chapter V : Thumos

Authors Note

This story has been adopted from the wonderful Forever Gypsy.

All characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.

Sorry for the long wait ... I broke my laptop and had to save up for another one. ...

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Chapter

IV

... Thumos ...

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It burned, it burned like nothing she could have ever imagined, gods did it burn, every time she called upon her chakra and got close enough too feeling it swirl within her the seals activated and burned her. She stared at the red and blistering skin, then to the salves that had been sent to her. The little box of ointments and bandages taunted her as it reminded her of the situation she'd gotten herself in.

More scrubbing continued in the background and she looked over at the servant that had been cleaning the room she'd destroyed for the past couple of hours and was now scrubbing the wooden floors to a perfect polish that she swore she could see her reflection in.

Perhaps a change of scenery would help her focus more... More scrubbing and she glared at the servant that continued with the goddamned cleaning. It was unfair, where she wanted to bemoan her existence surrounded by literal destruction, and it was taken away from her all by the servant now that had continued to clean away any remnants of the disaster she'd caused hours ago.

"Miss would you like me to help you with that?" She blinked as she looked back towards the servant that had finally stopped scrubbing and was avoiding looking her in the eyes by staring at the box of medicinal supplies. She admitted to herself only that it would be a little complicated to wrap her wrist herself, and it wouldn't hurt to get a little information out of the girl.

"That would be very welcome". The servant nodded her head as she stood up and walked the few steps towards where she sat on the floor next to the shoji screen that separated her from Madara's weapons. The damnable man had kept the barriers up on the suggestion from Tobirama and Hashirama, both worried she'd try to get to Hashirama in the middle of the night in order to get to his blood. They're concerns were not without merit, she definitely would have, but Tobirama and Madara were a vicious pair when they teamed up together and they caged her into the room with the barriers and had removed all the weapons from her grasp, even the hidden ones.

The servant was definitely not an Uchiha, she had the dark hair and eyes but there was something about her that screamed outsider. Holding out her wrist she watched as the woman was very careful, first pulling the bracelet carefully off her and placing it in her awaiting palm before moving to clean the burns and did everything to avoid looking up at her.

No definitely not an Uchiha. "I am not a royal, you do have the right to look me in the eyes" the servant only shook her head. "Forgive me Miss, but you are Madara-samas honorary guest, I must respect his and Izuna-samas wishes to treat you with the utmost respect that I show them".

"I'm not a guest either, I'm their prisoner". The servant girl shook her head as she finished placing the salve on her wrist. "Prisoners are not allowed in the main household Miss, and prisoners never receive medicinal care personally from Madara-sama, perhaps you should rethink your state of position here".

Ouch, the servant girl may not have been an Uchiha but she certainly had the bite of one.

The girl began wrapping her wrist then and Sakura took to notice that the girl herself did not have any brandings on her own wrist. "Your chakra is not sealed?" "Oh no Miss, I wasn't born with much chakra, Tajima-sama never believed in sealing a woman if the woman did not possess much chakra to begin with, he forbade all the men in the Uchiha to go against him, Madara-sama and Izuna-sama follow this belief as well, it is the great gift of being born within the arms of the Uchiha". Wait so she was an Uchiha then?

"So you are an Uchiha then" The girl shook her head. "Oh no Miss, my mother was pregnant with me when she came to be in the household of the Uchiha, thankfully I was born when Tajima-sama was leading the Uchiha's and now I have the honor of watching Madara-sama and Izuna-sama lead them as well".

Ah, she was born into servitude, but it was interesting to hear that Uchiha Tajima was capable of seeing that sealing someone's chakra, especially when there was hardly any chakra to seal was not a smart move. Chakra was life and having it all sealed away could have detrimental effects to someone's health. Uchiha Tajima must have been smarter than she realized because hardly many people would have cared enough to do the same.

"There you go Miss, you're all set". She looked down at the wrappings and noticed that they were done perfectly, she may not have been sealed herself, but it was obvious the young servant girl had dealt with others that had been. She slid the bracelet back over her wrist.

"Miss?" She looked up at the woman that was now standing over her. "Yes?" She continued not to look her in the eyes. "Are you the woman that the healers say saved Izuna-samas life?"

She wasn't sure if this was a trick question or not, she decided it would be best not to answer. "Well if you are the same woman, I'd like to thank you for saving Izuna-samas life". She was sure her confusion was shown clearly on her face. "Since Izuna-sama came back to us, he's been noticeably different, in a good way, he's more open with the rest of clan and he even smiles now, whatever you did didn't just save his life, you saved his soul, and that is something many of us are thankful for".

The servant girl walked away then and she breathed out carefully, Izuna's entire persona had changed so much since she'd removed the filth that was Zetsu's chakra and his clan noticed. That made her feel as if being stuck in this damnable room was a little worth it.

"Sir, I'm ready now" The servant girl stopped then before she turned towards her again. "Miss, I patched your cloak up for you, it's on the desk there" she turned away from her then and faced the guards. Sakura turned and watched as the guards removed the barriers just long enough for the servant girl and her cleaning gear to slip out. She growled, she really needed to get out of here.

She stood up from her position on the floor and walked over to the desk and all the scrolls that littered it, there had to be something there that could help her, the Uchiha and Senju had been fighting for a millennium. Surely the Uchiha would have found a way to get out of blood seals.

Then again, the seal was a way to control women and a part of her knew that the Uchiha didn't really care about any of that, if it wouldn't bring down the Senju then it didn't matter to them.

Going back to the bed she laid down on the soft warm furs, this bed was really comfortable, she wrapped herself in the blankets and tried to rest, the sun would be up within an hour and she hadn't had any rest yet. With the trek to the border she knew she'd need the rest, especially now that she didn't have the chakra to help her get through it.

At least this time she would remember being sealed. She sat up quickly as the thought came to her, she didn't remember fighting Hashirama, she remembered fighting Madara ... Kinda remembered, not really but hardly did she remember going up against Hashirama. Which meant that he would have had to seal her after they had gotten her and she woke up in this bed already sealed so unless he sealed her chakra before they got to the Uchiha compound and after they'd subdued then that would mean that Hashirama would have had to have sealed her when she'd been brought to the compound. It was only logical, it would have been to risky to stop and seal her before they had arrived at the Uchiha compound.

With how tightly secured they were keeping her inside the room, she doubted Madara would let the rest of the clan know that she was in here. Madara was a smart man, even in the history book he'd been regarded as highly intelligent. Madara wouldn't just let anyone know she was there, she could imagine the uproar the Uchiha elders would have at the thought of an unsealed woman walking about their home. A witch.

Madara would have been smart and taken her directly to where he could control the situation, which he deemed was this room it seemed. Hashirama would have had to do the sealing here in this bed. She flipped herself over as she began smoothing her fingers though the fur. It was a long shot but she knew it was possibly.

The human body shed fifty to a hundred hairs per day and with that long hair that Hashirama had she was sure he shed some at some point. It was possible that he'd lost a few here in this room in this bed while he was sealing her. The furs would have caught it.

her hand began feeling hairs begin to tickle her skin and she cheered happily in her head. Oh eww, she looked at the small tangle of hairs that clung to her palm. Some were thick and green, which would be hers, some were thick and black, she didn't want to think about that and there it was, mingled with the other hairs, but it was there. She held in her glee as she pulled the long straight hair out of the tangled bunch and carefully broke the long hair apart.

Undoing the wrappings on her left wrist she carefully laid a piece of the hair on her red sealings and breathed in deep as she tried to call upon her chakra again. With eyes closed and mind focused she noted closely how her chakra raged inside her fighting against the sealings.

It hurt more than she'd care to admit, the more she felt it fight inside her, her gut twisted almost like a bad cramp and she grimaced at the feel, She kept forcing herself against the seal and it began burning in a horrible way. Like lighting alcohol on fire. She focused more and when the burning began to become almost too painful to bear she felt it. The slight breaking, a crack and she felt her chakra settle and the burning dim down to a numbing pain.

Opening her eyes she looked down at the seal and grimaced, she cracked a single layer of the seal, just a single hairline crack. She growled, right now she really hated the Senju Chief.

She felt the barriers coming down again and quickly she started to wrap her sealings up so no one would notice. Nobody was coming, she would have been able to sense the chakra if they were close to the door, all she could feel was the chakra of the two guards that had been standing there all night since she was thrown back into the room.

They were letting her out, finally! Quickly she grabbed her cloak stashing the other piece of hair in her pocket as she walked out of the room and stopped in her tracks.

