***

All laws are an attempt to domesticate the natural ferocity of the species.

John W Gardner

***

Kyuubi's presence is the sign Madara and Hashirama have been waiting for. The demon fox had been patrolling the distant lands, tracking Zetsu while Madara and Hashirama tried and failed to get their clans into agreement and had only returned when Zetsu had finally headed back himself.

He came with word that he'd lost Zetsu's trail somewhere near the Northern mouth of the Naka, a mere league to the north of the Senju lands, and instead of trying to find him again, had headed south to warn them.

After causing several hours of panic and inadvertent destruction when Kagami had tried to play fetch with him, Madara and Hashirama finally convinced the arrogant fox to shrink down to a more manageable size.

Well, Moro had convinced him when Madara finally gave up and summoned her. Watching the Great White Wolf pin the demon fox to the ground with a paw until he gave in and listened was rewarding.

Less so the compound wall they'd needed to rebuild after.

Hashirama had wanted to head to the Senju compound immediately, but Tobirama himself had put a stop to that. Their communications, carried by Tobirama's moths and Hashirama's slugs, had increased in the last week, shifting from Hashirama's pleas and Tobirama's refusals to leave to patrol times and copies of Butsuma and the Senju Elder's private communications.

As much as Madara wanted Tobirama safe in the Uchiha Compound, he saw the value of having such a well-placed spy in the Senju Camp. Tobirama had even managed to talk around some of his peers, with additional intelligence coming from Senju shinobi named Toka, Renji, Sana, and several others he didn't recognize.

The Foreign Princess had apparently agreed to supply the Senju with an additional food shipment, not enough to make it through the winter, but enough to buy them some more time, and sent her own private correspondence to Hashirama. Hashirama had translated the code she'd used for Madara, explaining that she was looking after Tobirama and keeping the Senju solvent until he and Madara could enact their plan.

Madara was a little surprised she'd been so quick to join them, suspicious of the one person involved who had literally nothing on the line, but Hashirama was convinced of her loyalty, even sharing that he'd written her about Izuna and Midoriko.

Apparently, Uzushio shared the relaxed sexual morays of the Senju, and the Princess was more interested in joining than condemning any of Hashirama's bedroom activities.

Madara had stopped the conversation there, a little disturbed at the direction his baby brother's sex life was taking. Very few Uchiha could stomach multiple partners after finding their one, but Izuna loved to be the exception to every rule.

Something he'd inherited from Tajima.

And Madara was the exact opposite. The knowledge that Tobirama was alive and well and nearby in this lifetime made it increasingly difficult for him to find physical comfort with anyone else. Including Hashirama.

Plus, he refused to sleep with someone who was also sleeping with his baby brother, and he found it more important that Izuna find something about Hashirama that he liked than keeping his own bed warm.

He'd only made the mistake of mentioning that once where Hashirama could hear, though, because it had set off a long-winded speech about why Madara should start wooing Tobirama now and what was the point in waiting? They could be so happy together! They could build a little house in the village with a garden for Madara and a lab for Tobi-

Madara had walked out at that point. He didn't need another reminder that his love wasn't returned and never would be. How many lifetimes and never once had Tobirama loved him, and Hashirama's idealism only stretched so far.

He did unbend enough to agree to a meeting with Tobirama and Mito. Thus far, Tobi had always refused, too worried about being followed, but he'd worked something out for the upcoming full moon. The Hyuga and Akimichi were visiting Butsuma to give their official blessing to his latest request to the Damiyo for Noble Status and a chunk of the Senju were down with a flu outbreak.

Including Tobirama and Mito.

Supposedly.

So after an argument through a flurry of letters, they'd set the meeting in the deepest part of the forest along the Naka, closer to the Uchiha Compound than the Senju, since they'd all have to flee in that direction should Butsuma somehow find out.

Madara and Hashirama went alone.

Well, they tried to.

Halfway there, Izuna and Midoriko caught up and simply refused to leave. Izuna kept muttering something about not trusting the Ghost and justice and shared suffering, and Midoriko pointed out that they'd need someone to keep Izuna in line while Hashirama tried and failed to talk his brother around, and Madara tried and failed to not insult the Princess.

