Little White Lines

Back Again

A number of months had passed and the village was finally completed. Thanks to the combined effort of the builders, all that was left was for a few clans to finish moving into the shiny new compounds and Konoha would finally be the gleaming beacon it's founders had intended it to be.

Speaking of the founders however, it seems they had hit a bump in the road; the road of premonitive assistance they'd been receiving, that is. It turns out the seer hadn't been joking when she said she wouldn't help them until the younger pair learned to get along.

When Hashirama and Madara had gone to visit her two weeks after the incident, they had been turned away at the door where Mila reluctantly informed them that Aroka would only speak to Tobirama and Izuna.

The week after that, the said pair begrudgingly made the trip to see the seer but had barely made it two steps into the room when they shot each other the usual 'I hate you and hope you die' look, consequently getting themselves thrown out once again.

The next week, the pair returned to the silkmakers' village after promising their brothers they would be successful this time and lasted a solid five minutes before Tobirama's urge to throw an insult finally took over and they were promptly kicked out.

Another week passed and they reasoned that having one of them going alone was the best way to avoid conflict, and so Izuna was sent on a solo mission to win Aroka over. He didn't even make it inside the village.

Many more attempts followed, all ending in various degrees of failure, this proved to be a growing headache for Hashirama as the number of issues he needed advice on was growing by the day. Turns out running a village isn't easy work.

"Listen up you two! You're going back to the Imada village and this time it's going to work! I can't stress enough how important it is that you get on her good side!" Hashirama stated anxiously. He grabbed an unfurled scroll off his desk and held it up. "Here are a list of things we need advice on, listed from most to least urgent. Please get answers on at least a few of these." he urged, handing the paper to his brother whom was clearly less than willing to make yet another pointless trip.

"No promises."

"Tobirama!"

"Fine, whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"We'll do our best, Hashirama-san."

"I can always count on you, Izuna. Good luck!"

Tobirama rolled his eyes and swiftly walked out of the room, soon followed by the young Uchiha.

Hashirama sighed heavily, leaning forward to rest his forehead on his desk.

He really, really needed this to work.

_______________________________________________

At the conclusion of the familiar week-long journey, the young leaders finally made it to the Imada village, though as many times as they had travelled to this same destination, the weariness of trek still tugged at them. As usual, Mila was waiting for them at the gate.

"Welcome back." she greeted with a bow, "please come with me."

Make it through the gate: check

"How has Aroka been lately?" Izuna inquired, hoping she would go easy on them if she was in a good mood.

"She's been well, nothing out of the ordinary, though she has been anticipating your arrival these past few days."

"What for? It's never more than a few minutes before she chases us out again." Tobirama commented snidely.

"Actually, Miss is quite eager to help you and your brothers, it's just that cooperation is important to her so she's giving you a hard time. Please don't take offense, if you make an effort I'm sure she'll appreciate it." Mila smiled encouragingly.