Fated to Meet You
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This is by far the fastest update I've ever done. And you all deserve it! Like really, really deserve it! I'm very glad that many of you are enjoying the story so far. Thank you for all the reviews, favourites, and follows. I really appreciate them. :D
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, character or plot, from Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto.
Chapter Nine: Comrades
With a blank look and a mouth slightly ajar, Uchiha Mai glanced around the room as if looking for the answer in this situation before looking back at the brown haired man pointing at her. In no point in her life, that she knows of, did she ever meet this man. And here he was pointing at her and exclaiming familiarity. Snapping out of the confusion, she closed her mouth and dipped her head at at each of the men in the room. "I brought Elder Mio's scroll that she promised." She said, still standing at the door.
"Great!" Senju Hashirama beamed.
She was taken aback by the perky tone before she lightly stepped into the room and around the three men, all at the same time avoiding possible contact with a pair of red eyes, and handed the scroll to the Hokage with both hands and a slightly lowered head. Stepping back a few steps into the open part of the room, she paused for a second with her hands folded behind her back before saying, "I'll take my leave."
Hashirama nodded as he put the scroll onto the desk. "If I ever need anything, I'll send word to you. Thank you, Uchiha-san."
Mai jaggedly nodded before walking out of the room as carefully as she came in.
All the while, Jun was staring from the girl to the Hokage. He hadn't seen the girl since the peace agreement ceremony. "W-Wait!" He called out to the girl, who already left. He turned back to the older men in the room and said, "I'll be back." He waved his hands in the air as if to explain something before leaving.
"Hey! Wait!" Jun called after the dark haired girl.
Stopping, Mai looked up to the ceiling pleading for help before turning around to face the man calling her. She lowered her head at the man and brought it up as her "hello."
Jun paused for a breath. "You don't remember me?"
Mai furrowed her brows into a line in question.
"In the Land of Steel-" Jun's eyes widened. "That's right you were knocked out!" He looked at the girl. "You wouldn't know who I am." Jun said with truth before laughing to himself. "I'm sorry." He scratched the back of his head appearing child-like.
"The Land of Steel?" Mai asked, all the while assuming that this brown haired man was a part of the Senju bodyguard team that she remembered was hired at that particular place and time.
The Senju nodded. "I was there."
"..." The Uchiha stood there aimlessly before nodding slowly and signalling her leave. "Excuse me."
Jun managed to stop her by asking, "How did you do it? You know, take down that scholar."
Turning back to face the man respectfully, she answered generally, "Poison."
"I know but-"
"Jun!" Takeshi called from down the hall. "We need you back in here."
The brown haired Senju turned back to the older one. "Okay, be right there." Nodding his head to Mai, he said, "I'm Senju Jun. Nice to meet you."
"Uchiha Mai."
. . .
Hashirama was still smiling and observing at the faces of each man in the room, especially his brother's.
Jun walked back where he originally stood followed by Takeshi.
"The team of Konoha shinobi was found in the eastern part of the Land of Tea." Tobirama circled the respective region on the map laid out on the desk. "Two in critical condition, the rest dead."
Hashirama opened the scroll given to them by Elder Mio and read its content. The white haired Senju saw his brother's face straighten as his dark eyes travelled across the sheet of paper. Setting the scroll down, the Hokage leaned back into his seat. "The eastern part of the Land of Tea was a base for a secret organization that was created by the Land of Tea."
Tobirama grabbed his cup of tea on the table before straightening his back. "You think the Land of Tea regime has something to do with this?" He set his cup down with seemingly control after drinking from it. Even if the Land of Tea hired the Senju Clan in the past, if there was any chance of them being a threat to Konoha, Tobirama would not look past the land.
"No." Hashirama shook his head. The Hokage extended his arm and opened the scroll that had rolled itself back together to point out a small separate note tucked within it. "Elder Mio sent her student to exterminate the entire organization a couple years ago."
"Then why would this extinct organization have anything to do with the deaths of our Konoha shinobi?" Jun asked.
"This secret organization's main purpose was to steal justus and techniques from clans. The Land of Tea would then use them as a form of payment." The Senju Hokage informed the others of Elder Mio's information. He withdrew his hand. "Elder Mio's student couldn't destroy the jutsus and techniques they stole. She couldn't even touch them."
"A seal, probably." Takeshi asked.
Hashirama nodded. "I think so."
"So, you think that the people who attacked the team have something to do with these stolen jutsus and technique." Kaito asked.
Hashirama nodded. "Yes."
"What do we do now?" Jun asked. "Head out there to check?"
