Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto

-Chapter Eight-

Toka's Acquisition

After Sakura found out there was a female shinobi in the Senju, put simply, she stalked her. She discovered her name was Toka and that she was proficient in genjutsu. Those tidbits she managed to weasel out of Hashirama. He was a well of information and easy pickings. All that was required to get him to sing like a carney was to cuddle up next to him. Easiest mission ever.

The one thing he didn't have to offer her was the woman's schedule. Tobirama was the one who dealt with things like that. Much different prey. She figured she had come up with the best plan to get him to spill his guts. She would trick him into releasing the intel voluntarily. Hunting him down early one morning, she interrupted his mediation.

She normally wasn't even up this early so it immediately raised his hackles. "What are you up to?"

What a suspicious bastard he was. "I just wanted to spend time with my big brother."

His face seemed to flatten to a 'do you think me a fool' expression. "You haven't sought my company since you were four."

"Oi! That's a lie." Seeming to have come to the conclusion that she was harmless enough at the moment, he relaxed a bit.

"True. You do come to me when you need my jutsu for something. You're like a chakra parasite."

She couldn't deny it, Tobi conjured the best bath water. "Not this time. I actually have a jutsu for you." He huffed in such a manner that it substituted for a snort.

"You've come up with a jutsu?" His disbelief at the prospect offended her.

"Well, no." He nodded his head like he'd known it all along. "But…I do have this!" A scroll dropped down into her hand from the sleeve of her yukata and she held it like a sword. He eyed it with interest. "It's a scroll I found while I was out playing." She rolled it in her hand to reveal a perfect replication of the Uchiha seal, an image she had never come into contact with according to him.

It gave the scroll an authentic feel and would increase Tobirama's desire for it. She waved it in front of his face like she would with a dog and his eyes tracked it. Then she turned around, flicking it back into her sleeve. "But I can see you don't want it, teasing me like that."

Behind her, he shifted uncomfortably. He thought about just stealing it from her, but decided against it. The little girl was known for holding grudges. "Fine, what do you want?"

Giddy at how well her plan was working, she smiled. "A simple thing really, Toka's schedule." He stiffened thinking about the scolding he would receive from the Senju warrior later if he handed it over. Then he thought about that tantalizing scroll. With that in mind he squealed like a pig. Inwardly, Sakura was smirking, captivated at how low Tobi would sink to at the promise of knowledge.

After he told her what she wanted to know she happily handed over the scroll. Once that was done she headed of toward Hashirama's headquarters, presumably to see Toka. Tobirama waited until she was out of sight before he quickly pulled the scroll open.

Red eyes darted around the paper, prepared to take in all the information inside. Slowly, his shoulders sunk down and he crushed the scroll in his hand. The only thing inside was a chakra infused ink image of three pigs wiggly their asses at him. Underneath that, in Sakura's chicken scratch, was the word snitch. He couldn't believe that this was going to be an ongoing theme for his siblings.

Pissed, he raced off in the direction she went towards, ready to give her the spanking he'd been promising to her since she was six. When he caught up with her she was already in Hashirama's office. Uncaring about this, he slammed open the door. There, sitting innocently in their brother's lap, was Sakura.

Toka stood at the brunette's side, handing over a few papers. Noticing the white haired teen enter his office, Hashirama grinned up at him. "Look Tobi." He gestured towards the vindictive little girl. "It's been years since Sakura wanted to sit in either of our laps." Poking her head out from under the brunet's chin, his sister stuck her tongue out at him.

Without hesitation he crushed the man's beaming ray of happiness. "Hand her over, she needs to be punished."

The older Senju held the pink haired girl closer to his chest. "For wanting to spend time with me over you? She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"No, you fool." He tossed the offensive scroll onto the desk. Picking it up, the clan head examined it, then raised his head with a pitying expression. "Is this all?"

Glancing down at the scroll again, Tobirama saw that the image of the pigs was gone, leaving only that single vexing word. Knowing this was going nowhere, he slammed his hands together in frustration. "Water Style: Water Shockwave!"

The wave of water that was formed forced the pre-teen out of Hashirama's hold. Grabbing her, he jumped out of the window, landing on the grassy area outside. Then, in full view of the Senju clan, for maximum humiliation, he threw her over his knee. Twelve times he spanked her, for each year she'd terrorized their family with her antics.

She gasped at the first few, struggling to get free. Then after the third one she ceased her movements, getting abnormally quiet. This made him feel odd because it wasn't what he was expecting. With the twelfth strike done he looked up as a shadow settled over him.

