Chapter eighteen – Painted Hills
Formed over 35 million years ago by volcanic eruptions that led to the intermixing of ash, soil, minerals, and plants, the colourful stratified layers of the Painted Hills are known for their changes in colour and pattern depending on the light, weather, and more.
Naruto was sitting in the window frame of her new apartment, staring out on the street behind the window and watching as people started waking up.
Konoha was still a small settlement, and everything felt a bit incomplete. Some houses didn't have all their window glass installed, but it was still warm out, so at least no one would get cold. Tiles for incomplete roofs were piled in corners, and the roads were made of gravel instead of pavement.
The early risers seemed to be the ones working on the village. Since people were transporting furniture and odd pieces of belongings through the street outside.
The relationship between the two clans was obviously still tense, but for now everyone was behaving themselves. As Naruto kept watching she noticed a person coming running down the street. His two coloured hair making it obvious who it was even from a distance.
Her new home was a one bedroom apartment on the main street close to the town hall, which had an uncanny resemblance to the Hokage tower. She was enjoying it immensely, Hashirama was a very skilled carpenter as far as she could judge.
When Itama was meters away from her building, Naruto got up and left her new home. She exited through her front door to the access balcony at the back of her dwelling, and saw the teenager standing on the bottom of the stairs with a wide grin.
"Naruto!" He cried and waved energetically as she came down the stairs.
"Itama! How are you?" Naruto asked and came to stand next to him. Itama had grown a bit since she met him in Uzu, and was clearly going to be just as tall as his brothers one day. He also had that lanky look about him that said his body was growing faster then his muscles could keep up with.
"I'm good, I just heard from older brother you were back! You should have come to the feast yesterday, Naruto! I was wondering where you were." He said. Naruto chuckled at his difficulty not to start bouncing up and down.
"I've been in the cave we spent a day in once. It's just over there." She answered and pointed to the mountain. "Do you remember? When I came back late with a deer for dinner? You were recovering from being ill."
Itama's eyes widened and he nodded. "I remember! Was that here? I knew it was close but I didn't realise it was just up there. Why haven't you come earlier?" He asked curiously.
With a nonchalant wave of her hand Naruto replied vaguely. "I haven't been there all the time, Itama. I've been running around trying to fix a few things."
The teenager tilted his head in puzzlement, and Naruto wondered if she should tell him she was looking for Black Zetsu or not. She decided it was a conversation better had with his oldest brother than the boy himself. Itama really didn't need to worry about that thing.
"What were you fixing?" He questioned as they started walking out of the backstreet and towards the town hall. Naruto trying to take in all the stuff she'd missed earlier.
"Oh, a little of this and little of that. Nothing you have to worry about, Itama. Instead you can tell me how it's going here. It looks like things are going well, I never expected all this when I returned." She mused and gestured towards the new buildings around them. Things looked very different from the Konoha Naruto had grown up in but still somewhat recognisable.
"We're almost done, there's just a few larger buildings left. We are also waiting for a delivery from the capital with window glass. Most of it should be finished then. Right now Tobi is fixing all the documents while Hashirama is dealing with talking to everyone. I'm not sure what he is saying to the Uchiha, but brother always tells me we need better communication with them." The boy said as they passed two Uchihas who were looking at them with curiosity.
One was a brown haired girl with a haircut similar to how Shizune had worn hers, and she was a little shorter then Naruto in hight. She stopped when their eyes met and the girl stepped forwards.
"Namikaze Naruto-san?" She asked and raised up her hand. Naruto realised she wanted to greet her and hurriedly took her outstretched hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, I am Uchiha Yuko and this is Uchiha Hana." She said and looked to the black haired girl behind her. "I watched while you created the barrier over the Uchiha village, I've heard many things about you from Izuna-kun too."
Itama was looking uneasy and stayed a few steps behind Naruto while the blond smiled widely. "Nice to meet you Yuko and Hana. I hope Izuna didn't say any bad things about me." She replied while roughing up the back of her hair nervously.
