"This is humiliating" groaned Tsunade.
"What? That we are being taken captive to our own village or that the sensei can still give us a run for our money at this age?"
"Both" answered the blond as she and her snake companion were dragged back to the village, tied up by the old man. The Sannin were completely humiliated after being beaten by a younger version of their sensei. To make things worse, little Jiraiya was chanting some kind of victory song that made the younger and older versions of his teammates want to rip their ears off. "Shut up, Jiraiya!"
"Wait a minute" Sarutobi stopped immediately. "How do you know the name of my student? Have you stole some information from Konoha about our shinobi?"
"If we were real spies, we wouldn´t answer that, but since we are shinobi of Konoha, we will simply tell you that we know Jiraiya, the others and yourself since a long time ago" said the woman, then looked at the girl. "I know you have a silly crush over Orochimaru there… soon you will see that he is just… yuck" she shuddered. "Try to find one more sexy and with less interest in children"
"You are over… hey, did you just said you had a crush on me, Tsunade?"
"Tsunade?" asked the young Senju heiress. "You have the same name as me! And…" she turned red as a tomato while the white haired male crossed his arms and pouted. "How do you know I used to have a crush on that one?" she pointed at her pale teammate.
"I know a lot more" the busty woman said with a smile. "I know you were mistreated by your grandmother just like your mother… she was such a bitch, you shouldn´t evens stand her. I know your mother does everything to get close to her own mother, even forcing you to help her tend to that merciless old woman" her smug smile widened. "Oh, and I know that the first time you went to gamble was with your grandfather when you were four. At the Royal Casino"
"How do you know that? He made me swear that I would never say a word to anyone! And I didn´t!"
"Well, you remember a lot of things from your childhood"
"Are you saying that you are… an older version of Tsunade?" asked the older shinobi, staring at the captive. Now that he thought about it, the woman did look like a grown up Tsunade. God, she really was going to grow up, especially in the… he darted his eyes away from that place. Then he eyed the male. "If she is Tsunade, then you should be… Orochimaru?"
"In flesh and bone" answered the immortal Sannin. "And if you want proofs I will tell you that the first time we met each other you thought I was a female" the Professor went red. "You once told me, when I found a white snake skin, that the Snake was the symbol of immortality and that a rainbow around the sun was thought to be a snake."
"Okay… so older versions of my students" Hiruzen frowned, finally recognizing his gennin in those battle hardened shinobi he had so much trouble taken down. He was proud, but there was something missing… "And where is Jiraiya?"
"She/He will tell you!" they pointed to the other. The Sandaime understood immediately, but he didn´t say anything. He didn´t want his student depressing because of something that might not happen.
"Don´t worry, it´s okay" he said.
"Great we clarified that" smiled the Snake Sannin. "Now, sensei, can you untie me?" he lifted his hands and showed them. "I have someone to find… and to ground."
"Grounding is too poor for that brat of yours, Orochimaru" grunted the busty woman when her teacher finally set her free before doing the same for the raven. "Just how many times are you going to allow him to get his sticky fingers on your jutsu vault? Change the combination or search more Fuinjutsu for something like THIS not to happen!"
"Well, excuse me if I don´t have much time" retorted the man, rubbing his wrists where the shackles hurt them. "If you haven´t noticed, Miss I-threw-my-responsibilities-on-the-younger-generation, I´m managing the Investigation facility of Konoha while raising a child on my own!"
"Wait, you two should…"
"You are spoiling that brat! Just see what he has done!" she yelled, raising her fist as a threat. "He thinks your jutsu vault, that by the way has many forbidden jutsu that should never be used, is his to take! Put him some limits and keep an eye on him so he doesn´t cause more trouble!"
"I´m occupied! And I would like to see you in the same situation as me, Tsunade!" growled the other Sannin with a threatening face too. "Oh, but you won´t, because you have already passed the age to have children…"
"You, stupid…"
"Stop this instant!" Sarutobi finally brought the hammer down, breaking their fight the same way he was accustomed to. "I can expect this type of behavior when you were that age" he pointed over his shoulder to the teens. "But you are too old for that! Now breathe and tell me what the hell is going on."