There was Madara, walking down the engawa, slipping a black long sleeved shirt over his head, his broad shoulders squaring and abdominals muscles rippling, if she weren't a medical practitioner she'd think his muscles had muscles. She sucked in a breath, men in this era were certainly more ... sturdy compared to the men in her timeline.

He stopped before her and she used her cloak to cover her stomach and arms, best not to let him see the wrappings on her wrist, he looked her over and she took notice of the way his eyes moved over her body. She reigned in her tongue, no need to make smart remarks, he had after all sent her medicine to help her with her burns. She supposed she could allow him to look her over the way he was. He met her eyes then and she watched as the red of his sharingan faded into black.

... He'd had his sharigan activated a lot since she'd been around him, even times when it was unnecessary, his eyesight must have been much worse than even Izuna's.

"Are you ready?" She nodded her head. "Good, follow me then, Izuna wishes to speak with you before we leave". He turned away from her then before quickly turning his head towards her, his dark black eyes smoldering as he spoke. "Place your cloak on, you're clothing is rather revealing and it's very enticing"

... Enticing? She didn't want to dwell on what he meant towards that and as she followed him she slipped her cloak on quickly, taking notice to how Madara's body was tight and rigid as he directed her. So unlike the shinobi she had seen two years ago, then again the man from her time had died at the age of a hundred and twenty and had a lot of time to come into himself. This man that walked in front of her was only twenty six and she could see that he was not completely comfortable with himself despite how much he wanted everyone to believe.

They stopped at a shoji screen and he slid it open to reveal an office of sorts, she walked further into the study and noted that he didn't follow her. "Izuna will walk you to the entrance gates". He walked away and she sucked in a breath.

"He's attracted to you". Her head snapped and she saw Izuna standing in the threshold of another room a bedroom from what it looked like, unlike when she saw Madara, Izuna was fully dressed, but didn't wear the traditional high color that most Uchiha were known to wear, instead he wore a dark blue robe that showed a rather good amount of chest. She decided not to comment on that, because really, there was no need to comment on that. "You wanted to see me?" Izuna smirked at her then and she held her emotions at bay. He looked so much like Sasuke that it physically hurt her heart to look at him with that smirk she had memorized.

"You're not very sociable are you?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "I prefer to talk about matters that are more concerning". Izuna leaned against the threshold folding his arms against his chest. "Madara's attraction to you is something that needs to be talked about", "No it's doesn't". Izuna inclined his head. "It should though, it's a good thing, he's unmarried and I'm guessing you are as well" She shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about this".

"Fine then". He turned away from her for a moment and then turned back and flung a black bag at her, she caught it immediately when she noticed it was hers. "The healers took that from you when we brought you in, I figured you should have it back", "Thank you". She took off her cloak then and slipped the pack on, feeling the eyes of the older man in the room she slipped her cloak back on her quickly again.

"Madara was fascinated by some of the contraptions that he'd found in there". She wasn't surprised they went through her pack. "Well that's good for him". "I think I liked you better when we first met".

The words were shocking only because she wasn't expecting them. "Well if you haven't noticed, I was much better off when I wasn't surrounded by you four". "That's besides the point, I noticed that you're underfed". "I eat enough to survive". "You don't have a home", "I like to travel" "Do you have an answer for everything?" She watched as he waited for her to answer him.

"Please just listen to me", she could hear the desperateness in his voice and she knew it was taking a lot out of him to let her in on his emotions. "I'm extending to you an invitation, please stay with us when you come back ... You saved my life and I'd like to try to repay you somehow". She shook her head. "It's not necessary, you don't need to repay me for anything". "Sakura-san, you have no home, and we all can see that you don't eat well enough, I can even tell you don't sleep enough ... The Uchiha Clan isn't as extravagant as some other clans are but we have food and shelter and protection ... It's not a bad place to make a home".

"Is Madara aware of your invitation?" "Don't change the subject" She looked away. "I have a home" "No you don't". He sighed and she made the chance to look up at him and she could tell that he looked tired, exhausted even. "Madara and I have been up all night with the Senju's because of you". At this she was shocked. "Because of me?" Izuna nodded his head.

"There's a part of the treaty they added, none of us are now not permitted to bind you and your abilities to just a single clan". She was confused, she wasn't sure how that had been brought up. "Like bound as in marriage? I told you already I'm not interested in your kinsmen and that extends to the Senju's as well". The look he gave her that spoke volumes, he wasn't talking about a marriage and she didn't understand what else he could be talking about and he saw that she didn't, he spoke in a knowing tone. "There's a technique, it's how the Daimyo keeps clans tethered to his lands, it's not common with lesser clans, but certain clans the Uchiha, the Senju are taught it, mostly the head clans, Patriarchs, heirs ... It allows the user to bind someone to them, making it impossible for that person to go against the user".

Oh she had never heard of that. "Senju Tobirama has a fear that Madara will bind you, and Madara fears the same with Senju Tobirama, so Hashirama-san decided to add it into the peace treaty that you are to remain unbound to any of the clans, more specifically you will remain unbound to any clans that are part of this village".

They had all been arguing over her? "I am not approaching you with an invitation to stay here for your abilities, I am asking you to stay here because you saved my life and I know there's nothing more I can do to repay you than offer the comfort of a home here with us".

So none of them were allowed to use her healing abilities without her consent, and Izuna still wanted her stay there? "What if I wanted to stay with the Senju?" Izuna scoffed as he waived his hand dismissively at her. "Do what you must, but I doubt that Senju Tobirama would allow you to even go near the Senju lands, but if they do approach you with the same invitation then I won't fault you, so long as your cared for". She could hear the disdain for the white haired Senju and it was rather amusing.

"Just let us know of your decision so we can make up a room for you, Madara and I would really like it if he could have his room back and I can sleep on my own bed". Wait what? He must have caught onto her thoughts. His dark eyes began to glow with a certain mirth that she really didn't like. "Oh yes Sakura-san you've been staying in Madara's room".

That would explain so many things.

---

He stared at the skin on Izuna's stomach as he watched his brother dress, it was perfect, not a single mark on it, it was slightly lighter than the rest of the skin that surrounded it, like new babies skin it was still tinged pink.

"You know I'm getting very tired of you and the healers staring". He blinked as he looked up at Izuna, allowing Izuna to know how in awe his was. "It's an amazing gift she has, to mend bone and muscle in the way she does, many of the other clans would covet her". Izuna nodded his head, almost spitting his words out. "Yes, well now since you and Hashirama-san made an agreement none can covet her or her abilities".

That was truly unfortunate. "She's attractive don't you think?" He looked over at his young brother allowing the words to sink in, until now he'd never had issues with Izuna coveting the women he'd bedded, but there was a first time for everything, and considering the woman was very attractive due to her rarity. "Is this your way of saying you want her Izuna-kun" Izuna rolled his eyes at his mockery, not even hestitating Izuna was quick to point out her best quality . "She's too wild for my liking". He smirked, teasing his younger brother. "I didn't know you had a liking", Izuna didn't even flinch. "Shut-up" His young brother took a dramatic sigh then as he asked his first question once more. "Do you find her attractive or not?"

He was honest with his brother and himself though, "Oh she's very attractive, I just can't get over that hair of hers". Izuna's eyes widened and rolled in a weird way that he'd never seen before. "What is it?" Izuna shook his head. "She didn't look like that when I met her". Oh he wondered. "What color was it before?" Izuna tapped his chin shaking his head though as he spoke, dodging his question entirely. "I'm not sure if it was real either". Izuna turned away from him then as he changed the subject. "I was talking to the head physician last night, he's claims for her age he believes she is and her height that she's underweight, most likely from being malnourished".

He figured that much, but at the same time, weren't most shinobi supposed to be thin? "She's trained as a shinobi though, being thin and in shape is how a shinobi's body is supposed to be", "I told the physician that as well, he still believes that she's too skinny even for that ... I was thinking".

Izuna bit his lower lip and he already knew what he was going to suggest. "With how skinny she is, and the little she keeps on her, perhaps it would be a good idea to offer her a place here? I do owe her a debt for saving my life, would it be too much to think I would be allowed to offer her a home here ... with us?"

Izuna was asking for his permission. "It wouldn't be too much to offer, she's an interesting woman, I would prefer to keep an interesting woman closer". Izuna nodded his head exuberantly as he grabbed a scroll and began to write something down on it as he spoke. "Yes, that sounds good, maybe we could find her a room closer to yours? She's an honorary guest as you've told the servants. It would be wise to have her stay here in the main house with us, the rooms close to yours are very fine too".