Both Hashirama and Toka were glaring down at him, soaking wet. The female Senju opened her clenched fist, showing the ruined papers in her hand. His brother sighed, turning to see scrolls pouring down the makeshift waterfall. "All my paperwork…"

Taking note of Toka's twitching eye, and knowing all too well what that meant, the white haired teen considering taking his sister as a hostage. Then he realized this would make no difference to the woman. He could also make an escape attempt. He knew he could get away, his speed was only matched by Hashirama and the two Uchiha brothers they fought so often.

The problem with that was that Toka wasn't very forgiving. It couldn't even be said that she was an 'eye for an eye' type. More like an 'eye for an I'll burn your fucking house down with you inside of it and listen to your screams of agony' kind of person.

She was the one who guarded his back during their battles, if she felt so inclined she could let a stray kunai slip through and wound him. Nothing serious but it would hurt like hell for weeks. She'd done it before. It would be better to just pay his penance now.

Letting Sakura go, he watched her run off towards their house, a little surprised she didn't stick around to watch. Toka pointed towards the subduing waterfall and shouted, "Now clean this up you waste of space!" So he did. For hours he cleaned while the woman oversaw his efforts.

It came as even more of a surprise that his sister didn't turn up to bother Toka. After this all took place just to get her schedule. That was strange of her considering her earlier determination. He actually paused in his administrations while considering why this could be, then he was whipped back into action by the sound of Toka's voice. "Get back to work!"

He grumbled to himself the rest of the time, thinking about how this would have been much quicker if there were more of him. As the thought passed through his mind, he wondered if it was possible for a jutsu to make more of him. The clone jutsu was nothing more than an illusion, but if he could make actual solid clones like Hashirama's wood style ones…

The minute Sakura felt herself be released from her brother's hold, she sprinted away from the scene, heart racing. The spanking had done something weird to her. She felt kind of funny in her stomach, and then that strange feeling of warmth had moved downwards. It had made her freeze, fearing that if she moved at all Tobirama would notice there was something weird about about her.

She should have been feeling indignant and in pain not…whatever this was. What creeped her out the most though was that this feeling she thought she only got around Madara happened with her brother. Shame had hit her hard and she'd run off to her bedroom without a word to anyone.

Once there, she turned and locked the door so that no one else could follow her inside. Sliding to her knees she pressed her forhead to the cool surface of the wooden door, as if she could physically block anyone who wanted to force their way inside.

A few minutes passed by before she realized that no Senju maids had noticed her entry into the house. Slowly, she picked herself up and walked over to her bed. The strange feeling was still there, making her panties feel uncomfortably warm.

Trying to rid herself of it, she decided to take a nap. This didn't work out as there was nothing to distract her thoughts from wandering to the punishment she had received. She tossed and turned, squirming about. Then her legs rubbed together and there was suddenly a more intense feeling.

She gasped and her hands went to cover her mouth, but didn't move her legs apart. Eyes wide from the shock of such an unexpectedly good feeling, she tentatively tried it again. When the sensation didn't diminish, she continued increasing the pressure of her thighs inward.

This wasn't any help in making her calm down, only making her yearn for something more. As her thoughts started to wander from the spanking to Madara, she felt shameful. That didn't stop her from merging the two together though. She began to wonder what it would have been like if her friend had been the one to administer her punishment. The thought made her want to be bad.

As that scenario ran through her head, her hand left her mouth and cautiously moved down her stomach. This felt wrong, but that didn't stop her from undoing her yukata because it also felt very nice. Finally, her hand reached her panties and she learned this was an even more amazing feeling.

From there she explored her body until she was withering in her sheets. No matter what she did the feeling only seemed to get more intense and she was forced to stop before she exploded. Left distinctly unsatisfied from the ordeal and all the more disgusted with herself, she sobbed into her pillows.

For the rest of the night she stayed locked in her room, refusing even dinner. After being ignored from the other side of her door, her brothers let her be, thinking she was only pouting at Tobirama's treatment of her earlier in the day.

The next morning, Sakura left her room early. She needed to get away from her place of disgraceful behavior and hunting Toka seemed to be a good remedy. She found her right where Tobi had said she would be; sparing with the other Senju warriors.

Grinning at her successful endeavor, she climbed back into her spying tree. Usually just watching them train had mollified her, but after having interacted with the woman she wanted more. So when she saw that they were starting to get tired, she took the chance to intermingle with them.

Jumping out of her tree, she darted off to the well to fetch them some water. Their practice was just ending when she arrived, walking backwards and dragging a large pail in front of her, gasping for air the whole time.

