"He said he's found his own path, that his goals and the villages could never coexist." Hashirama grimaced, clenching his fists. "He left. I couldn't stop him."
Nina did not say a word.
Hashirama told her about everything that had happened, from the conflict with Tobirama about who would be become Hokage to Madara showing him the stone tablet.
"Nina, you're an Ōtsutsuki, both the Uchiha and Senju descended from your clan, you must know something about the tablet." He sounded desperate, almost as if he was pleading with her. "Do you know what it really says?" There was a long moment of silence. Finally, Nina spoke softly, voice strangely empty.
"Hagoromo left it for Indra's decedents, it eventually fell into Uchiha hands. That's all I know." She stated.
"Do you think you could decipher it if I brought you there?" Hashirama pressed.
"No. He never told me how to read it." Nina finished. "I'll help with whatever else I can." She swallowed any emotions she had towards the situation and switched to brainstorming the best solutions.
"He's not going to come back." The distressed Senju rested his head in his hands. "I tried to convince him, but he wouldn't listen." He was defeated.
"You told me he said he would be looking forward to a final fight, right?" The man nodded slowly. "Then he will be back, just not in the way we may want. We'll have to be ready, there must be a way to change his mind." Nina attempted to raise his hope.
"If we are to defend the village without killing him then we will need your help." He sighed, looking her dead in the eye. "You'll have to tell Tobirama at the very least." She knew what he meant, she knew the time would come. As a high-ranking village leader and, dare she say, a friend, Tobirama had the right to know about her past.
So she told him.
After giving him a few hours to comprehend what he was being told, the younger Senju had gotten over his confusion. The room, consisting of Nina and the brothers, had fallen silent.
"Ōtsutsuki, huh?" The white haired man droned quietly.
"Yes." She confirmed with a nod. He seemed to be taking this quite well. Another moment of silence fell.
"That explains a lot." He closed his eyes. "I always knew there was something off about you." He sighed. "Well, let's get to work. We don't know how long we have until Madara comes back."
The village shinobi were put under intense training sessions day in and day out, the anbu especially. The Senju leaders and Nina were also dedicating extensive periods of time to training, individually and together. They would usually go out, far away from the village and train for hours upon hours. At most, to two of them could leave at one time, the other would watch the village and make sure nothing went wrong. When Nina went with one of the Senjus, she would teach them jutsus that she believed would fit their skill set and make them stronger. She would also learn techniques from them.
Nina had spoken to Izuna not long after she first heard the news. He was deeply upset but was more concerned about his brother's safety. Apparently, Madara had not said anything to anyone about leaving.
"He did announce that he wanted to leave Konoha and tried to gain the clan's support but leaving the village didn't seem to be on anyone's mind." Izuna told her solemnly. "He's been trying to convince the council and elders for months." Nina thought about this, expression hardened with concentration. If Madara's had the idea for so long than perhaps that was why he had all but disappeared for a week all those months ago. That must be why he asked her how long she thought the village would last.
She found that she was training harder than she had for a long time, having little regard for much else. Of course, she wanted to see Madara return to the village, she knew Konoha could grow into a great village with time, but it would be much more difficult without his support. Logic and reasoning aside, Nina felt there was something else driving her, something more personal. Maybe she had become more fond of him than she cared to believe. Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, she focused on forcefully throwing a kunai at a tree, the metal ripped through the spine of the leaf, splitting it into two perfect halves.
The day came sooner than anyone would have liked. The evening was almost coming to an end when an explosion echoed just outside the village, the three leaders were at the scene in an instant. A mammoth creature loomed over the buildings, it was covered with what appeared to be a susanoo shell. Nina was familiar with the susanoo as she had seen Hagoromo's before, it was an impressive jutsu to say the least. There was something else familiar though, something that pulled at a distant memory of hers. Suddenly, it clicked, the blue armor and the weight of the situation had distracted her from identifying what it was that she had detected.
"Kurama." She mumbled under her breath, frowning in anger.
"Nina." Hashirama had not heard what she said, too focused on his opponent who stood on the fox's head. "Stay a good distance away and monitor the battle, Tobirama will return to the village and protect the villagers, only interfere of I am incapacitated. This is my fight." Determination seeped from his voice. Nina nodded hesitantly, having a very bad feeling about those two fighting seriously. She jumped back, away from the inevitable battle, Tobirama at her heels.
An enormous wooden statue with what must have been hundreds of arms rose from the ground, Hashirama standing on its head, he was now just above eye level with Madara, the Uchiha commanded the nine tails forward. Even from afar, it was clear that Hashirama was trying to reason with him, as futile as he knew it was. Nina was pulled further back by Tobirama, she dragged her eyes away from the scene, looking towards the younger Senju. He motioned for her to back up then darted away after telling her to be careful. Giving one last glance at the Kyuubi, she reluctantly turned away from the battle, whispering a prayer to whichever entity was listening. Behind her, a thunderous crash could be heard, she dared not look back.
