Thanks for the lovely reviews, favorites and followers. You guys keep me going!

Rangrids - Nah, no problems! I was also busy with college and work, which is why I couldn't update my stories as I would normally. Thanks for the review!

Dumti - I've already seen two stories where Naruto saves either Madara's brother or Hashirama's brother. Anyways, the plot in my story will most certainly be different. Do not fear, my reader. Nah, no worries. Thanks for the review! :D

ilovestorys - Of course, she will find love, but I'm still debating on which pairing.

AJGuardian - I like dramatic stories, can't let it all be revealed too soon. There is no fun in that.

idea getthe - Well, you can actually blame all three of them. Meh.

Here is a list of the ages of the characters:

- Hashirama/Madara: 12 years old

- Tobirama/Izuna: 10 years old

- Naruto: 9 years old

- Itama: 7 years old

Asura's Will

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By Angelbloodlover

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~ "Reality continues to ruin my life.
―

Bill Watterson, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

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Chapter 4: Brotherly Bonds

"Sorry I'm late. I got lost on the road of life."

- Hatake Kakashi

Madara joined them, after Naruto had mouthed to him 'later', which he had accepted without another word.

Once Hashirama had stopped shaking and trembling did he look at Madara and Naruto, pain swirling within his black orbs. "I-I'm sorry-" Before he could even apologize, Naruto stopped him, her tiny hands effectively blocking his mouth. He stared wide-eyed at Naruto as she spoke in a calm tone, "Don't apologize for being human, Hashirama."

The black-haired shinobi stared at Naruto and couldn't help but respect her. There was something about her that brought his heart at ease, even though he still felt suspicious of her behavior. Though, that feeling was diminishing slowly on. She really was honest with them, hiding nothing, not even her family name. Sure, his suspicion of her wouldn't be erased until he was certain that she could be trusted, just like Hashirama. But, he had a feeling she was worming a way inside their hearts. Who wouldn't after meeting sunny Naruto?

Seriously, that girl had a knack for melting ice-cubes.

And thus Madara stayed with Hashirama, along with Naruto, comforting him with the loss of a precious person.

"Peace isn't something meant for us..." Hashirama murmured softly, too soft for a normal civilian's hearing sense.

Naruto perked up at the word peace, something that had plagued her mind constantly. It was the sole reason for her existence- she knew her existence here could only point to that road. She'd have to be stupid not to notice it. Indeed, many thought her to be oblivious, but she was far from it.

Peace was something she longed for.

In the end she had gotten her peace, but at what cost? She had lost her precious people.

...and with them she had lost a part of her identity.

Before she could respond, surprisingly, Madara beat her to it. "That's what it always means to be a shinobi. Death is always knocking on our front door." He sighed, an action so ancient you had to look at his face to see his undeniable youth. "From what I can tell, the only way we can avoid that is to be honest with the other side." Uncertainty laced his voice, but he still voiced out his opinion, "Perhaps even, I don't know, form an alliance with them..." Scowling, he continued, "But that's just wishful thinking because we're all too proud to allow ourselves to be that vulnerable..." He stood up, picking a stone and mustering all his frustration in the stone, he threw it. He smirked in triumph when the stone reached the other side. It may not be as good as Naruto's throwing skills, but he could at least say that he was on par with Hashirama.

Naruto frowned, lips puckering out as she thought about Madara's words. Honesty was a very rare and delicate word for a ninja. Hell, she wasn't even sure if they could be honest with each other, especially in these circumstances. To tell your worst enemies what you truly think and wear your heart on your sleeve, wasn't something easily done by any sane ninja.

Then again, she had practically done the most outrageous things ever in the shinobi history.

Naruto was sure that she was one of the few people who could reveal their fears and secrets. Though, she wouldn't say that she liked it per se, but at times honesty was needed. Ninjas were known to be deceiving creatures and lie through their teeth- to throw away that 'custom' would be a pain in the ass.

But if there was one thing Naruto was good at, it would be changing people.

"...ruto-Naruto? Naruto?!" Madara shouted in her ear, annoyance leaking off his persona.

She blinked her eyes, her questioning gaze locked with equal onyx black eyes. "Huh?"

