Something was definitely wrong with his brother, Tobirama thought while he was walking towards the Hokage Tower. It was not as if Hashirama liked doing paperwork before, but at least he did it and receive the important guests. Now… he spent all his day in Rikkudo Sennin´s knows where. Well, he guess the idiot have too much things in his mind now, beginning with his wife. He shuddered when he remembered the incident. That princess… when he first met her he didn´t think she was capable of something like that, but now… he was starting to think his parents mess it up somewhere promising there sweet first born to that bitch.
"Oh, Senju-sama…" the diplomat in turn got up from his chair and the albino bowed, greeting him with respect. The man asked about his brother and he answered they were having some difficulties in the clan for the time being, but they were nothing to worry about. The man nodded, proceeding to talk. The Senju inwardly sighed, since the problem with Mito begin he was stuck doing the Hokage´s work. It wasn´t as if he was against helping his aniya in such a situation, but this was his responsibility! "That´s all"
"I will make sure that you have the escort you paid for, but the size of your company will make it more difficult, I suggest you to reduce it if you don´t want to pay extra."
"I think you won´t have much problems…"
"The squad of jounin could be enough if you are not ambushed by shinobi. And by the things I see in your request, your rival surely has the money and motives to buy help from other villages. So if you don´t mind…" they argued for some hours until the idiotic civilian finally accepted to pay for some extra protection in case other ninja showed up. "Mendokusei" he said after his guest left, Nara style. "I didn´t know this was going to be so difficult"
"Tobirama-san?" asked Tokka, entering to the room. "I have been watching Mito-hime as you requested. Apparently she isn´t a bit guilty about trying to kill Maki-chan…"
"I never hoped she was"
"But there is one thing… since her father stayed in the village with her, for moral support according to him, they have been acting strange, more the Hokage. As if they know something we don't and are planning of taking advantage of that…"
"Why haven´t you found out what yet?"
"I´m sorry, but the Uzumaki´s natural sensing abilities are a bit hard to evade. Every time we are close to catch them, they sneak through our fingers"
"Then we should take other actions" he raised from his desk. "My brother… I think Hashirama aniya is keeping a lot of secrets from me and I don´t like it. Once I find him…"
"And what if you don´t like what you find?" asked the female Senju seriously. He raised his eyebrow, quietly questioning her. "Huh… we did caught something in a conversation between Uzumaki-sama and Mito-hime."
"What is it?"
"They said something about Hashirama-niisan having a lover and that said lover was pregnant. According to Mito-hime this is the reason he wants to get rid of her, his legitimate wife" she frowned. "I´m not really inclined to believe something like that, but a lot of men in the clan indeed has lovers and illegitimate children in expenses of their wives, more if they were subjected to an arranged marriage."
"Yes, indeed…" he remembered his father and all the whores he had. His poor mother learned to ignore that and used her children to do so. It was a bad idea, because once Itama died she ended up killing herself. "But my brother…"
"Well, if that happened it´s up to him how to react. Most men would leave the woman with a few bucks so she doesn´t talk."
"I´m going to talk to him about that… and if it´s true I´m going to make him do the right thing" he promised and got up. He closed his eyes, using his sensing skills to try and find his brother. He found the idiot coming out of the Uchiha compound. He frowned, why was he there in the first place? He dashed towards him and…
"Otouto, I was just going to call you" smiled Hashirama, making his brother forget for a few seconds that he was supposed to scold him and interrogate him about why he was with the cursed bunch of the village.
"Aniya, I wanted to talk you about…"
"Yes, but not now" retorted him. They went back to the Tower, where the elder sat down on his chair. The albino was about to ask him again when he called a chuunin. "Please bring me Uzumaki-sama and Mito-hime"
"Why are you calling them?" the younger Senju was surprised.
"You will see" begin Hashirama once the equally confused redheads and the stoic albino. "A few nights ago I detected someone sneaking on the village, specifically the Uchiha compound walls. I talked to Madara about it and he said his men haven´t seen anything. We stayed there late and now we have both seen the same. An unknown individual got into Konoha and attacked one of the guards…"
"I bet the bastard accused the Senju clan for that" growled the albino.