Time moved at a snail's pace. Watching the two men battle with such unrelenting power, each moment lasted an eternity. It took every fiber of her being to restrain herself from jumping in. The leaders of the two clans she needed to protect were locked in battle right before her eyes, a battle that would not end until one of them was dead.
Almost half an hour had passed and blows were thrown back and forth, ones that surely could have drilled through any mountain. After multiple attempts, the fox's susanoo shell was finally stripped away, and as much as she tried to stop herself, she sped towards the scene. She knew that both sides were tired and ready to end this battle, there would be no holding back. Hashirama and Madara both paused for the slightest of moments, focusing chakra their final attacks. An arrow of purple chakra shot from the left side while a barrage of blue chakra bullets flew from the right. They were not a meter away from hitting each other when they suddenly collided with something else.
A massive cloud of dust and debris invaded the air, blocking everything from sight for a solid minute until a gust of wind blew it aside, revealing what had happened: a large red barrier, crackling with energy, was suspended in the air right where the two attacks should have collided, inside was a familiar white haired woman, hands outstretched on either side to keep the shield up. Both men recognized the technique: The Moral Barrier, a semi-clear wall that, depending on the user's will, could either amplify or suppress any jutsu it came in contact with. This barrier was easily recognizable by its unique color as well as the sheer amount of chakra power radiating from it. Because it was such a powerful technique, it also drained very large amounts of chakra very quickly. The sphere flickered for a moment and faded. After having processed what had happened, Madara wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation, rapidly forming more hand seals, he blew a large fireball at the now vulnerable woman, who quickly covered with a wall of earth. Nina quickly jumped back, landing next to Hashirama, he was clearly upset that she had intervened but understood why she did so. The result of his and Madara's attacks colliding would have done significant damage not only to their surroundings, but also to themselves. This battle, however, needed to come to an end or even more damage would be caused. Hashirama let out a slow breath.
'I hope you'll forgive me...'
Nina opened her eyes and immediately winced at the pounding in her head. As blinking stars slowly came into view, she noticed the air was cold and silent. Turning her head to the left, she saw someone's back facing her. Not Madara, not Hashirama, so it must be Tobirama. She recalled that she had leapt back to stand next to Hashirama after avoiding Madara's attack, but anything that might have happened after that was blank. The Senju next to her turned and stared down at her, eyes emptier than usual. Silence rang around them as realization dawned on the woman. She sat up, praying that her suspicion was wrong, yet when her eyes landed on the body of a familiar Senju, cold and lifeless, she knew what had happened.
"Madara?" Nina asked quietly, as if speaking any louder would make the situation more real.
"Yes." Tobirama understood what she was asking. "They're both gone."
A woman with long white hair sat quietly in her office, focused on reading the application forms on her desk. There were dozens of papers with different names and information written on them. Academy enrollment forms. There were many more than there had been last year, two piles stacked high on either side of her. The woman stared blankly at the papers as she read and signed each of them one by one, only the sound of ink against paper could be heard. A knock came at the door.
"Come in." She replied without pausing in her work. The door opened and two masked anbu stepped in. They bowed low and one of them spoke in an even voice.
"The Hidden Mist Village has requested a meeting with both Commanders." The shorter of the two stepped forward and placed a scroll on the desk. Not looking up or stopping her work, she thanked and dismissed then men, they bowed quickly and disappeared. She gently set down her brush and picked up the scroll, unrolling it and skimming over the text.
'The messenger hawks should be sent straight to Tobirama.' She thought, making a mental note to get that changed. The letter asked for a face to face meeting in one week. According to what she knew, the Hidden Mist Village had formed not long ago, it was perhaps just half a year old. At the bottom, the scroll was signed 'Shodai Mizukage, Byakuren'. A young village seeking alliance with a more experienced one, such as Konoha, was not odd, she had seen two other similar requests in the last few months. Having spoken with Tobirama about this issue, they had decided to accept meetings with all who requested it and decide whether or not to ally with them afterwards. Another knock came at the door.
"Come in." Was again the reply. The door opened and in walked a familiar Senju. "Back from hunting?" She asked halfheartedly.
"I am. How is the application approval going?" Tobirama asked, picking up a stack of finished forms. Instead of answering the question, Nina narrowed her eyes at him.
"What is it?" She asked, voice becoming serious.
"What?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"There's something bothering you that not even hunting could get off your mind. You wouldn't have come here otherwise." She stated, analyzing his expression carefully. After a short pause, he spoke up.
