DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN NARUTO
After the embarrassing rice ball moment, Madara was calmer. He had eaten in silence and in deep thinking, using the 'being ashamed' façade as an alibi. He had already spent six hours working with Sakura and, though they were not alone of course, he had had the time to follow her with his eyes every time no one was looking. That feeling he had when she elbowed him in the ribs had left him thinking, it was similar to what he felt the first time he touch her hand accidentally after the battle.
He knew there had been times that he had had contact with her and didn't feel that electricity, like when he comforted the pinkette after her battle with Hikari by touching her shoulder. That didn't fit with his sibling's theory that he had a Crush on her. ´Crush…' he thought. 'Is that what this is?... No, this seems different.´ he had had a small crush on a girl when he was fifteen, but sadly she died during a battle with the Hagoromo Clan. It wasn't a meaningful crush, but it counted as his first romance-related broken heart. Because his heart had been already broken by his siblings loses long before that. After a while of thinking of a possible answer, he realized that when he acted normal around the kunoichi, there was this natural feeling like the one between people that know each other for a long time. That's why in those moments he felt confident and didn't act awkward. The moments he felt odd where the ones when he was caught off guard.
Madara watched Sakura talking with Ryuuji and he discovered a brand new side of her. She seemed like a fish inside a river, full of life and experience.This was her home, where she felt safe and could feel useful. This was the real Sakura, and he liked her.
'Like her? Do I like her?' and with that thought his heart skipped a beat.
'YOU DO, WHY THE HESITATION?' a voice inside him asked. He opened his eyes slightly wider. 'YOU LIKE HER, STOP QUESTIONING EVERYTHING AND LIVE'. What was that? But then again, who was he lying to? He knew that was his consciousness, like he knew he liked her. He wasn't in love though, he couldn't be.
'But how to act around her now?' he asked to himself in his mind.
'JUST BY BEING YOURSELF. YOU'RE THE GREAT MADARA UCHIHA, THE MIGHTY WARRIOR, AND YOU ARE SCARED TO BE AROUND A GIRL YOU LIKE? PLEASE!' the voice shouted inside him 'YOU WILL SCARE HER AWAY. THINK OF IT AS A BATTLE WHERE EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE SCARED YOU FIGHT BECAUSE THERE IS ALWAYS A MORE IMPORTANT MEANING TO IT, PEOPLE TO SAVE OR AVENGE. THIS IS ANOTHER BATTLE; YOU HAVE TO SUCK UP YOUR FEARS AND INTERACT WITH HER.' His eyes widened completely by now, and Hashirama brought him back to reality.
"Are you okay, Madara?" the Senju asked to his friend. "I'm sorry I laughed at you because of the rice ball". The Uchiha realized he had been off and shook his head.
"I'm fine, I just dozed off a little" he tried to sound ashamed as he invented an excuse.
"But your eyes went wide open…" Hashirama was concerned "Maybe Sakura-san can run a check up on you"
"It's not necessary, I said I'm fine" he answered bored.
"What's going on?" Sakura said coming next to them. Madara became a bit nervous, but he remembered what the voice in his head just said. 'Man, I'm hearing voices in my head, of course I'm not fine!'.
"Nothing" he answered calmed, this was a battle. "I dozed off a little and this idiot wants to bother you by running a check up on me. He thinks I'm ill or something" 'Good, putting Hashirama as a scapegoat relaxes me'
Sakura looked at him carefully, like checking for something that might be symptom but in plain eye she didn't see anything.
"Well you don't seem ill" She concluded "But this makes me realize that I must run a check up on all of you shortly." Both men deadpanned.
"But we are fine" Hashirama said a bit scared "really, we feel all right!"
"It's not like you have to go to the doctor only when you feel bad" the pinkette explained wisely "also if you get full medic controls we can know what is 'fine' for you, in order to realize when you're 'not fine'. Do you understand?" she asked, in a both gentle and demanding way. Both shinobi became serious, and sort of speechless. They couldn't debate that.