The woman looked a little younger then herself but had that Uchiha calmness about her that made you uncertain about what she really thought. Yuko was wearing a dark blue yukata and had a tantō strapped to the back of her waist. Very similar to the way her friend was dressed.
"Quite the contrary Naruto-san." Yuko and Hana replied in unison. Releasing Naruto's hand the girl looked over at Itama with a short nod.
"Are you back to stay in Konoha?" She asked while brushing a few stray strands of brown hair back behind her ear.
Naruto nodded while she pointed to her building a little further down. "Yes, I live over there, this is my home as much as yours now."
The girl's face didn't change, but her shoulders stiffened slightly at her words. Maybe the statement was said prematurely. Hana however was not as talented at keeping her face blank - and frowned deeply.
"It's nice to have met you, Naruto-san. We must be going now, I'm sure I'll see you around soon." Yuko said and dismissed herself with Hana while the two left stared at their retreating backs.
"I see things are still awkward..." Muttered Naruto and grinned half heartedly down at Itama.
"Of course… It was better yesterday because of the feast but it'll be a while until I can sleep without worry. Tobi still insist we need one of us to keep watch every night." He said as they picked up their pace again.
Naruto shrugged, it was better then what she'd been imagining on her way back from her meeting with Son.
"Why don't you give me a tour, Itama? I wanna' to see everything."
At noon she'd bumped into too many people for Naruto to remember. They all seemed to know or recognise her and most were friendly.
They met Tobirama at the gates at lunchtime, he was about to leave for a mission when Itama and his companion caught up with him.
"Itama, I'm glad you came here; brother is looking for you. This morning you forgot to take our message over to Toka-chan. There's also a list of chores waiting to be completed. While I understand you are catching up with an old friend; right now we have a lot of things to get sorted." Tobirama explained and first then looked over to the girl keeping his brother company. "I heard you were back, Namikaze-san."
"You can just call me Naruto you know." Sighed Naruto and felt her mood drop at the stoic expression coming over Tobirama when he addressed her. Naruto had the feeling The middle Senju brother had a very negative impression of her. It could be somewhat justified since the last time she saw him, she'd punched him in the jaw and accused him of something he hadn't done.
"How are you, Tobirama? You've done a good job with the village, dattebayo." She said, ignoring the uncomfortable atmosphere and smiled brightly.
"I'm fine… I'm about to leave right now. I think brother would like to speak with you though. He wants you to fill out the profile form." He answered and his attention moved towards a couple of people coming up behind them.
"Profile form?" Asked Naruto and looked questionably at Itama who only smiled and nodded.
Tobirama greeted the two newcomers and turned to leave, but before they went he looked back at Naruto. "You need to fill the form out so we know who are Konoha residents and who's not. It also helps us get a better picture about what abilities different people have." He explained and Naruto nodded slowly. She noticed how impatient the other two were and realised they were holding them up.
"Where are you going?" Naruto asked before she thought better of it. In her Konoha they had mostly been secretive about unfinished missions.
Tobirama looked as thought he was thinking along the same line, and was about to leave her hanging when Itama suddenly coughed not too discreetly. Sending his brother an annoyed glare.
"We are heading for the capital. See you in a week, Itama. Please help brother out, alright? There is too much to do for anyone to be slacking. I expect you to be helping as soon as the form is filled in as well… Naruto-san." He said, and looked pointedly at Naruto.
"Will do, sir!" She replied and saluted him, making his two team mates grin despite themselves and waved as they left Konoha.
The profile form was more like a very detailed contract. It was followed by an ability list you had to fill out for the document to be valid and you were granted a resident pass to Konoha.
Naruto had to list off everything she was able to do under different paragraphs.
Under elemental affinity she filled out wind as main element, then water, earth and lightning as things she could do. It then demanded her to explain what sort of ninjutsu she could preform within these affinities, and Naruto spent a good forty minutes remembering all names to fill out.