"He didn´t. I followed the man… or whatever it was, because it can melt in the ground and other solid surfaces" he rolled his eyes. "The thing is that when we found it, it was… errrr… devouring the guard´s body"
"Devouring?"
"Literally eating it. And that wasn´t everything" he showed a drawing that was in the archive too. It made his wife run to the bathroom to vomit. The Shodaime looked at the door, not even in the slightest interested, and then continued. "It escaped and we called the forensics team. They discovered more human rests. The first one they identified belonged to Uzumaki Tokusa…"
"What?!"
"I think the killer was targeting the Uchiha clan"
"Not at all. From some simple chakra tests, the team found out that from the twelve first bodies to be discovered, four were Uchiha, four were Senju, three were Hyuuga and the Uzumaki was the last. They concluded their favorite dishes are Senju and Uchiha for equal."
"You have to be kidding me!" Tobirama got up, feeling like putting his hands around someone´s neck. "We have to do something…"
"That´s why I called you here… apart to make a deal with Hyuuga Hideyoshi"
"What happened with Hyuuga Hideyoshi?"
"Oh, one of his clan member´s from forensics gave him the information and he ran to the Uchiha compound to scream at me. Just ask Madara, he was there, laughing when he did"
"That sounds like him…"
"But he was right on something, we can´t let this happen again" Hashirama put a serious face, something strange for him. "I´m assigning my best sensors to search for it and destroy it. No prisoners. And since you and my wife are the best… I reluctantly am letting you go."
"I can take care of myself… and will take care of her"
"I will send some of my strongest men to guard my daughter while she works" offered the Uzumaki head, glaring at his son in law. He knew what he was thinking, it could be very well a plan to get rid of his daughter in favor of that Uchiha demon.
"If you want… but I will warn you that Hyuuga-sama is doing that too. And the bigger the party is, the more noticeable it will be" he turned to see his brother. "Can I trust you to command this mission?"
"I will make sure the target is eliminated"
"Oh, I forgot, he gave us his name" the Hokage suddenly said. "It´s Zetsu"
-In another time-
When both Tsunades returned to Konoha, one of them was different. The teen blond, for the first time, said no when her mother asked her to help taking care of Mito. They had a fight, but in the end she won and stayed with Nawaki. She used some free time when her little brother was sleeping to take stroll to the Uchiha compound. She tried to see the training of the children her age, in hopes to activate her doujutsu before her older self, but…
"It´s not use" a voice spoke to her from behind. The older blond was there, staring at the wall of the training grounds. "Mito put a seal on your eyes, you will never activate them if you don´t remove it first"
"Who removed yours?"
"I… sort of know an Uzumaki in the future that made me the favor and an Uchiha who helped me to achieve this" she sighed. "I never knew why I did it, it´s too late to save the people I lost… but it´s not too late now. I can teach you"
"Will it change something for you?"
"Maybe not, but for you and Nawaki… I think I can do this. And mom too, just… don´t tell her what I told you about her real parentage, she will break if she knows who was her real mother"
"Why?"
"Just don´t" the teen princess was not so sure. Maki needed to have some freedom from the abusive redhead and believing she was he mother she could never bound with, there was no way this was happening. She could even accomplish being a high ranking kunoichi if she stopped listening to that pitiful excuse of a woman. "Look, mother knows what she is doing and telling her the truth could be disastrous."
"Again, why?"
"Because… there was an incident, okay? Oji-sama told me that once when mother was young there was a fire provoked by that… let me end before you talk! Well, she almost die if it wasn´t for her mother, who entered to save her. When she was taken out, Mito started badmouthing her savior, saying that it was him who started the fire. Mother didn´t talk and quickly adjusted to her version, so she would love her. What do you think she is going to feel like when she find out she betrayed her own mother?"
"I… understand" the teen said. "But if that bitch does one more humiliating thing to her, I´m ratting her out. Clear?"
"Clear"
While this was happening Orochimaru was walking behind a very cheerful albino boy, who was literally savoring his last minutes of freedom. Jiraiya was running with him, showing him the old village before he has to return to the noisy city he was raised in. The worried father followed them, not trusting Jiraiya in any of his ages to be alone with a kid. He was so busy doing this that didn´t notice the presence of his sensei.