"We used to do something, in my lost village I mean" she added that last information because Ryuuji didn't know the truth, but she wanted them to know what she was speaking about, and they did so because they nodded firmly "It was called medic records. Every time we got a new patient, that being a grown up person that never came to the doctor or a newborn child, we run some procedures for a full check up to state their whole biologic and health information. I mean, height, weight, scars, old wounds, situation of birth, illnesses and etcetera. That is useful also to check on shinobi if someone tries to henge them or substitute their bodies."
"Woah, never would have thought of that!" Hashirama exclaimed
"Because you never use your brain, idiot" Madara made fun of him, but he didn't let him answer "that is a very important resource to have. Information on our people I mean, to take care of them but also for their security. You're brilliant!" he complimented her. He did it wholeheartedly, trying to overcome his awkwardness. He realized that by being himself like he was with the Senju made things easier around her. He was delightedly surprised to see her blushing by his praise.
"Yeah…" she said a bit uncomfortable scratching the back of her head "It wasn't my idea actually, that method was done in my Village long before I was born, you know"
"That might be true, but if you haven't mentioned it we could have never thought about that" the Uchiha stated. Hashirama cleared his throat, they have forgotten completely about him!
"That's very good, but how are we going to do this?" the Senju asked "We are over six hundred people here and you are the only medic! It will take months to do so!"
"It's great that you asked" she exclaimed all her blush gone by now "we will start with the medic ninjutsu right now." Sakura clapped her hands cheerfully and smirked at them "Bring the fish".
Ryuuji, Hashirama and Madara were stood in front of three small desks with scrolls, ink and a box with water and five alive fish next to every desk. The pinkette was in front of them. She had a small table with the same items, and behind her there was a white wall in which she started to draw some signs with charcoal.
"This is what you're going to write on your scrolls" she said. "It is very important that you do it correctly because it won't work" she looked at the boy "I know we're just starting to work with chakra but we'll be working on this the same as them, just remember they have years of chakra use and control so don't feel bad. You'll start by drawing the scrolls and I will test them, then we'll work on the next step." The boy nodded.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Hashirama enquired.
"Take your scrolls and write this" she pointed at the wall "I'll do it by myself too" and she started to draw gracefully on her piece of paper. Madara finished first, she went to look his work and was surprised to see that his calligraphy also applied on seals drawings. "That's pretty good Madara-san" he was pleased with her praise. She moved onto Hashirama "You need to round more that line Hashirama-san" The Senju was having some trouble with his ink, but he finally managed to get it right. Finally she stepped next to the Koji boy and was surprised to see that he had accurately imitated the sign on the wall. "Well done Ryuuji!" she said "you did this exactly as mine, you really are good observer." The Senju and the Uchiha looked at the boy's work and were also stunned.
"So Cool Ryuuji sempai!" Hashirama cheered.
"Boy you are good at this" Madara said "If you have this good eye you might also have good visual memory, am I right?"
Ryuuji was very uncomfortable with all the praising, but he still answered to the Uchiha.
"Well, yes I do" he said "I like to play memory and find the differences games with Megumi" he explained looking at the floor.
"What are those?" the man asked. The boy looked at him surprised so he elaborated "I'm sorry we didn't have many games to play on our childhood, we were raised for battle since we were even littler than your sister."
"Oh! ..." Ryuuji exclaimed, he had never thought about that "I'm sorry, I didn't know…" he felt ashamed
"Don't apologize" Madara said as if nothing was happening "It was like that for us, but fortunately you had a better time" he patted the boy's shoulder "And that's what we want for all the children in this village" and he smiled to the embarrassed boy "Now, what are those games about?" he looked at the Senju for help.
"Yes! Tell us please Ryuuji sempai" Hashirama got the hint "they seem pretty interesting we only used to play skipping rocks at the river surface and maybe some pissing contest" Ryuuji snorted at that, Sakura too. That outraged Madara.
"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT,IDIOT!" he shot at the Senju.
"Well that was partially true, I mean" his friend said "Though you felt uncomfortable to pee in front of public…"
"SHUT UP!" Madara hit him in his face
"OUCH!" Hashirama cried. They started to shout to each other but stopped when they heard Sakura and Ryuuji bursting into laughter. That's when they realized they were at each other's necks with killing intent. Of course it was a friendly killing intent for them, everybody who knew them did know. And by this time, the pinkette and the boy did so.