It was confusing since she could do sage-wind ninjutsu, and there was no column for that. It was however a column for senjutsu, which made it confusing to know where to specify the senjutsu wind rasenshuriken when elemental ninjutsu had already been listed earlier.
In the end Naruto just filled in things the best she could. Struggling the most when it came to medical ninjutsu, which she left blank. She couldn't do any medical ninjutsu per say, it was more regeneration of existing organs, not healing but remaking. It was also something she didn't dare to do too much.
Naruto had a blast filling out the section asking if there was something that didn't fit anything listed above. There she rambled on about Kurama's chakra and everything from bijudama to chakra arms.
It would be fun to watch Madara's face if he ever read it. He'd be so jealous.
Handing it back to Hashirama she stretched and soon left the house. The Senju might be a little surprised by reading the list as well.
Madara was to be found deep within the surrounding forest of Konoha. Naruto had actively been avoiding him. It was a little more then a week since she returned and just as long since Naruto had seen him last. It wasn't that hard to avoid someone if you really wanted to and the blonde had a lot of experience in delaying unpleasant things. The Uchiha was very busy these days, making things easier.
He was standing with a bird perched on his hand, it was a beautiful creature witch was scrutinising Naruto as she came closer. The Uchiha looked over his shoulder and smiled briefly before stroking the bird over it's feathers.
"Mamoru; this is Naruto. She's an ally so don't worry." He said calmly and the bird looked back up at the man he was using as a perch. 'Mamoru' nodded and then got back to what they had been doing, which looked like some sort of exercise. At least the ground was littered with scorch marks and new smaller craters.
Madara threw out a scroll as hard as he could, and the bird rose up in the air after it. Going through hand signs he fired a wind ninjutsu, not strong enough to hurt, but enough for Mamoru to struggle in his attempt to get to the scroll and not get fried. The bird swirled and twirled through the wind, screeching once as it got a hold of the scroll a second before it hit the ground.
Flapping its wings the bird rose up into the air and returned to Madara's shoulder. Wordlessly he returned the scroll and nudged Mamuro's beak affectionately. "Good job." He muttered and looked ready for a new attempt, when Naruto interrupted.
"Is the bird a summon?" Naruto asked.
"He's a falcon, and yes, I can summon him if I need to." He replied and Naruto watched as they did a similar exercise, except Madara was throwing weapons instead of ninjutsu this time.
"How long have you had falcon summons?" Wondered Naruto aloud. Madara didn't stop throwing stuff, but answered as he sent different sorts of metal objects at the dodging bird. A kunai, a shuriken, a knife and in general anything which could cause damage and bleeding wounds.
"As long as I have been able to use chakra. The Uchiha have had their contract for many generations."
A feather was cut off Mamuro's tail, and a small screech escaped him before he avoided the three next shurikens. "Maybe you should take it a bit easier?" She asked and crossed her hands in front of her while Madara scoffed and he sent his kama flying next.
"This is nothing we haven't done before." Replied Madara matter of factly. Next he sent out a sea of senbons, and Naruto was very impressed when the bird got out of that undamaged.
"Hashirama is asking for you." Naruto told him after another minute as Mamoru landed on Madara's shoulder again, this time pecking him not too gently on the side of his head. The whole of the bird's head getting lost in the Uchiha's messy hair.
"Right now?" Muttered Madara as he stopped the bird from getting completely entangled in the spiky strands.
"It seemed so, he said something about a meeting?" Answered Naruto and shrugged. With nod he came up to her while Naruto studied the bird. They started walking away from the forest clearing he'd been working in. "He is quite big for a falcon, I thought they were smaller, dattebayo."
"Normal ones yes, but Mamoru and his tribe has chakra which makes them larger then most. This guy is young though, he's twenty nine, but that's viewed as a little more then a teenager in their eyes." He said teasingly to the bird who looked pointedly away with his beak in the air. Clearly affronted to be called a teenager.
