Little White Lines

Brothers and Conflicts

The past few months has been a series of successes as far as Hashirama Senju was concerned. Not only has the peace treaty between the Uchiha clan and his own been upheld without incident, but he was even rekindling his friendship with Madara who was, admittedly, still rather hostile around him. However, this seemed to be changing slowly as the two had been talking about joining forces to build the village they'd always dreamed of as children: a place where clans could put aside their differences and live together peacefully, where children no longer had to grow up surrounded by blood and death. That was the kind of world they wanted build. And they did.

The village, though still under construction, was moving along smoothly, looking more and more like it was meant to each day. The progress was overseen by the Senju and Uchiha brothers, the four of whom together held so much authority that it was almost frightening. Tensions were clear and present among the opposing clansmen yet none dared to misstep while their leaders remained allied, thus fortunately they had yet to see any significant conflict.

"Aroka!" Hashirama beamed as he entered the seer's chakra-laden room, rushing to give her a hug. "We missed you!"

"Don't lump me together with you, idiot." Madara shot irritably as he followed close behind, crossing his arms and taking a seat in front of the desk.

"I missed you too." Aroka laughed, returning the hug. "And you, Madara."

The four leaders had made a habit of dropping by the Imada compound as of late, despite the small village being nearly two days' journey from the growing Konohagakure, as they had named it. Though they visited often, every two weeks or so, they never all came, it was only ever two of them; usually Hashirama and Madara or Tobirama and Izuna, seeing as both sides agreed to have "equal opportunities" to consult the seer. Well, consult might not be the right word. Hashirama usually just liked to chat about the village's progress while Tobirama and Izuna were always too preoccupied with trying to glare each other to death to get any business done.

"Aroka! The village is going great! We decided where all the clan compounds are going to be and the academy building was just finished and we're going to build a tower at the center of the place and it's wonderful!"

"How exciting." Aroka smiled, tilting her head in amusement. Hashirama always became a bit too excited when it came to the village. "How much longer do you think it'll take to complete?"

"Not long, I hope! If all goes well Konoha should be finished in just a month or so!" he beamed.

"So soon? Impressive..."

"Hey, you should come and take a look! I'm sure you'll love it, there's a cliff right next to it and waterfall nearby, it's such a beautiful place!"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to disturb the builders. Maybe I'll visit when everything's complete." she smiled before turning to the silent Uchiha. "Say, how's Izuna been? He seemed quite tired last time he came by."

"He has been helping with the village in addition to his usual role in clan affairs. He's adjusting to the pressure." Madara explained stoically.

"Oh dear... he should be getting more rest." she frowned, resting her head on her hands. "Poor boy."

"He's older than you."

"Such a good kid." she shook her head, ignoring the comment. "Tell him he needs to take better care of himself if he already has so much to worry about, ok?"

Madara only gave her a strange look.

"But anyways, do you two have anything to ask me or did you come all this way just to chat?" she chuckled, tilting her head.