One Hundred and Seven.
Madara wakes up in the middle of the night. Ajisai is crying. Not her usual hungry or wet nappy cry either - she sounds frightened. A flash of lightning followed by a roar of thunder soon reveals the reason. Madara gets up and lifts Ajisai out of her crib. "It's alright," he tells her. "It's just a storm. You're safe inside." Not wanting to waste hours trying to get Ajisai back to sleep, only to have her wake up at the next peel of thunder, Madara decides to let her sleep in his bed. She is old enough now that he won't easily crush her.
Madara gets back into bed and tucks Ajisai in beside him. "There, now go back to sleep."
Ajisai climbs into the crook of Madara's arm and curls up there with her thumb in her mouth. Madara settles down to go back to sleep. At least this one is small. Thankfully, after a few months, the older kids stopped trying to sleep in his bed and settled into their own. The next step will be moving Ajisai to Seikitei's room. But not yet.
Madara is about to nod off back to sleep when another roll of thunder heralds the arrival of Sekitei. "Uncle Madara, I'm scared, can I sleep with you tonight?"
"Alright," says Madara. "Come on, and be careful of your sister."
Sekitei climbs into Madara's bed and curls up under his arm, opposite from Ajisai. Madara closes his eyes and tries to get back to sleep.
Crackle, boom! Goes the storm, and the twins appear. "Uncle Madara!" whines Sazanka.
"Come on then," sighs Madara, and the twins climb into his bed as well. It is getting a bit squashed. "Now we just have to wait for Tachi and Lucy."
"But they won't be scared," says Yatsude.
The lightning cracks and the thunder growls. Tachibana and Lucy appear in the doorway.
"You're not scared too are you?" asks Sekitei. "You're a big kid."
"Lucy is scared," says Tachi quickly. "She's just a puppy."
"And so are you," says Madara dryly. "Come on." He gestures for Tachi to come and join them. It is a squash, but soon all five kids and the dog settle down and go back to sleep. Madara sighs, remembering how he and his little brothers were scared of storms, and used to cuddle up to their mother before she died. Now he knows how she felt having a pile of kids crowding around her.
It is surprisingly warm.
Hashirama Senju yelps as Aki attaches herself to his shoulders as soon as she is finished her breakfast. "I wanna go play with Sekitei and the twins today!" says Aki, in her inside yell. "Take me Grandpa!"
"It's six in the morning," says Hashirama. "Your parents aren't even up yet."
"Leave them a note!" says Aki, leaning over Hashirama's head so that she can look him in the eye. "I wanna PLAY!"
"Fine," says Hashirama. "Get dressed. I'll write a note."
Aki tears off to her bedroom, pulling her pyjamas off on the way. Hashirama sighs and writes a note for Kakashi saying that he is taking Aki to Madara's house, and that yes, she has had breakfast. Aki reappears in her skirt and jacket, with her camera hanging around her neck and one pigtail tied. She is scraping the other pigtail into a hair-tie that does not match the first. By the time her hair is done, Aki has reached the shoe rack by the door. She slams her feet into her sandals and jumps up onto Hashirama's back. "Let's go, Grandpa!"
Hashirama transports them through the wall. Aki giggles. "That feels weird," she says.
Hashirama grins and heads off to Madara's house. He takes the long way, and does not rush, but it still only takes half an hour to get there. Madara's house is dark and quiet. "It looks like they are still asleep," Hashirama tells Aki. "Maybe we should come back later?"
"Nope!" says Aki cheerfully. "Let's break in and wake them up!"
"Madara won't like that," says Hashirama, imagining how angry Madara will be if they break into his house at half past six in the morning.
"I don't care!" says Aki. "Let's go!"
Hashirama sighs. "Fine, let's go." He really should stop giving Aki her way in everything. He used to spoil Tsunade like this - and now she's addicted to gambling. Hashirama sneaks through the woodwork with Aki clinging tightly to his back and tiptoes into Madara's room, where he knows Ajisai sleeps in a crib beside Madara's bed. He needs to hold that baby. The more Madara refuses to let him, the more Hashirama wants to cuddle the baby.
When they reach Madara's room, Hashirama stops in the doorway, astonished. Aki giggles and starts taking pictures. Madara is laying flat on his back with his arms flung wide and Ajisai cuddling the side of his face with her thumb in her mouth. Yatsude is lying on top of Madara, with his arms and legs hanging down beside Madara's torso. Cuddled up on either side of Madara using his arms as pillows are Sazanka and Seikitei. Tachibana and Lucy are curled up on Madara's legs, hogging the blankets.