Madara hadn't seen Mito yet in this lifetime, and the young woman with blood-red hair twisted into intricate buns and sharp eyes peering over the edge of a gilded fan was more intimidating than expected.

She cut him away from the group almost immediately, and he let her, if for no other reason than to get away from the hate in Tobirama's eyes when they landed on him.

"Lord Uchiha."

"Uzumaki-hime."

Madara tried to remember the etiquette lessons Izuna's mother had insisted on, but he wasn't sure if Mito still counted as royalty when she was from a different country Madara held no loyalty or debt to.

And was nominally allied to his enemy?

But maybe engaged to his best friend??

This is why Madara didn't like politics. He already had a headache.

Midoriko materialized at his shoulder, bowing respectfully to Mito but staying silent.

"Lord Senju speaks highly of you," Mito offered.

Madara nodded awkwardly but didn't speak until Midoriko poked him in the kidney and then stumbled through assurances that he'd said the same about Mito.

She frowned when they lapsed into silence again, and Madara didn't know her well enough to know if it was thoughtfulness or disappointment.

Finally, she snapped her fan shut and faced him head-on.

"May I speak freely, Lord Uchiha?"

Madara snorted. "Why are you asking me? It's your mouth." Another vicious poke made him wince and hiss. "Ow, what was that for?"

"It is customary to offer the traditional respects to foreign nobility when visiting their lands."

"Whatever, say what you want." Politics was too much of a headache, no matter how many times he had to deal with it.

Mito arched a perfect eyebrow. "Very well. For someone whose friendship is apparently the basis for a revolution, you do not seem all that concerned about tearing apart brothers?"

Madara blinked at her, then glanced at Hashirama and Tobirama arguing down the bank while Izuna cleaned a kunai, pretending to ignore the entire conversation.

Was Madara responsible for their fractured relationship? He didn't want to hurt Tobirama and avoided him on the battlefield and during missions just in case, but there'd never been a single life where Tobirama had taken their friendship well. It was always a catalyst for his relationship with Hashirama breaking down. In some lifetimes, they'd managed to repair their bond, but there'd never been a life where Tobirama accepted their friendship with more than grudging acknowledgment.

Even now, Madara knew part of the reason Tobirama refused to leave the Senju compound was because Hashirama was asking him to come to the Uchiha. Maybe if Hashirama had taken shelter with the Aburame or the Inuzuka, he might have been more willing, but he'd never accept the Uchiha.

But he'd also never be safe if Zetsu and Kaguya won.

Hashirama had resigned himself to the damage to his relationship with Tobirama as long as his younger brother was alive and free to be angry.

Since Madara had no claim to anything related to Tobirama, he left the decision to Hashirama and just brooded alone at night when there was no one around to see him look pathetic.

Hashirama always seemed to know when he'd had one of those nights anyway and always spent the next morning slipping in positive comments about Tobirama and married life, and no amount of Madara pointing out he wasn't even married yet could get him to stop.

Mito must have seen something in his face because her expression softened fractionally.

"I see," she murmured.

Flustered, Madara glowered at her. "See what you want, Princess. Hashirama and I are doing what's best for everyone."

"Yes, he has hinted at the threat you fear but given few details. I can only conclude that you two either know too little to convince the rest or too much that is too unbelievable."

Well, damn. How much had Hashirama told her?

But Mito had always been sharp, and his scowl only made her smile grow.

Hashirama's private letters had described Madara as awkward but well-meaning, intensely honest and impatient, noble but vicious, a spectacular strategist but a bit of an idiot when it came to personal relationships and some of the moments he'd sketched for Mito had sent her into inappropriate fits of laughter when she first read them.

But there's nothing truly horrible about him, so it makes her wonder why Hashirama is so worried about how everyone else sees him.

Uchiha are not meant to be alone, Hashirama had written; they go mad and die. They call it the Curse of Hatred. Perhaps that was why Hashirama had chosen to treat Madara's loneliness instead of his own brother's anger. Tobirama would be fine if he was angry, would still have a great life, but if loneliness was death for Madara...well, Hashirama's choice was understandable.