"I'm looking for someone else to take over." He admitted. Ever since he had become Hokage after the incident three months ago, he's been isolating himself more. Nina had the sneaking suspicion that he was having doubts about his position within the village.
"Who are you thinking of?" She decided to play along.
"No one yet." He responded.
"I doubt there's anyone in this village who can do your job better than you can." She looked him dead in the eye. There was a minute of silence between them. Nina was the one who finally spoke. "Come on." She stood up from her seat, knowing what he was thinking. "Let's go visit him."
Both of the white haired shinobi kneeled in front of a large tombstone, intricate words were carved into its face.
Senju Hashirama
A kind leader
A noble man
Flowers lay at the base of the stone, the two only stared at the eight words, not speaking any themselves. After a long while, Nina stood up slowly, put a hand on the man's shoulder, and silently walked off, knowing that he needed some privacy. Three months was not nearly enough time to heal, Nina knew this well.
Thoughtlessly striding slowly across the village graveyard, Nina found herself standing before another headstone. She stared down at it for a moment before kneeling in front of it. Her eyes gazed sadly at the blank stone.
'Sorry I haven't been able to visit you sooner.' She thought, as if the dead could read minds. 'Some other Hidden Villages have formed, we've stopped trying to get rid of them... and Konoha is thriving. Not quite what you thought it to be, was it?' A sad smile spread across her usually stoic features.
"Nina?"The voice surprised her and she whipped around to see a familiar raven haired Uchiha.
"Izuna." She greeted. The man walked to her side and knelt down as well.
"I didn't think you would be here. You're usually pretty busy." He commented, trying to lighten the mood. Nina continued to stare at the grave.
"I thought it was about time I come by." She replied gently, careful not to say anything too emotional. Izuna cracked a small smile.
"I'm sure he would have appreciated it." He said. "He wasn't a bad person." Izuna added quickly. "It's just that he wasn't thinking clearly." Nina turned to him, seeing that he was struggling to keep his composure.
"I know, but he wouldn't have wanted his dear brother to be crying over him," She said gently, "Would he?"
"I'm not crying!" The Uchiha shouted defensively, squeezing his eyes closed. Nina let a smile slip.
"Of course not."
"Where were you?" Tobirama asked halfheartedly upon seeing Nina enter the Hokage Tower. "What have you been doing for the past hour?"
"Same thing you were doing, visiting a passed friend." She said simply, opening her office door and shutting it behind her. The Senju stared at the closed door, expression unreadable.
'Madara...' He mused.
Nina opened her eyes slowly, scrolls and papers fading into view. She sat up and blinked the sleep from her eyes. Glancing out the window to her left, she saw the sun was just peaking over the horizon; she must have fallen asleep while working. She stood up slowly and left her office, deciding to take a short walk before getting back to her workload. Ever since the incident, the pressure on her and Tobirama had been increased significantly now that there was only two of them to keep things in check.
Nina was surprised to hear clashing and rustling coming from just east of the Hokage Tower, a large section of land dedicated as training fields. It was still very early and most people were not up yet. Making her way towards the source of the sound, she saw two unexpected figures; one was the same white haired Senju she worked with, the other a young boy with a mess of short brown hair whom she recognized as one of the boys on Tobirama's team. It seemed a training session was going on, though she wondered why they were training at this time of day. The two continued to spar for the next ten minutes, she was impressed with the child's skill, he was quick and seemed to be quite strong, of course she expected nothing less from Tobirama's student. A while after she first spotted the two, the training seemed to have concluded, Tobirama giving the boy feedback on his movements and chakra control. The brunette turned his head and spotted Nina, jumping in surprise. He wondered why he didn't sense her there.
"Look sensei! It's Miss Nina!" He whispered loudly, pointing in her direction. Tobirama only sighed.
"It's not polite to lurk." He stated aloud. Chuckling, the woman stepped out from the shadows and approached the two. "This is Sarutobi Hiruzen, one of my students." He introduced.
"Pleased to meet you." Nina offered a slight nod, the boy smiled wide and bowed aggressively.
"It's an honor to meet you!" He shouted, causing both adults to blink in surprise. He snapped up straight and smiled again. "I think you're really cool! Almost as cool as Tobirama-sensei!" He exclaimed, causing the said man to sigh once more.
"Hiruzen, our training has concluded for today, go home and rest." He said, and with a nod, the young boy ran off, waving back at the two white haired shinobi.
"Cute kid." Nina commented, staring at the quickly retreating form.
"He has quite some potential." The Senju stated. Nina let out a breath and closed her eyes slowly.
'A Sarutobi prodigy, poor boy, groomed to be Hokage at such an age...'