Noticing her approach, the Senju men were laughing as she got closer. Toka didn't seem as amused by her display and Sakura couldn't understand her displeased expression. At least until she detected the sly glances the male Senju were shooting at Toka in their laughter as a fellow soldier approached her.

The man sat next to her while she was cleaning her katana and slung an arm over her shoulder. "Now this," he indicted Sakura, "is how a woman should act. Barely able to lift a pail and coming to our aid." Toka had punched him in the face before anyone could blink.

He was left bleeding on the ground, cursing after them as Toka dragged her away from the scene, pail abandoned behind them. The last thing she heard before they were out of the training area was, "Fucking bitch!" She hadn't even heard Madara say that word but once before. He had informed her of its derogatory meaning towards females and said that it was no way to speak of women. That if anyone were to ever say it to her, to come tell him about it.

The yanking on her wrist was starting to hurt and she nearly told Toka this, but they stopped before she could. The grip on her was suddenly released and she was rubbing at her wrist when the dark haired Senju spun around. She glared down at her and said, "You're a disgrace to all women who are trying to become something more. Your position meant something."

Those words hit her hard as she was reminded of what had occurred the day before. "I thought you might have had some self-awareness after seeing you able to taunt your brothers like that, but I was wrong." Her lip curled in obvious distaste. "You go around cratering to men, its only acting spoiled with your siblings."

No, that wasn't true. Gender had never mattered to her. She'd never followed her mother's or the Senju maid's demure rules. She was more than just the 'Senju Princess' dammit! No simple girl would stand up to Madara Uchiha and not back down. To actually win a contest of wills with that stubborn mule of a man. Yet Toka saw her as nothing more than that.

It made her angry, tears springing up in her eyes. This was the kind of anger that she hated the most, the wet kind. She shook with rage and the woman seemed to misunderstand it as unhappiness from being reprimanded. This irked Toka even more and she turned away from the child, planning to escape before the waterworks.

Except before she could jump to the roofs, Sakura grabbed onto the back of her shirt. "Wait a second." She wiped her nose on her yukata with her free hand. "You think you can just walk away after saying that? You are going to teach me how to fight. I'm not going to give up." It dawned on the woman then that she was seeing the girl more in the last few days.

"You've been stalking me, haven't you? I thought that was only a male activity."

The girl's eyes went sideways to avoid looking at her. "No…"

Toka knocked her on the head, "Yes you are, you little brat!"

Anger gone now, Sakura rubbed at the bump forming on her head. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to follow you until you become my master."

Toka nearly yelled at the girl to turn her away but thought better of it. "Fine, do what you want." Children gave up rather quickly, always finding something more interesting to chase after. She'd let her tag along to Hashirama's office. Within an hour or two the princess would go and find something more entertaining to occupy her.

They arrived at Hashirama's office where Toka nagged him into doing his work. In the beginning her brother was delighted to have her there but as they began to discuss battle strategies and reports on casualties he asked her to leave the room.

This made her a bit upset. She wanted to be like Toka who, regardless of her gender, the twenty-one year old was okay with her hearing such things. She listened without complaint though, not wanting to be ordered to stop following the woman altogether.

Sakura waited for her for several hours outside her brother's office. It got to the point that she thought Toka may have escaped out of the window instead of dealing with her again. Then, without warning, the door swung open and the girl looked up in hope. With shining eyes, she regarded the woman before her. She half expected it to be Hashirama leaving for a late lunch.

Pure happiness oozed out of her at not being abandoned. This seemed to get a reaction from the cold Senju, whose eyes widened in surprise at the sight of her. "…I thought you'd be gone by now."

"And I thought you would have left me here."

Eyeing the girl, she looked from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She was clothed in a way that, if you didn't know she was basically Senju royalty, you wouldn't even think her high-class. Her hands were dirty and calloused, though only lightly, with nails clipped in such a way that her handmaidens wouldn't have allowed it. For the life she was supposed to have lived until now this should not have been possible. She was forced to reevaluate her opinion of the twelve year old. The brat was training and not just in genjutsu.

When Sakura first started to tail her she'd thought it was just a fascination with a type of woman she never encountered before. It never even occurred to her that the kid actually wanted to be like her. She reached out her hand to help the girl up, "Come have tea with me."

It wasn't an invitation but a demand, Toka never even let go of her hand as she dragged her to the compound's teahouse. While they were on their way there, Sakura noticed several older men and women shake their head when they passed them. She heard one of the women whisper to another, "Poor girl, she'll never find a husband. All because of her father."