"Okay gentlemen" Sakura said wiping a tear from one of her eyes "now let go of your collars and go to your scrolls, Ryuuji will teach you those games on another time." The grown-ups immediately released each other and moved quickly to their posts waiting for her to reprimand them more but that didn't come. She went into full teaching mode.
"The medic ninjutsu training starts with this scrolls, your written seals and fish" she started to explain "Since you are just learning, you're not allowed to do this to a person until you've achieved this step" She took a fish from its bucket and placed it over her scroll on her desk.
Suddenly, with a graceful movement she cut the fish half open and the poor thing kept moving. She immediately started to emanate green chakra and the animal healed completely like it had never had anything wrong. Her 'students' held their breaths astonished.
"This is why we need fish for this" she looked at them "they are the animals with least pain receptors, and also they can endure harm. If the cuts are done fine, they won't even suffer. Just only the motion of the cut" she assured them. "Medic ninjutsu requires excellent Chakra Control, and even though some may be more experienced with chakra in general, there is no dojutsu than can copy it" she looked at Madara "or special chakra that can reproduce it simply" and the she looked at Hashirama. "Both of you have to re-learn how to mold this particular type of chakra"
She put the fish back to the water and then moved in front of Ryuuji.
"As I've told you" she stood serious "You're just starting with chakra, but I'm going to show you and make you experience the feeling so you can seek for it. Please raise your good hand like this" she motioned her right hand in front of her with her palm upwards. The boy did as asked with his left hand and she gently put hers below his, her palm touching the back of his hand. His cheeks became softly red.
'AH, A NEW RIVAL!' the voice inside Madara's head decided to appear again, he swallowed hard to ignore it.
"I'm going to let healing chakra flow through your hand, please close your eyes and concentrate on the feeling of it" she started to send chakra and it trespassed the boy's hand and started to emanate from his palm. "What do you feel?" she asked.
"T-this is odd…" Ryuuji said "It's like tickling, but also like a heart beat on my hand. I can feel it on my veins… life." Sakura smirked triumphant.
"Now open your eyes" she ordered softly. When the boy did that his eyes became extremely wide. He didn't know when, but his sensei had retired her hand and there was a small mass of green chakra floating on his palm.´
"I-I… " he was out of words.
"This is your chakra, being pulled out by mine" she explained "that's why you still can hold it. It will only last for some seconds more because you are not used to mold it yet" and as she said so, the green light vanished, the boy's expression fell. "But remember this feeling, and how it pumped through your veins. Your chakra paths are attached to them so it's the same feeling."
She remembered her Shishou when she first showed her the same thing, though it had been her chakra because she could mold it as a genin.
FLASHBACK
The Sannin put her hands over the fish and Chakra started to glow green. In a minute the fish was alive. Sakura watched in awe. "Why do you want to be a medic Nin so badly?"
'I feel useless' was her first thought, but she knew that wasn't entirely true. She wanted to be useful, to help the people she loved and fought for her, and she wasn't fond of being treated like a porcelain doll. "Naruto promised to me that he would bring Sasuke-kun back and got badly hurt while trying. He was injured because of me, and I couldn't do anything. When we were ambushed by Orochimaru at the forest and he and Sasuke-kun were hurt, all I could do was to watch over them. I'm always watching him from behind, I want to walk with them shoulder to shoulder." She stated.
Tsunade looked at her, her brows up showing a bit of amusement. "Ok kid, give me your hand" Sakura did it and Tsunade held it with her palm open facing the ceiling. "Close your eyes and focus. Feel your Chakra through your body; be conscious of it flowing in you. Feel it." Sakura had her brows furrowed and was concentrating hard. "Now think of your chakra moving to this hand, going fluidly to your fingers. Then you have to visualize a change of it, it's not a chakra to fight or destroy, it's a chakra to mend, rebuild, it brings life. You got it?" Sakura Nodded slightly, she was doing a great effort. "Now relax and release it in your hand."
