A Thousand Years

The Village

Madara was the worst of all.

"Woman, why has Hashirama left early?" he demanded.

Nina continued to look down at the papers in her hand, not taking notice of him.

"Woman." he was clearly not taking get well to being ignored

"Nina." She corrected.

The Uchiha glared at her.

"Where has Hashirama gone to?" he repeated the question, his tone sharper than before.

"I don't know." she said simply.

She heard him breath in slowly, trying to maintain his composure.

"Senju women have no respect..." he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I'm not a Senju." Nina reminded him, receiving a scoff.

"You have the same attitude as that brat." That was his name for Tobirama. "No wonder you two are together."

Nina threw her pencil at him, still not looking up. He caught with ease, smirking triumphantly upon seeing that he had struck a nerve.

"We're not involved." The number of times he and his clan members had brought that up was uncountable now.

"Who's not involved?" came a new voice.

Nina looked to her right. A familiar Senju stood next to where she sat.

'Speak of the devil...'

"Tobirama." she greeted flatly.

"Nina. Madara." he shot a glare in the direction of the direction of the latter, who returned it returned almost immediately. The Senju looked away after a moment.

"Hashirama wants you to know the clan will be moving into the new compound tomorrow. He suggests you prepare your belongings as well." he stated, crossing his arms.

"Ah, right. Thank you for reminding me." the woman stood up, brushing off her yukata. "I'll do so now." She nodded at the two men, then took off in the direction of her house.

The dust shifted as Nina entered the house. She took in the scent of home; she hadn't been here for a while. Overseeing the village preparations and construction had kept her busy.

She paused for a moment: what should she bring? Or rather, what did she have to bring? Her shakujō, definitely. The few clothes she owned. The books from her clan that she had kept. Other than that, she really didn't have much, didn't need much. Quickly, Nina gathered her clothes and books into a small box. She put a hand on her staff, causing it to blur and then vanish. She couldn't have people seeing the it, it would cause far more questions than she cared to deal with.

"Thank you, Hashirama." Nina nodded gratefully at the Senju leader. He had just made arrangements for her to have her own home on the edge of the village, as she had requested. Though being close to the center would have certainly provided for easier access to the many meetings she would undoubtably have to attend, it far was too crowded and noisy for her. So naturally, she had asked for a bit of land on the outskirts of the developing village to live on.

"Not a problem." the Senju smiled. "I'll sendsomeone to tell you when it's ready, it won't be long." He assured her.

She nodded again, offering a small smile.

Later the next day, a stream of Senjus trickled into the village, bags packed and ready to settle into their new homes. They all made their way to the new compound, searching for the house number that they had been assigned.