"We were trying to get your attention this whole time, but you didn't react at all."

Averting her attention on Hashirama, she felt a sudden fierce determination flow through her veins. "I apologize, I was too deep in my thoughts." Her eyes shifted towards Madara and then she stood up, mind already made up. "It's settled. I will fight for peace with every strength I have so every child could enjoy their childhood instead of learning how to survive in a war, starting with the ancient hatred between the Uchiha and the Senju." She dutifully ignored their stiff, wide-eyed expression and continued confidently. "I will break that so-called hatred between those clans. And once those big clans choose to form an alliance, the rest of the other clans will follow."

She hadn't felt this confident in ages.

Bright and warm, that was all the two teenagers could think of as Naruto continued with her devoted speech. Such a fiery passion and brutal honesty. They had never encountered someone like her before and they were glad they did. Because Naruto truly was one of a kind, a special ball of sunshine in these dark, bloody times. Her speech sucked them in and for once both of them believed in Naruto, they believed that she would break this hatred between these clans.

She reached her hands towards the two and grinned widely, eyes crinkling upwards in happiness, "I hope I can count on you two to achieve the peace we all long for."

Two nods and silently the duo grabbed Naruto's hands.

That day the trio made an alliance that would never be forgotten. Later, when they would grow up they would fondly think of this moment and treasure it deep within their hearts.

"Madara! You cheater!" Naruto yelled indignantly, pointing an accusing finger at her enemy-turned-friend. At the moment, the trio were training their balance, standing on top of the river with one leg. But Naruto was sure she had felt Madara's chakra flicker to keep his other leg and arms in balance. There was no way she would let him get off with that.

Hashirama decided to ignore them instead of becoming the peace-maker. He knew all too well how useless that was.

Snorting, Madara replied, chin tilted upwards, "Baka, no sane ninja would play fair. What are you? A samurai!"

Naruto glared heatedly at him and slowly on a cruel smirk appeared on her face, making Madara wary of her next actions, "Oh yeah, take this, teme!" Summoning up wind chakra, she blew him off-balance and smirked smugly as he was falling in the water. Though before he fell in the water, he pulled the surprised Naruto with him.

Hashirama smiled slightly, looking at his wet friends, "Well, it seems I am the only winner." He stopped the exercise, which had actually been a competition between the trio. Unfortunately, Madara and Naruto didn't like the idea that he wasn't wet like them and decided to even the score and pulled him in the freezing water.

When he appeared on the surface, he glared sourly at the duo. "You two suck!"

"No as much as that haircut of yours." Madara insulted him, evading Naruto's punch towards his poor head.

Dark, gloomy clouds appeared above him, "So mean..."

"Stop with that depressi-Oi, Naruto, stop t-Hey, ouch. Okay, okay, stop that!"

Hashirama stopped being gloomy and laughed instead, hoping that his little brother would have a much better life than he had in this cursed, war-torn era. Looking at his friends, and yes, he called them friends, he was glad to have met them both. He wasn't sure what would have become of him if it weren't for the two. Sure, he would have survived but what would have happened to his personality and dream?

He didn't know and frankly, he didn't want to know.

Let bygones be bygones.

"Ne, the both of you can stop being all lovey-dovey. We should be training instead!"

One, two, t-"We are no lovers, you fool!" The Sharingan-users shouted in unison and then glaring at each other.

Itama frowned unhappily when the real Naruto still hadn't returned. Did something bad happen to her? He didn't know and when he had asked the clones about her whereabouts, they shrugged, saying that she was training near the river, where Naruto had him spar on top of the water a few day ago.

That didn't ease his heart and he decided to go looking for her.

Unfortunately, the clones didn't let him, blocking his path and stating, "Boss said we have to keep guard of you and not let you roam the area."

So, Itama was stuck training with his over-protective sensei, being restless and praying that Naruto was safe, wherever she may be at the moment.

Hashirama had remained with Naruto, even after Madara had left, promising to meet each other near the riverbank to continue their training. There was something soothing about her presence and he longed to remain in that calming atmosphere, knowing that once he returned to his clan compound, he'd feel the pang of loneliness again.