Sakura felt an odd shift on her body and then chakra coming out of her hand.
"Open your eyes" The Sanin said.
The pink haired kunoichi did as said and watched in awe the green glowing chakra molded in her hand. She smiled, and felt hot tears of joy falling down her cheeks. She looked up to the woman in front of her who was grinning with some pride.
END OF FLASHBACK
The pinkette sighed, she really missed her sensei. She shook her head and continued to speak to Ryuuji.
"This will be your homework until you can mold chakra" she said "to feel the life in your hands, in your body, and direct it with your mind to them. When you finally can mold chakra, make it go to your palms and before release it, you change its essence to mend and heal. You got it?"
Her apprentice nodded still astonished by the feeling. He looked at his hand for a moment and started to meditate over the seal. Sakura smiled proudly and then moved in front of Madara.
"Madara-san" she spoke "we're doing the exact same thing, please raise your good hand".
He did so, anticipating the feeling that might come. When her palm touched the back of his hand he had this strange feeling of support, like if that hand will be always there to help him up, and to not fall into darkness. The pinkette, on the other hand, felt her palm grow hot and ticklish. Her heart began to beat faster and against all odds, she could actually stay calm and guide him.
"Please, do as we did with Ryuuji" she asked "Close your eyes, breath and move your chakra to your hand" Madara looked at her as if she was asking for something impossible. She noticed though. "Is there anything wrong?"
"N-no, it's not" Madara said, feeling silly about what he was about to say "It's just that I'm not used to close my eyes in front of people this way. It's like to turn off your best card". The kunoichi understood that.
"Your eyes might be one of your best cards" Sakura retorted "but they are not the best one" his expression changed subtly, but again she caught that "You have many more abilities than just your dojutsu, and also as I've said, it won't help you with medic ninjutsu, just for copying hand signs and scroll ones". The man nodded and she continued "Pleas trust me and close your eyes. Move your chakra to your hands" she smiled at him.
Madara sighed and closed his eyes. He took a big breath and he concentrated his chakra to his hand and left it there. The pinkette felt the energy so she guided him.
"Now that you've concentrated that chakra" she said "you need to change the feeling to it, its destination. Feel that it is chakra gathered to heal" the pinkette heard Madara snort and asked him "what's going on now?" He opened his eyes and removed his hand with an anguish look.
"How can I think that my chakra can heal, if I'm a murderer?" he spat a her.
Hashirama was surprised, because he was actually seeing the Madara he knew speaking. Somehow he had always been shy with the pinkette, even though he had grown more confident around her. Now he wasn't being shy or anything. He was speaking at her like he did with him. That made him feel proud and a bit jealous but not because of her, because had the feeling that his friend might be finding another type of bond that he himself haven't found yet, a partner. Of course it wasn't the time yet with all the village creation and all, but then again, he wanted to find a woman and form a family. His train of thought was interrupted by the kunoichi talking.
"You're not a murderer…" she answered, she knew where this was going and she was not going to lose against his insecurities.
"This isn't right" he said shaking his head in denial and moved a few steps back leaning his back on the window.
"Madara-san, you are not what you say…" Sakura tried to reason with him.
"You don't know how many people I…" He looked at the floor forming fists with his hands, and then he raised them to look at his palms. "How can I even think of using these hands for good, if I've taken so many lives." He was so absorbed on his pain that he didn't feel her coming towards him. And he didn't anticipate her slapping him, until he felt her strong yet gentle hand colliding with his right cheek.
Madara opened his eyes wide. So did Ryuuji and Hashirama. It was the first time he's received a hit like this since he was a little prankster and his mom put him in his place once. He looked at her ready to tell her something.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" he started but he immediately shut up when he saw her eyes.
The pinkette had acted without thinking, but she needed something effective to remove him from the path he was taking. She prepared for worse and looked at him straight in the eye defying him.
Their eyes were fixated on each other's and he couldn't say a word. There was a world behind those green eyes. So many unspoken words, pain, regret. So he waited, to hear what she would say next.