Toka lips visibly tightened at hearing this but didn't stop their forward motion. Though she did commit a very vulgar gesture at the clucking women, leaving gasps in their wake. She heard her say to herself, "Give'em what they want." Arriving at the teahouse, Toka shoved her through the entryway and greeted the old shop keeper. "Grandma!"

The older woman turned with a smile on her face, until she noticed Sakura. "Oh! Dear, you should have told me you were going to bring a guest. Especially one of such status." She patted her hair down and smoothed down her dress. "I look such a mess right now. I will go change." Starting to turn away, the older woman was stopped by Toka.

"You don't need to change for this runt. She is a princess in name only." Maybe Sakura should have felt insulted at that, but she didn't. She had spent her whole life being respected just because she'd been born into a higher class family by chance. It wasn't something that she had earned for herself.

While some might say that in such a situation she is living out her hard work from another life, she didn't believe that. Reincarnation seemed like a logical impossibility. And even if it existed she was sure that where people ended up in life was a luck of the draw. She'd heard of too many people of power being cruel to believe it was a reward for something.

All she wanted was to be acknowledged for her own accomplishments, like Madara was. The fear and reverence that he instilled in people were because of what he had done in his life. At least that's the way he told it. She didn't hear much about him from the Senju, no one spoke of the fighting around her.

In fact what she knew about him in respect to this was very little. Her knowledge extended to him being her brother's friend and that was it. She'd have to put more effort into finding out what he was like out there on the field.

Toka's grandma hovered over them after they were seated, making sure Sakura's teacup was full after her granddaughter had rejected having tea for herself. She didn't like it much and only drank it during formal clan meeting as not to insult anyone.

It took a while but they were able to get the older Senju to give them some time to talk alone. Extra customers showing up helped a lot. After finally getting some privacy, they were left to silently sit across from one another. She sipped her tea carefully so as not to burn herself.

"Why do you want to learn such things? In your position, you shouldn't have to." Sakura put her cup down and settled her hands on top of one another in front of her. Staring directly into the other women's eyes with sincerity she told her the reasons she had.

"There is no guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen here. Invasions can occur and I don't want to be a burden if that does happen. I want to be able to adequately defend myself and help others who can't." Her jagged nails were digging into her own hands so hard that it punctured her skin. "Why did you learn?"

Toka leaned her head into her hand, a light smile on her face. "I didn't have a choice in the beginning." This surprised the girl as females were normally forced into weakness not into growing stronger. She nodded towards a picture of a man that hung on the shop's back wall. He was a handsome enough fellow with similar features to the woman's own.

"My father wanted a boy and was delusional enough to think me one. He taught me since I was young." Her smile became bitter. "Back then no one cared. I was simply being forced. After he died everyone expected me to stop training. To become a proper young lady. When I didn't, they wanted to believe something was wrong with me. Like there was with my father."

Sakura shook her head vehemently, "There isn't anything wrong with you. I think you would have been like this even if your father didn't do as he did. You're too strong willed to be weak." Toka's arm lowered to the table and she looked at her oddly. It was as if she was seeing something for the first time and was awed by it.

"…You're very much like your idiot brother." In another context she could have felt insulted at that but she knew the part of Hashirama she was referring to. The part that made people want to follow him. There was a brightness around him that was near impossible to hate. Toka knew about the greatness that was Hashirama Senju. Sakura was flattered at the comparison.

Standing outside of Hashirama's office after sending Sakura home, Toka decided to go through with her decision. She knocked on the door. There was quiet for a second, then the sound of the window opening and closing followed by scurrying. When this was finally done Hashirama called out, "Tobirama?"

Inside four man had been alarmed at the sound of a knock on the locked door. Brown eyes shifted to the tree old men sitting with him on the floor, then to the cards and money laying in between them all. His gambling partners seemed less unsettled than he was, having grown into an uncaring attitude.

At their age if caught they didn't have anything to fear. Most people thought them too set in their ways to be able to change them. On the other hand they knew if their young friend were to be found out, they'd lose a fairly good revenue source.

Whenever that white haired brother of his finds Hashirama like this, he can't sneak back to their games for weeks. It was the only reason they did as he said when he forced them out the window after making a ledge for them to stand on.

Once the elder Senju were hidden he rushed around collecting the evidence of their gambling. When that was done he turned to the door, pretty sure that it wasn't his brother. The man would have knocked the door in by now. Still to be careful, he called out for him, "Tobirama?"

There was another smack on the door. "Open the damn door, Hashirama!"

Sighing in relief, he opened the door with a smile. "It was just you Toka."