Madara winked to Naruto and poked the bird gently on the wing, making it look sideways down at him with a calculating look, as if he was hinting at something. "Mamoru is the son of the chief though. I train him hard so he'll be ready whenever it's his turn to take over the reins."
Next moment Madara fished up a grey furry thing and handed it to the bird. Mamoru devoured it so fast Naruto barely registered what it was.
"Bah! Was that a rat you just fed him?" Said Naruto getting the chills. Madara chuckled and nodded.
"Mhm, falcons eat a lot of different prey, from smaller birds such as ducks to bats or reptiles, Mamuro here likes bats the most." He said and patted the bird affectionately. Naruto shuddered. But then again; hadn't she once been forced to eat bugs for a while? Some would say that was just as vile.
"Have you eaten it?" She asked curiously and the Uchiha smiled reminiscently. "Yes, it's not too bad actually, at least once you get used to it. Call it a coming of age test, they don't want summoners with a weak stomach. The duck could have been delicious though, if I'd been allowed to heat it first of course."
Naruto was torn between laughing or puking, so went with a safe middle ground and grimaced.
The falcon suddenly rose up into the air, spreading it's wings wide and soared away over the tree tops. "So do they live close by? Since he didn't do the reverse summon?" Asked Naruto once the bird was out of sight.
"Yes, they live very close to our village... Heh, I should say old village now, though. They are considering moving closer now that our clan is further away, but I doubt they will. They're a tribe filled with falcons who like their routines."
"Sort of like you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You always get up early and go train. Even when we were kids I could almost pin point when you would arrive. If you showed up it was always precisely at the same time as the last." Naruto said while Madara looked thoughtful.
"I guess I am sort of a habit person, but not in fights. There I never rely on a pattern, it's a weakness to depend on the same thing over and over..." He explained as the town hall came closer. A few people waved to them while they walked, and Naruto was unsure if she should greet them or not. She decided to do it whenever it was a Senju, their relationship wasn't good enough for them to greet the Uchiha leader yet.
"I've never been one for strategies." Added Naruto and noticed a small smile grow on Madara's face.
"That's because you can't, it's like you're unable to think ahead sometimes. So caught up in what you're doing in the presence to think of what comes next." He teased and chucked when Naruto's mood soured. "Admit it, you're a really bad planner!"
"Maybe not with the small details, but I can see the bigger picture and goes straight towards it. Just look around you, Madara." Replied the blond as the Uchiha opened the entrance door of their destination. He huffed and rolled his eyes at the jibe, and was welcomed immediately by Hashirama who was pacing back and forth.
"Ah! There you are, Madara. I was looking for you but I couldn't find you. We have to talk right away, your brother and Tobirama is already upstairs, but I didn't want to start without you." He started rambling and gestured towards the spiralling stairs at the end of the hall. "Come on, let's get this over with okay?"
"See you later." Added Naruto, and was about to leave when Hashirama suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"Actually, I've been thinking you should be a part of this." He said and had time to give a quick smile before starting dragging her with him.
"Eh?"
Hashirama was already halfway up the stairs when he got around to answering, Madara trailing behind with a curious expression. "As the only none clan member of either of the two dwelling clans within Konoha; you can be the objective view about topics. We need a middle man, uh, I mean woman."
"You want Naruto to be a diplomat? Seriously?" Muttered Madara as they came into the corridor of the top floor.
"Who else? She somehow got through to you didn't she? Both the Uchiha and Senju can trust her, at least more than an individual from either clan. She's perfect!" Hashirama exclaimed as they came up in front of the last door in the corridor.
Madara sighed as the Senju opened the door and they followed inside. "I'm not sure..."
Inside sat Izuna and Tobirama very mute, looking curiously up at the three arrivals while they were situated on each side of an oval table.
"Oy! I can be a diplomat, dattebayo!"
"..."
"You just wait and see..."
Hashirama got in between them with his arms folded. "Save the argument for later you two. Izuna-san, Tobirama and I have already voted she should be one. Technically you're already outvoted Madara, since she has accepted." He said and gestured for them to sit down.