They loved once, and that was it. Mito still hadn't gotten much more detail out of him about why or how, if it was simply bad luck or a clan practice that had become so ingrained they'd forgotten its origin, but she supposed it could wait. It would be better to see more of Madara himself anyway, rather than the figure Hashirama described.

The man facing her now looked more like an angry hedgehog than a terrifying shinobi, anyway, with his wild hair and scowl that was more like a pout. He reminded her of her uncle, a prickly, temperamental man who was never satisfied with anything until you put his wife in front of him and then he was the world's biggest simp.

And it was kind of adorable watching him trying to figure out how to speak to her.

She was about to put Madara out of his misery, or at least save him from another painful strike to the kidneys from the stunning kunoichi at his shoulder when he finally figured it out.

"Some people can drown in three feet of water simply because they don't believe they can stand up."

Apparently, he was a bit of a poet, too. But she understood his meaning. This threat he and Hashirama were fighting was not something they could simply point out and have everyone understand. They were on the cusp of something new and unknown, and with nothing similar to point at, they had resorted to extremes to make people understand.

For Hashirama, it meant leaving his clan and his brother behind.

For Madara...a life of loneliness, perhaps? Based on the glimpse of longing she'd caught in his eyes when he'd first seen Tobirama and how careful he'd been not to look at him again.

Or was he even planning to survive the battle?

It seemed Madara and Hashirama were determined to do what they believed was right, even if they were hated by the very people they were trying to save.

How noble.

At the very least, it meant she wouldn't have to worry about marrying Hashirama...even if he did turn out to be horrible. He probably wasn't going to live very long.

Noble men with noble dreams generally died young.

***

Tobirama lets Hashirama hug him for exactly one minute before shrugging him off with rolled eyes.

It's not as long as he allowed when they lost Itama, but it's longer than he allows when one of them returns from a long mission or is injured, so Hashirama counts it as a win.

Tobirama is still angry, and Hashirama is angry in his own way, but both their tempers have cooled enough to allow for an actual conversation.

"I'm not leaving home," is how Tobirama starts, immediately turning their conversation into an argument.

"It's not safe for you to stay," Hashirama argues, and that's only partially his fault. Butsuma was going mad long before Hashirama started talking about revolution.

"Nothing you do will work without key elements in place among the Senju. You can't just force change from the outside." He knows, he's been researching and studying successful revolutions obsessively since Hashirama left.

Not that there are many to look to.

"That doesn't have to be you."

"So I should put someone less capable at risk?"

"No, but you should understand your own value in the bigger picture, Tobi. It may put someone else at more risk, but your loss would eclipse all others."

A flush rises, as it always does when Hashirama, long acknowledged as the greatest of their generation, praises him.

"I can do it better and faster. Unless you want to drag this out some more?" He knows he's won when Hashirama's shoulders slump and Izuna snorts off to the side, pretending he's not listening.

Tobirama glared at him, but the Uchiha just glared right back and made a rude gesture Tobirama's too classy to return.

The air of amusement surrounding Hashirama at the interaction was annoying, but Tobirama pressed past it for the sake of the future.

If Hashirama got his way, there'd be plenty of time to get back at his rival and there's no way Izuna is anywhere near as creative or intelligent as Tobirama.

He'll have him begging for mercy in a week.

But right now, he needs to clear things up with Hashirama now that they're face-to-face.

The words come haltingly at first. "Anija, Hashirama...I don't. I still don't think the village will work." Hashirama's face falls, but Tobirama pushes through because one thing he never had to worry about was whether or not Hashirama wanted him to be honest. The answer was always yes. "An alliance is a safer route. A treaty. That's how most ceasefires become peace. How are you going to get two such completely different groups to live together in one place? Who's laws are we going to follow? Whose religious practices are we going to follow? The Uchiha follow the Old Ways, and the Senju forswore those generations ago. Who's going to take what missions? How are we going to generate funding and delineate lines of responsibility and effectiveness? Who's going to appoint the judicial and educational authorities?" Hashirama looks a little wide-eyed, but Tobirama's on a roll. "What about schooling for the children? Do we teach the same way? What's the point of living together if we don't teach the children together? So, who decides how we do that? Do we teach ethics in school? Do we have the same ethics? How do we build a compound big enough to house both clans? We're among the largest in the Land of Fire, and the Uchiha have unique needs due to their Kekkei Genkai. Have you thought about that? There's no existing infrastructure that would work, so it'd have to be something completely new. Where are you going to get the water and waste systems big enough to support that?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Now Izuna looks a little wide-eyed, too, leaning away as Tobirama really gets going.

