Hashirama was starting to worry about Ayumi. She had given birth to three children every year over four years. Having so many children couldn't be healthy for her. She may be a Senju, but that didn't mean that the woman had unlimited vitality. After giving birth to Kawarama, the Albino had spent a lot of time resting in bed while the servants cared for her youngest. The only time she was really up was to feed the baby, then she was back to resting again. Hashirama tried to help as much as possible, but his days were usually filled up with lessons or training. He tried to spend as much time as he could with Tobirama as well, but that didn't leave the boy with much free time. Thankfully many servants also helped care for Ayumi Senju and her youngest child, but still.
Ayumi herself was a very dedicated mother. Whenever she had the energy to spare, the white-haired woman was feeding, bathing, dressing and holding her baby, as well as her two older boys. But many time's Hashirama had to beg her to rest as she began to look very pale and gain dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. The boy wanted to do something to help. He knew that many of the servant's time was spent cooking so they couldn't spend as much time helping Ayumi and Kawa-Chan as they'd like. So, he decided, he'd learn to cook as well, to make nutritious food for his Kaa-Chan to give her more strength and free up time for the servants to help look after the baby, their-by give Ayumi more time to care for herself.
He also wanted to learn Medical Ninjutsu, but that would take longer to do than to learn a few recipes. As Hashirama entered the kitchen, the cooks gaped in surprise, "Hashirama-Sama! What are you doing in here?" one of the woman asked. "Excuse me cook-san, I was wondering if I could ask a favour of you" the boy began. "Of course, what is it?" another woman asked. "Will you teach me to cook? Kaa-Chan has been under so much stress lately with Kawa-Chan, I was hoping to learn to cook her some nutritious meals to improve her health a bit" he explained. The women 'awwed'. "That's so sweet of you Young Master!" one of the cooks exclaimed. "I'm sure we could teach you some healthy and simple meals for you to make for Ayumi-Sama" another decided with a nod. The brown-haired boy smiled and bowed, "thank you all very much" he replied.
N/Ĥ
Hashirama proved to be hard to teach to cook, however, he kept trying until he could make a simple meal of Japanese chicken noodle soup. The servants and cooks were impressed with his perseverance and eagerly assisted the boy in his endeavours. Eventually they were successful enough that the head cook deemed it suitable for his Kaa-San to eat. Hashirama insisted on carrying the food tray for them, but one of the servants opened the door for him. The brown-haired boy nodded in thanks, before entering the room, "Kaa-Chan, I made some soup for you, with help of course" he said cheerfully. Ayumi looked up from where she was checking on her baby. Her eyes lit up, "oh, thank you dear, but you didn't have to do that" she replied gratefully.
Hashirama shook his head, "ever since you had Kawa-Chan, you've been really tired and weak. I wanted to help you regain some strength" he explained. The Albino woman smiled lovingly, "oh, you're such a good boy Hashirama, thank you" she replied and sat down on a nearby chair before taking the tray with the bowl of soup. Being carful to blow on it, Ayumi slowly ate the chicken noodle soup. Hashirama waited for her to finish then took the bowl and placed it down on a nearby table. Then he went over to Kawarama's crib. The baby was sleeping again, but that was fairly normal. Babies this young spent most of all their time sleeping and eating, and sleeping when they weren't eating and when they weren't tired, they were hungry.
It's how things were for his Otouto at this point. He remembered vividly, they days of boredom when he had been an infant, unable to control his body, unable to feed himself, unable to even see properly yet. Thankfully, Kawarama was a normal baby, and so wouldn't have to go through all the waiting around to become big and strong enough to do everything. But unfortunately, like himself and Tobirama, Kawa-Chan was likely to be forced to enter the war at one year old. He also remembered Sasuke telling him that Kawarama had been the first of the Shodaime's brothers to die during the war against the Uchiha. According to what that Hashirama had told his friend, Kawa-Chan had been Seven years old when he'd been killed by the Hagoromo Clan and possibly the Uchiha as well.
Therefore, the boy should be safe until then. Right? Plenty of time to try and help him become stronger, plus he could go on missions with Kawarama after the boy had turned Seven to keep him safe.
N/Ĥ
Eventually after a few days, Butsuma went to go see his wife and eldest son. When the man entered the nursery, he found Ayumi feeding Kawarama, with Hashirama hovering over her shoulder like an anxious mother himself. "Hashirama" he called. The long-haired boy looked up at the sound of his voice, his face losing the serene smile it had had just a moment before. He bowed his head, "ohayo Tou-San" he said. "Ohayo dear" Ayumi said, bowing her own head in greeting. Butsuma nodded his head to his wife, he eyes softening a little at the sight of his youngest son, before they hardened when he turned back to his heir, "Hashirama, the servants tell me that you have spent the last three days in here" he stated.
"Well, Kaa-Chan was looking a little unwell recently, so the cooks helped me make her some soup and then I stayed to help care for Kawarama, so that she could relax a little" Hashirama explained. The brown-haired mans eyes narrowed, "cooking is a woman's job, not something for a Clan Heir to be wasting his time with," he stated, "and you needed to spend three days doing that instead of focusing on your training?" Butsuma demanded. "It's a lot of hard work caring for an infant, I wanted to give Kaa-Chan as much help as I could" he replied. The Clan Head scoffed, "what foolishness, we have servants who can do that, now come, you have training to do" he said, grabbing his Eldest and dragging him out of the room.
Kawarama began to cry at all the noise. The last thing Hashirama saw before he was forcibly removed from the Nursery was Ayumi picking the baby up from his box-crib and holding him close.
N/Ĥ
Thankfully, Butusma had had to go to an important Clan Meeting soon after that, leaving the three year old Senju alone to train. Hashirama was just fine with that. In fact he had wanted some time alone to train for a while now. He wanted to try and awaken his Mokuton, and he knew that if Tou-San found out about it, even more pressure would be piled on top of him. And so Hashirama snuck into the forest after the Senju Clan Head had left. He'd already built up a fairly big rapture of Water Style Ninjutsu, his next goal was working on Earth Style. Jumping up, the boy grabbed a handful of leaves from a nearby tree and settled down to begin the Leaf Crumbling exercise.
Hashirama was already very familiar with how his Water Nature Chakra felt, and so he instead focused his attention on looking for a different feel to his Chakra. Meditating was fairly helpful, so he mainly did that to try and find his Earth Nature. Not to mention that it helped him relax, which he desperately needed after everything that had happened recently. When he finally managed to get a feel for his Earth Nature, Hashirama began his Chakra Training exercises. Leaf Crumbling was harder to do than Soaking, since Earth Nature Chakra was hard and rigid. Water on the other hand, flowed easily, making his Chakra able to move easier. The boy had a feeling that if he tried to force his Chakra, it would be even harder to move, so he decided to keep meditating. Maybe he could figure something out that way.
Hashirama's Chakra flowed unevenly and a little wildly. The brown-haired boy tried to get it under control, but it kept pulling away like a thrashing horse. He had a feeling that this kind of Chakra couldn't just be roughly dragged under control. It was literally like trying to coax a plant to flower. He had to be gentle. If he went at it too hard, all he would do was crush that flower. Suddenly he sensed a familiar Chakra Signature nearby. One of the servants came over to him, "Hashirama-Sama, Ayumi-Sama is requesting your presence" she said. The young Senju opened his eyes and stood up, "alright, I'm coming" he replied, leading the way back to the compound.
What neither Hashirama or the Servant noticed, was the small, brand new plant shoot that was sitting right in the middle of where the boy had been meditating.
To Be Continued