Now he stopped in his thoughts and eyed his young brother carefully, what was he up to? "Izuna you're up to something". Izuna shrugged his shoulders. "Can't I want the best for my Nīsan? And as you stated she's very attractive". He shook his head. He wasn't sure what Izuna was up to but he'd figure it out.

"Why don't you go and get her and bring her here? So I can speak with her about it, so she has something to think about on her trek to the border". He was definitely up to something, it would have been easier to just go talk to her himself, but he would admit that she seemed a tad more comfortable speaking with his younger brother than she was him or the others.

"I must go check and make sure Hashirama is ready, so I might as well go get her as well". He stood from his spot where he sat on the chest and started to walk out of the room before Izuna stopped him. "Perhaps you should put a shirt on Nīsan, don't want to go and scare her away just yet". He turned around in time to catch the garment that had been thrown at him.

The sun had just started to peak over the horizon, and he focused his mind on the matter at hand, the guards were stationed at the room Hashirama had stayed in as well as his own where Sakura took residence. He watched as a servant girl walked out of the room, she'd have to pass him if she was planning to leave the house. He knew that she had been sent to clean up the wreckage that was his rooms. Which meant that she had been with Sakura the entire time. It would be a good idea to figure out where the green-eyed girls thoughts might be and how he should approach her.

The servant girl stopped before him and bowed. "Madara-sama", she didn't see it, but he inclined his head. "Emiyo-san, how is our guest doing?" The girl straightened up at his voice and she looked towards the floor as she spoke to him. "She was awake when I arrived to your rooms Madara-sama, and she's still awake even after I've finished your rooms . There was food that had been sent to her that she did not touch. She did allow me to assist her in caring for her burns ... My lord, I will say that she seems very sad, especially about her burns, I don't understand why, but it seems to really upset her". Of course she wouldn't understand, she didn't know what it meant to have chakra, what it meant to lose it.

"Thank you Emiyo-san, please give your regards to your mother for me". She nodded her head and walked passed him understanding that she had been dismissed.

She didn't eat and she didn't sleep, but she had her wounds cared for, if anything her burns were more of a concern, he'd seen what happened when one didn't care for there wounds. Of course the medicine he'd sent to her was probably nothing compared to what she could do with her chakra, but she didn't have access to her chakra at this moment. Then again, she did heal herself without chakra, he was sure of it, the Senju had stabbed her in the stomach at some point in there fight, probably before they'd even made it to the cliff. She had healed herself from those wounds somehow, he was sure he would have felt if she had been using chakra to heal herself when he'd carried her back. He wondered, was that healing ability also tied to her chakra somehow? Hashirama hadn't been any help in the matter as he didn't know how his healing ability worked himself, so trying to get him to figure out Sakura's healing ability went nowhere very fast.

He motioned for the guards to drop the barriers and stopped walking when he came to the room he'd left Hashirama in, knocking he'd heard the Senju's voice. 'Enter' Sliding the screen open he watched as Hashirama fixed his shirt, noting that he too had decided to go without his signature armor, suddenly he remembered that he had yet to put his own shirt on. "Be at the gates in five minutes". Hashirama nodded his head in recognition and Madara slid the screen shut before continuing on his path. Deciding to finally place the shirt on he did so while watching as the green-eyed beauty walked out of the room they'd kept her in. Her green hair was long and thick and bounced gracefully in a high ponytail but it brought noticeable attention towards her face.

Her forehead was rather large and more noticeable with her hair up and pulled out of her face, but it seemed to level her face out for those large green eyes of hers. Dark circles rimmed them but it didn't repel the attractiveness from her all over face.

Her arms moved underneath the cloak and he took notice that she was once again not wearing her cloak. Her breast were still wrapped in that leather binding that was so attractive, the curves of her breast, looked like smooth cream that flowed into soft curves and dips of her waist and belly. She wasn't svelte like some Senju women he'd seen and she was definitely not at all curvaceous compared to the Uchiha women, but those hips of hers showed the sign of womanhood ... or at the very least something akin.

He wondered how old was she? He wasn't one to care for the age of the women he bedded, but he couldn't ever come to touch a child either. While she didn't look like a child, it didn't mean that she wasn't he'd seen some girls in their clan and in others that were very much well developed by the time they were fifteen years. Sakura did look much younger than him and Hashirama, possibly even younger than Izuna as well.

The need to touch her fizzled with the knowledge that she could very well be a child, and it was easier to look her in the eyes again.

Only those eyes, fuck, those green eyes that reflected back at him with appreciative lust as they roved over his body. Dammit if he didn't throw her back in that room and ravage her until all that reflected back in those green eyes of hers was him.

He felt the familiar feelings of arousal swirl within him and he stopped where he stood and took in a deep breath focusing on what he was doing. He had to focus on what he was doing. This wasn't a normal woman, this was a female shinobi, she didn't need her chakra to hurt them, and bedding her could get him killed. Yes he needed to focus and stop acting like some hormonal boy.

Right now he cursed the Sharingan and its ability to see every little detail on the woman standing before him. With his body calmed down he was able to deactivate the Sharingan, the colors around him noticeably dimmed and everything was out of focus and blurry, and the corners of his sight already blind. He didn't need perfect sight to know that her focus was on his eyes.

He remembered what Izuna had told him, how she'd given him back his sight, but now with the treaty he wouldn't be able to ask for her services, shame that he wouldn't be able to look at her face much longer. He didn't know when but in his gut he knew he didn't have much more time left. Unless he was to do the unthinkable and take another's Mangekyo, he figured he had five years at best before he was completely blind.

With that knowledge he was able to completely focus on the situation, he needed to stop messing around and keep his mind on the treaty. "Are you ready?" She nodded her head. "Good, follow me then, Izuna wishes to speak with you before we leave". He spun on his heel and turned away from her, but the vision of her creamy skin was burned into his mind and he craned his head to look back at her, the curves of her breast gently lifting with each breath caught his attention again and he took in a deep breath, too much skin was showing reminding him of his previous thoughts. "Place your cloak on, your clothing is rather revealing and it's very enticing". Her green eyes widened and he knew she understood what he was saying.

There was something about having his back to a shinobi that had never really made him very comfortable, and in his own home he'd never thought he'd feel so uncomfortable, normally when a woman was walking behind him, he was usually leading them to his rooms in the dark of night to satiate his lust. Right now, there was a very dangerous woman walking behind him and he had never felt so uncomfortable and attracted to the younger girl. He'd never thought he'd seen a woman so out of control like he had with her and he was so excited by the knowledge that she could fight him without her gender concerning either of them.

If she did decide to stay with them he would be very interested in getting her to at the very least fight him once, but he wouldn't count on that. Izuna may think he knew the girl because he had actually spoken with her when she had kidnapped him. One look at the woman though told him, she really didn't want to be around any of them. Surprisingly he knew it wasn't because of them being Uchiha, he could tell that their clan did not spook her like it did others. No, she wasn't even all that comfortable with the Senju either, which most people usually were, Hashirama's demeanor usually charmed others towards them. This woman though, she looked ready to run as fast as possible from all of them, as if there was somewhere else she needed to be that was more important.

He slid the screen open for her as they came to Izuna's rooms and motioned for her to walk in, she did so hesitantly, he understood, it wasn't everyday people wanted to be alone with an Uchiha heir. Perhaps he should assure her that she wasn't going to be killed? She looked as if she were waiting for him to walk in after her too. "Izuna will walk you to the front entrance". He heard her let out a breath and he turned away smirking, well at the least she knew she was not going to be murdered, he slid the screen shut and waited.

When he was sure no one was watching his actions he placed his ear against the screen and listened carefully. No sound, Izuna must have been waiting for him to leave before he started talking to her. He looked over and saw Hashirama walking towards him and the other man looked confused."Madara wha-" He was quick as he covered the other mans mouth and silenced him.

His irritation just unfolded, the idiot man, what did he think he was doing pressed up against a room, he grit his teeth as he looked over at Hashirama who finally understood and placed his ear against the screen as well.

Still nothing. He pushed away from the screen when he realized that Izuna had placed up silencing barriers, the sneak, no wonder he had pushed him out of the room the way he did. He sighed, what was Izuna up to? Surely whatever they were speaking about should have been cleared with him first, his younger brother would know that he wasn't one to judge, but this secretive side if Izuna worried him.

"Who was in the room?" He looked over at Hashirama apathetically. "Izuna and Sakura, but the brat decided to silence the room". Hashirama looked at him with so much interest it didn't make him feel any better. "Oh! Is that it?" He rolled his eyes as they continued to the front entrance, only to stop at the sight of Izuna and Sakura already there waiting for them.