"What about medical systems? Are we treating each other? What's the agreement on sharing clan jutsu? One for one? A set price based on time and chakra required? Can you trade a medical jutsu for a combat jutsu? Do the Uchiha even have the same physiological makeup as the Senju?"

Hashirama and Izuna both shake their heads at that.

"What about law and order? What do the Uchiha consider illegal? What do we? Can we punish the Uchiha if they do something we consider illegal? Can they punish us? Who decides? Who's going to be in charge of this whole damn mess, Hashirama?"

Even Madara and Mito glance over as he comes to a winded stop.

Hashirama fiddles with his sleeves, "Uh....Madara and I were thinking of elections...."

Tobirama felt his eye twitch and immediately slapped a hand against it. "Have you even considered what would go into that? You'd have to draft laws first. Laws that everyone agrees on or the election wouldn't be legitimate. You'd have to agree on the responsibilities and limitations of the positions. How you remove someone. How you elect them, because there are different kinds of elections, Hashirama, and there's a reason no one uses a democratic or republic system now. It's ten times as much work as a monarchy and leaves the power in the hands of the population that isn't always as educated or experienced as needed. They may choose a leader based on popularity or a fad at the moment and who knows nothing about governance. What then? How long is the term? How are you going to conduct the election process? What about campaigns? Qualifications? What happens if you elect someone who refuses to leave the position? To follow the laws? What say does the Damiyo have? Has he agreed to this? What if he doesn't?"

"There's still time to figure all of that out, Tobi. No system is perfect, but we can build one that's at least fair."

"That's not possible."

"Tobi, just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it's impossible."

"You're underestimating the amount of work required."

"And you're underestimating the willingness to do that work. There's a better way, Tobi. Better than this battlefield existence we have now. Burying our children and too afraid to think of the future. I want you to have peace, little brother. I want all of us to have peace. I want you to have one day in your life where you don't have to worry about anything, where you can go outside and wander in the sunlight and think of nothing but what pleases you."

"There will always be work to do, Hashirama. If you want that life, you should leave the world of shinobi entirely."

Hashirama's disappointed look hurts. "I don't want a life without work, otouto. I want a life where you know the difference. I want a life where I worry about how to convince you to come to my home for dinner once a week because I know you have a full life of your own and better things to do than hang out with your boring older brother. I want to fight people for your time, not because it's required for survival, but because you love them so much you'd rather be with them. I want a life where you worry that there's not enough time, not because the enemy is closing in, but because you have so much you want to do and so much you want to see that two lifetimes wouldn't be enough."

"Hashirama..." When he reaches out, Hashirama takes his hand between his own, holding tighter than he has since they were much, much smaller.

"I want to watch you fall in love, Tobirama. I want to see you discover what it's like to be the center of someone's world, not because you share blood, but just because they like you that much."

There's a lump in his throat that Tobirama can't swallow, but he'll be damned if he cries in front of a couple of Uchiha.

"I want to see what happens when someone needles you just because they like watching you react."

He scowls at that, and it makes Hashirama laugh.

"And because they don't like losing your attention, even for a moment."

"That doesn't sound healthy, Anija." It sounds too much like a cage to Tobirama. The idea of being the center of focus like that. It makes his skin itch. Sparks an immediate response that feels like fight or flight.

Hashirama looks a little saddened by his response, but he doesn't let go of Tobirama's hand, even when he starts trying to pull it away, and they devolve into the childish wrestling they were known for as toddlers.

"Adorable," Izuna drawls, and they both scowled at him.

Well, Tobirama glares, and Hashirama pouts, and neither seems to have any effect.

They're all still so young, after all.

