I sensed his presence before I saw him, one morning while I was tending to my gardens. Madara had not yet arrived, and the sun was only beginning its climb above the horizon. My chickens clucked to themselves in their den, enjoying the morning meal I had prepared for them. Birds sang in the distance, and I knew there would be some deer nearby munching on the tree leaves that started to grow.
The boy's chakra came into my senses as I tilled the soil.
I knew it like I knew the back of my hand.
Curious as to his presence, I hopped over my fence.
Hashirama Senju, no older than six, was near tears when he saw me. "P-Please—! Can you help me? I-I'm looking for the doctor."
"I'm the doctor," I told him. "What's wrong?"
Hashirama didn't question the fact that someone (seemingly) his age was a doctor. He hugged his heavy cloak tighter and exclaimed, "My—My baby brothers are r-really sick. Pl-Please... I, I don't have any money, but..."
I waved him off. "Don't worry about that. I need to go back to my house to get some medicine, and then you can take me to your brothers."
Hashirama sniffled. "Thank you..."
I headed back quickly, grabbing a very standard assortment of dried herbs and premixed medicine. I shoved them all into my deerskin bag, and then I returned to Hashirama. The boy wasted no time at all in leading back to his compound where, like the Uchiha, nearly all members had fallen ill with tuberculosis.
So ill, in fact, none of them questioned my presence. He led me through their home, down wooden walls and empty rooms. At the very heart was a massive room. There were dozens upon dozens of mats on the floor, each one of them filled with a deathly ill patient. There were mothers, siblings, and friends gathered around each one, clutching each others' hands and holding back tears.
I momentarily ignored them, I followed Hashirama to two beds at the very end. A beautiful woman with long white hair, black eyes, and a stern expression sat primly between two beds. On one bed was a toddler around three, maybe four, that I recognized as Itama. On the opposite bed was... a baby, weakly breathing.
The woman, Hashirama's mother, was gently caressing both of her children. She lifted her head up when she saw Hashirama, and her eyes narrowed upon seeing me. "Hashirama, who did you bring?"
"This is the doctor, the—the one everyone in the village talked about," Hashirama stumbled over his words, but remained firm. "Pl-Please, Mom..."
Azumi let out a tight sigh, looking me over. "You truly claim to be a doctor?"
"Let me prove myself," I asked of her. "What do you have to lose?"
Azumi pursed her lips and looked away for a moment before she sighed once again. "Very well. Let me see what you can do."
I set to work.
Unsurprisingly, I saved them all.
H̰̝̔̓͐ͧ̚e͙̫̭̣̭͑̒ͣ̚l͙̣̬̈́̃͒̄l̩̱̮ͅo̪̩͑ͯ̀ͬ,̩̖̬̜͐͋ ̬̥̳ͯd̪͂ͫȍ̺̩͓͔̮ ̘͒ͩy̆̒̑o̖̦̘ű̝͔̱̙̄ ͙̭̫͕͗͂̓̾r̜̟͇̠͌̐ͭe̱̺̺̝m̰̭ė̮ͤ̑̐̀mͮ̄b̪̟̭ͧͭ̇̓ͅẽ̯̤͕́r̖ͫ ̗͒̀̍̂̉m͉̜̊ͯ̃̒͆e̱͉̊́̉̇ͧͅ?̟̝ͬ̓ͥ͗͗ͅ
I returned to my home later that night, tired from expanding my chakra, but immensely satisfied with myself for what I had done. Nearly a hundred lifetimes as a doctor really paid off, it seemed.
The Senju Clan was a lot more open about their gratitude than the Uchiha. I was hugged by nearly a hundred different crying people who couldn't thank me enough. Hashirama's father, the clan leader, returned while I was nearly finished and was astonished to see all the work. He had apparently gone out in search of another village's doctor, disbelieving a child-doctor would be able to save his clan. He came back empty-handed and was worried about what would befall his clan.
But his clan was fine. Everyone was fixed up in a jiffy, and I gave the worst-cases some medicine to take over the next week.
