Chapter 15

Hashirama Interlude: Just Keep Smiling

Hashirama beamed around at all the faces sitting at the table. He'd imagined a similar scene so many times! Though, in his numerous daydreams, it was usually he and Madara sitting across from each other with the Ino-Chika-Cho as mediators. This was different…but that was okay! Different worked too. Hashirama was determined to make the best of the situation.

"Hey! After this why don't we," he gestured to the trio, "swap seats! We can take turns moderating peace!"

Hashirama's eye twitched as Tobirama gave his shin a sharp kick under the table but managed to keep his beaming smile in place. It didn't even falter when even the genial Akimichi did not smile. Grim expressions all around…No, to be correct there was one friendly face.

Madara's sister (who had apparently been possessed by the Nara) had a tentative smile on her face as she nervously ran her fingers around her cooled teacup. It was a rather hilarious contrast to her two brothers hulking next to her with identical stone-faced frowns. Their tea was untouched. Hashirama watched as she reached for one of the Akimichi senbei, but it was snatched from her grasp and taste tested by one of the Uchiha members before it was slipped back into her hand. Her eyes were wide with surprise as she stared at the bite in her food. The Akimichi's frown deepened at the insult.

"Shadows aren't alive. It has no true physical form. If you managed to burn it to ash as you claim," here the Nara Head tapped the table in an uncharacteristic show of frustration and impatience, "then it can't have been a Nara technique."

Madara's eyes flickered red for the barest fraction of a second before returning to coal black as Hashirama watched his friend reign in his temper. "I've seen the Nara physically choke others with their technique."

"Why would we even attack you? It makes no logical sense."

"Perhaps you planned to pin it on the Senju! You heard the rumors of peace and so you acted to divert it!"

"What?! What kind of – I…are you serious?!" For the first time, Hashirama saw the Nara lose his cool composure to instead sputter indignantly at the Uchiha.

Hashirama's smile twitched as fury increased throughout the room. Just keep smiling…

A squeak of surprise derailed the talks as all eyes swung to the Uchiha-Hime. She was chewing the senbei with a blissed wide-eyed expression. Hashirama watched as Madara literally deflated with a resigned sigh, and the tension dropped by half as he nudged the plate of snacks closer to her.

I stared at the bite taken out of my cookie. That…was incredibly rude of us! I peeked over at the Akimichi members, who had kindly provided the treats, and saw them glaring daggers. Maybe I should have just resisted the treats, but I was bored, confused, nervous, and had wanted something to distract myself with.

Well, if I didn't eat it now the Akimichi would probably get even more angry. I took a tentative bite.

…Oh Gods…this was…this was! The crunch! The salty flavor with that hint of sweet melting on my tongue! The hint of the ocean, and was that nuts mixed in?

As the plate was moved closer to me, I eagerly grabbed another to stuff into my mouth, but then noticed the stares.

Yamanaka-san was eying me in the manner Healers might stare at a novel rash. Nara-san's face was unreadable, and Akimichi-san was puffing up with pride. Hashirama and Tobirama were giving me identical puzzled looks. Huh, for the first time I saw the familial resemblance between the two Senju.

Slowly, Nara-san peeled his gaze away to restart the conversation.

"Do you realize just how much money, time and resources we are losing with the current system? How many times have clients, especially the nobles, pitted us against each other? How many times have we had to take a price cut because of their threat to take their mission to another clan? If we take the—"

I tuned out the Nara when he started ranting numbers. Instead, I focused my attention back on to the delicious cookies. If we made peace with the Akimichi, would I be able to eat this every day? If their cookies taste this good, how would their meals taste? I glanced up at the Akimichi warriors and acknowledged that they sure looked like they enjoyed food. Could we borrow a Akimichi cook? That would likely take marriage…Maybe Izuna could marry an Akimichi? Wait…maybe I could marry an Akimichi! I giggled internally at the ridiculous idea but couldn't help but daydream about the food as I nibbled happily on my cookie.

"—the birth rate alone would be enough to sustain our numbers for at least a century." I tuned back in as Nara-san finished his rant.