She glared at him and went for his ear. He let it happen. "Are you trying to say I'm not as scary as Tobirama?"

He yelped in pain and peeked up at her, "Yes."

He laughed as her expression turned to that of a demon. "I'll show you terrifying."

The elders flinched at the smacking sounds that started to come from the office. Toka was worse for them than Tobirama. At least the white haired brat knew how to show them respect. The woman was completely different. She wasn't so willing to concede to their position.

Hashirama's cries of anguish finally stopped and then the window was suddenly ripped open. The petrifying eyes of Toka Senju met theirs. "You can leave now you old coots." They rushed the door when she moved out of the way, abandoning their friend who was laying on the floor in what they presumed to be a puddle of his own blood.

Toka kicked him in the head after the old men had run off. "Get up and heal yourself." He laughed lightly as he did as he was told while she glared. It always irked her that he let himself be beat. Still didn't steal all the fun out of it though.

"So, what did you need me for, Toka?" He looked up at her sitting on his desk from his position on the, floor cleaning the blood with a towel.

For a few minutes she was quiet considering how she should phrase her request. With him a sensitive approach was necessary. "I was thinking about your sister today." He made a sound of acknowledgement. "And a thought popped into my head. She is a little defenseless, don't you think?"

This caught his attention and he finally stood to his full height, now gazing down at her. "What is this about?"

Dark eyes met his and she laid it out for him. "I want to train your sister in the arts of a shinobi."

Hashirama wasn't at all shocked by this, having noticed Sakura's interest in Toka. "By her request I presume?" The woman nodded her head slowly. "Well, that doesn't bother me at all. She should be able to defend herself. It would give me a little peace of mind." Before she could celebrate he raised his finger in the air. "But, I'm not the one who is going to have a problem with this."

Later as Toka sat across form Tobirama, who was sipping on his tea, she wondered how it had come to this. Glancing down at her own cup of tea, she felt like a poor farm boy about to ask for a noble woman's hand in marriage. The man's superior attitude had never affected her before. It was hard to see him as anything but a brat once she saw him pouting after being chastised by Hashirama.

Except this was different. She'd known since they were children that Sakura was untouchable. Calm and logical thought was often lost to this man when it involved his cute little sister. When they were thirteen she'd seen him take down five older shinobi for making fun of the girl's clumsiness, even though she wasn't around to hear the insult.

And now she was going to ask to train that same young girl. She supposed she should just rip it off like a bandage. "I want to train Sakura as a shinobi." The sip of the tea he'd just taken got caught in his throat. Chocking, the liquid dripped from his mouth onto the table. His expression changed from shock, to disgust, and finally landed on fury.

"What?" He said it like a venomous snake that was giving her one chance to back out of this. She was brave, or stupid enough to stick to her original statement. She repeated herself and somehow his rage managed to grow. "No. Stay away from her, Toka. She can't learn such things, she's a girl."

"As if I have a dick?"

The man cringed, always the proper one. "So vulgar…" He shook his head. "She is a lady, someone who will marry a noble man. Learning shinobi skills will only hinder her."

Toka laughed in his face. "If you think that girl is a lady you are more delusional than my father was." She laughed some more at his hilariously offended expression. When she finally calmed down a chill settled in the air. "No, she isn't a lady at all. She wants to learn and get stronger. You are preventing her from moving forward in life."

This unnerved him a bit. "What if she does marry a noble man and he isn't kind? You can't sense everything in a person, Tobirama. There are horrors in this world that, as a man and a powerful one at that, you are very unlikely to suffer through." Her eyes met his and he could see she was haunted by something.

"By marrying such a man she'll be forced to part from you. You will be too far away to save her from anything." She glared at him. "Is that the type of future you'll wish upon her? One that she is inadequately prepared to deal with?"

The teacup he'd picked up again, dropped from his hand, spilling the liquid all over his lap. He didn't even notice, he was so drawn into her hypothetical scenario. He was shaking in fear for his sister as he lowered his head to her and gave his consent. "Please, teach her everything you can."

This is the only chapter I have had to extensively rewrite. I just couldn't find the tone I wanted it to have. It bothered me more than it should have I suppose.

As for everyone who thinks Madara is being a bit creepy, you are completely right. Even he knows its weird and hates himself a bit for it. Constantly trying to justify it. It might be a very normal occurrence in his time but he never liked the practice. Sakura is growing up a bit though, at an age where having her mother would have helped wonders.

I try to show the grittiness underneath this universe without ever actually bringing it to the forefront but I'm pretty sure I fail at this. Naruto could have actually had a completely different tone about it.