"Don't go into darkness" she said serious, with a small hint of anger in her voice. His eyes couldn't go wider because they had already reached their limit. "You're a shinobi. Death is part of your life."
Nobody dare to move. Madara had more anguish in his eyes, as if he was begging for her to continue. Something inside him needed to hear what she was about to say.
"I know how you feel. I know the responsibility of having someone else's life on your hands and failing to keep them alive" those were his words, she was using them with him. "You have a gift, but doesn't mean you can save everybody."
"T-that…" the Uchiha tried to say something.
"Your words, I'm just sharing some of your own wisdom with you" she smiled softly "I did take lives too, you know? It's not a joke when I say that I can stop somebody's heart with my palms." Her expression fell a bit "I've done it".
Hashirama and Ryuuji sighed with impression.
"Y-you 've killed people sensei?" the boy said scared. She looked at him.
"Yes Ryuuji-kun, I have" she was serious about that. "I am not proud of that, and I don't brag about it. But when you are fighting you can't always win without taking someone else's life. It's part of being shinobi." She sighed "There are some people that just can't be saved."
Everybody understood that she was talking of something else, not just about medical help. She looked again at Madara.
"Have you ever felt pleasure when you killed somebody?" the pinkette asked to him.
"No" he said immediately. Then as an afterthought he added "I do enjoy fighting, that does give me pleasure. The problem is that I always end up killing my enemies…"
"That's another situation" she said "When you have someone in front of you, a Hyuuga, a Senju, whoever you can imagine, and you are not in a battle. Would you attack them and kill them for pleasure?" Madara felt disgusted with the idea and his expression showed it.
"Of course not" he said. "I only enjoy battles"
"Then" she started and took his right hand on hers, his palm facing up and hers below his "You're not a murderer" he sighed at her touch, but not because of the silliness of the crush or anything. It felt like a huge weight had been taken from his shoulders. "Gather chakra to your palm and give it the meaning of life."
He closed his eyes speechless and did everything as said. He focused on the chakra on his hand. "Life…" he thought. He remembered Takato saying that he and Izuna might have died on that last battle. If they haven't arrived there… he wouldn't have had a way to help them "but I can now. I can help everyone I want to if I learn this. I'm feeling it, the need to protect them brings life to my chakra…" The darkness and heaviness that were on his head started to vanish with light.
"Now release that chakra in your hand" Sakura ordered. He did, and opened his eyes surprised by the feeling.
"WHOAA" Hashirama exclaimed, he was already very moved by the exchange between them and seeing his friend achieving that was too much for him "How does it feel?"
Madara remained silent for some minutes, watching the green light glowing in his hand until he realized that the Pinkette had taken her hand off his.
"That is all you" she said knowingly. And something odd happened: He smiled, a genuine smile. His eyes shined with joy.
"It feels…" he started "alive… I mean… it is way too different to the other ninjutsu chakra. It's exciting and pleasant"
"Oh Pleaaase Sakura sensei!" the Senju begged as a child "Now it's my turn!" Sakura laughed, he really was like Naruto. The mood had enlightened.
"Be patient Hashirama-san" she said "let me give him his homework first". The Senju was a little ashamed and nodded waiting. "Madara-san you are going to keep training this chakra change. Once you've mastered it you're going to do the fish exercise that I will teach you when I finish with Hashirama-san"
"It's Okay" he responded absentmindly without taking his eyes of his hand as the energy vanished "I'll wait" He stated calmed.
Sakura moved over to Hashirama and repeated the same exercise she did with the other too. But she had something else to say to him as she supported the back of his hand with her palm.
"You also have another hard work to do here" she said, and he looked at her curious.
"And what is it?" he enquired excited.
"You need to dissociate your healing chakra from the medic chakra" the pinkette explained. "Transferring your particular chakra doesn't make you a medic. It is a great tool to use in a fight if you don't have much time, but medic ninjutsu is more complex and doesn't require the use of the receptor's energy. With the transference you can help shinobi fine, but civilians aren't used to chakra, so it would cost them a lot of their energy to adjust themselves to something foreign." She ended her explanation.