"We do just that." Tobirama said. "We'll leave in three days."
The three Senju nodded their heads in unison and dismissed themselves.
Tobirama grabbed his tea and walked to the window.
"This team had some of our elite." Hashirama said sadly before facing his brother but staring at the tea. "Is the tea working?"
"Yeah." Tobirama said after gulping down a sip.
"Did old man Hikotoshi tell you about that Peach Blossom tea remedy?" He gestured at the cup in his brother's hand. "Usually it would take days to return your chakra flow to normal from something like that."
Tobirama looked down into the cup and lowered it away from his face even further as if he was bothered by it. "Yeah." He wasn't entirely lying. When Tobirama returned back to the neighborhood, he bumped into Elder Hikotoshi, who relayed to him about a Peach Blossom Tea remedy to help with chakra circulation.
Hashirama turned back to the map on his desk. "I'm afraid of this." He admitted and stared into the map of the Land of Tea. "There's been word going around that lands have created hidden villages."
"And you're afraid that times have not changed." Tobirama worded his brother's exact fears. He let his free hand lean on the window sill and looked out the window into the village that he took a part in building.
The older Senju brother placed a hand on Elder Mio's scroll. "All these attacks and espionage missions. They've been increasing by the fold."
"Then sit down with these hidden village leaders." Tobirama suggested. "And settle a truce." His red eyes unconsciously landed on two dark haired figures on one of the many Konoha roads.
. . .
"Mai."
The called girl turned around to the voice. "Elder Jirou." She dipped her head.
"I heard Elder Mio is sending you to the Land of Tea soon." The male elder said when they began to make their way through the road.
"Tonight." Mai answered.
"Be careful." Elder Jirou warned. "Lately there's been intel that lands are creating their own hidden villages."
Mai nodded at the advice. There was a moment of long silence. Elder Jirou did not talk much, although he talked much more than Elder Mio. This moment of silence, unlike the others, was suspicious, and Mai looked over to the male elder. "Is there something wrong, Elder Jirou?"
Elder Jirou, who was looking ahead in the road, slowly craned his neck to face the Uchiha child. "Just old elder business." His dark, old eyes crinkled into a smile.
Mai looked at and almost into the male elder's crinkled eyes before he looked away.
"And you know, Elder Mio." He clasped both his hands behind his back. "Sending you away to protect you from anything messy at home and all."
Mai nodded. That was true about her teacher.
Elder Jirou chuckled. "Trust me, child. It's nothing disastrous." The male elder said for reassurance.
Mai laughed lightly. "Thank you, Elder Jirou."
The male elder stopped abruptly in the middle of the road and turned around as if he sensed someone tailing them. Mai, wide-eyed and puzzled, followed the male elder's actions. At first, she looked down the road. However, upon finding nothing, she looked at the elder's eyes and followed them up to the top of the red building she exited where a line of large windows sat. Seeing nothing but the line of windows, Mai looked back at Elder Jirou's eyes, who had an natural edge to them, before it contorted into a crinkle. "We better get you back to get ready to leave."
. . .
She had everything packed for the Land of Tea. She didn't need much with the Land of Tea being fairly close to the Land of Fire and it was a simple mission to pick up an item for Elder Mio where the meeting place was set there.
Knocking on the wooden part of the papered slide door, Mai said, "I'm ready to leave for my mission." It was customary to report to Elder Mio before she left on a mission.
"Come in."
Sliding the door open, Mai made her seat in front of her teacher. As usual, her teacher was drinking tea. Grabbing the object by her knee, Mio placed it on the table. "It's a custom for Konoha shinobi to wear this forehead protector bearing the village's symbol."
"..." Mai stared at the navy band of cloth with a metal plate a long moment before looking up at her teacher. She'd seen people wear the swirl symbol of Konoha. None of which were Uchihas. "I don't even wear the Uchiha fan on my back." She said softly.
"Not on the outside you don't." Elder Mio said. The female elder found out within a week of her student's apprenticeship through Ayaka that her student had a small Uchiha fan the size smaller than a fist stitched into the inside back of her kimono shirts. Even with Lord Tajima's orders to not wear the Uchiha crest, the child still found a way to wear it. And Elder Mio couldn't help but chuckle at the child's silent rebellious action. It was amusing because the child always followed an order.
Giving in, Mai picked up the forehead protector with both her hands. "Thank you, Elder Mio." Mai dipped her head.
"Trust them." Elder Mio said when Mai reached the door. "We are no longer just the Uchiha Clan. We are now Konoha shinobi."