I walked into my home, yearning for a hot bath and a good night's rest, but I found that Madara was sitting at the kitchen table. He was waiting for me.
"Where were you?" Madara demanded of me, the six-year-old looked me up and down to make sure I was okay. "I was worried!"
"I had to help another family like yours," I told him with a smile. Then I reached forward and pinched his cheek. "Of course no one there was nearly as adorable as you."
Madara swatted my hand away, cheeks red. "Oh."
I yawned, stretching my arms up. "Have you eaten?"
Madara looked away, kicking at the ground. "... No."
"Then how about I make you some dinner? Want some rabbit stew and butter rolls?"
Madara smiled at that, looking up. "Butter rolls? You have more butter?"
"I do," I told him. "I churned it yesterday."
"Lots of butter, please."
"Okay, my dear. Lots of butter."
H̰̝̔̓͐ͧ̚e͙̫̭̣̭͑̒ͣ̚l͙̣̬̈́̃͒̄l̩̱̮ͅo̪̩͑ͯ̀ͬ,̩̖̬̜͐͋ ̬̥̳ͯd̪͂ͫȍ̺̩͓͔̮ ̘͒ͩy̆̒̑o̖̦̘ű̝͔̱̙̄ ͙̭̫͕͗͂̓̾r̜̟͇̠͌̐ͭe̱̺̺̝m̰̭ė̮ͤ̑̐̀mͮ̄b̪̟̭ͧͭ̇̓ͅẽ̯̤͕́r̖ͫ ̗͒̀̍̂̉m͉̜̊ͯ̃̒͆e̱͉̊́̉̇ͧͅ?̟̝ͬ̓ͥ͗͗ͅ
The following morning, Madara returned to spend the day with me. He came early enough for breakfast, and the two of us set to work on tilling the rest of my gardens to prepare for spring planting.
Hashirama's chakra showed up half an hour into working. Madara sensed him, too, looking up and furrowing his brow. He asked me, "Is that someone you know?"
"That's the boy who I helped yesterday. His family was sick," I said, then I raised my voice, "Hashirama, you can jump over the fence!"
There was a moment of hesitation before Hashirama did exactly that. When he hopped over, he looked at everything with wide eyes. "Wow, it's like a farm!"
"It is a farm," Madara muttered.
"Everything okay, Hashirama?" I asked him.
"Yeah! I, um, I actually wanted to come by and thank you," Hashirama said shyly. "You saved my little brothers. I-Is there anything I can do to help you?"
I considered this, glancing over at Madara. "Actually... would you mind training with Maddie, here? I have a feeling that the two of you would make good sparring partners."
Hashirama's eyes brightened. "Oh, okay! Hi, Maddie, it's nice to meet you. I'm Hashirama."
"It's Madara," Madara corrected with a growl. "You really think you can keep up with me?"
Hashirama shrugged. "Won't know until I try?"
"Hmph. I guess. Alright, let's go, peasant."
It ended in a draw.
H̰̝̔̓͐ͧ̚e͙̫̭̣̭͑̒ͣ̚l͙̣̬̈́̃͒̄l̩̱̮ͅo̪̩͑ͯ̀ͬ,̩̖̬̜͐͋ ̬̥̳ͯd̪͂ͫȍ̺̩͓͔̮ ̘͒ͩy̆̒̑o̖̦̘ű̝͔̱̙̄ ͙̭̫͕͗͂̓̾r̜̟͇̠͌̐ͭe̱̺̺̝m̰̭ė̮ͤ̑̐̀mͮ̄b̪̟̭ͧͭ̇̓ͅẽ̯̤͕́r̖ͫ ̗͒̀̍̂̉m͉̜̊ͯ̃̒͆e̱͉̊́̉̇ͧͅ?̟̝ͬ̓ͥ͗͗ͅ
They both came again the next, Hashirama all dimples and bright eyes, with Madara showing a bit more restraint in his happiness but still giving the occasional soft smile. They sparred, and trained beside one another all the while asking me questions about medicine.
Again, and again this repeated for weeks until they broke the pattern by bringing others.