Whatever conversation was said must have been quick and Izuna must have realized he was going to try to eavesdrop and silenced the room before using another room to exit through. He activated his Sharingan.

What a pair they made with the dawning sun gleaming in the background and making them glow. "Madara what do you think of her? This Sakura girl?" He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I think it is unwise to let our guard down around a woman that can kill us". She wasn't a woman who looked at herself as a woman though, he could tell that she didn't consider her sex, but only considered herself as a shinobi. "I agree, nevertheless, the little bits that she has spoken with us, hasn't been much to go by. She did though save both our kinsmen and her healing abilities are more than a little impressive, I believe that garners some attention, but still maybe it is still too soon to make any decisions". Where was Hashirama going with this?

"You're brother seems to trust her though" Hashirama nodded his head in the direction of where the two stood at the front gates. Izuna's eyes shinned with hope and determination, a sight he'd never seen before. Izuna had always been more concerned with the clan and training that he'd never given women much thought, now though ... He just hoped the beautiful woman wouldn't hurt his brother.

"She saved his life, we are indebted to her". He wondered if Izuna understood that even if Sakura were to accept his feelings that he would still be unable to bring the woman into the clan, she was unfortunately not an option for marriage. "The Uchiha clan must be more lenient than the Senju". They Uchiha Clan wasn't lenient, not at all. "My brother, if he is interested in such a thing, he's fooling himself, someone like her is only good enough to be a bedwarmer". Hashirama looked disappointed then. "Don't be so crude about it Madara". As crude as it may have seemed it was truthful. "I'm only being honest, the clan would never allow someone like her to be a true Uchiha ... If she were to bear any bastards from an Uchiha, they would be excepted, but she would never be". He looked over to his brother and the green-eyed beauty. That shinning look of hope, so strong, he felt pity for his younger brother.

Hashirama stopped walking then and turned to him. "You should pray he comes to his senses sooner rather than later. Whatever happened to change his demeanor towards the peace treaty between us is wonderful, the boy before was spoilt with darkness, don't deny this, if she were to break his heart, I fear it would change him into something that none of us could even imagine".

Izuna's attention was completely on whatever Sakura was talking about and he sighed. Hashirama was right, his brother had already been touched by darkness once. The younger boy wouldn't survive a broken heart, especially from the sort of love that could only be achieved between two lovers. It was a sad realization, but it was the way of the clan, Izuna was young and innocent, but he wasn't naive, he prayed he wasn't at least. "I'll speak with him once we return". If Izuna had lied to him about his interest in Sakura, then he feared that it would be too late.

Besides there was no guarantee that when they even arrived back that Sakura would be returning with them, if she were to turnout to be an enemy to them, they'd have to put her and any accomplices she might have down quickly before they returned.

As they walked up to the duo he was surprised to find that Izuna had stopped talking immediately, he lifted a brow at his brother in question, but it was Sakura who diverted the attention back to herself. "This trip should normally take four days altogether, but with the three of us and my chakra suppressed it will take at the most six if not seven days to return back, I do hope that you've settled any business that needs to be handled earlier".

Izuna was right, she was different, she was so straightforward.

Although the thought of spending an entire week with Hashirama and the girl made him slightly excited. As children he and Hashirama spent as much time together as possible, but back then, it was always spaced out, especially as they got older due to the fact that they were both from shinobi clans. Both from clans that wanted to kill each other. With these coming days they would see how much peace they could truly bring with the unification of their two clans.

Hashirama looked concerned at the younger woman. "Are you ready?" She turned away from them hautily as she placed her hood up and covered her green hair, but as he watched her, with his Sharingan activated he could see it, her roots. The natural coloring of her hair and he blinked, not sure of himself, the hair was almost white, almost but he wasn't sure it looked like a very, very, light pink.

Mentally he shook his head, there wasn't such a thing as pink hair. His eyes went to her green-green eyes and looked over the feathery white lashes. It didn't help to solidify his thoughts as his Sharingan continued to pick up on that pink coloring the more he looked.

Either his blindness was finally messing with his Sharingan's sight, or he was very, very tired because there was absolutely no way someone could have pink hair.

She was talking again, "Usually I have my chakra or a weapon of sorts to defend myself if need be, but alas I don't" She shot a glare at Hashirama who avoided looking at her. He shook his head in amusement. "You're not getting a weapon". She glared at him, oh if those eyes of hers could kill. "Fine". She turned away from them then and started walking, he looked over at Izuna. "Let the others know that the Senju are allowed entrance and if need be Senju Tobirama will have access to our messenger hawks as well ... Make sure you do your best at avoiding the Elders". He heard a sight from the woman and turned to see that she had turned back to them with her arms crossed she looked at them impatiently. "You are so bad at delegating" She she shook her head with another sight. "Izuna-san, advise your clan elders that your chief has left on a mission to bring back great wealth for the clan and that Hashirama-san here is the only one that has half of the information that is needed to locate the treasure, with the understanding that the Senju clan will be receiving a piece of the treasure as well, and that until they've returned the Uchiha and Senju are still partaking in peace talks and shall remain under the laws of the armistice until further notice, but make sure they understand that the Senju heir will still need to have access to the messenger birds just in case as the Uchiha do have the best tracking pigeons compared to the Senju". She tapped a delicate finger against her lip as she looked deep in thought. "Yes, yes that should keep your clan elders at bay" She nodded her head to herself then before she turned on her foot and began to walk away from them again.

Hashirama nudged him on the side. "... I'm starting to think there's a whole lot more to her than I had originally thought". He nodded his head in agreement. Yes, obviously not only was she trained in how to use her chakra and fight, but it seemed she was rather educated in democracy as well. Which could only mean that wherever she came, she wasn't just a normal person, she must have been someone important. Or she had been raised within the ranks of important figures. It was the only logical explanation because even he had a hard time handling his elders and he had been around them his whole life and while he was schooled in diplomacy and running a clan, the elders were still not a strong suit of his.

Although, how she knew about their homing pigeons was a mystery in itself.

This woman though, seemed to understand the inner-working of how a clan worked and how to deal with the most troublesome parts of a clan, the elders. "Madara" He looked back to Izuna who looked at him questionably. "What to do think?" He shrugged his shoulders. "It's better than my advice, if it works then it works, if not just do as I recommended". Izuna nodded his head, "Well then, better be off before you lose track of her, she's rather good at slipping away".

As they caught up with the green-eyed woman he heard the rustling from his side and watched as Hashirama pulled out a familiar looking scroll. He shook his head. "Are you now stealing from the Uchiha?" Hashirama shrugged his shoulders "I was realized this was going to be a long trip so I figured that some light reading would be needed and this just happened to be there" Hashirama then turned his head towards him his dark brown eyes large like a cats and smile suddenly replaced with a pout. He could feel a tick on his forehead as he prepared himself for whatever the Senju was about to say. "Besides Madara it's one of my favorite novels, you wouldn't deny me something so precious would you?" That throbbing tick on his forehead popped in agitation and to combat the pain he slapped Hashirama on the back of the head. "Oww that hurt!" He shook his head. "Next time don't just take things that don't belong to you".

Hashirama rubbed his head a little more before they continued following Sakura. She only shook her head as she continued on with her mental map of the area and they followed.

He noticed though that as Hashirama unraveled the scroll once more Sakura had slowed in her steps as she looked over at the Senju and he smirked as he watched amusedly as she leaned on the tips of her toes to look at what the scroll was.

She was so small.

When she didn't achieve anything from that she straightened herself out and huffed quietly to herself. Glaring a look towards him, before looking back over at Hashirama and folding her arms together.

She tapped her pointer finger against her lip again and stopped, looking back over at Hashirama before going back to tapping her lip once more, it was clearly an unconscious habit of hers. Finally she stopped and stood back up on the tips of her toes, Hashirama surprisingly not bothered by the trespassing of his personal space.

"Can I help you?" He looked down at her as he slightly rolled down the scroll to look down at her. "Senju-san if I may ask, what are you reading?" Hashirama smiled softly down at her, clearly amused by her curiosity. "Why it's my favorite story Taketori Monogatori" It was just a slightness, but his Sharingan had caught it, she actually flinched.

It was an old story, passed down through generations, but he knew for a fact that peasant civilians and lesser shinobi clans weren't familiar with the story, the Uchiha were an old clan, but when they raided other clans and took what was left over he learned enough to know that they weren't familiar with the stories from over a thousand years ago.