Mai nodded before closing the door. Exiting the home, Mai tucked the forehead protector into her pouch with kunai knives and shuriken. The village gates close exactly three hours after sundown, and the majority of the sun was already below the horizon. But she didn't know that security was tighter tonight than usual. Or so it seemed with Senju Tobirama standing fully armed beside the gate.
Steadily, she looked away from the white haired man to the large gate itself before looking back at the man- although not at his eyes- when she was meters away from the border.
"The Land of Tea." She answered before the man could ask.
"For what purpose?" The white haired Senju asked. He could see the girl cower a little. A lot of people did that in his presence. Not that he enjoyed it, but he got used to it throughout the years.
"To pick up an item for Elder Uchiha Mio." Mai delivered her sentence with much more calmness than she thought she would. Although, she didn't dare look up at the man. She was still scared of him. Twice did he almost kill her.
"You understand that the gates will be closing." Tobirama said authoritatively.
Mai skimmed her eyes over the green village gate. "I understand." Her eyes looked over to the warm horizon.
Senju Tobirama was starting to get a little bothered by the girl's lack of attention on him. However, it was nothing compared to his brother's. She would look at everything other than him. Whether if it was through fear or her sign of respect, it didn't bother him. As long as she knew that the village gates will not be opening until 3 hours before sunrise under no circumstances.
It was as if the orange and the yellow and the waning light blue sky illuminated Elder Mio's latest words to her. Trust them. We are no longer just the Uchiha Clan. We are now Konoha shinobi. Turning back, she faced the white haired Senju, glancing at the Konoha swirl on his forehead protector before looking straight into the pair of red eyes with unknown courage, or what she assumed was courage. "Would you like me to check if there are any intel of the secret organization while I'm there?" She asked not with a tone, but clear like she was given a mission.
Tobirama, since childhood, knew how to keep his face straight, especially in front of Uchiha's. The only person who could make him act out of the ordinary was his brother- and he does a fairly good job on keeping that up. But when this Uchiha, an Uchiha in general, offered to gather intel on a possible threat to the village, he could have sworn his face was about to contort. Like another form of Madara would offer to help. The Uchiha Clan Leader has been silent for some time now, and Tobirama was getting suspicious of him. "This secret organization." He took a broader look at the small Uchiha girl. How could someone like this small girl not even taller than his shoulder destroy an entire secret organization. "Why were you sent?"
Elder Mio's words always had a powerful impact on her. She felt as if she could almost trust this man- although, not as much as Elder Mio or Miss Ayaka. But trust enough because Elder Mio trusted him with information. Looking around to the clear, Mai answered after, "The organization stole a technique that was entrusted to a lord."
"But you couldn't give it back." Tobirama concluded the story for her.
Mai shook her head. "No."
"Why?"
"There was a seal. It couldn't be moved or destroyed."
Tobirama narrowed his eyes at the sentence. If this seal was powerful, maybe, just maybe, Mito could undo it. "How large was the seal?"
"It was drawn onto a large boulder." Mai looked back at the horizon. "I'm sorry, Senju-san, but I have to leave now to be on time to pick up an item."
Moving to the side, he allowed the Uchiha to walk past him.
"The scroll that Elder Mio sent contains the only information that I know of." Mai dipped her head as her exit.
"When you are in the Land of Tea," Tobirama found it incredibly hard to ask but did so. "Find as much information you can."
Mai nodded. "Yes, sir."
Habitually, whenever Mai left the home, her guard was up. She would sense the area in a radius almost a hundred kilometers from where she stood. And not even an hour after leaving the Konoha gate, she felt someone following her. Grabbing a kunai out of her pouch, she slowed her pace until the person was close enough and she threw it to its direction. The leaves rustled from their impact with the kunai as it flew past them.
"You should take the road next time." Senju Tobirama appeared out of the trees into the girl's view.
Mai loosened her guarded posture. "Why are you here?"
"Show me where the seal is." Tobirama tossed the kunai knife back to the girl.
She furrowed her brows. "The seal is in eastern part of the Land of Tea. Within a cave."
"And where is this meeting place for you?"
"...In the eastern part of the Land of Tea." Mai said and gave in all at the same time.
Tobirama nodded and began to walk in the direction of the Land of Tea. Once he knew the girl was behind him, he smirked at the remarkable concurrence of events.
Once she got the item that Elder Mio requested, she showed Senju Tobirama the seal. The man was an air of suffocation for her. His white hair, red eyes, and permanent frown made him look a mad hunter all the time. The man's blue armor with its white fur collar added to the hunter part. But she got use to his white hair, red eyes, and permanent frown. The man was her superior after all and well more experienced as a shinobi.