Behind Hashirama were two boys—one about four, maybe five, and another barely over a year.
Hashirama proudly introduced his brothers to me. "This is Tobirama, and Itama!"
Tobirama, only just out of the toddler years, shyly shuffled behind his brother and glared at me suspiciously. The one-year-old Itama, however, rushed forward in an excited giggle.
He tripped over nothing, and I had to swoop down to catch him. I lifted him up in my arms, kissed his nose and said, "Hello little one."
"He'o," Itama said, his eyes sparkling with glee. His tiny hands batted against my cheeks. "He'o! He'o!"
I took his tiny hand and kissed it. 'Ahh... I want a baby brother. Can I keep this one?'
"They both wanted to meet you," Hashirama told me. "And they didn't believe me about butter."
"Butter is almighty food that cannot be denied. How about I whip up some breakfast for you all?" I offered. "I'm sure Maddie will be here soon."
"Woo-hoo!" Hashirama exclaimed, slinging his arm around Tobirama's shoulders and shoving him forward with him. "That sounds great, thanks, Sasori-sensei!"
The duo followed me inside—Tobirama with reluctance, and Hashirama with excitement—while I carried Itama in my arms. My home had aged well so far, not a crack to be found. I had begun growing some of the more delicate herbs inside—and flowers because I enjoyed their beauty—so they could be seen scattered about, with some vining down from their pots above. Only the downstairs was kept this way since it was slightly unsanitary, regardless of how pretty. I kept upstairs pristine in case I needed to tend to patients there.
Hashirama hurried over to his usual spot at the table, he ushered Tobirama into another seat. I carefully placed Itama on one of my kitchen counters before setting about to make breakfast.
Just as I was pulling out the eggs, Madara—and his own little brother—stepped inside.
"Good morning," I cheerfully greeted. "Is this your own little brother, Maddie?"
Madara's face twitched slightly at his little nickname, but he still introduced his brother. "This is Izuna. Izuna, say hi."
"Hi," Izuna blandly repeatedly, sourly looking around my humble abode. It was cute that he clutched tightly onto Madara's happi, which made me smile. All of these one-day bishies still had their baby fat on their cheeks so it was like I was surrounded by top tier adorableness.
Madara and Hashirama didn't have much issue in starting a casual conversation. Their brothers were significantly more wary about following suit, with both boys staring mutely at each other across the table. Itama was the only exception as the sweet boy was practically beaming with joy at watching me cook. He babbled to me in short sentences with little meaning behind them, taking more pleasure in having me respond to him than actually conversing.
Once breakfast was made and devoured it was unsurprisingly that both boys wanted to train.
Specifically, wanted me to train them.
How could I possibly pass off that opportunity?
There were so many important things they needed to know.
Of course, I had to wait until they were a touch bit older and, you know, not children before I could impart the most important knowledge of the Icha Icha series onto them. Thankfully I had that series memorized and was working on replicating it in Jiraiya-sama's honor.
There was also the issue with the Goggle Gods, but since Jashin was supposed to start up around this time I figured it would be better to introduce myself to that religion first.
Who knows? I might actually get to meet the Jashin-sama.
(Or did I already?)
Regressing back to the present, though!
These two sweeties wanted me to train them.
How fortunate for them I remembered how efficient a teacher Naasica was.
I ̥̳s̿͆t̲̬̪̊ͫ͂̚i͌͊̚l̰͇̙̝͇̓̃ͫl̬̫͙̤͉̾͒͛͋̐ ͓̣͓̿r̝̮̰̙̽eͨͅme̯͖̭̲ͨm͍̮̖͕͔̈́͛b͙͖͎͖̈́̆ͭ͌ͪe̺̥̩͔͕̎r̪̬̝̔ y̘ͨ̍͊o̲͇̝̲̱̒̃͋̒̊u̗̮ͣ̎̏
Answer: Soft pink, and I'm satisfied with that.
Question: If you had to play a sport and be in a sport anime (you can make up your own anime, don't have to pick an existing one), what would it be?
Reviews are love!