Hashirama has to remind himself of that sometimes. He and Madara have barely broken twenty-five in this lifetime and Izuna and Tobirama are only just legal adults. Mito and Midoriko are somewhere in between.

Madara and Hashirama have lifetimes in their heads and their hearts, but in this go around, they haven't experienced much yet, and even if they have the memories, it's hard to remember to act the ages they've made it to.

And Hashirama has found that he often doesn't want to. This could be their last life. Rushing to the end seems like a fool's errand, and they've already got enough of those to do.

Tobirama manages to free himself, thanks to two pointy fingers in Hashirama's femoral -which is cheating, but whatever- and ignores Hashirama's pout.

Honestly, Hashirama doesn't know why he even bothers trying that face on Tobi. His precious baby brother has been immune to it for years now, but it's a habit that's hard to break.

"If it will make you feel better, Anjia, I am seeing someone."

"What?"

"Dolls don't count," Izuna says, and Hashirama has to leap between them when Tobirama whips out a gleaming kunai.

"It's not a doll," Tobi hisses, face red, no doubt remembering the horrible teasing he suffered from his peers when he was younger and not nearly as deadly. "It's a living, breathing person!"

For a moment, Hashirama foresees years of this. Teasing and picking and arguing and pranks and a rivalry that drives them both to even greater heights, and he wants it so badly he aches.

"She's a kunoichi, Aiko. You remember her."

And Hashirama does. A pretty girl who'd grown into a striking woman and average shinobi. She'd been abnormally successful at infiltration and seduction missions and was moving up the ranks when Hashirama left as a result.

Mistaking her looks for skill, Hashirama thought, but she must have a decent head on her shoulders, or she'd never have held Tobirama's interest.

Izuna's face reflects what Hashirama feels but is careful not to show.

There is a lot of change coming, so Hashirama doesn't feel that guilty thinking it's doubtful Aiko will still be in the picture by the time they start building the village. Tobirama has always lost interest quickly in things easily understood.

"Well, I'm glad you're not alone, otouto." He even manages to make it sound sincere, based on Tobirama's pleased, slightly smug smile.

Hashirama clamps a hand over Izuna's mouth before he can say anything to ruin the moment.

"Likewise, anija. Uzumaki-hime seems to be a good match."

Hashirama beams, "She truly is. I'm looking forward to our marriage."

Izuna says something against Hashirama's hand, and he has no doubt it's better that Tobi didn't hear it.

Hashirama's not entirely sure how to tell his baby brother he's taken Madara's to his bed.

Along with his wife.

Tobi didn't seem to handle the idea of Hashirama and Madara sharing a bed well, despite sharing the Senju's clan belief that sex had little to do with marriage and relationships. Relationships were contracts to work together as partners toward a common goal. Sex, intimacy, and even love weren't always a consideration.

Even though the Uchiha also didn't equate sex with marriage, they despised arranged marriages, and no Uchiha ever strayed once an oath had been made. Adultery was punishable by death but had only ever been an issue with spouses who had married into the clan. Madara didn't like carrying out the sentence because the shock of the betrayal and the following loss almost always meant the Uchiha involved died soon after.

Hashirama preferred the Senju way because he wanted a good partner at his side, and he already had Madara for the mad, emotional, slightly crazy part of things. He loved the marriage he'd had with Mito and couldn't wait to have it again, but Tobirama, he was convinced, was meant for a more passionate union.

His little brother was always in control, always on guard. He needed a little shaking up, something he couldn't control, something that would keep him interested.

And he needed someone that he couldn't push away when he disappeared into a research binge or didn't have enough coffee and took it out on everyone around him.

It would just make Madara laugh.

And start a pot of coffee.

But that was for the future, he supposed. Let Aiko have Tobirama for now.

Hashirama had plans.

***

They settled on a week from then. Tobirama would ensure most, if not all of the Senju were at the compound, and the western gate guards wouldn't stop Hashirama. Mito would do her best to keep the civilians and those unable to fight separated. They didn't settle on which Uchiha would accompany Hashirama, but from the furtive glances Tobirama and Mito kept sending Madara, it was obvious who they'd expected to see.