"This secret organization." The two of them were in the cave on their way to the seal. "How large was it?"
"Not that large." Mai answered. "At most twenty members."
"And you killed them all?" Tobirama had to take another look at her to convince himself this girl really did that. It didn't work.
"Yes." She nodded at him before stopping and looking up.
Tobirama followed her action. On the large stone boulder in front of him was the drawing of a seal from ink. He had seen many seals in the Uzumaki Clan's scrolls thanks to Mito but this one did not remind him of any. "Make a fire."
"-A what?" She knew it was hard to see in the cave, however she thought he just wanted to take a glance at it and know the location.
Tobirama turned his head to the girl. His permanent frown present and red eyes narrowed into almost a scowl.
"...Okay." Mai began to turn around. "I'll go get the wood."
She found a spot right beside the fire while the brother of the Hokage analyzed the seal. The fire crackled and filled the silence.
Jing!
Her attention caught the unknown figures entering the cave. Quickly, she put out the fire with the water she had saved for the journey back. Senju Tobirama was already wisping past her to hide and she did the same. The eleven men gathered around the seal. Unbeknownst to them, Mai and Tobirama watched as they released the seal and moved the boulder.
"Wait." A man whispered. "Do you smell that?"
Mai looked down at the fire she put out still carrying smoke.
"Close the seal." The man ordered.
But before the ten other men could, Tobirama flew out of this hiding spot to the men. Mai followed after and threw her kunai knife striking a man. Activated her Sharingan, moved and attacked quickly before the men could do the same to her. But it wasn't easy with the numbers against her causing her to watch behind her occasionally. Clashing her kunai with one of the men's katana, she stared at him with her Sharingan eyes.
"Uchiha." He whispered and Mai could see his face grin as if she was a prize. The man's strength on his katana kept her from escaping back. Instead, she let the man stare into her eyes and forced him into an illusion before taking his katana and slashing him. The increasing sound of footsteps toward her turned her around and she threw her kunai knife at the last man. While her kunai struck the man, it was second to another kunai that also hit the man. She traced the kunai's path and grabbed her other kunai as guard only to find Senju Tobirama at the end of it. She could have sworn she saw the man scowl with hate at her Sharingan eyes before she looked away to the unsealed boulder.
Senju Tobirama walked past her into the area that was behind the un-sealed boulder and Mai followed behind.
"We have to move fast." Tobirama advised. "They're might be more of them coming soon."
"What are you going to do with this?" Mai gestured to the piles of large scrolls almost the size of children stacked on shelves.
"We burn them."
"What?" Mai turned to man, eyes wide.
"You said these were stolen jutsus and techniques." Tobirama made hand signs. "They're not ours. And they're probably not theirs either." He tipped his head to the fallen men behind them. "You said you killed the entire organization, didn't you."
Mai nodded at the fact after looking back.
"Destroying them before word gets out that there are stolen jutsus and techniques hidden here will prevent a lot of problems." Tobirama finished his last seal. "Fire Release: Great Flame Technique."
The green gates of Konoha appeared into view, and Mai straightened her back. She looked over to the white haired Senju. Like Elder Mio, he didn't speak much. Not that she assumed he would. A man with an exterior like that, she assumed, would only really speak of tactics. Only people who fought in wars far too long shared the same look as Senju Tobirama. She knew that because she'd seen many like him. Although, they were all elders and he wasn't even half their age. Reaching to gate, Mai reached for her canteen but bumped her pouch out of its clip. Her kunais and shurikens fell with multiple Clang's onto the ground. With no hesitation, she picked up each weapon one by one carefully.
Senju Tobirama noted her clumsiness and watched her pick up her weapons. Also with her weapons on the dirt ground was the Konoha forehead protector. He bent down to pick that up. Watching the girl stand up, he handed to forehead protector to her. "Where did you get this?" Not many Uchiha had the Konoha forehead protector.
Uchiha Mai blinked her eyes at the metal plate before lowering her head and grabbing the thing with both her hands. "Elder Mio gave it me before I left."
He thought back to her Uchiha crestless back before looking at the forehead protector. "Do you know what that forehead protector symbolizes?"
"...Everyone who wears it are comrades." Mai answered with what she also assumed what the Uchiha Fan represented.
A bird in the distance called almost whistle like.
Tobirama nodded his head. "Senju Tobirama." The Senju began making his way toward the village.
"Uchiha Mai." Mai nodded her head to the Senju, unclear of the introduction but still went along with it.
A/N
And they finally introduced themselves to each other!
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