Chapter Text
Madra charged Izuna as soon as he saw him. Hashirama yelped as he was shoved, toppling over.
Izuna grunted when Madara crashed into him. “Good to see you too, Anki. You know it’s only been two weeks since Hashirama’s wedding, right?”
“Did they hurt you? What happened? Who did it?”
Izuna laughed while Hashirama fell into a pout. “I’m fine Anki, calm down.”
Madara relaxed a bit when he heard Izuna laugh. He looked down at Hashirama, “What are you doing Log head? Why are you on the ground again?”
Tobirama appeared next to his moping brother. “He’s fine.” He nudged Hashirama with his foot. “Get up Anki, it's embarrassing, and you haven’t greeted our guest.”
And just like that Hashirama jumped to his feet and greeted each of the Uchiha delegation.
Izuna’s jaw dropped, “HOW!? I spent forever trying to get him out of his moods! And you just say-”
Tobirama gave him a blank stare through the blindfold, “He’s my brother.” He approached his father and bowed.
Butsuma gave a nod back. “How were you treated?”
“Fairly, I was not mistreated while there.”
Butsuma relaxed ever so slightly. Madara wouldn’t have been able to tell at all if he hadn’t been able to sense the man’s chakra.
A weight crashed into his back sending him to one knee. Idiot Tree!
“MADARA!” Hashirama howled in his ear. “We did it! We built a village!”
“I know that idiot! Now get off me!”
Izuna laughed as they started to wrestle. Tobirama smiled slightly. Butsuma and Tajima watched with silent amusement. Toka was doubled over clutching at her stomach while Mito smiled fondly at her husband. The Uchiha watched, slowly started to relax. Maybe this will work out.
The village was mostly complete. The walls were up with sixty-three houses and other buildings gracing the valley. There was still lots to be done, but both clans were living there so the noble overseeing the negotiations had allowed the boys to return to their clans.
Tobirama stepped away from the group, Rama hasherened next to him. He handed Tobirama a scroll. I managed to keep them mostly in line with your plans but the two of them together are… difficult.
Tobirama nodded slightly at the mental message Rama sent him. He didn’t envy the clone’s job of trying to keep Hashirama and Madara on track. Sure, their fathers had been there but the two recognized that they had too much history to be able to plan the village fairly. Both men had pretty much left the planning to their heirs.
Get Tobra and meet me at the lab. I plan to spend all night there.
Rama’s chakra spiked slightly with excitement. He hasherened away to collect his brother.
Hashirama bounded over to him, dragging him back to the group. “We need to decide how we are running this village. A counsel is a good idea but it’s not going to be effective if we get into some kind of conflict.”
Madara huffed, “A single leader over both clans would be good, but it’s only going to incite conflict within our ranks.”
“Not necessarily.” Izuna interrupted. Both heirs turned to look at him. The younger man had moved to stand by Mito so she could remove his chakra seal completely. “Madara is right in saying that having one clan placed above the other would cause conflict, and Hashirama is right in saying that not having a leader is only going to slow down our reaction time. Also, you run the risk of choosing a clan head or heir, which would take away from the clan’s strength as an individual.”
“How is this helping?” Madara grumbled.
Izuna shot him an annoyed glance. “I was getting to that. For now, I’d suggest that we have you and Hashirama both lead the village. Once we are more established we hold an election to vote on the actual first leader. But it can’t be our fathers or you two.”
Hashirama glanced at Tobirama, clearly trying to decide if he wanted the position. Tobirama stepped closer, stopping next to his father. “I agree with Izuna. A voted leader will help with one clan feeling slighted and/or left out, and keeping the clan heads and heirs out of the running will keep stability within the clan.”
“But… isn’t the goal to integrate the clans to the point people can’t tell who’s from what clan?” Hashirama asked.
Both clan heads made a noise that sounded like they were dying on the inside.
Madara huffed, “When that happens, we won’t have clan heads. So that won’t be a problem then.”
Tobirama smiled slightly, “One thing at a time Anki, you have to work up to that.”
“Oh, right.” Hashirama slumped slightly.
Izuna nudged him with his foot. “Look on the bright side, Hash, you still get to lead the village with Mads until we are stable enough to vote.”
Hashirama brightened slightly. “That’s true!”
Izuna glanced at his father, “The heads can act as a counsel to assist the leader.”
“For now,” Tobirama interjected, “That will have to be enough. There is a lot we still need to do but at least now everyone in the clans have accepted that we will be working to make this happen”
The four younger men shared excited or content looks. The two older ones watched their children, realizing that their time had officially come to an end.