The meeting had broken up shortly after midnight, with Tobirama and Mito hurrying to return to the Senju Compound before one of Butsuma's spies discovered them missing.

Madara, Hashirama, Izuna, and Midoriko took off in the opposite direction and were almost halfway back when Madara and Hashirama suddenly slid to a stop.

"What? What's happening?" Izuna, dropped into a crouch, sword at the ready.

Madara looked at Hashirama and said, "It's high summer. They'll be traveling through the wheat fields."

Hashirama's eyes lit up as he caught on, "Yes, isn't this when they met-"

"Yes!"

"Oi! There are other people here. What the hell are you talking about?" Izuna squawked indignantly when they ignored him and took off in a new direction, headed to the heart of the land between the Senju and the Uchiha territories. "Hey, get back here!"

Midoriko sighed and headed after them, trusting Izuna to follow.

And he did, but not without plenty of commentary. "I hate them. I hate them so much. Stupid, smug old brothers can't fucking explain anything...running off and changing everything...giant pain in the..."

***

The Namikaze were a study in failure. A prime example of what happened when a shinobi clan didn't follow the accepted shinobi way. Two hundred years ago, they'd been spoken of with hushed awe, headed to Noble status alongside the Uchiha, Aburame, Hyuga, and Akimichi.

Then the previous Damiyo had died unexpectedly, and his two sons had gone to war over his throne. The Namikaze had refused to accept missions during the war of succession and by the time the current Damiyo had officially ascended, they'd fallen from favor.

It had been a downhill slope since then, with the Damiyo and his court refusing to employ them for missions and lashing out through taxation and legislation. Within two generations, the Namikaze's number had been halved, and they'd only fallen since.

Now, they were a handful of families barely scraping by and currently under a thirty-year censor from the Damiyo. They'd lost their ancestral lands and become nomadic, picking up jobs wherever they could, though they'd stuck to the principle of staying out of the capitol's politics.

They'd found a hill to die on, Madara thought, and refused to beg for their survival. That fit with what he'd seen of Minato. So brilliant, so unyielding, and so far ahead that he'd made certain people very, very nervous.

And he'd died young for it.

Granted, Madara had been responsible for that...there weren't many people he regretted killing, but Naruto's father would always be at the top of that very short list.

This time, though, this time he could do it differently. They could do it differently, and then maybe Madara would get to see Minato grow up.

Maybe he'd be the student Madara had never taken.

He didn't want Obito to count, not because the boy wasn't brilliant, but because most of that time was lost to the miasma and the madness and Zetsu's voice in his ear, and Madara felt more like he'd ruined him than instructed him.

Obito deserved a better teacher.

And, as Hashirama kept insisting, Madara deserved a chance to train an apprentice purely for the pleasure of teaching someone else everything he knew.

The clan children were different. Madara taught them to read and write alongside their parents, the very basics of chakra and taijutsu, and how not to stab themselves with a shuriken when they were running around screaming like banshees. He taught them the shinobi way and how to balance that with the Uchiha Way and the Old Ways.

So many ways and none of them worked in total harmony.

Around age seven or eight, they'd be apprenticed to a more permanent teacher, usually a family member or an active shinobi whose talents lay in the same area, and then they only returned to him if they wanted tutoring in something he specialized in or if they were having a significant difference of opinion with their teacher and he needed to step in.

He had no heir. No children of his own.

He never did.

Even in this life.

Not until he adopted Kagami, anyway.

But in all those other lifetimes, Kagami had been Tobirama's student.

And he'd loved it.

He'd been the only Uchiha Tobirama had any fondness for.

The only one he trusted.

It makes him wonder what Tobirama would have thought of Fugaku's boys if he'd lived long enough to see them.

Obito, always bright and cheerful and eager to learn, would have been a good student.

Iruka, who loved teaching as much as Tobirama had.

Itachi...Itachi had surpassed Madara. What would Tobirama have thought of that?

And Sasuke....

Angry, wronged Sasuke, victim of something Tobirama had been a part of, even if he hadn't intended for all of them to die. Who tamed beasts and walked through dimensions and loved Naruto.