If she was familiar then she was not only educated but that would mean that she was from an old clan.

She answered in a careful tone. "It's an old fairy-tale". She rounded on them then with a different question. "Tell me do either of you know where chakra comes from?"

Such a strange question to ask, he looked up at Hashirama who looked down at him questioningly. Did she really not think they wouldn't know that question?

It took a moment, but he realized it then as he looked down at her, she was looking for something, something that was detrimental to their answer to her. Hashirama spoke slowly, catching on to her as well. "Chakra comes from the Rikudo Sennin".

There was a stillness in the air around them as she sized them up, her green eyes looking between the two of them, an ever so small tilt of her lips before she spun on her heel and began her march again. Her voice was even and light as she spoke. "The Rikudo Sennin, did not give us chakra, he did in fact though teach us how to call upon it, but chakra in itself did not come to us through him, but through his mother Otsutsuki Kaguya, but you may have heard of her through her other given names such as the Usagi no Megami or the Jubi"

The Jubi? As in the creature that the Rikudo Sennin defeated in the story? Sakura continued though. "She is also the same Kaguya that the story Taketori Monogatori is based off of".

He was skeptical, while she spoke in a tone that stated that she believed what she was talking about, she did not quote any references to back up her knowledge. Hashirama spoke in a contemplative tone, and mentally he shook his head, of course Hashirama would listen to her. "How do you suppose that? You said yourself that Taketori Monogatori is a fairy-tale, so how can you connect the two?"

She spoke in a soft tone, her words clear and even. "Taketori Monogatori is a fairy-tale but Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was a real person, you believe that the Rikudo Sennin is real yet you question another?"

He decided to speak up his thoughts for once. "The Rikudo Sennin's past is interconnected through our chakra, if it hadn't been for him chakra itself wouldn't exist". Sakura sighed. "Chakra exist because of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, because of her doings all humans are now born with chakra, even the Rikudo Sennin himself would not have had chakra if not for her".

While she spoke as if she knew what she was talking about her knowlege was no correct. Sakura then turned around on them and crossed her arms over her chest, green brow lifted expectantly as if she was silently daring him to question her. He did. "Where is your proof? What references do you use? What scholars support your claims?"

She tapped a nail on her bicep and he knew she didn't like being questioned as she was, instead she stumped him with her own question. "Where do you think the Rikudo Sennin comes from?"

While he had the best tutors given to him as the heir of the Uchiha's he could not actually claim to know that such a thing had been taught to him, so instead he looked over to the only other properly educated person in the group, Hashirama. Who looked to be deep in thought. Sakura turned to look at the Senju as well as she tapped on her bicep expectantly. "Well?" The audacity she carried with her was outstanding.

Hashirama looked at Sakura then as he questioned her. "Do you know where the Rikudo Sennin comes from?" Sakura stopped her tapping immediately. "Where he was born, no longer exist I imagine, especially considering that it would have been destroyed with all other things after his fight with Kaguya but like us he was born from a man and woman".

Hashirama was quick to mock her. "The woman you believe is also a fictional character". Sakura rolled her eyes as before she ripped the scroll from Hashirama's hand, his eyes widened. "Hey!" Sakura placed a finger up as she unrolled the scroll completely and pointed to a name and date. "Look at this date". She put it in Hashirama's face as she continued. "This was written over a thousand years ago, do you know anything about what was happening over a thousand years ago?"

Silence, he could not say that his tutors had ever taught him much about a thousand years ago, he only knew about the Rikudo Sennin. Sakura sighed. "A millenium ago the world was covered in bloodshed, everywhere you turned people were killing each other for no true reason or means to an end". He stopped her as he remembered a story his mother told him and his brothers when they were children. "The March of Kali". Sakura nodded her head in agreement. "As some historians called it ... anyways, how is it possible that this!" She held up the scroll. "Was written when there is no other literature from that era, not a single scrap of historical documentation from this time and yet, this fairy-tale exists ... Why?"

Why indeed? Sakura handed back the scroll to Hashirama as she spoke. "That fairy-tale is how the Rikudo Sennin remembered his mother, this is how the Rikudo Sennin wanted the world to remember his mother".

Sakura continued. "The Rikudo Sennin was a great being, but Kaguya, she was even greater". Her way of speaking was dizzying as he tried to listen to her. Hashirama thankfully spoke up. "She was an alien wasn't she? At least in the story she ended up being from the stars". Sakura looked away from them then and up at the sky she sighed up at the blue sky before she closed her eyes and inhaled gently.

"There's no way that a human could do what Kaguya and the Rikudo Sennin achieved". She looked back at them carefully and he realized then that she was holding something back. "The Gods of old I suppose, You believe that the Rikudo Sennin was real when he in fact is was most probably a being from another world but you can't believe in the idea of him having a mother".

She shook her head and began walking her invisible path once more. "You know the two of you should already know this history though, especially the origins of the Rikudo Sennin and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki".

She was baiting them and he was curious. "Why do you say that?" She stopped again in her tracks and looked over her shoulder, dimples deep and green eyes shinning like two gemstones. "Well don't you know? The Rikudo Sennin is the Progenitor of the Senju and Uchiha Clans".

The smell of dirt was heavy as Hashirama passed out on the floor, he looked down at the unconscious Senju and back at the green-eyed girl. She only shook her head. "He's hopeless".

Well at least he would be able to be alone with her for a little bit. From the way she stiffened at the sight of Hashirama's prone form, she realized it too. "I'm surprised you're so concerned for him, especially considering what he and his brother had done to you".

She shook her head as she reached into her pocket. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still angry about that, but it doesn't mean that I want to see him like this". She pulled out a vile and popped open the lid and immediately he recognized what she had. Smelling salts. He moved quick and he grabbed the hand that held the vile, gently and turned to look straight into her bottomless green eyes.

"Wait" A green brow lifted on her forehead. "Isn't he your friend? Don't you want to make sure he didn't receive a concussion?" He rolled his eyes. "It's Hashirama, he'll be fine". He released her wrist as he stepped back. "Besides I only want a moment of your time".

For all that bravado she had been displaying before he was rather interested in the way she shrunk back from him as she pulled her wrist from his grasp, rubbing at the bandaged skin. "What do you want?"

He took a step towards her then and she took a step back, so unlike the girl from yesterday, but then again this girl didn't have her chakra or any weapons like she did yesterday. It was obvious to him that she knew that she wasn't in any position to fight him off. So he pushed her all the way into the trunk of a tree, her back hit it softly.

"Eye pain, blurred vision, memory loss, vertigo, dizziness and headaches are only some of the side effects that happen when a concussion is left untreated". She wanted him to look back at Hashirama, but he knew that was only for her to use as a distraction, he wouldn't take the bait. "You're incredibly intelligent aren't you?" Her large green eyes looked up at him in bewilderment, it was obvious that she wasn't expecting that. He continued. "It takes years to master medicine, and I bet it takes even longer to figure out how to use chakra in the form of a medical treatment and you're even knowledgeable on democracy, the inner workings of clans, you know how to fight, and you even know how to heal the efffects of the Sharingan".

She met him with a defiant glare and he continued on. "The Uchiha healers have spent centuries upon centuries trying to find ways to combat the effects and yet you a non-Uchiha, an outsider healed Izuna's within a weeks time, it takes a lot of knowledge of the Sharingan to be able to even attempt any sort of healing" Her glare intensified. "What's your point?"

She knew that she couldn't take him, but she was still so ... defiant? "Who are you?" Green eyes large and shiny and empty, nothing like the multi-dimensional stones her colored eyes mimicked. She took in a deep breath, her eyes hard and cold conveying just how similar she was to emerald gems, her words just as harsh. "I'm the person helping you and your friend by funding you all with the means to create a shinobi village". Straight and to the point, no beating around the bush, he liked it, it was real.

"Why though?" She looked up at the sky again her green eyes almost looking like the blue of the sky and she turned to look back at him, defiant as ever. "Because I can"

Obviously intimidating her with just his mere presence and body didn't do much, he wondered what would happen if he used his Sharingan on her.

There was a groan in the background. Hashirama was coming too. Sakura noticed quickly but she was grabbed his attention back to her. "Perhaps instead of asking why I'm doing this you should be grateful, especially considering the only thing I've asked in return is nothing compared to what I'm giving". She pushed passed him then and he took in a deep breath.

Why though would she do all this? Another groan and he turned to watch as Sakura helped the Senju up to his feet. "How are you feeling?" Hashirama was obviously fine, just the idiot always did enjoy the caring nature of women.

