Chapter THREE
Tension filled the clearing. Madara eyed Senju Hashirama, but didn't say anything.
The Mokuton user had arrived with his clansmen a moment ago, and now, they were waiting for the return of the Senju scout.
Beside him, Izuna sighed. "He's just scouting, right? How long does it take to scout the area?"
Hashirama chuckled nervously. "Maybe he got lost..." He trailed at the blank looks he received. "Okay...maybe he fell down a rabbit hole, or found a cute squirrel..."
Izuna turned to Madara. "Speaking of cute squirrels, isn't Sakura a little late?"
Madara opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a rustle of a branch. All the shinobi in the vicinity turned towards the sound, lowering into stances.
A blur of pink burst from the trees and instantly, all the Uchiha relaxed.
Hashirama watched on curiously as the blur, who revealed itself to be a girl, threw herself into Madara's arms. Madara caught the girl neatly in his arms and allowed her to hug him. The girl buried her face into Madara's chest and stopped moving.
Izuna instantly activated his Sharingan. The Senju shinobi stiffened, but they don't comment as the Uchiha scanned the trees with his bloodline.
"Sakura...?"
Hashirama's eyes widened at the un-Madara-ly soft tone the Uchiha head spoke in.
Madara pulled back a little and slowly lifted his hand to the girl's face. "You're hurt...What happened?"
"Scary man with white hair!" Sakura blurted out. "He came out of nowhere and grabbed me!"
Hashirama had a bad feeling about this.
Madara probably shared his thoughts, for he stiffened a little. "Where is this...man?"
"Sitting in a crater." Sakura grinned proudly.
Izuna was grinning madly. "I see...I see..."
Madara, on the other hand, didn't look as pleased.
"You didn't kill him, right?"
Sakura nodded slowly. "Just winded, I think."
Madara relaxed, already sensing the younger Senju heading towards them. In the next second, Tobirama appeared next to his brother in a puff of smoke. Sakura gasped and quickly ducked behind Madara.
Tobirama looked at her, then Madara, and finally landed his red gaze on Izuna. He gave the Uchiha an once over, eyes narrowing.
Even if Izuna hadn't died from the attack, he should be no where near as recovered as he was.
In fact, he was sure the injury had been fatal.
Izuna must have sensed the look, for he turned and challengingly met Tobirama's gaze.
Hashirama nervously cleared his throat. "Okay...Now that we're all here, why don't we..." He received a dirty look from Madara and sighed. "Tobi, did you attack the poor girl?"
Tobirama narrowed his eyes. "Don't call me Tobi." He said, then leaned in a little. "I saw her in the forest, but not even I could sense her chakra. Obviously, I thought she was a spy or something."
Hashirama's eyes widened in horror. "Don't make it a habit to attack girls like that." He said. "You'll never get a girl."
"Yeah!" Sakura called over. She had slipped out from behind Madara and was now standing with her arms crossed beside Izuna.
"Brother..." Tobirama murmured.
Madara cleared his throat. "This is Sakura." He said curtly. "She is..." There was only a brief pause to indicate his unease. "My younger sister."
Hashirama couldn't help the glance he sent towards Tobirama, whoes eyes were wider than usual. Behind them, the Senju shinobi shuffled nervously.
"I...didn't know you had a sister." Hashirama managed to say.
Madara eyed him, unimpressed.
Hashirama cleared his throat. "Anyways, now that we're all here, let's begin."
After a while of sitting and simply listening to talks about resources and people and statistics and a whole other bunch of boring, complicated things, Sakura was bored out of her mind.
Izuna managed to keep her awake with constant proddings and pokes, but by the time Hashirama suggested a short break, Sakura was ready to fall asleep.
"Madara, can I bring Sakura to stretch her legs?" Izuna murmured.
Madara glanced at the girl, eyes soft. "...Yes. Be careful."
Izuna offered him a mock salute, then scooped Sakrua up into his arms. The pinkette yelped as the ground vanished from underneath her. Izuna held under his arm like a sack of potatoes and jumped up into the trees.
"Izuna!" Sakura let out another squeal and her brother landed, purposely making the branch shake. Leave whirled around them and floated down. "I'm gonna fall!"
Izuna spun around. "I won't drop you." He said. "Promise." He placed her onto the spot next to her and grabbed her around the shoulder, to both hold onto her and to drag her down into a crouch.
He plucked a leaf from a nearby branch and held it out to Sakura. "We're going to play a game." He said.
Sakura's eyes instantly brightened at the mention of a game. Having lived almost ten years within the compound, Sakura hadn't had much time to play with others.
Izuna stretched his arm out and let go of the leaf. The two of them leaned out to watch it fall. The leaf landed on the ground about a meter from Madara.
"Dang." Izuna clicked his tongue. "The aim is to land a leaf on Madara's head, okay?"
Sakura nodded enthusiastically. Izuna handed her a leaf.
Madara had survived a war not even his own father had lived through. Of course he knew what his silly siblings were up to. However, he decided to entertain them, and stayed rooted to his spot. A leaf, dropped by Izuna, brushed his sleeve before it landed on the ground.
They were getting closer.
He could sense Sakura's annoyance, and held back his amusement from showing on his face as he noted that Izuna had forgotten something pretty important.
His brother had always been pushed around by Sakura's ability.
Finally, Sakura snapped.
"Order, order." She murmured under her breath.
'What do you want, kura-chan?'
Izuna noticed a second too slow. "Wait! Kura, that's cheat-"
"Land a leaf on nii-sama's head."
Madara casually stepped to the side as all the leaves on the tree Sakura and Izuna had been perched on crashed down onto the stop he had previously been occupying.
Sakura had just made things a whole lot more complicated, and Izuna was the cause.
His younger brother was an idiot.
So, here's the new chapter!
Darque: So, i jus trealized I have no idea what Izuna's character was like, so he may be SUPER OOC.
Raven: Marada and Izuna's relationship reminded me a little of itachi and Shisui, I guess.
Darque: That was where I was sort of basing it on.
Raven: Well, I think it's fine. It's a nice kind of relationship, and it's a fanfic...
Darque: Meh.
Read and Review!