What would he have thought of those children that had turned the world he'd helped create on its head?

What would he have thought of the wall Madara had put the Uchiha in? That jutsu that he'd created to hold them in the gap between life and death because he'd known Kaguya wouldn't go down that easily, and there had to be someone left to fight her. It had been the best he could manage in that first life.

A secret fuck you to the Mother of Chakra that she wouldn't be able to take out on him because he'd already be dead.

He desperately wanted to know if it'd worked.

If they'd won.

But there was no way to know.

It would likely remain the great question of Madara's life. No matter how many more he had to go through to get it right, he'd never know if the one desperate, hopeful thing he'd done to make up for all the terrible, unforgivable ones had worked.

There was a more than decent chance that it hadn't, and Kaguya had won. Kikyo's rule of non-interference would only have held so long as there was hope she could be defeated, but even Kikyo was not a guarantee of victory.

Naruto, Sasuke, and all the others together couldn't guarantee a victory against the woman who was the origin of all shinobi.

He could hope, though.

And he clung to it.

And to the memory of Naruto and Sasuke and everything they'd achieved.

It made the lonely nights slightly more bearable.

Now, he had a chance to do something positive for the boy who hadn't even been born yet this time round.

The Namikaze belonged nowhere. None of the established clans were willing to risk the Damiyo's wrath by allying with them.

But the village was a different matter. Sweeping them in among a large group of clans forming a single unit could be seen as another way of wiping the Namikaze from existence if that's what Damiyo truly wanted. They'd just fade into Konoha like many smaller clans had in that first life, and eventually, no one would remember they'd ever even been an independent clan.

This time, Madara and Hashirama could knit them so tightly into the fabric of the village that Naruto, by the time he came into existence, would never have to wonder about his place in it.

They do, however, have to agree to join the village in the first place, and the startled young woman, a few years older than Madara and Hashirama themselves and painfully reminiscent of Minato, with his sunshine blond hair and the blue, blue eyes Sasuke waxed poetically about when there was no one else around and the bone structure that had made Minato and Naruto so hard to ignore, doesn't look that welcoming. Her hair is longer, falling to her waist, and her eyes less trusting and angrier than theirs had ever been, but there was no doubt that Minato and, eventually, Naruto would come from her line.

To her credit, she didn't hesitate to arm herself, even though she must have realized there was no chance of victory.

Hashirama and Madara hadn't bothered to conceal their chakra, and the steady pulse was rustling the grass and flaps of the tents of her small party. Midoriko and Izuna flanked them, intimidating in their own rights with their Sharingan blood red and on display.

"Good evening," Hashirama, always cheerful and warm and welcoming as flowers bloomed in his hair. Madara frequently felt like a dour bird in the shadow of a peacock.

But he was a lovable peacock, so it was impossible to stay mad.

Namikaze Mina, the current head of her clan, couldn't seem to decide who to focus on. A wise decision when four shinobi she'd never met before suddenly landed in the midst of her camp. The handful of Namikaze shinobi with her rolled out of their bedrolls, ready to fight, only to stumble to the same surprised stop their leader had.

"We-we have no quarrel with the Uchiha. Or the Senju. This is a free road. Safe passage is guaranteed. W-we haven't done anything wrong."

"There's no reason to fear. We come in friendship," Hashirama smiled widely.

Mina's immediate, "Why?" Made Madara snort in amusement.

No one wanted to be friends with the Namikaze. It was a surefire way to earn the Damiyo's ire.

"We're building a shinobi village," Hashirama beamed, "A home for all the clans."

"What?" Izuna shrieked.

"Where our children will be safe."

"An end to the clan wars," Madara added. While Izuna made a strangled sound and Midoriko smacked him silent.

"That's..." Mina shared a bewildered look with a young man who wore the Namikaze symbol but lacked their coloring. "I wasn't aware your clans felt anything but hatred for one another."

"We're over it," Hashirama waved a careless hand and ignored Izuna's snort.

"There are bigger concerns than old rivalries." Madara, also ignoring Izuna.

"Are the rest of your clans over it?" Namikaze Mina was not stupid. It said something that the two of them were here together. But it also said something that it was Hashirama with three Uchiha, two of whom were related.