He watched as Hashirama rubbed himself against Sakura who stopped in looking over the Senju when she realized what he was doing. Quickly she pushed him away. "You're such a pig!" Hashirama stood up straight as he watched the girl stomp away. disappearing behind green bushes and large tree trunks. He looked back over at Hashirama. "Feel better knowing you rubbed up against her?" Hashirama shrugged his shoulders. "She smells good".

Of course that's what was on his mind. "She's wrong you know". Hashirama's ears perked up. "What was that?" He smirked at the Senju. "I said the girl, she's wrong, you're not a pig ... more like a dog in heat". Hashirama's face fell and a raincloud appeared before him. That was much better. His large dark eyes looked over at him in a way a puppy or kitten would look at him and he lifted a brow in question. "How can you say such a thing Madara? I thought we were friends?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "That's exactly why I'm being honest with you" He started in the direction that Sakura had left off in but stopped at Hashirama's words. "Do you think she's telling the truth? ... About the Rikudo Sennin?"

He looked up to the sky then and wondered if he stared hard enough if he'd see what she saw, instead the sun stung at his eyes and he looked back towards the ground. Unsure how to answer the question. "Even if she is telling the truth it wouldn't matter, the Rikudo Sennin died over a millenium ago and his secrets died with him".

"No they didn't". He turned back quickly to see Sakura standing there in the shade of the tree's, her green eyes glowing, her voice and words confident. "The Rikudo Sennin died yes, but he his secrets ... Those can be found in his teachings". Hashirama took a step forward. "How do you know all this?"

Sakura blinked. "Because I had to learn as well". She took a step. "When I get you two back to your clans we can talk about it more, until then, we need to stop wasting time, the suns already high up and we've already wasted too much time".

She closed her eyes then and took a deep breath before opening those large eyes of hers. "Actually, we need to take reevaluate our timeframe, come". She turned around and continued on her way. Yelling out as she did. "Or the two of you can stay there which is better for me". He sighed, he knew she would much rather do this on her own.

"Come on idiot, lets go" They followed Sakura to a large clearing with a small tea house.

An elderly woman was outside cleaning the front steps with a broom when she noticed them. Hashirama was the first to speak. "Huh would you look at that a tea house in the middle of nowhere". Sakura shook her head. "Not the middle of nowhere exactly, civilian maps are slightly different than that of shinobi maps, the trails go straight through here".

The elderly woman saw them and immediately went inside the tea house. "And as that is said, be nice, these are civilians, I shouldn't need to say more". He rolled his eyes, he knew how to act around civilians. Hashirama though he wasn't too sure about, but he doubted Hashirama was a worry. "I'm always nice!" Sakura's sarcasm was evident as she sat down on the stairs of the teahouse and slipped off her sandals. "You're oh so nice, especially when you're going about binding innocent women and such".

He sighed as he followed suit, wondering if he should interfere. "Hey! That's uncalled for". Sakura stood up and removed her cloak then, unveiling the very revealing clothing she wore underneath.

"Not really". He stood up as well, clearly he would need to step in between them before things got out of control. "Both of you shut up". He watched as Sakura began to wash her hands in the bowl that had been set up for them. "Remember this is civilian territory, it is a crime to kill or maim any civilian that has not been identified as a target and any civilian woman's death by the hands of a shinobi is punishable by death". Sakura moved out of the way and he repeated her actions.

"And destruction of civilian property can be fined towards all clans involved" The screen slid open then and the elderly woman from before appeared before them. Her head and back bowed perfectly straight as she greeted them. "Welcome". She stood straight and her face was perfect even in her elderly age.

Her black hair was littered with white hairs and her eyes covered with age line but the rest of her was perfectly aged, like a good bottle of sake. Immediately she recognized Sakura and her aging eyes went wide. "Oh Sakura-san I didn't recognize you there!"

Sakura bowed respectively and he noticed then that her bow was perfect and an image of her on the ground, her hands out and her body bent bowed as she pleaded with them filled his mind. Her form had been perfect then too.

"You colored your pretty hair". Pretty hair? Now he was even more curious. He looked over to Sakura then who looked annoyed at the topic of her hair. "Yes, I thought I'd try something different". The elderly woman was harsh in her statement. "Yes, well you thought wrong darling, now if you and your companions will follow me".

He looked back over to Sakura who seemed clearly annoyed at the topic of her hair. Hashirama brushed passed them, a smirk on his face as he got a last word in on Sakura. "Yeah obviously you thought wrong". Sakura's annoyance was quick to turn to anger as she went to grab at Hashirama. Her thin fingers were only milimeters away from grabbing onto Hashirama's hair when he decided to step in grabbing her by the waist and pulling her back before she could touch the Senju.

"I'm gonna kick his ass!" He chuckled softly, truly wanting to see that happen. "Let me go!" He shushed her. "Calm down woman, once we're out of civilian territory you can do what ever you want to him ... I may even be willing to join you in on the fun". Her body relaxed and he found he could actually feelher hard muscles on her skinny belly through the heavy cloak, and she was so warm. If she hadn't pushed his arms away from her he probably wouldn't have let go. "I'm calm". They followed Hashirama towards another room where the hostess escorted them inside. Sakura reached into her cloak pockets and pulled out a small pouch handing it over to the elderly woman as she did so.

"The usual then Sakura-san?" Sakura nodded her head and the woman left the room quickly.

Well that was different. "So much for a typical tea house". He looked over to Hashirama whom seemed to be on the same track of thought as himself. Sakura discarded her black bag and sat with a huff on the tatami mat. "This is possibly one of the best tea houses in Hi no Kuni. Yumi-san and I just have an understanding, I come here and she's paid to serve what I order and look the other way as well". Hashirama sat down across from her and so did he and they watched as Sakura dumped the contents of her bag onto the floor.

Hashirama picked up a weird see through rope and he decided not to touch anything as he watched Sakura snap the rope out of his hands. "Don't touch that! It took me hours to get everything out and sanitized!" Hashirama pouted. "What exactly is all this?" Sakura continued to reach into her bag looking for something that hadn't come out.

"Supplies". He stopped them from going any further. "What exactly do you do that she pretends doesn't happen?" Sakura looked over at him and bent her knee up to her chest, setting her covered arm on her knee and holding up her jaw displaying her bandaged arm.

Ah he got the meaning immediately. Suddenly she twisted herself out of the sitting position she'd gotten in and reached into her cloak once more. "That's where I left it!" She pulled out a scroll then and unraveled it revealing a large map.

Hashirama was the first to speak. "I've never seen a map so large and detailed before!" "For the last couple of years I've been cataloging what I could on this map, territories specifically are very necessary when navigating" She really was a smart one. Sakura pointed to a point on the map. "Here, this is our destination, I believe that in order to cut down our time frame, we need to take the Mizuchi River, we'll be dropped exactly in the Fire Daimyo's lands, but if we run fast enough we may be able to avoid the Daimyo's patrol, then we can hop onto the Haku river and get off at the Ningen Port and from there it's 13 hours away from the border".

Impressive. Hashirama believed so too. "How much time would we be cutting off?" He looked back up to her. " A day and a half, two days if we don't get caught by patrols when we get off". Very impressive, although he was sure he'd heard some bad things about Ningen port. "Isn't ningen port somewhere we should avoid though? Aren't there civilian smugglers there that hire mercenaries to protect their shipments and autonomy?" Hashirama's head whipped back to Sakura quickly who only shrugged. "There is, but the mercenaries that are hired are not shinobi, I could handle them without any chakra".

Well that was good to know.

The screen slid open then and Yumi walked into the room with an elderly man, possible the same age and they walked in with the tea and a small batch of what smelled like sweet dumplings with syrup. The placed the trays before them then and bowed before leaving the room.

The hostess and Sakura really did have an agreement, no a peep from the older woman for anything.

Sakura poured herself tea then before placing the kettle down before them and drinking the tea. While one would believe her to be rude, he realized what she was doing, letting them see that the tea wasn't poisoned. She placed her cup down then and grabbed the kettle once more filling their cups.

"I need to rest, the bindings on my chakra are causing my energy levels to remain at an all time low, I won't make it to the river if I don't rest". She didn't look very pleased with herself having to admit that.

He leaned forward then. "What does it feel like?" Sakura looked up at him with her big green eyes then. "It feels like a leech is sucking the life out of me, we aren't that far from the Uchiha and Senju territories and yet I know I won't be able to continue on much further".

A leech huh ... Well that didn't sound pleasant at all, he leaned back and watched as she ate the dumplings on the tray. "We'll make camp after this then" She shook her head. "I have a safehouse close by, I don't have chakra though so I'll need to instruct the two of you on how to disengage the traps I made".

