Growing up with no secure future had made him snappish and broody and he acknowledged it.

So making friends with someone who didn't put him on a pedestal was a breathtakingly fresh experience for him. He knew Hashirama was also a Shinobi but they both happily ignored the possibility.

Out of all the sons that his father now had, Madara was the strongest son of the clan head, and thus he had been named the Hier today. The prior heir to the clan his half-brother Junpie had died in the war with the Kaguya clan, both he and Izuna-chan were guarded more fiercely as they have the most potential to awaken a powerful Sharingan having a mother from the Susanoo line.

But his time with Hashirama was interrupted by one of his clan members. His heart missed a beat when she came into sight, it was one of his clan members, the curly black hair and the training clothes were similar to his own, but instead of raising an alarm she simply asked them to shut up. Walked up to the shade of the tree, laid down, shifted until she was comfortable, and fell asleep.

Both of them stared at her and Hashirama in a quiet voice decided that today was the perfect day to nap. And within moments the brown-haired boy was snoring beside his clan mate.

Madara feels settled like never before and simply meditated. Sitting here in this weird kind of bubble was surprisingly freshening, maybe he should bring Izuna next time, and he felt soft in his heart when he realized that Hashirama thought him to be safe enough to fall asleep in his presence.

So he sat at the riverbank and finally focused on the tiny cool chakra that was flitting in and out of his range. He carefully flicked the other persons' chakra and waited patiently for them. Within 5 minutes there is a white-haired child on the other side of the bank.

Madara raises an eyebrow at the child who scowls back at him, the brat crosses the river in a few jumps and is visibly surprised to see Hashirama sleeping.

'The hell?' the brat whispers to himself as he goes and settles beside Hashirama, he takes Hashirama's head and places it in his lap as the sleeping boy is the most precious thing in this world for him, and starts running his finger through brown hair. Hashirama simply nuzzles back and goes entirely limp and the small consciousness he was holding onto faded into a deep thrum of content feeling.

Nearly two hours later the white-haired brat slowly started to wake Hashirama. He started by scratching his scalp and slowly coaxing him to sit up. Madara turned to look at them and saw that the girl had already woken up and talked softly to the brat.

Madara had never seen this side of Hashirama before as his brown-haired friend woke up and he looked just so soft, ten minutes later everyone was awake and chattering away, the white-haired brat was Hashirama's half-brother named Tobirama, and the girl was Senmi from the Izanami line.

Once the girl and Hashirama's brother realized both of them were of the same age and hit a fast friendship when they realized that they had many common traits.

Tobirama was smart, one in a billion kind of smart, and something in Madara whispered to kill the person before they grew up into their potential.

But he ignored it.

Like usual.

It was often that his brother shirked his duties to escape for a few hours but it was the first time that he had formed a proper friendship with someone. While his brother did wear his heart on his sleeves, Tobirama knew exactly how sly his brother was, and it was all natural for him, the smile, the greetings, asking after people, and forming simple but lasting bonds.

He hadn't ever met someone who could truly say no to Hashirama when Hashirama really, really wanted something.

But for all his prowess Sleep was one thing that his brother didn't get. The nature chakra never actually diminished and his brother was being slowly trained into being a sage so his connection was even stronger. While he could simply tune out his sensing abilities, Hashirama didn't have similar possibilities.

So when he followed the chakra trail, he scowled seeing his brother's friend and found his brother asleep he couldn't control his surprise.

It had been weeks since he saw his brother truly sleep instead of being deep in meditation regulating his chakra and running it along the nature chakra and trying to slowly mix it.

Ignoring the other two he went to sit beside his brother. He gently took his head and placed it in his lap and started carding his finger through the fine hair. Somewhere in him, he felt guilt and shame that his brother didn't feel secure to sleep in his clan room, but out here in the presence of total strangers, he was out cold.

His father's training, in clan fighting, the tension between his mothers, and the constant pressure to do better better better were tiring.

He felt his brother notice his presence and he felt him slowly slip into a true dreamless sleep and somewhere in him he wanted to weep.

But instead, he relaxed, letting his sensing ability slowly push to the back of his mind. If his brother found them safe enough to leave himself undefended then he'll trust in his brother's trust for them.

When he woke up Hashirama felt like someone had pulled out all of the tiredness in his body in one pull. Opening his eyes he saw Tobirama speaking softly to the girl Senmi. At first, he wasn't exactly paying attention to what they talking about. His brother had that soft smile tucked into the corner of his lips but his eyes sparkled with interest and barely restrained emotions.

Once his brain finally woke up, Hashirama silently vibrated in total and utter Glee, when he realized that his brother had made a friend of his own outside the clan, someone who understood him. His brother had found a friend like he had found Madara, he will make his brother some Inarizushi later.

He silently observed then and noticed that Senmi had energy similar to Madara, so the possibility of them being from the same clan was high. Although her energy was wilder than Madara's. Where Madaras' energy was a blazing fire when he was riled up, hers felt like a blazing inferno barely under control even now when she was so calm, a volcanic pressure that was always bubbling under the thin layer of skin waiting to be unleashed.

Having a Hatake mother meant that Tobirama was a lot wilder than normal people and he had felt the same measure of energy in Senmi as well, where the girl had fire his brother had water, a deep source with a calm layer that everyone saw and a whirling whirlpool below.

[A wild untamed energy barely leashed in those tired bones. His mind whispered, make her yours, make her yours, make her yours…]

So he smiled and laughed and made a nuisance of himself, pulled Madara into needless arguments, and poked Tobirama into ranting about something.

And in return, he got silent laughter and quite nod of acceptance when he said that they should meet up again.