"Tell me about your brother, Hashi-kun." Naruto murmured softly, her eyes never leaving the pure, flowing river. She remembered that once upon a time her eyes had been the same ocean-blue, but that was such a long time ago, that she'd forgotten so easily. Turning her attention on the wood-user, she smiled softly, "Talking helps, believe me."

A weak chuckle escaped his lips and he nodded, and if Naruto noticed the tears rolling down his cheeks, she didn't speak of it.

"On the day that my little brother had been born..."

"Please, I need to look for her! Maybe she is in trouble!" Itama whined in a high-pitch tone. Really, after all the things he had tried, hell, even Genjutsu and Kenjutsu, Naruto's apparent weaknesses, the clones didn't budge. They wouldn't let him go to look for Naruto, who might be in danger.

Stubbornly, the clones refused, stating that they would dispel if Naruto might be in danger, which was not the case either.

After begging them, he opted to glare at them, hoping they'd get dispelled by his laser beams.

One of the clones chuckled, ruffling his hair, which made him scowl even more and cross his arms over his chest, like a petulant child.

"So because he had two different sets of hair color most children tended to tease him about it. So one day, he had enough of all the teasing and poured black ink over his white hair, which made tou-san very angry. You should have seen the look of my father when he noticed that his precious ink had been used for such a stupidity. As a punishment Itama was forced to wash away the ink that he seemed to love. Father sure could be cruel at times..."

He laughed softly, remembering the good times he had with Itama and he would make sure to cherish them close to his heart.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he stared at the shocked Naruto, eyes wide as saucers. "Naruto, are you alright?" He asked worriedly, wondering what was going on inside her head.

"I think I have something that belongs to you." She stood up, shoulders stiff and an unknown emotion flashing in her orbs. "Follow me."

"Naruto! Wait, what do you mean?!" He didn't get an answer and simply followed her, sighing softly as he hopped from tree branch to tree branch.

"For the love that's all holy, let me through!" He ducked under a punch and aimed a kick to a clone's chest, but missed and received it back in kindness.

"Oof!" He was sent flying towards a tree and groaned as dizziness overtook his senses. Thankfully, he had sensed another clone attacking him and rolled away from the ear-shattering axe-kick. He didn't know why she used that attack so much, but she seemed overly fond of it. He despised it, too damn painful.

He flickered behind her, a punch aimed at the clone's head, but she blocked the attack right on time, grinning widely as she did so. "Got'cha!"

That foreboding look in her eyes, he couldn't help it. He shivered, stumbling backwards, "Heh. I-I think we have practiced enough, Naruto-sensei."

"But, Itama-kun, we've only started with the fun part, don't you think so girls?"

A chorus of 'hai' was heard and it was at that moment that Itama feared for his life for the second time. He'd rather face five Uchiha men instead of cackling Narutos.

When Naruto ordered Hashirama to follow her through the forest, she hadn't expected this. She really didn't and neither did Hashirama who couldn't keep his eyes off the sight in front of him.

There was his baby brother, alive and breathing, and laughing in happiness. He couldn't even remember the last time he had heard him so at ease. His knees buckled, wondering if this was a dream, dispelling the possibility of a Genjutsu. The image didn't waver and his little brother remained there, still alive and laughing. "I-Itama..." His throat hurt from the sudden dryness and he licked his lips, ignoring the sting in his eyes.

Eyes wide and fearful, he stood up with shaking knees and ran towards his brother, his emotions bubbling out of him, "Itama!"

He saw his brother's back stiffen, ignoring the dispelled clones, who had tickled him and threw himself on his brother. To think that he got his brother back felt like a dream where he never wanted to wake up. Afraid that he might vanish, he hugged his little brother, listening to his erratic breathing as his little brother started bawling his eyes out, apologizing that he didn't come back sooner.

He felt the salty tears roll down his cheeks and he didn't care about appearances because oh Kami his brother was with him and not dead. His brother was alive and he would damn well make sure that he'd stay that way. "Itama, I missed you so much.."

Itama's crying only got louder and Naruto watched the scene with soft eyes, her mind at ease that she had rescued, unknowingly to her, Hashirama's brother.