A safehouse? Nobody knew she existed, what would she need a safehouse for?

Then again, if someone had found her out before Izuna had then it would have been possible that Sakura could have found herself strapped to a stake in front of the Daimyo's palace.

There was a slap and his eyes flew to the middle of the table where he found Sakuras gloved hand clenched around Hashirama's tightly beneath the last dumpling lay. Sakura glared with death in her eyes and Hashirama a challenge in his.

He rolled his eyes as he swiftly moved the plate with the single dumpling over to Hashirama and out of Sakura's reach.

Hashirama smirked at a fuming Sakura and he filed away the information that she liked sweets, even if they were subpar to something the servants in the Uchiha clan could create.

Sakura looked ready to pounce on the Senju who happily munched on the dumpling just then and he wondered if he should save the Senju from her, it wasn't that he underestimated her, even with her chakra bound he was sure she was still capable of fighting, but he wanted to know how much damage she could do to Hashirama. Hashirama was surprisingly the strongest shinobi anyone had ever come across.

And Sakura was ... a very interesting woman.

"Sakura" His neck snapped to look to at Hashirama who was nibbling happily away at the stick the dumplings had been on. He could feel Sakura's hot green stare on them. "It just suddenly occurred to me that I don't even know how old you are".

He looked back over at Sakura who's green-dyed brows had nearly hit the top of her forehead, a sure feat considering its size. "You don't know my age and that's what you realize. Not the fact that you don't know a single thing about me ... Yes that makes perfect sense".

Hashirama shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Then why don't we correct that, tell me about yourself" Izuna had told him how he had tried to get her to talk about herself, where she came from, her family or clan but the girl didn't budge.

He could see it then, she was about to shut them out, she had the same look in her eyes as Izuna had a few weeks ago.

Sakura leaned back then, her eyes never leaving Hashiramas. "There's nothing to tell you". Hashirama pushed harder, if anyone could get the woman to talk it would be Hashirama, he had that ability to make everyone around him love him, share their souls with him.

"There must be something". It was the smallest glimmer but he caught it before she replaced it with an annoyed stare. "There's nothing to know".

It would seem that Hashirama's winning charm was not working on this woman, inwardly he smirked, Sakura was really starting to grow on him.

"Well then why don't you tell us why you're so eager to help us". Sakura looked down at the table then before she sighed. "I'm nineteen" She crossed her arms then and looked away from them.

Nineteen, well he felt much more comfortable knowing she was fifteen, but still, a woman at her age would have been married for three years with children by now. ... Yet here she was. He doubted she was married, no man would have ever allowed their wife to just leave them to help a shinobi clan, and there was no way a woman would just leave her children all alone.

"By the gods woman, why aren't you with your family!" Hashirama looked truly worried just then and Sakura tipped her head to the side. "I am not married if that's what you're suggesting" Hashirama shook his head. "What of your parents? Siblings?" Sakura looked down solemnly for a moment and he knew then that he didn't need to hear her confirm his suspicions. She truly was alone. She spoke in a quiet voice. "They're all dead".

She shook her head then. "Enough of that, why don't you tell me why you want to build a shinobi village?" Hashirama leaned back then with a contemplative look. "How do you know it's a shinobi village we're creating?"

"When one throws around the clan names like Uchiha, Senju, Uzumaki, Hogomoro along with the word peace treaty, the puzzle pieces kind of puts themselves together". Well wasn't she an observant one. "So, whats it for? Are you trying to separate from the Daimyo's? Or is this like a secret overthrow against the civilian leaders?"

He never realized that it could look that way to the Daimyo's and civilians. ... Well then, they best move things faster before the Daimyo's could think such a thing. He looked over at Hashirama whom looked clearly worried about the realization of what their plans seemed like. He shook his head as he decided to let the girl in on their plans.

"As you can see Sakura-san the shinobi life expectancies aren't very high compared to civilians, starting from birth if a child survives by to see their fourth year, from their females have a life expectancy of anywhere from five to twenty years due to unforgiving circumstances due to their gender. After that, males have a life expectancy from five to twenty-four, if they life to twenty-four, they their life expectancy goes to forty, and if they're a very good shinobi they'll live long enough to know their grandchildren, but the chances of that are every one out of thirty people. With this village, we'll be able to cut off on the fighting, as well as pull any children out of the fray, and resources will be able to be dispensed between the four clans without the fear of loss due to a warring clan, as well an increase knowledge about fighting before allowing anyone to take on any sort of missions, and to add to that missions will no longer be a fighting matter either as we've agreed that not only will children not be allowed to fight unless under dire times, but as well that missions will be handed out, through the clans equally".

Sakura took a sip of her tea again. "Do either of you know anything about villages? The inner and outer workings?" She took another sip and a part of him wondered if she was challenging them on their knowledge.

"First off, if the Daimyo's even agreed to this, you'd have to elect a leader, more so they would be the representative of the village altogether, then you'd have to set laws and regulations within the village that don't challenge anything that they Daimyo has put forth himself unless of course you're willing to contend them, and if you even considered that, you'd have to understand the burocracy of the Daimyo's court to understand if you even had the ability to win such debates at all. On top of that you'd have to create a personal guard specifically for the leader of your village because people are going to try to kill them first before they go after the rest of his court, by which would require enormous amounts of training and vetting for both the selected guard and court members."

Hashirama stopped her, his eyes wide. "How do you know all of this?" Yes, he too was curious. Sakura only rolled her green eyes. "And that's only a small portion of things you'd have to workout, irrigation, farming, livestock, agriculture, finance, then you have to think about the residence and whether you'd be willing to assimulate those that wanted to immigrate to your village and how you'd do this successfully without taking in any unwanted persons by that of the Daimyo".

She brought him up a lot. He had to stop her before she destroyed Hashirama's brain. "Sakura" she blinked owlishly up at him. "Yes?" "Your knowledge of village infrastructure is very impressive" It was there, just a smidge of a blush, an oh so slightly reddening of the cheeks and he wanted interestingly as it disappeared just as quickly as it came.

"At least you could tell me that you've don't more than think up names for your village" Hashirama rubbed his neck with large sad eyes as if he had just been kicked. "I thought that was the most important aspect was naming a village". He sighed for once thankful that Tobirama had some sort of brain in his demonic mind.

He leaned forward just slightly and crossed his arms. "As of right now, we have been discussing the peace treaty only, it is the most important discussions as of yet, and once that had been signed we can move forward with discussing the framework of the village, if you'd like I could allow you to sit in on those discussions"

Sakura scoffed. "Allow me" She huffed indigently and Hashirama got his bearings together. "Hopefully as soon as the peace treaty is signed Ashina-san, the leader of the Uzumaki clan will have made it to the mainland, due to his position I think we can learn a lot from him, he's a very good leader if considering he's been leading the village for twenty years".

"Sixty years". His eyes met hers then and he noted that she wasn't looking at either of them as she avoided by picking up her teacup once more and sipping at it carefully. He looked over at Hashirama then whom was scratching at his neck. "Sorry my knowledge on the Uzumaki clan is not very well versed".

"Obviously, because you would know that Ashina-sama is not a chief of the Uzumaki, but the Daimyo of Uzushiogakure and is a member of the Uzumaki the royal clan of Uzushiogakure as there are more clans that make up the village and by marriage are related to the Uzumaki, and yes Ashina-sama would make an excellent source of information to regards of building up a working base for a village as he's been carrying his village since he was nine years".

Hashirama tugged his arm then obviously flustered at being told something he should have known as he was marrying into clan. "Stop it!" He pulled his arm away from the larger man. "Madara!" Hashirama looked over at Hashirama once more whom looked back and forth between him and Sakura before whispering carefully. "I think she's a spy!" He looked over at Sakura who had rolled her eyes obviously hearing what the loud-mouth had just whispered to him. He pushed Hashirama away from him as Sakura sighed. "Not even, and if I had been you whispering about it at a level I could hear would not be helping in your case where as if I hadn't known of your suspicions you would have been able to catch me actually spying on you, and yet you still have yet to conclude your statement because you haven't deducted whom I'm spying on you for".

He looked back over at Hashirama who's eyed were as wide as plates and he looked to be sweating from pure embarrassment. He smirked at the Senju. "She really got you there". Hashirama glared at him as he looked back at Sakura. "Say Sakura-san". She looked over at him boredly. "You seem to know a lot about the Uzumaki" Before he could say anymore Sakura was already explaining. "As I said earlier I've been documentating my travels" She pointed at a spot in Ketsueki Bay where fine calligraphy pinpointed where Uzushiogakure was. "Was there a few months ago, in my opion if your gonna travel to place outside your country, then perhaps you should learn about where you're going, it seems only logical".

