Ever since she was a child she had some sort of a problem when it came to sleeping. Sometimes noises wouldn't let her fall asleep, sometimes noises woke her up, but mostly it was having nightmares that bothered her. Not always specifically scary dreams, most of the time they were just strange and she always woke up feeling tired. The sun still didn't come up, as she laid on her bed, contemplating the past. She dreamt about the river. The place where twelve years ago she met Madara and Hashirama. Things have changed so much since then. She remembered coming to the river bank almost everyday after her recovery. She would have died if it wasn't for them, she was sure about that. Remembering their idealistic, stupid ideas and dreams made her realize how lucky they all were. Maybe they weren't that stupid after all. Because now, she woke up safe and sound, alive in her home, in her new village. If twelve years ago someone told her that a village would be founded, where all the clans and families would live toghether, she would have laughed.Even as a child she understood at least the basic facts about the war. But if you asked her how all of this happened, the peace treaty and the founding of the village, she wouldn't know what to say. It was all so confusing, not only to her. The only thing she knew was that the Daimyo was involved, and the key factors were the two big, mighty clans. The Uchiha and the Senju. The treaty was signed two years after her encounter with her two friends, signed by their fathers. Ever since she had met them, she always thought peace would come with Madara and Hashirama as leaders.That's why the treaty took everyone by surprise. A pleasent surprise, least to say. She would be lying if she said there was no tension, even 10 years after the founding, but at least it was decreasing slowely in time. Better tension than war.
She did live alone though, all her family members dead. That was the burden she always carried with herself, that would define her in almost every aspect of her life.
She shook her head and rubbed her forehead, cursing herself for waking up this early. All these thoughts seemed to come when she had nothing to do. Two more hours untill the meeting.
"For now, the two of you should stick together as a tag team. You will be trained together as well. Later on we will make some changes."
Changes were never made, and Madara still was her partner. Being trained with him made her excell in a way she never thought she could. And the two of them together, well, they were unstoppable. When they were kids, the village still didn't have a stable system, especially when it came to educating and training young shinobi. There was no academy, the children weren't being devided into teams of three like nowdays, there were no rankings or special ops teams whatsoever. She and her friends were part of this generation that didn't really belong anywhere. They weren't defined by rules and regulations. Not like they had to be, they all made names for themselves, at a very young age, which allowed them to act somewhat independently. All of them answered to the village, of course, but if being war children brought them anything good, it was the fact that non of the elders dared to order them around too much.
Two hours passed rather swiftly. She quickly got herself ready and headed to the training grounds. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that made her feel rather peculiar, but she couldn't help but zone out many times during the walk. Once she got there, she saw him.
Uchiha Madara. His face hasn't changed much since they were kids. He was much taller than her though, always towering over her with his muscular physique. Even his hair was longer than hers, the wild black mane perfectly framing his features. He was standing there, hodling his falcon pet on his arm. It was a rather majestic scene, both him and the wild animal looking proud and regal. As she approached, the bird sensed her and spread its wings. Madara simply lifted his arm a bit, as if to give it a little push and with that, it flew away.
"He still doesn't like you." said Madara with a little smirk.
"The feeling is mutual, trust me." added Mizumi jokingly, since she had always tried really hard for the bird to get to love her. Unfortunately for her, it seemed that it wouldn't happen any time soon. Which was funny in a way, since she was the one that had no problems communicating with anyone. Always approached by people, Mizumi was a girl that was loved by almost everyone. People always opened up to her, and she always listened. Maybe it's my face, she reckoned. On the other hand, Madara wasn't much of an open person. People weren't his strongest suit. Not that he hated them, on contrary, he cared a lot. He just never showed it. And she hated that about him, since she knew him so well, she just wished others knew it too. But still they saw him as a rather intimidating person. Maybe it's his face, too.
"What do you think they have for us? A meeting at the training ground, it's a bit strange." he looked at her, noticing how sleep-deprived she looked. Again.
"I just hope it's nothing important. I'm tired."
"Bad dreams again, huh?" he asked, knowing his comrade very well by now. As she was telling him about her dream, both reflected on the past. Nothing too much, as they sensed Umino Eizo walking in the distance. Eizo was around the age of Madara's father, a pleasent man, one of the teachers at the new academy. There was something very fatherly about his presence. He used to command certain units, as well as the duo in front of him, and even though he was a teacher now, he didn't fully abandon his old duties.
"Eizo-sensei, came to spar?" Mizumi always had a friendly and humorous approach to anyone, even her superiors. "Very brave of you, chosing to fight much younger and stronger oponents."
"Eizo-sensei." added Madara with a subtle bow.
"Younger yes, stronger I wouldn't agree so quickly, little Mizumi." said the old man, who without any small talk, handed them two scrolls. He was always a man of duty and practicality, never unnecessarely losing time.
"There is no much to explain as everything is written in those scrolls. The council wants the two of you to already start with it tommorow. And sorry for meeting me here, I know is a bit unconventional, but they will join us here."
With her brows raised, and her friend equaly confused, they simultaneously opened the scrolls. You got to be kidding me. She didn't hate the idea though, it was most definately going to be fun, especially with Madara. Turning to him, she started laughing quitely .
"This should be fun, huh?" she asked him mockingly. He snorted, giving her a defeated look.
"This was exactly what I needed in my life right now." he whipered to her. And with that, they saw them approaching from the distance.
"You have to admit they are cute. Don't they remind you of us?" Mizumi asked while packing her bag. She was going through her new kunai collection she bought on her last mission. Madara just gave her a cynical look, sitting beside her, annoyed by her overly enthusiastic approach to this new problem. Yes, to him bringing three kids on a mission was a problem. Not kids, three young shibobi who never went outside Konoha, let alone to another land. Mizumi thought of it as an excellent opportunity to challenge herself as a future teacher. She just hoped Madara would loosen up a bit, he was difficult enough in a duo, and now there would be 5 of them. To make things even worse, one of the kids was his own nephew. Or cousin, she wasn't sure. The Uchiha family was the biggest one in the village, it was hard to remember the connections. Uchiha Kaito was, to her surprise, the mare opposite of Madara, behavior wise. If someone could fuse Madara and Hashirama into one person, Kaito would be the perfect example. With the characteristic fair complexion and black hair and eyes, he was unmistakably a typical Uchiha, but he was just so happy. In the short introduction on the training grounds, he managed to trip and fall more than ten times, constantly laughing and making a fool out of himself. She didn't know what was funnier, the clumsy boy or Madara just standing there, with utter disappointment written all over his face. But what she did know was that she was going to get along with this boy. The second member of the trio was Namikaze Hayao, a equally funny kid. His blonde hair was tied into a short ponytail, big eyes hinting big mischief. He was similar to Kaito, just less clumsy, so it seemed. The third one was a quite girl, Sattori Nozomi. Although quite, she was by no means shy. She just didn't like talking, Mizumi noted. That reminds me of someone.
As she finished packing her bag, she looked at Madara, giving him a somewhat reassuring look.
"It will be over before you know it. Now go home and pack your stuff."
"Easy for you to say. Hn." and with that he got up, hitting her lightly over her head.
"We're meeting at the gates, don't forget! And don't forget to bring Kaito." she said with a slight laughter. Oh this really is going to be fun.