(Hashimada) The Adventures of a Hedgehog and Some Idiots

41: The Hokage's an idiot

Madara begrudgingly entered the Hokage's residence, knocking on the door of a second floor room.

"What the hell do you want," The door was suddenly opened by a pissed off Tobirama, "Uchiha?"

"I need your sensory abilities."

Tobirama glared, "And why the hell should I help you?"

"Well, considering it is your brother that somehow managed to get lost-"

"Damn Hashirama. . . Wait. Why can't you sense him? You have sensory skills, do you not?" The younger Senju seemed desperate for any excuse to get out of helping Madara.

Why? Why did my brother have to fall for a damn Uchiha? Tobirama thought in despair, wanting to bash his head into the wall again.

"I cannot sense him, for whatever reason."

"Pfft, your sensory abilities must really be lacking. If you truly have as 'strong of a connection' with my brother as he claims, that is impossible. Your apparent. . ." Tobirama paused to shudder in disgust, "Chakra bond, ugh. . . Would mean you should be able to sense him at all times. Unless you have absolutely no sensory abilities. . . Pfft. . ."

Tobirama laughed - this mockery irritated Madara, and he responded sharply, "My sensory abilities are certainly not lacking - if they were, I would not be much of a match for Hashirama. For whatever reason, his chakra is hidden - there are merely two possibilities. Either his chakra is being concealed, or. . ."

Madara trailed off, chastising himself. Damn, why did I not consider the possibility that something happened to him before? What if he is. . .?

He couldn't dare to finish that thought - there was no way that Hashirama was dead, he assured himself. Still, he couldn't entirely hide the panic he was feeling. As much as he tried to tell himself that he hated the Senju and didn't care what happened to him, it was futile. He was too involved with Hashirama at this point, too emotionally invested, as much as he hated to admit it.

Tobirama's face hardened and he said, "There's no way that my brother is dead. Still, I guess it wouldn't hurt to find him. . . And I am not doing this to help you - even if you helped with the Reanimation, I don't owe you anything. This is for my idiotic brother's sake. If he misses that meeting with the Uzumaki clan tonight, the elders will give him hell. ."

Tobirama knew that his brother would hate to hear him talking to Madara like this, but he didn't care - he was too busy worrying about the worst-case scenario. He closed his eyes in concentration, trying to find Hashirama's chakra (which usually wasn't that hard, since he had more chakra than anyone else).

This can't be right. . . I'll check again, Tobirama thought to himself after a failed attempt to find him.

Still, he tried over and over with the same result. He opened his eyes and slowly shook his head.