Sakura's large green eyes looked over at Hashirama and he knew then that she was taking a harsh jab at the Senju and his lack of knowlege for a clan that he was marrying into.

Still though he wondered what would have taken her to the islands?

Uzushiogakure wasn't exactly known for much. Looking back at the woman before he looked her over once more, he doubted she was a Uzumaki, she didn't have the coloring, especially with her green eyes. He'd met with representatives of the Uzumaki clan when he was younger, all the younger had red-red hair, like tomatoes, and the elderly with white hair the color of the moon, and the main representative with his creepy eyes the color of violet flowers, while the others had black eyes. His father had been put off by their looks, not bothering to even consider a marriage proposal by them just for their looks.

After his father died and they'd contacted him again with a proposal, he'd discussed the possibilities of marrying Izuna to a Uzumaki woman with the elders. All of them reminding him of the fact that Ashina had not one son and all daughters, who had birthed all daughters, whom had also birthed all daughters, even now with his newest wife he'd been given another daughter. With that knowledge the proposal was turned away.

Sakura suddenly rolled up the map and put it in her pack just as the hostess walked back into the room with another kettle for them.

The hostess bent down carefully as she switched out the teapots, pausing for a single second as when she turned to look over at Sakura before she sighed and stood up gracefully.

"Sakura-san you need to change your bandages". Sakura looked confused for a moment before they all looked down at her wrists and noted that they were strained with blood.

"There are bandages and medicine in the storage, help yourself". Sakura nodded her head as she stood up, leaving her pack behind.

He knew that she left it in order to reassure them that she wasn't going to run away. He doubted she would, she needed Hashirama to undo the seals.

The hostess sighed as she picked up the empty platter. "I knew eventually that girl would be caught". He looked over at the hostess, it was obvious that she knew Sakura wasn't a normal woman, but now it was confirmed that she knew exactly why Sakura was special.

"How long has she been coming here?" He was curious as to how long Sakura had been in Hi no Kuni. "I'd say something about a year now, but it's very sporadic, she comes and she goes".

A year! He looked over at Hashirama whom was just as surprised as he was. A year and nobody till now had seen her. The hostess lowered her voice then. "I would be careful with her though, don't want the Daimyo's to find out about her".

This time he was confused. "What do you mean?" He understood that someone would get in trouble because of her chakra being unbound, but at the moment in time it was sealed. The hostess put her hands on her hips. "Do you even understand what you're traveling with there?" He looked over at Hashirama who was clearly interested in what this civilian had to say.

She looked at them with pity. "By the gods you don't". She looked back at the screen for a moment before she looked back at them. "The daimyo's can't ever find out about that girl, they'd kill her on the spot". Hashirama sounded as confused as he was. "Her chakra has been sealed though, it wouldn't make sense for them to kill her".

"The Daimyo's won't care about whether or not she's sealed, the moment they find out about her chakra they'll kill her and all who know about her. The Daimyo's run this country with fear and power and Sakura ... well now, they find out about what that girl can do, no one will be safe from the Daimyo's".

"But why though?" He rubbed his neck. Trying to figure it out for himself, the hostess eyes were serious then and her voice grave. "Sakura is a living God". He shook his head when he heard Hashirama start to choke on his tea. Quickly he hit the Senju on his back as he turned back to the hostess. "Sakura is not a God". She shrugged her shoulders.

"Tell me then Shinobi-san what else would you call a being that holds the power of life and death in the palms of their hands?" She looked over at Sakura's pack and picked it up continuing on. "There's a story I was told as a child" She pulled out the map that Sakura had stuffed in the bag and rolled it onto the tatami mats. "About a woman who'd given birth to a child, a kings bastard child, but this girl was special". she unrolled the map completely and his eyes widened as he noticed that it continued beyond Oni no Kuni country. "She could control nature and bend the will of others, she was a god, and her people feared her and tore her apart, all because they didn't understand her ... since then our world has been cursed to kill each other. The Daimyo's can't have someone walking around with power like Sakura's so they kill all those that have it, and destroy all those that know about it" She pointed towards a small country beyond the five nations then. "Beyond the five Daimyo's grasp she can thrive".

She rolled the map up then and placed it back in Sakura's pack "She won't go for it though, whatever she's doing, she has a need to keep coming back here, but if she's sealed perhaps maybe she'll listen, but then again, nobody's ever made it out of the five nations alive".

What was Sakura doing in the five nations? Did she know how dangerous it was to be her alive? That wasn't really the question at all because he knew she would know, and he knew she didn't care or else she wouldn't be there. Especially so out in the open as she was right now. Sakura was taking a huge chance on them by revealing herself, she wouldn't have known that the Uchiha or the Senju wouldn't turn her in. Then again, perhaps she did know, she revealed herself to Izuna and Tobirama first, perhaps that was her way of testing the waters?

"I'll be going now Shinobi-san". She turned away then and left them with their thoughts.

"Madara". He looked over at Hashirama who looked serious then. "What should we do? If what the hostess says is true then we are putting not only ourselves but our kinsmen at risk". He looked back over to the screen. "I told you it would be better to keep her close ... besides who knows about her anyways? If she's been in Hi no Kuni for at least a year and not even we knew about her until recently then I doubt anyone else actually knows that she has chakra".

Hashirama didn't look comfortable with it though. "She said she went to Uzushiogakure though, people must have seen her". Now he was being paranoid. "Maybe people have seen her, maybe they haven't, you heard the woman earlier, Sakura changed her hair color, perhaps the previous color wasn't even her original either, if people were to have seen her, I doubt the she showed off the fact that she had chakra anyhow".

Hashirama turned to him then and gave him a look that his father had given him once, it wasn't a good feeling. "Madara, I can tell you are attracted to her, but do not let it cloud your judgement". He knew he didn't like that look for a reason.

"Oh I am very attracted to her, but that hasn't hindered my ability to think logically like it would you for instance, logically though Sakura is someone we need to keep on our side. Her healing abilities are chakra based and that means she can teach both the Uchiha and Senju how to heal like she does. Sakura pointed out something very important though, we can't be sure that the Daimyo's will even allow us to build this village. If they don't they will likely try to kill all of us and then Sakura's healing abilities will be more important that ever".

Hashirama still didn't seem convinced. "Madara, you're asking me to put my clansmen's lives on the table for a girl that could get us all killed you understand that right?" "The Uchiha will be just as culpable as the Senju will be, besides you really think the Daimyo's army or even the Imperial Guard are any match against our clans when put together?"

Hashirama sighed then as he took a sip of his tea. "She's rather intelligent for a woman of her age don't you think?" He sighed back to Sakura it was then. "She's rather intelligent in general". Hashirama took another sip of his tea before setting it down and looking over at him again. "Begs the question about her upbringing".

What was he getting at? He took in the Senju who was looking over at the pack that Sakura had left. "Tobi believed her to be a stray at first, perhaps she wasn't in the beginning ... I don't like how she knows things that you and I don't". He turned to him then and Hashirama looked at him as though he didn't want to speak his next words but he did. "We need to see what her guts are made of".

He didn't like that at all.

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With the Corona Virus effecting the world right now I'd like to hope that all of your are safe and healthy.

Anyways

thank you for reading. See you in the next chapter!

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Reviews are welcome.

Translations:

Nīsan - Older Brother

Otōto - Little Brother

Udon no Kuni - Land of Noodles

Kama - Japanese sickle/scythe

Gunbai - War Fan

Godaime Hokage - Fifth Fire Shadow

Shodai Hokage - First Fire Shadow

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Nakama - Friends

Meisaigakure no Jutu - Hiding with Camouflage Technique

Henge no Jutsu - Transformation Technique

Mizu no Kuni - Land of Water

Hōrō-sha - The Wanderer

Hakke no Fui Shiki - Eight Trigrams Sealing Style

Tensei Ninjutsu - Life Transfer Techniques or Reincarnation Ninja Techniques

Shimo no Kuni - Land of Frost

Kaminari no Kuni - Land of Lightening

Hi no Kuni - Land of Fire

Tetsu no Kuni - Land of Iron

Sora-Ku - Sky Ward

Ninso - Ninja Monk

Mizuchi - Japanese River Spirit

Ningen - Ember

Ketsueki - Blood

Oni no Kuni - Land Of Demons

- Aethi