Under the Daffodils || Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 7

Isamu helps build houses in the Uchiha compound alongside the other men while the women prepare meals.

"Isn't she the famous Tori no Akuryo?" The girls whisper.

Evil spirit of the Bird? She thinks, filled with mirth. Is it perhaps because of the chirping of her chidori?

"She needs know how to cook, not to kill," an old woman says disapprovingly. Izuna carrying wood beside Isamu shoots the lady a glare and she shrinks back into her seat.

"Do they bother you?" He asks her and she shakes her head.

"Far from that."

Izuna nods, convinced because warriors who have lived through life and death moments on the battlefield have greater things to worry about.

"Where will you live?" He asks.

"I have been assigned to a house three blocks from the entrance."

"Who will you be living with?"

An image of a curly haired boy comes to mind before she replies. "No one, Izuna-sama."

It is silent when Izuna spares her a glance from the corner of his eyes.

"...You can live with Madara and I," he says before hurriedly saying, "if you want."

A silver of shock she feels must've been apparent to the man who had spent years watching her back on the battlefield because he has the gall to smirk.

"Why?"

Izuna shrugs. "We're practically a family, don't you think so?"

Family. Isamu feels giddy at the word.

Has she finally found a family?
———

She finds a field of daffodils right outside Konoha walls and she falls onto it, face staring up at the sky. A daffodil playfully brushes her cheek.

Her heart beats steadily and her mind is free from worries.

Isamu decides that she likes that feeling.
———

"Did you love him?" Tobirama asks her, eyeing the hairpin on her head.

"I would die for him."

But Kenji is already dead, and she can only hope she is lucky enough to cross paths with him in another life.
———

"We will have to decide on a leader. No village should be this chaotic when it comes to decision making," Nara Shidai says, and the others nod.

It is an unspoken agreement that the leader should be from the Senju clan or the Uchiha clan.

"I nominate Senju Hashirama." A voice says.

"I nominate Uchiha Madara." Another voice from the clan head table says.

A thoughtful look crosses Isamu's usually expressionless face. "I nominate Nara Shidai."

All eyes turn to her but her eyes remains fixated on the Nara clan head. It is not her fault that his calm personality and dexterous mind draw her in.

———

In the end, the whole village vote for Hashirama and Madara after Shidai had humbly declined the nomination.

Tobirama and her count the votes and Hashirama wins by a landslide.

That night, she sits with Madara at the park bench, offering comfort in the silence that fills the air.

"I didn't win."

"Losing a battle is normal in a shinobi's career."

"What does Hashirama have that I don't?"