"Orochimaru is spoiling his brat and causing a lot of troubles" Tsunade immediately said.
"I don´t have much time with Mitsuki, I have to work" excused himself the snake, crossing his arms. "I´m a single father after all and…"
"Mitsuki?" their sensei raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Mitsuki, my son" Orochimaru felt a little bit uncomfortable with the conversation once it reached the theme of Mitsuki. "He has been going through a difficult stage in his life and wants to take shortcuts to be like his father, so he… opened once or twice my jutsus vault" he scratched the back of his head. "I have to say that boy is a genius, I´ve never seen someone doing something like that before."
"See, sensei? He is not even trying to correct him!" younger Tsunade and Orochimaru face palmed. Were they really going to be like that when they were older.
"I should…"
"Orochimaru! Tsunade! Stop now!" ordered the Sarutobi, effectively shutting up the two Sannin. "Tsunade, maybe this is difficult to understand for you, as you never had children, but they are sometimes difficult to deal with, especially when they are getting older. And Orochimaru" he turned to see the male. "Raising a kid on your own must be hard, but you have to understand that children need the attention of their parents. Maybe Mitsuki does this to get your attention. And I know that it hurts to ground them, but it´s needed for them to reflect about their actions."
"Hai, sensei" they said.
"And now let´s go" ordered the team leader. Both the children and the two adults started walking towards Konoha, with the snake male muttering something about his baby and the need to go search for him. "Stop complaining, Orochimaru, he is a gennin, no? If he is an accomplished shinobi then he can spend a night or two in the woods while we search for him."
"He is a twelve years old born in an era of peace" countered the raven. "He has never spent a night alone in his life. He was always with me, one of my students or your grandson."
"My grandson"
"His sensei"
"Well… if my grandson is as good as me, then he will be fine… I think" he tried to sound sure, but he really wasn´t. "I hope"
"Yes, you better hope" hissed the reptile. "Because if my Mitsuki has one scratch I´m going to kill whoever that did it, changing history be dammed."
-In another place-
Hashirama was wandering around his village again, trying to think about a way to get Mito out of his life once and for all. He tried to use the infertility excuse, but she has already, at least in the eyes of everyone, gave him a daughter. Doing that would not affect her and bring Maki more troubles as an only child. Byakuya, Sorato and Izuna would be saved, but… he would never be able to see them again.
"What should I do?" he asked to himself. He was so abstracted that he didn´t noticed that he was walking towards his house for the millionth time that day. Then he remembered… the fire! Yes, now he remembered. The day he found out about Byakuya there was a big fire on his house, one that was caused by his wife when she hit a lamp in a rage in his daughter´s room and then escaped, leaving her to die. Madara, who was there, entered putting his own life and his future child´s to save his girl. In the end Mito framed him for the fire and everybody believed her, not even caring that he saved the little princess. "I have to be there" he ran towards the house and reached there just in time to see the redhead throwing the lamp and running out of the house. He quickly entered and grabbed Maki, bolting out.
"Aniya!" called him Tobirama when he got out with his daughter in arms. The albino ran towards them, yelling for some medic to examine both him and his niece. "Aniya, what happened? Are you alright?"
"Is…" he coughed a few times, then continued. "Is she alright?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama" said the healer after making a quick revision on the child. "Pretty scared and with a bad case of cough, but fine. But, in case I´m wrong, she will need to be taken to the hospital and put in observation until tomorrow."
"I understand… cough… thank God"
"You should go to the hospital too, Hokage-sama"
"Aniya, please…" but the brunette wasn't listen to them. His whole attention was on his wife, who was talking to the crowd as if she was a worried woman, as if she even cared about what happened to her husband or the child she supposedly mothered. "Hum? She is okay and didn´t inhale any smoke, don´t wo…"
"And the culprit surely was…"
"You!" interrupted Hashirama, getting up in a rage and crossing his arms. He wasn´t going to let that bitch separate him and his beloved anymore, or even to get close to his daughter again.