"So if I transfer my chakra to a shinobi, it might help them, but if I do it with a person that doesn't use Chakra it might harm them?" the long haired man asked with concern.
"Not exactly harm them" Sakura said "but if you transfer too much you might put them into a coma, I mean, the would be left unconscious for an undefined period of time."
"But his chakra heals, why can that happen?" Madara, now focused and in a student-like mode, asked.
"Chakra flows with chakra, when it enters to your body it fights at first but then again both are the same type and end up working altogether" she explained "and because of that, what seems that might take less time than medic ninjutsu, ends up taking the same amount of time or more. Civilian's chakra is different, we refer to it more like energy and if they train it kind of evolves to chakra. Meanwhile when their bodies feel something foreign they fight it like a virus or decease. The energy combats the Chakra and in the meantime the chakra heals the body but it consumes everything like fuel."
"Fuel?" Hashirama asked. That might be something from the future. Sakura felt bad because she forgot about that. She was surprised to hear Ryuuji intervening.
"Fuel is a resource that gives energy for some machines to work" the boy explained "it is common in big cities, I've learnt about it in our Village. There are also cities that have electricity, another type of energy that gives light without using candles."
Hashirama and Madara looked at the boy bewildered.
"Light withouth fire?" Hashirama clapped his hands "That seems wonderful! Madara we should have that in this village, and that fuel, we are going to be the future, you'see. Our Village…" Madara looked at his friend and was about to tell him to shut up but he caught a very angry Sakura cracking her fists.
"Hn… Hey Idiot, you better look…" he pointed in the pinkette's direction.
"What? Oh come on don't be a party pooper, you want as much as me for this village to grow and… OUCH!" he shut up because Sakura had knocked him on the top of his head. It wasn't too hard though. That made Madara think, If she really wanted she could have crushed their skulls with her inhuman strength –not that they would allow it though- so this hit and the slap, were just to get attention.
"Stop fooling around and pay attention!" she exclaimed and grabbed his hand. "Do as I've said and try to dissociate your chakra"
"Ow, okay" the Senju said rubbing his head with his other hand and proceeded to gather his chakra. It was a little difficult as the pinkette had said but finally he could feel it, separate it and transform the ninjutsu chakra into medic chakra. He opened his hand and saw the green energy too and smiled.
"Well, you three have already experienced healing chakra." Sakura addressed to the three of them. "Now I will show you what I did with the fish in detail."
Back in the soon to be Hokage mount, Hikari, Megumi and Tobirama had finished lunch. The Takishima told her apprentice to meditate near the border of the cliff and focus on her chakra. While the little girl did what her sensei told, the two grown-ups resumed their talk.
"So, how did you come up with this training?" the albino asked the kunoichi who was checking if her student was seating on a safe spot.
"You mean the "mean" one?" she mocked. He rolled his eyes.
"Of course" he answered.
"Well, when I grew up I wasn't at the village quite often" the Takishima explained "but during the periods of time I was there I used to bug different sensei to help me train. That's why I've sparred with a Hyuuga as I've said. He was a genius…" she sighed.
"Did you befriend him?" the albino was curious, Hyuuga weren't the friendly type of person.
"At some point I did. But he was unsuffarable when he was little" she smiled remembering Neji "Fortunately my cousing fought with him and made him realize that there was more to life than hate. He was from the second branch." Tobirama understood that. Hyuuga had this two type of "branches" related with the heritage and everything.
"Anyway, there was this one sensei that couldn't use ninjutsu, but was like a god of taijutsu" Hikari snorted and he looked at her like she was crazy "I'm sorry, but Guy sensei was very funny and extravagant, and also one of the strongest people I've ever met. He could manage to open the 8th chakra doors in a battle" she said proudly.
"He did what?" The senju asked surprised "Who was he fighting that he had to do that? Did he survive?"
"I can't tell you anything, but he did survive. But just because of Naruto" She put her finger on her mouth as a 'secret' sign.
"This Naruto is really something, it seems" he said disappointed that he couldn't know more. He felt intrigued about this man, and also about the Kunoichi's cousin.