Naruto looked curiously up at the tall man. "I have?"
Madara was fighting a smug look and failing spectacularly, Hashirama only shrugged and gestured for them to sit down.
Izuna waved at Naruto to come sit next to him, and happily she took the seat pulled out for her. Hashirama sat between Tobirama and Naruto while Madara sat down on the other side of Izuna.
"Izuna, where have you been? I haven't seen you since I saved your ass." She asked the young. Izuna gave her a sheepish smile while leaning back in his chair.
"I was on Konoha's first mission, I left for Ha-"
"Please leave the catching up for later." Interrupted Tobirama and pointed to a stack of papers next to him. "We have quite a bit to get through first, and we've already been waiting for Madara." He said and turned towards his brother.
"I come with some news from the capital, and while I know my brother has already been thinking of this, they seem to have a similar idea. In short; Konoha needs a village leader." He started telling them but kept his eyes mostly on his brother.
Hashirama nodded and turned towards Madara. "I was thinking of you actually, we need someone who will look at every inhabitant as their family, and protects the fire country from the shadows, a Hokage." He said and Naruto couldn't stop the smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She kept her gaze firmly at the wooden surface of the table while she thought.
Hokage… It was a long while since she'd last thought of that word. How much she'd changed since her days of declaring she'd take that title. For years everything had been solely about Konoha. Nothing else but Konoha.
She only half registered it when Hashirama explained further what the leader would be doing as the village grew. Naruto's head swimming with the picture of her Hokage.
Sandaime, yondaime and godaime.
Hiruzen, Minato and Tsunade.
Jiji, tochan and baa-chan.
The thought left a tight feeling in her throat and she pushed the memories away. It wouldn't help her to dwell on the past. All that mattered was the now and the future. There was nothing that would stop Naruto from fixing things. People were relying on her powers. Expecting her to fulfil her part in this mess. A wry smile forced itself onto her face.
A true shinobi are those who protects from the shadows. Wasn't that what Uchiha Itachi had told her?
Her ears picked up on Izuna asking how the Hokage would be chosen, and Tobirama explained there would be a public vote where every citizen would participate. Away with the old system and in with the new. Democracy… Or something based on it at least.
As hard as she tried to suppress her memories, they still started bubbling. Right underneath the surface.
Izuna was thinking out loud his opinion about the Hokage position. His focus drifting from all of them in turn, Naruto pretending to pay the utmost amount of attention. "So who's the candidates? A Hokage should be one of the strongest in the village, if not the strongest. Anyone who became Hokage would be acknowledged by everyone. Uchiha and Senju alike."
'You're wrong.'
Three pairs of dark eyes and one set of red looked confused back at Naruto who suddenly realised she'd said that out loud.
"What do you mean?" Asked Tobirama. He was sitting with his elbows on the table, one hand cupping his face while he looked at her with one arched eyebrow.
Naruto's face heated up. "I- I mean the Hokage… You don't become Hokage to be acknowledged, it's those who are acknowledged who becomes Hokage." She explained, again thinking of Itachi's words and trying very hard to hammer the picture of Nagato, the Uchiha and Killer Bee out of her head.
She didn't want to get depressed again. Naruto was in Konoha, she had dreamed of this for so many years and she had to suppress these memories right now.
"Heh… You're right." Said Tobirama sounding surprised. Naruto had a feeling that was an insult but didn't comment on it.
"So we'll have a vote, but there are candidates, right? You never answered that." Replied Izuna with his hands folded and looking over to his older brother.
"I think the candidates would be obvious; Hashirama and Madara of course. Anyone else who'd fit?" Answered Tobirama leaning back in his chair.
Naruto noticed how Hashirama's eyes wandered in her direction, but she kept her interest fixed on a scratch in the table.
This wasn't her time line. She didn't belong here. Naruto was just here to fix things and then she was to make sure things went the right way. Even if she had already screwed up time royally, it didn't mean she'd give up hope to save those who could be saved. Or in this case it was more like making sure they were born.