"They grew up so fast, no?" said Sarutobi, making his student sigh. "I heard he found younger you boring and melancholic. I guess you stopped being like that when Mitsuki was born, he appears to be a good kid and a wonderful shinobi…"
"Yes, he is"
"Jiraiya must be very proud of him in your time… wherever he is" the snake jumped out of his skin and looked at his sensei in fake confusion. "Don´t try to fool me, boy, I know you enough to be your parent. So… you and Jiraiya made a child, eh?"
"It… it was not intentional, just the result of a very drunken one night stand, and he never knew Mitsuki" he tried to excuse himself. "We went to a bar that night, to celebrate something. Tsunade convinced us to do drinking contest… I don´t remember much after the third bottle and I don´t think Jiraiya did either… I escaped as soon as I woke up and, for the love of the Sage, I swore out of drinking that day"
"If it was like that, why is Mitsuki so young?"
"I… you are going to say it was bad of my part, but try to understand me" Hiruzen nodded. "When I started to feel the first symptoms, I decided I was not ready to be a mother, a single one less, but I didn´t want to kill my baby either, so I… used a lab procedure to take him out of my body and preserve him until I deemed it was okay. When peace finally came, I thought why not and had him."
"Pretty messed up" the future Hokage said. "Well, at least you gave him a better life than the one I had"
"Hum…"
-Back in the past-
Tokka jumped from roof to roof, ready to fulfill her duty. Tobirama, before he was sent to the mission, talked to her and gave her the task of finding out what his brother has been doing. She followed Hashirama around the village until he sneaked into the Uchiha compound. He got to Madara´s house. When she arrived at the place, she saw Maki playing on a room. So this was the big secret? What was Hashirama even thinking?! Putting his child under the care of the village´s psychopath… the little girl ran to the garden and started picking flowers. The Uchiha followed.
"Maki, please, get inside, you are going to catch a cold in there" he said, something that surprised the Senju. She was sure the raven hasn´t noticed her and the Hokage was not on sight, so why was he acting so nice to the girl?
"I´m fine! I just want to pick some flowers for Rika-chan!" yelled the girl.
"Sweetie, I…" suddenly Madara grabbed his head. The next thing Tokka knew, the clan head was on the floor. She was so shocked that she even missed what the little girl screamed when she ran to his side, shaking him like crazy. The kunoichi snapped out of it and in a second she was next to the fallen shinobi, using her little knowledge of healing jutsu to scan his body for injuries. Maki got to her side, some tears in her eyes.
"Go find your daddy, I will make sure he is okay" she nodded and ran. The Senju moved her hands until she reached the man´s middle… "Oh my God" she muttered to herself. Hashirama arrived in that moment. He used his ninjutsu and, once he realized there was nothing wrong with his lover, he carried him to his bed, with his cousin on his toes. Once he was tucked in he turned around to face her. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
"Indeed, I have" his daughter tugged on his pants and he looked at her. Tokka, nodded, deciding that she could wait a few seconds. "Dearie, I want you to stay with your mom, okay? Make sure he is okay when he waked up" the girl nodded. "Let´s talk on the kitchen" once they were both at down, he started with the history. The woman heard attentive until he ended. "Now you can start yelling at me"
"I´m not going to yell at you" stated Tokka. "Except for being an idiot! When were you going to tell me?! Or Tobirama nii-san?! He is your brother, he has a right to know! And that Mito woman… NOW I know why you want to get rid of her" she looked at the door, worriedly. "What´s happening to him?"
"He is being having some dizzy spells, but there is nothing to worry about. They are just caused because he is too stubborn to admit he needs extra sleep in the mornings and gets up at the same our as ever" Hashirama frowned. "I have been watching him, but between my neglected duties, the future baby and Maki…"
"That why I told you, you need help" she crossed her arms. "Why don´t you call Tobi back and explain this to him? I know he will help"
"Errrrrr… well… you know Tobi and his opinion on the Uchiha" the glared at him. "Don´t confuse it, Tokka-san, when he comes back I´m going to tell him everything… after preparing him, but for the meantime, can you help me?"
"You don´t need to ask" she smiled, then frowned. "But once he comes back you have to tell him!"
"Okay…"