"Auch, that hurt" growled Tobirama when he was hit by the stick his older brother was using to teach him observation hakki. "And why do I need to learn that? I´m already a skilled sensor, I can detect the enemy just with my technique…"

"Were you able to do so with the Marines?" asked Hashirama with the stick in middle air.

"Well… no"

"Then stop complaining! They don´t use chakra like the enemies you are used to battle against, so you won´t be able to find them until it´s too late. But with hakki you will locate them everywhere they hide" the brunette let the stick fell into his sibling´s head again, who didn´t manage to avoid the hit. "And if you think this is difficult, it´s because you haven´t even begin with armament hakki"

"Armament hakki? It´s more of them?" the albino rubbed his sore head.

"Of course, three. Observation hakki is an ability everybody can use if they receive the correct training to awoke it, to detect other people like a sensor would without needing chakra. The Armament hakki is the same, but…" he lifted his arm and covered it in his own armament. "You can use it to power up attack and defense, I´ve used it to make my jutsus more effective too" he looked into the sea. "Armament is the only way to hurt Devil Fruit Users, which the Marines has a lot"

"Great" muttered Tobirama. "Teach me that"

"I can´t if you don´t learn this first" Hashirama emphasized his claim by hitting him square in the head again. "If you can´t dodge that, then forget about fighting a Devil Fruit User…"

"Son of a…"

"Ah ah ah, no bad words. I learned the hard way too, remember? And it doesn´t matter how bad you doing it…" the brunette took out the blindfold and showed him the pitiful images of Izuna failing fantastically at the same as him. Apparently his previous dependence of the Sharingan was making it even more difficult for him to learn hakki. "There is someone that can do it worse"

"You are right" said the albino, putting the piece of fabric back on his eyes, his competitive spirit being stronger than the pain. "Let´s do it again, I will definitely make it better and dominate it by the end of the day"

"Really? Do you think you can?"

"Of course! I will win over that Uchiha bastard!"

"Thought you were friends" said the older, raising the stick again.

"Yes, but… we still have some rivalry… it keeps up the fun"

"Aha" PAF!

"Ou!"

-Later at the Senju Compound-

"I don´t know how you make this kind of injuries without being on the battlefield, it´s like someone was hitting you with all their force just to heal that later" said Tokka, applying some medicine to the poor albino´s head.

"Hashirama did and, if you think I got it bad, you should see Izuna" he shook his head. "His brother is a true sadist"

"Well, at least you said both of you can do that hakki thing now, which will be a great advantage now in war" the girl smiled. "A whole week, this is the most you have taken to figure out how an ability works, especially a sensor one… are you losing your touch, Tobirama nii-san? Because if you are…"

"Shut up, Tokka, I´m not" grunted the albino. "It´s just that… it´s strange, very strange. This ability is nothing like the others I´ve used before… I won´t even call it a sensor, it´s more like… seeing the people with your eyes closed?"

"Isn´t that what sensors do?"

"No, I already told you it´s different"

"Then why don´t you teach me? I will be good, I promise" she sat down in front of him. "We need to learn to fight those odd powers of the Marines…"

"Devil fruits, they are called Devil Fruit´s Users" the woman gave him a confused look and he sighed. "Hashirama told me that in the Lands he was in, there were some fruits that could give you powers if you ate them. That´s why some of those men had powers like throwing lava and transforming into animals…"

"Oh, so Hashi nii-san ate one of them?"

"No, neither did Madara" he looked away from her. "Apparently once you ate one, you will be cursed with the loss of your ability to swim… he said that Devil Fruit Users will die if they are thrown into the water, so that we should attack with Suiton"

"Water is their enemy"

"Exactly" he frowned then. "Another thing is that not all the Devil Fruits are as useful as the Magu Magu no Mi from that Akainu guy."

"The one that nearly killed you the other day?"

"Yes, that one. He is a Logia… means that he has an Elemental ability, much like a kekei genkai" Tobirama started to recite the lectures he had from his brother about the outside of the Elemental Nations dangers and why they should make alliances. "Paramecia… it can be funny, but not really useful and Zoan… transforms you into an animal"

"Interesting" Tokka said. "But getting back to the point, can you teach me hakki? It seems really useful… well, the only useful thing against those bastards"

"I suppose I can but… shouldn´t you go to Hashirama? He is the expert."

"I´m kind of grounded and for being the next clan head you have some privileges" she smiled. "Oh, there are some others that want to learn too, but they are too afraid of Butsuma oji-sama to voice their opinions"

"I can give you a class, but I still need to learn Armament"

"I´m sure you will ace it quickly" then something came across her mind and she narrowed her eyes. "Hey, do you think that once we get rid of those bastards… Hashi-nii will leave with his crew?"

"Why would he leave?" asked the albino, confused. "By the end of this, I will be clan leader and reinstalling him as one of us will be my first order."

"But, do you really think he would accept?" The woman looked towards the sea. "I mean… he has been living with them nearly his whole live, they are like his family"

"We are his family!"

"I know! It´s just that… they are so free, living like a true family instead of the hell he experienced here. Being so free, I think it will be difficult to leave that kind of life for the rules and regulations that we have here"

"You think?"

"I´m sure"

-The day after-

Tobirama and Izuna reunited near the ship, wanting to talk about something important. The Uchiha was uneasy as well, his head full of the conversation he had with Hikkaku the other night. It was about Madara not returning to the clan after the war ended and he could tell that the albino was nervous too about the same thing. Now that they knew they can work together… couldn´t they achieve peace, their brother´s dream? Will they stay to enjoy it or leave to roam free in the ocean?