Tobirama was looking thoughtful, Izuna looked like someone was doing a rectal exam on him, and Madara and Hashirama had this – 'this was what I've been trying to say for all these years but finally someone was able to articulate it' – looks on their faces.

Hashirama swung his head around to beam at Tobirama. "Yes! Yes! Exactly! See Tobirama! I told you so! Nara-san is smart so you can't just dismiss my ideas as idiotic!"

"Anija…please…stop."

"Izuna. This was exactly what I've been telling you as well."

Izuna and Tobirama shared a reluctant commiserating look before they realized what they were doing and snapped their gazes away.

Izuna Interlude: Avalanche

Somehow, the conversation of the Nara possessing Sophie had devolved into an icy argument between Tobirama and Madara. That wouldn't have been unusual if it wasn't for the fact that the subject of their argument was about the age children should graduate, from a hypothetical Academy, in a hypothetical village.

"Twenty-five!" Sophie chimed in. How much of this conversation she actually understood Izuna had no idea. Everyone paused in their discussions to give Sophie a puzzled look. "It's when brain is all done growing…" She trailed off as she seemed to remember that Izuna, Madara and even herself were all under twenty-five. She fell into a wide-eyed silence. Madara and Tobirama slowly returned to their argument.

Izuna was so confused. He was confused and rather alarmed at how things had gone from a tense questioning of the Nara to…whatever this was. Things were slipping out of his control and this insane village idea had snowballed into an avalanche that Hashirama was gleefully urging along. Izuna felt as if he was being run over by the weight of a mountain of snow, and he was completely helpless to stop it.

"The Yamanaka would of course be in charge of torture and interrogation," the Akimichi-Head declared, "and we of course would open many restaurants." Izuna twitched as he noticed the near worshipful look Sophie gave the Akimichi-Head at the word, restaurant. He couldn't help but think, not for the first time, that Sophie was way too food motivated.

Sophie tilted her head toward Izuna and whispered, "Nii-san, what is torture and interrogation? Is it a type of food?"

"Ouch. It means ouch."

Seven months had passed since the strange meeting we had gone to. I don't know what the meeting had exactly been about but at some point, the Nara, under the glares of my brothers, had gently poked me with their shadow. As Madara asked, I flushed it with Mana…and nothing had happened. I supposed they were making sure this shadow manipulating technique wasn't the same thing as the Shadow Demon.

Then there had been lots of arguing, I had an existential crisis at the realization that my brain was still developing, and I had learned that the Yamanaka wanted to oversee spicy food? I wasn't quite clear on the details of that last one.

Well, seven months had passed and now the whole clan was relocating. Izuna was really grumpy about it still, but it seemed we were combining with a lot of different clans to form a big village! I was still nervous about all the new changes, but overall, I was excited. Akimichi Tsumugi, wife of the Akimichi leader, had promised to help me recreate some of the foods from my home world, and Hashirama had offered to show me more Earth Magic and grow me a plum tree.

Humming, I neatly folded my old Healer robes and tucked it safely away in a box. I turned around to grab another article of clothing to fold in, but when I looked back into the box I froze in shock. Sitting innocuously on top of my Healer robes was the small glowing stone that had transported me to this world. It radiated a gentle prickle of magic that I could feel, and I knew that if I grabbed that stone, I would be taken back to Itaveli City…back home.

For a long few seconds, I stared at the stone.

"Sophie, lunch is ready. We're having your favorite fish." Madara had recently been plying me with my favorite dishes. I think he was a little jealous of the Akimichi.

"Okay!" I called back.

I blinked, and felt a wry smile curl my lips. No, this stone wouldn't take me home. Home was here.

"No thank you," I whispered to the stone. With one last gentle tickle of magic, the stone disappeared.

I mentally gave my goodbyes and apologizes to all the friends from my old world as I stood and made my way to the dining area.

Rolling my eyes, I plopped down next to Izuna and his small pile of deboned fish meat. "Nii-san, I can do it."

Izuna just grunted and dropped a piece of fish into my rice bowl.

The End

A/N: Thank you all so much for your patience and support for this little story! I appreciate every single reader! Once again, thank you so much