"We have discovered a far bigger threat than the other clans. One that must unite us all, or we will perish." Madara's Sharingan had started spinning while he spoke.

At that, the Namikaze looked terrified.

Belatedly, Madara turned awkward when he realized, "I mean, we're not that threat. It's someone else."

Midoriko sighed; there was a reason the clan left diplomacy to literally anyone but Madara.

Hashirama nodded eagerly, "Kaguya. You've heard the stories?"

"Of course," Every clan had stories about the wars against Kaguya. "But those are just stories, there's no proof...."

Mina fell silent at the steady looks.

"Unfortunately, they are not stories," Hashirama, as gentle as he could be, "But we have no proof to offer you but our word."

"And this is why you're trying to build a village?" The young man clarified, "Why not an alliance?"

"Yes, brother, why not?" Izuna hissed.

"It won't be enough," Madara muttered darkly.

"It seems like it would be smarter to start with the alliance rather than the village," Mina pointed out.

Hashirama collapsed in a pout that seemed to scare them even more than Madara's glower. "The village is the whole point, so why waste time?"

"That's not-" Mina and her brethren shared concerned looks, though whether that concern was about the threat or Hashirama and Madara's behavior, it was impossible to tell.

"Look," Madara huffed, stomped over to a tent, and grabbed a random scroll and brush despite the cries of outrage from the Namikaze, who weren't stupid enough to actually try and stop him, and tore off a piece and scribbled something. He shoved all of it into Mina's arms. "Give that to the Hatake when you see them, and when you finish this mission, come back and join us."

"We're not going to see the Hatake."

Madara stared at her.

"I-, how would we even-, they live in the mountains in the Land of Snow. We've never even been to Snow before!"

"And they don't do missions to the Land of Fire anymore." Her companion pointed out. "The Damiyo banned them after they took up with that band of yokai samurai a few years ago."

Madara's gaze met Hashirama's, a brief shared memory of a young white-haired clan head, defended by a dark-haired, dark-eyed man with a katana.

"You never know who you're going to run into on a mission," Hashirama interjects cheerfully. "Why, there was this one time-"

Midoriko, smart enough to realize they need to end this on a good point because Hashirama's about to launch into an unnecessarily long, disturbing story, Madara's going to get bored, and Izuna's already started muttering again and fingering kunai if they want any hope of the Namikaze ever speaking to them again, steps in.

Her mother always explained why women ran the house – the world - after all.

They had common sense and knew a good exit was as powerful as a good fight.

So she whacks all three of them over the head before they can stop her, grabs them by their ridiculously long hair, gives the Namikaze a polite bow and 'hope to see you soon', and drags them off into the night.

***

The Namikaze watch until long after they're out of sight.

Mina glances at Kenzo, her husband of only two months, who looks back similarly wide-eyed.

"I thought you said the other clans refused to speak to you?" He whispered.

"They do!" She turned to the others, "When was the last time any of you spoke to a Senju or Uchiha?"

None of them have an event to offer.

"Since when do the Uchiha and Senju even talk to each other?" One of her senior nin points out. "Their war is the greatest among the clans in the Land of Fire."

"There's no way Butsuma agreed to a treaty," Mina mutters. He'd had three of her shinobi captured and tortured to death as a gift to the Damiyo for his wedding three years ago. He's a monster she yearns to gut, but there's no amount of sake that could convince her she'd win that fight.

"Hashirama is his heir, though, and he was with three Uchiha," Another adds.

Kenzo takes the scroll and brush out of her hands, leaving Mina to stare at Madara's folded note.

What did they want with the Hatake? They were formidable but not enough to compete with either clan and had never demonstrated any interest in leaving their mountain stronghold.

"What about this threat they're talking about?" Her shinobi looked worried. "Something bad enough to unite the Uchiha and the Senju?"

It's terrifying to think about.

What the hell is happening in the Land of Fire?

And why does it have to happen now when she's the one who has to deal with it?

***

Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging. Negativism to the pain and ferocity of life is negativism to life. We are not there until we can say 'yea' to it all.

Joseph Campbell

***

~tbc~