That meant she most likely would have to be very little involved with the village and even the villagers. Try to let them come to their own conclusions without her interference, let things progress the way it did the last time.
Who knew how fragile time was? Had team Minato taken a pee break during their Kanabi bridge mission maybe Rin hadn't been captured. Kakashi had never lost an eye, and Obito wouldn't have been crushed by stones and found by Uchiha Madara. Maybe that was all it took for the world to become a different place forever. The thought made her incredibly depressed and hopeful at the same time.
Naruto knew how big of a hypocrite she was being. Here she was trying to prevent wars and suffering, but some people were born as a result of that. They had been moulded both because and despite their suffering. Naruto herself was a prime example of that.
She was already well aware that peace required sacrifices. Oh yes, how painfully well she knew that by now…
About an hour later Naruto went outside, already dead tired of all the paperwork and lessons she had to remember. Things still needed to be decided, and Naruto hadn't had much to offer. It only lead to them having to arrange another meeting after the Hokage election about troop divisions. It was clear that the Uchiha and Senju couldn't continue the way they had up until now with their missions. There had to be some sort of merge. But first the village leader would be needed to be chosen.
When the blond was halfway down the street she stopped at the sound of her own name being called. "Wait, Naruto!" Shouted Izuna and came up to her with a charming smile that made Naruto wonder if he and Madara could actually be related. The older Uchiha was very good at smirking, but rarely truly smiled, far less grin the way Izuna did.
"You left so fast, Naruto. I was going to ask you to spar with me, but before I knew it you were gone." He said and looked knowingly back at her. Clearly her lack of concentration had been noticed, even if Naruto had attempted to look like she was paying attention.
"Heh, sorry. I didn't like the idea of dragging out the meeting..." Replied Naruto and adjusted her hitai ate. She had found herself doing that a lot lately. It was a long while since she wore it regularly and the added and familiar weight around her head made her constantly touch it absent mindedly.
They headed together towards the new butcher store down the street owned by a young Senju, and they agreed on a match as soon as they were done shopping. "By the way, big bro told me about that forehead protector of yours. It looks nice on you, maybe I should make one myself." He said thoughtfully while scratching his wrist. He had a bandage there and Naruto guessed he'd gotten cut during his mission.
"You should. The hitai ate shows your fighting as a shinobi of Konoha." She said and peeked at him from the corner of her eye. He was contemplating her words while while looking towards a the Uchiha banner stationed by the gates far ahead of them, at least that's what Naruto thought he was looking at.
"You know what, I think I will. Maybe you can give me some pointers?" He answered and touched the metal of her hitai ate with his pointing finger. Chuckling when Naruto's head was pushed backwards, the rest of her body following after and she scowled back up at him.
"I have better things to do then helping you with metal work, dattebayo. I'm sure everyone will get one sooner or later. I mean, the Senju already made similar protectors for themselves."
Izuna nodded as they reached their destination. The butcher waved to Naruto and nodded politely to the Uchiha before asking the blond what he could help her with today. He was a really thin man, and even standing there with his large butcher knife Naruto had problems picturing him in this occupation.
"I think I'll go for cow, maybe some shank?" Naruto said aloud and started rummaging through her pockets while the butcher bent down behind the counter. Looking at her meagre amount of money, Naruto swallowed and chuckled weakly. "Actually, make that half a shank, or how much do I get for this?" She asked and laid out the sum on the counter. In the end she got half a the shank while Izuna bought loin for himself and his brother.
"I hope I can start doing missions soon, or I'll have to go back to the cave if I don't get an income one of these days." Naruto muttered depressed as they left the butcher.
"Ah, I can imagine. Or you could just get married to someone with money. I'm sure you will find some poor bastard willing to take you." Izuna teased while Naruto rolled her eyes.
"Suuuure, that will solve all my problems."
Izuna laughed while shaking his head. Naruto was scared this topic might lead to places she didn't want it to go, so instead she asked a question she'd been wondering about for a long while.