"What?" was the murmur that run between the people.
"You heard me, it was you!" he got closer, startling the woman. Could it be that… "I had a bad feeling since the morning, so I walked home earlier… early enough to see you dropping that lamp that started the fire" he gave a look at his lover, who was there hidden in an alley. Madara understood the message and quickly went away before someone noticed him. "Or do you deny that?"
"I…"
"See? You can´t lie!" he was so angry that no one dared to say a word. "But this is no over, I will make sure you pay"
"Hashirama, I…" tried to defend herself the woman.
"Mito-hime, stop" got in Tobirama. "I can see in your face that what my brother said is true and that you began the fire and now you are trying to save yourself blaming someone else for the fire in your house."
"Tobirama…"
"Don´t say another word, please, you will only bring yourself down" the albino shook his head and turned to his brother. "Do you want me to reunite the elders for an urgency meeting? What your wife did was very serious and it should be judged in a clan meeting"
"Yes, please, do that" the younger Senju nodded and, without looking at the woman, he ran away to gather the members of the council. "And for you… don´t even try to appear in my sight before the clan meeting because I won´t be so merciful" and he went away. He walked to Madara´s house where he was received by a very worried Uchiha. "Don´t worry, she is alright"
"Thanks God" sighed the mother, letting himself fall on a chair. "Hashi, I… thank you"
"It was nothing, I´m her father, you know" he scratched the back of his head.
"No, really, thank you. I was about to make a dangerous and stupid decision that will probably have repercussions in… our lives" he took his hands to his abdomen. "What I´m trying to say, is that we are going to…"
"Are you pregnant again?" Hashirama smiled widely. Thanks to Mito he didn´t fest his children´s arrival. Now he wanted to make up for that. "It´s awesome!"
"Yes, it is… well, maybe for you and Mito. I remember that the deal is still on and I have to…"
"Don´t talk to me about that whore" he grunted, touching his lover´s stomach and feeling Byakuya´s chakra inside. Not like when he was a child and it was full of fear and pain; neither like the one on his last days, when it was full of angry. The baby´s chakra was innocent, deprived of all the bad feelings that lead his adult self to his downfall. "I can´t wait to hold him in my arms and…"
"Wait, what are you talking about? I thought that the deal…" begin Madara a little unsure, but the other´s smile calmed him down a little.
"Forget that, I´m not taking another child of us away from you again, less for that bitch" he caressed the belly. "In fact, I´m going to return Maki to you"
"Her name is Iohime, not Maki"
"Believe me, she likes Maki better" Hashirama took his hand away from the still plain abdomen of his best friend. "And believe me, now I have a plan to get rid of that woman and finally be together."
"Yes? How?"
"Leave that to me and concentrate in this little one…" he couldn´t say he already knew it was a boy and call him by his name. "How do you want to name him?"
"I don´t know yet" Madara frowned. "No name ring any bell to me… let´s leave it until I give birth, okay? Babies have to be named because of the things that are the most significant around them. [I named my daughter without much thinking."
"That´s why we should think about a name"
"I remind you, Hashirama, that he is in my body and I have the final decision" grunted the Uchiha. "And while we are talking about that, you cian tell me what you are going to do to get rid of Mito-hime."
"That´s form me to known and for you to find out."
-In another place and time-
Hagoromo as silently putting a seal around the seal that will suppress all the chakra his eldest have. This one was always put on the young heir because he tended to be bully and abuse all the people around the compound. Once he finished Indra looked at them with something that was very close to happen, something bad for him. Even like that, he never asked for him to retire the seal and/or help with a problem.
"Indra…"
"Yes, father?" asked the teen without seeing him.
"It´s everything alright? Are you somehow… hurt?" Indra stood there like a statue. "Because you can tell me everything"
"There is nothing, father, go back to you little world of happiness you created"
"Okay… you may go" Indra left, passing right in front of Ashura, that frowned. This wasn´t like his brother, he was surely in pain. So he decided to gather evidence and find out what was happening with his nii-san. That moment he decided that he was going to find out why he was there and then help him. What were brothers there for after all?