"Do you think… they will stay?"

"I don´t know what to think" answer the Senju. "But we can´t force them to stay, t´s their decision… as much as it pains us, we will have to respect that"

"I know but… it´s too painful" Izuna practically cried. "It´s like losing my nii-san for a second time because of my stupidity when I was a kid"

"Me too…" he said in a sad tone. "Hey, let´s chill out, we don´t have to be so sad. Even if they decided to go, they will still come back from time to time. It´s not like there are going to be gone forever"

"I guess you are right" Izuna rubbed his eyes. "And if they want to leave…"

"Yeah, now hurry, we still need to learn to use Armament before Akainu decides it´s time for a second round"

"Don´t remind me"

-Later in the afternoon-

"Let´s take a break here" said Hashirama to his beaten up brother, uncovering his arms from hakki. "You still don´t get it, it´s not like a jutsu, it´s more like… your will. You need to feel it like you feel your own chakra"

"Yes, I know" grunted the albino, then the thing he had been avoiding came back to his mind. "Hey, aniya, when this ends… are you going to stay here or are you going to leave?"

"Hum? Well, I haven´t really thought about that" answered the brunette. "And Madara and I haven´t talked either so we don´t have a decision… but once we do it, I will make sure to tell you about it" he grabbed the younger Senju and messed his hair while the victim struggled. "You are my little brother after all"

"Hashi aniya, Stop!" yelled the albino, finally escaping the other. "Really, Hashirama, you are so childish"

"Well, I haven´t exactly been with you while I could still do that, so… suck it up! I want to do it!"

"Leave me alone!"

-In the night-

"The sea is beautiful, no?" said Madara when he found his boyfriend in the board, looking at oblivion with thoughtful eyes. "Hey, don´t think so hard, you are going to hurt yourself, idiot"

"Mada… what do you think about this place?" he asked.

"Well, it´s better than before but still the same hellhole we left, full of war and pain and children dying because the adults sent them to the battlefield before they are ready"

"You didn´t leave anything out"

"What else could I say? It´s the truth" crossed his arms the raven.

"Then what will you say if I ask you to take a decision about leaving the crew and return to our clans or staying here and just come to visit?" the brunette turned around to face the other, who was confused at the moment. Madara didn´t expect him asking something like that, in fact, he wanted to avoid the theme. "And?"

"I… don´t have an answer yet" he confessed. "Like I said, this place is a hellhole that reminds me everything that went bad in my life, but… Izuna is here and he is one of the most important persons in my life" he smiled. "I´m glad we were able to make up"

"The same here with Tobirama" smiled the Senju. "Haven´t you thought that maybe we returned now to achieve our childhood dream?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just think it this way, now there are more probabilities of achieving peace thanks to the Uchiha and Senju clan practically being forced to fight together… unless they want to be annihilated by the Marines" both of them nodded. "I heard from Tobirama that your father had no other option than offering a truce and mine than accept"

"Great, all we need was a war to make those old mans to finally understand that we can´t always be fighting"

"Well, at least they understood… and I think it will be the perfect time to form our village"

"Do you think the truce will be stable? I mean, it could end as soon as the Marines leave"

"That´s why we would be there, sweet hearth" he embraced the other and the Uchiha smiled. Yes, he was starting to enjoy Izuna´s constant presence on his live and, after having some time to reconnect with his cousins, he thought it could be rather painful to leave so soon. He would miss his family at the ship and the sea too, but… maybe staying on earth, at home, to achieve peace in the most hostile territory of the world would be okay.

"They are going to leave, no?" asked Ace to the Phoenix after listening to the conversation.

"It´s their decision, yoi"

"I will miss them if they do"

"Me too, but don´t cry" the blue bird smiled. "Pops will claim this territory as his, so we will see them fairly often yoi. Nothing to be worried about."

"I hope so"

"Hey!" Tatch interrupted them. "The Marines are planning a big incursion on this lands, and even if we managed to protect the Uchiha and Senju territories, they will still conquer and kill most of the shinobi clans and grounds. They would be suffocated as soon as we leave"

"Then is time to knock some sense into more of those idiots, yoi" they got closer to their little brothers and explained them the situation. Spirit frowned, that was no good.

"I think… with Tobirama´s help I can convince the Shimura, Sarutobi and Uzumaki clans, but that will be still not enough. We need more" he put his hand on his chin. "With some more work I might manage to convince the Ino-Shika-Chou…"

"Ino-Shika-Chou?"

"The Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans, that are allied since a lot time ago" explained Hashirama. "Kurama, Inuzuka and Aburame will be hard too"

"I will go with Izuna to talk with the Hyuga and Shirohebi clans" offered Raven.

"Shirohebi? Isn´t that the clan that…"

"Yes, it is" Madara lowered his head.

"You don´t need to…"

"I can´t stay afraid from snakes forever and don´t worry about me, I can handle that" he frowned. "Just make sure the Uzumaki don´t kill you, weren´t you promised to the princess since birth?"

"Mito-hime, yes… I think I could use her help"

"Will she be reasonable"

"More than reasonable. Actually she feels in debt with me for my… disappearance" he said, looking at a very interesting stain on the floor. "For my banishment she was freed of the compromise and able to choose who to marry with. She is pretty much happy with that and Tobi-chan heard her once telling that she owed me a favor"

"Thank God she took it that way" they continued planning until everything was set and they all have their duties. Everybody went to sleep, things were going to get hectic soon.