"Hey Izuna, there's one thing I wanna' know. Are everyone in the Uchiha clan inbred?"
As the words came out of her mouth Naruto realized just how insulting that sounded. And looking up at the choking, dark haired guy next to her she tried to take it back.
"I- I mean, you know... Everyone is named the same in your clan. Even the civilians go by Uchiha-this and Uchiha-that. So I… well, it's the same with the Senju you know. Everyone's family name is the same, dattebayo." Naruto tried to explain, seeing the dangerous glint in Izuna's eyes fade to be replaced by mirth.
"No, absolutely not. We are definitely not inbred Naruto. We don't use the civilian system where a woman takes the husbands family name either. The rule is rather that if an outsider marries someone within a clan that person has to take the clan name. It doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman, they'll be demanded to take the clan name." He answered slowly and clearly, as if he wanted to make absolutely sure Naruto caught it all. In the meanwhile she frowned at the explanation, there were still something odd about that system.
They had just passed a couple of Uchias who Izuna waved to, and Naruto found her attention fixed to the fan symbol sown into their yukata. "But… What about when two people from different clans marries? Who gets to keep their name then?"
"Well, it depends on where they choose to live. If someone from the Uchiha clan married a Sarutobi the person who moved would have to change his or her name." He told her and Naruto felt one eyebrow raise high while the other furrowed.
"So… what happens if an Uchiha and a Senju got married tomorrow? They live in the same village..."
Izuna stopped abruptly and looked completely baffled at the question. Clearly that was something he'd never imagined before and Naruto couldn't be sure if he was genuinely trying to work out an answer, or fighting away the picture she'd implanted in his head.
"Not sure..." He answered eventually, the corner of his lips turned downwards and his left eyebrow slightly twitching. Naruto smiled triumphantly.
"Maybe they could just keep their family names?"
"Please let us talk about something else. I really can't..." Izuna said and grimaced. Naruto had the impression Izuna found the idea of a marriage between a Senju and an Uchiha as disgusting as Naruto found eating bats.
"Okay, let's talk about your spectacular loss to Kurou instead then. I wanna' know exactly what he did. That boy is really slippery when he wants to and I don't want to be surprised next time I spar with him." Naruto said more for the hell of seeing Izuna go from uneasy to bad tempered then actually wanting the details.
Laughing as the Uchiha grunted they headed for the training ground.
Naruto stood on top of a platform Hashirama had created for the event. It stood in front of the town Hall, which they yesterday decided should be renamed the Hokage tower.
Behind her stood the leaders of the Senju and Uchiha clans waiting expectantly for her to begin to talk. The blond was supposed to be the diplomat between the two rivalling shinobi groups, and apparently that meant she would have to be in charge every time a touchy subject was being discussed amongst the villagers. It also meant she was today's show host.
"Hi everyone. Thank you all for coming today... I've been told everyone is present by now so we'll try to get this over with as quickly and efficiently as possible. We have two excellent Hokage candidates you will have to choose between. I hope you can see beyond clan or old loyalties and think of the best for Konoha village." Naruto said loudly to the gathering of people. It was at times like these she wished the megaphone was a basic tool stored in the village, she wasn't even entirely sure if it had been invented yet...
Looking out over the people Naruto was pleasantly surprised to see how mixed the gathering was. It was refreshing change from the usually separated packs they usually crowded themselves in. Izuna whooped from the front row and Itama who was standing close gave him a glare.
"We'll do this simply enough. Everyone who votes for Senju Hashirama stand over by the blue post, everyone who votes for Uchiha Madara stands by the yellow post." Naruto instructed and pointed to the two painted logs of wood which had been placed in their respective locations earlier in the day.
With a nervous look over her shoulder she saw that both men seemed calm enough. Hashirama and Madara both standing with their arms folded and watching the gathering with patience. In front of her everyone was still waiting for her to continue speaking, but Naruto didn't really have much more prepared.