"He really is!" she beamed. "I asked Guy-Sensei to train with him and he was super enthusiast, I mean in a Hashirama-san way enthusiast" he snorted with that, she decided to let it pass "and I trained with him and his team for some months. His students were Lee-san, a boy that also couldn't use ninjutsu but finally became a Taijutsu master like sensei, Neji-san, my Hyuuga friend, and Ten Ten a weapon expert. Guy and Lee always did this training. Every day, and then joined Neji and Tenten that used to spar in the meantime. I sometimes trained with the taijutsu duo, but it was too much for me at that time, so other days I spared with the other two."
"So they were a group that had a sensei…" Tobirama thought out loud "That would do…"
"Beg your pardon?" Hikari asked confused.
"I have been thinking that it would be a good idea to implement a place to train our children, if they want to become a shinobi" he explained "I always thought that the most capable people should be the ones that pass the instruction. It kind of works like that with the Clan, but it would be better if it's done in a place that gathers those in need of training."
"You're actually talking about creating place to teach ninjutsu? Like a school?" the girl couldn't believe it.
"Yes, it will have instructors" the albino answered "I believe Sakura san mentioned something called academy, was that it?" He heard Hikari snort and he couldn't understand why. "What?" he asked, his forehead vein slightly popping out, he was speaking about something serious and she was laughing for kami's sake!
"I'm sorry" she said calming down "It's just… I can't believe I am actually witnessing you thinking of creating an academy"
"WHAT!?" Tobirama exclaimed offended, Hikari shushed him and pointed at Megumi who was perfectly meditating. He lowered his voice but his bad temper remained "You don't think I am capable to come up with an Idea like that? Only Hashirama and Madara can? Am I really such a monster to you?" he didn't know why he said the last part, he was surprised to hear himself saying it, but he found out he was eager to know her answer.
"Hey! Don't say that!" she motioned her hands in front of her defending herself of the accusations "I don't think you're a monster! I am sorry if I made you think that, I know we have not had a good start, but I think you're just as capable as Madara-san and your brother are. Honestly, You're equal to Madara-san to me, in terms of deduction and intelligence. Don't get me wrong, Hashirama-san is bright, but he is a bit thick sometimes, just as my cousin. So you might work well with Madara-san". She saw him roll his eyes, but said nothing. "I was just saying that I have never thought I would be witnessing the conception of the educational system of the Village. You get it, right?"
"Wha-…" he stopped and thought it carefully "Oh…" he said as the realization hit him.
"Yes, it was your creation" she smiled knowingly.
"Did it work?" Tobirama asked.
"It did." She answered. "You might want to solve some points from start to get a better institution, but It will go fine." He sighed.
"It's good to know" he looked at the sky, it was already afternoon. "It's good to know that I am going to give something important to this village. That I will do something meaningful"
"To do something meaningful should be every person's motto" Hikari said simply.
"You know, you compared me with Madara." She looked at him curious "This last month I've been thinking how could being his brother be. They seem to have such a special bond."
"He loves them so much" the kunoichi said looking at the sunset.
"And I might have taken them away…" he said "I would have become the murderer of three of his siblings". He was thinking out loud, the guilt he felt since he heard Takato say that they would have died by his sword during that battle was heavy. It all felt so wrong now.
"You like them" Hikari intervened "The Uchiha Siblings, I mean. And Madara-sa"
"I'm not going to answer that" he looked offended but it was actually a façade. He had opened up to them a little. Specially to Takato.
"It's okay, it's not like I really need your answer to notice that." She winked and got herself up. "I'm gonna check on Megumi, we should finish this training, it's going to be time for my night shift!" and she went to her little's apprentice encounter.
Tobirama looked at them, the Takishima was the proof that things might work out, even though her history was not all happy tales. He thought of Takato and remembered again what his anija told him. Was the Uchiha interested in her? And more important, was he?
AUTHORS NOTES
AHHHHH Love Triangle? Hahahaha you will see. I just love writing Tobirama. No Izuna, Toka or Takato this chapter, but they will be on the next one.
Inner Madara seems fun! But he would not be called given an identity like Inner Sakura for he is not always present like pinkette is.