"Sure take pictures," says Madara. "I'm lying here wondering how my life came to this, and you're just taking pictures. Typical Senju."
"I'm a Hatake!" says Aki. "Daddy taught me how to use a camera. And I came to play. How come they are all sleeping on you?"
"They were all scared of the storm last night," says Madara. "Tachibana will deny it, though."
"I'll help you," says Hashirama, lifting Aki off his shoulders. Grinning, he picks up Ajisai.
Madara glares at him. "If I wasn't pinned down right now, I'd sling you to the moon."
Hashirama grins and Aki takes another photo.
Ajisai wakes up and stares at Hashirama curiously.
"Hello," he coos. "I've been waiting a long time to give you a cuddle, cutie-pie."
Ajisai smiles, showing a little tooth poking through her gum. "Gaah!" she gurgles, and grabs Hashirama's hair. She hanks hard.
"Ow!" says Hashirama, trying to free his hair from the determined little fist.
Ajisai laughs and grabs a second fistful of hair with her other hand, and pulls even harder.
"Let go, let go!" Hashirama tries to take back his hair. Then he hears a most surprising thing.
Madara is laughing.
Hashirama stares, forgetting the little Uzumaki trying to pull his hair out. "Madara...you're happy." Hashirama feels tears in his eyes, and a sudden lightness fills his heart. His best friend, who never felt life worthwhile, is smiling - laughing - genuinely.
"Oh…" says Madara. "Is that what that strange feeling in my chest is. How quaint."
Light fills Hashirama's vision. Ajisai slips through his arms and falls to the bed with a soft bump. "Oh…" says Hashirama. "It looks like this is goodbye."
And then, before he has time to say any more, he is back in the land of the dead. Mito is there, waiting for him.
"Mito? How did you get here?" asks Hashirama, thoroughly confused. "I thought you went to the ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool."
"Well," says Mito. "You remember how I sneaked away to visit the Temple of Joe and the Temple of Jashin to see if there is anything in either of them that would help us find a way to end the reanimation jutsu? I met an old...shall we say friend?...on the way…"
Mito is glad to get out of the Leaf. The reanimations are having to keep mostly out of everyone's way in order to avoid causing a mass panic in the streets. Whistling, she makes her way through the forests of the Land of Fire, a spring in her step. Mito hears a noise.
What was that?
Mito sneaks over to investigate. She sees a strange man who looks as though he is made of chakra sitting cross legged in the grass. Two young people, a boy and a girl, are sitting on either side of him. The man has each youth by the hand and is talking to them in a low voice.
"Feel it - the energy of the universe," he says. "Not your own, but the world around you. This is the energy that masters of Sage Jutsu use. They take in the energy around them and use it for their jutsu. For ninjutsu, your own energy - chakra - is used for the jutsu. For ninshu, you take your chakra, send it out to join with the natural energy, combine them outside your body, using your own chakra to control the world around you. Freezebrain: focus on that seed. No, the one beside it. The one that is almost dead. That's the one. Send your chakra through the earth to that seed. Gather sage chakra as you go. That's the way. Now give that seed life."
All of a sudden, Mito feels a surge of chakra and a great tree grows up out of the ground.
"Now it is your turn, Easily Lost," says the man. Mito knows she has heard his voice somewhere before. "See that dead sapling? Give it life."
There is another great surge of chakra. The dead bush shudders, and bursts into blossom, then the flowers turn to fruit, the fruit ripens and falls to the ground. Wild apples, Mito realizes.
"Now we will take a break," says the man, letting go of the two young people's hands. "You can come out now, Mito. I know you are there."
Mito walks over to the man. "Who are you?" she asks. "I'm sure we have met, but I can't place it."
"Oh? Maybe this will jog your memory," says the man, and transforms, growing larger and larger, until the Nine Tailed Fox towers above her. "Recognize me now, Mito?" he demands, and roars.
Mito fires up her chakra chains. "Who let you out to run free?" she demands.
The two youths run and hide behind the Fox's front leg. "Kurama sensei, who is this scary lady?"
Kurama shrinks back down to human size, transforming into that strange man again. "Oh her? She's just one of my old jinchuriki. She's not like Naruto - she never talked to me at all. In fact, she was very rude."
"Rude? Rude!" Mito splutters. "You're acting like you are some kind of...of…"
"Person?" suggests Kurama. "With siblings and a father? Well, newsflash: I am."
Mito makes a strangled noise and her brain flatlines so hard she finds herself in the afterlife.
Mito glares at Hashirama. How dare he laugh at her so hard?