"Okay… You can vote now, dattebayo." She said uncertainly.
People immediately started moving. Izuna and Tobirama who'd been standing next to one another in the middle split up and headed straight for different posts. It was apparent who'd win, since Naruto saw few Uchiha go towards the green post and none of the Senju doing the opposite.
With a small smile she looked at Hashirama as the last few voters got to their place.
"Alright. I hope you know what a big decision you all made today, so thank you so much for voting. Konoha's first Hokage will from today be Senju Hashirama, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed brightly and stepped backwards, letting the new Hokage take the spot light now that her role was finished.
Not knowing what to expect, she went to stand next to Madara at the back of the stage. Feeling her nerves spike in trepidation by not knowing how he would take this. His face was completely unreadable. He was just standing there mutely while watching Hashirama prepare to speak. Naruto studied him from the corner of her eye.
In front of them Hashirama cleared his voice and started talking. "I hope you know how honoured I am for being selected, I promise to do the best I can to assure this village will grow and flourish towards a-" Hashirama started saying passionately while his whole demeanour had gone from calm to determined.
In the back Naruto casually moved right next to Madara and nudged hum with her elbow. "Are you alright?" She whispered, trying to move her lips as little as possible so no one would notice. The Uchiha looked slowly towards her with that damned expressionless mask still in place.
"Shouldn't I be?" he muttered, Naruto frowned and peaked back at the Senju. He had started gesturing now, and was pointing towards a corner of the gathering.
"… that means that from today I promise to see you all as my family. We might not share the same blood, but as Hokage it will be both my duty and my joy to-"
With her pulse rising despite her lack of cause she stared down the Uchiha who had turned his attention back to the speech. "Well, maybe, maybe not. That's sort of why I asked, so I would know which one it is." Said Naruto stubbornly. Madara took his time answering and for five whole minutes she was under the impression he wouldn't.
"...I swear to protect and preserve what we have fought for, what we together will achieve in the future and-"
"I'm okay." Madara answered, but Naruto wasn't so sure. His eyes was too emotionless, too still and focused on Hashirama's back at this point. He could be a bastard whenever he felt like it, but Naruto knew his pride had been wounded.
"...this means I'll be there for you all, Uchiha or Senju, it doesn't make a difference anymore-"
Still the Uchiha stayed calm and focused, trying to ignore Naruto the best he could which pissed her off. "Are you telling the truth?"
"...and to guide and teach those coming after to never give up, so when-"
Madara's folded arms were clutching tight over his upper biceps, making the fabric of his yukata wrinkle as he looked straight ahead. "Yes."
Naruto sighed and her gaze turned up towards the cloud free sky. The sun blaring down on them and burning their noses. From the trees framing the village borders Naruto caught the sight of a large bird of prey flying up and heading towards them. It's long majestic wings spread out on each side as it glided on the wind. Free of burdens and flying high up there were none of them could reach it. As she followed it's progress it flew right above them, heading towards the mountain up ahead. Maybe it was Mamoru.
As the bird flapped it's wings, soaring even higher up into the air, Naruto caught the last few words of Hashirama's speech. "… Because ninjas are those who endure, and our job is to pass on the will of fire."
Author note: Thank you for reading!
Please forgive any grammar mistakes, I try to avoid them but English isn't my native language so they do occur.
PS: For those of you wondering why Naruto hasn't picked up on Zetsu being around the Uchiha:
I'm trying to keep Naruto as in character as I can. Which means she wont find out about this from just hints and wild guesses like in the last chapter. She has been chasing that creature all alround the world for years, and is under the impression Zetsu wont show up until after Madara abandons Konoha. (like he does in the oroginal seris) There Madara thought he was a part of his own mind, which is a very different approach then what he has done in my story.
Zetsu also keeps riling up the bijus, so really I don't feel she should be able to guess he is contacting Madara, Naruto thinks he'd tell her if that happened. There is rising suspicion, but not enough for her to confront Madara about it (yet.)