Savior||Tobirama S.|Naruto AU

6||Acceptance

"What?"

Madara's stupefied expression couldn't be explained. This was not what he expected. Totally illogical. He knew his clan treasured mental health, as it affected the sharingan's abilities, but he didn't think it extended to others they would take in.

"You heard our ruling. You both are the ones who wanted the Senju to live anyways, so I don't see the problem." Riko, an elder who had thick and circular glasses framed her kind and wrinkled face from aging.

"Tch." Hanabe, a former soldier of Madara's grand father, clicked his tongue bitterly."don't come crying to me when the damn demon attacks us. I warned you he'll probably kill everyone as soon as we let our guard down. Can't believe we're keeping him alive because of rules in clan archives made 60 years ago." He grumbled the last part.

"Clan archives and rules are more valuable than your opinion." Shimada snapped, his black-greyed hair styled back in the weirdest of hairstyles as usual."Besides, he'll have the cuffs on him at all times and it restricts chakra usage. I doubt his Taijutsu could outmatch the sharingan without a weapon."

Madara'a expression was completely flabbergasted at his elders' passiveness to the situation of housing one of their strongest sworn enemies compared to their riled and furious attitudes to raised taxes from the daimyo was incredulous. If Madara's face was one to gawk about, then Izuna's face was even more dumbstruck. Eyes nearly buldging out of their sockets and jaw opening and closing like a gold fish.

"We should execute the bastard while we still have a chance!" Hanabe snarled as his nostrils flared and eyes narrowed."He would just be another mouth to feed and would be a liability to the already struggling funds we receive from missions from the daimyo!"

The other elders hushed. It was a fair point. It would only damage more of their treasury. Ever since the harsh winter, the taxes for nearly all items were raised and the daimyo assigned more missions with the same pay.

Madara regained his posture as the atmosphere shifted into a rather uneasy one. He remembered as a child when he still met Hashirama at the riverbank and how the Senju would talk about his genius little brother with slight bitterness about his good judgement in politics and managing their own food supplies and taking care of their monthly taxes to the daimyo through good time management and pure planning.

Tobirama wasn't just a warrior, he was a business man, an advocate and diplomat for alliances outside of war. He had helped keep the Senju on their feet through administering finances and the best paid missions with great success rate. He even went as far as making a system of best produce and livestock to get throughout the year based on the flow of supply, demand, and circumstances of the companies that supplied the products they needed.

Not only that, but he managed to form alliances with the Sarutobi through pure articulate reasoning and eloquent execution in his alliance proposals.

"He is a genius when it comes to managing money, taxes, and financial issues." Madara blurted

All the elders stopped whispering among each other, all ears on Madara.

The clan head felt a bit embarrassed at having to use well thought out persuasion but at the same time relieved he remembered that day with Hashirama."He was the one that managed the Senju's treasury and the reason why they were always equipped with the best weaponry and more fresh and high quality food for the clan."

"And how would you know that?" Hanabe smirked smugly, implying he didn't believe Madara was telling the truth and telling a string of lies to keep Tobirama alive. Madras was probably going to keep him as a guest for a step towards peace with the Senju by using him as bait.