Chapter 8

Kagami finds her in the field of daffodils. Now eleven years old, he has gotten better at chakra tracking. He settles down next to her, finger tracing a flower.

"Is this where you disappear off to when you're free?" Curiosity seeps into this voice.

Her eyes remain on the clouds, floating in the clear blue sky. "Yes." She hid a smile when she turns to her favorite student. "Good job finding me."

The tips of Kagami's ears turn faint pink at the praise but he showed no other outward indication of his pride.

"Isamu-sensei," the Uchiha student mutters. "May I ask what your dream is?" Even after two years as Isamu's student, he still feels like he didn't know her. The only thing more secretive than his teacher would be the vault with S-rank secrets on the third floor of the Hokage tower.

"I want to retire." She says softly, no hesitation.

The boy's eyes widen, whipping his head to his teacher. "What?" He splutters. "Retire?"

Isamu tilts her head at his unconcealed surprise. She knew he was more expressive than most Uchiha's, but even this is pushing it.

"But you're only sixteen!" Kagami exclaims. He has big dreams and he knows he wouldn't be able to achieve it unless he was twenty or older.

"So I am," she says. She stands up, ruffling his curly hair. "But I can't retire just yet. I owe it to someone to build this place."

"Good." Relief coats his voice. He doesn't know what he would do if his only teacher decided to retire. "But when you do retire, I want your katana."

Isamu messes up his hair even more so at the cheekiness in his statement, succumbing to the soft spot for the younger Uchiha. "I guess we'll see." She waits for Kagami to stand up. "Now go get Akio and Nobu, we're going training."

—

"They didn't accept our peace treaty." Madara scowls behind a gloomy Hashirama, slumped in his chair.

"Who?" Izuna asks.

"All of them." Tobirama mutters. "All the five great nations."

Isamu simply stares, unperturbed. She knows this is going to happen, and yet a part of her had wished for otherwise. How foolish.

"Will we be at war with them?" Itama questions, something akin to fear and foreboding lacing his voice.

The word war brings an unsettling atmosphere into the room, its heavy weight landing on Isamu's chest and making her feel small. Not again.

"Possibly." Hashirama concedes. He massages his right temple, looking years older than he was. Several strands of white hair stand in contrast to his silky brown hair.

"No." The word leaves her mouth before she could stop it. Five pairs of eyes land on her, in curiosity at the resolve behind the single word.

"No?" Madara repeats.

Isamu stares, her insides coiling at the thought of being in the center of the bloodbath again, her blood crusted hands weaving through handsigns, her arm bursting through her enemy's back.

"We need a leverage." Isamu says. "Something they all want."

Her eyes meet Hashirama's, and at that moment the same thought occurred to the both of them. She smiles when his eyes brighten, constellations dancing around each other.

"Tailed beasts." He breathes.

—----

"You cannot allow my brother to go alone." Tobirama slides into a seat opposite of her. Isamu raises her head from the book she is reading, a stray strand of hair falling onto her forehead. At her silence, he continues. "He is the strongest shinobi, but he's also human."

"He is the God of Shinobi."

"Yes, but it's him against nine tailed beasts." He hissed.

"Eight." Isamu corrects him, her sources say that Suna has already gotten hold of the Shukaku.

The white haired man sighs. "You don't understand. He's still bound to bleed, to get hurt, and dying like a normal human being." His red eyes remain on her. "He can die from chakra exhaustion if he seals all the beasts."

"Does he know of your... concern?" The Uchiha questions.

"...No."

"I'll be sure to tell him when we leave for the borders of Kumogakure tomorrow." Her tone was remote, almost careless. She closes her book, relishing the thin veil of shock on his face before she takes her leave.

Tobirama stares at the space where she used to be, then his eyes trail down to the book that he is sure he had seen her read a thousand times before.

Fuinjutsu.

An amused scoff leaves his lips. He should've known she would be sealing tailed beasts with his brother.

—-----

In the end, it is Senju Hashirama, Senju Itama and Uchiha Isamu to leave for the mission, heading towards Kumogakure borders where the bijuu was last seen. Madara remains in the village to act as a Hokage with Hashirama's absence. Tobirama has a duty as the Senju clan head, and Izuna as an acting Uchiha clan head.

"You'd better bring her back alive." Madara warns a fidgeting Hashirama, ignoring Isamu's amused look. She is more than capable at keeping herself alive, and he knew that.

Izuna hugs her and smiles when she returns it. "Go kick some tailed beasts' butt for me."

"Alright."

She adjusts the small backpack on her back, full of storage scrolls, rations and a first-aid kit, a gift from her students.

"My intention wasn't for you to risk your life." Isamu turns her head to the source of the voice, a serious-faced Tobirama standing with his arms crossed. "I simply wanted a team with him, and I was hoping you would be able to relay that to him, not..." He trails off.

Isamu continues to look at him even when he avoids her eyes.

"My sharingan will be useful to the mission. I will not hold your brothers back."

The man before her opens his mouth to say something, but decides against it. "Don't get hurt," he settles for after the dilemma in his head.

—--------

Hashirama comes to a halt on the trees, signaling for Isamu and Itama to do the same. They have found the two-tailed beast after three weeks of searching. Matatabi is sleeping inside a cave, its chakra forcing powerful ripples with every breath it takes.

Foreign chakra touches Isamu's skin and she feels positively giddy, adrenaline flushing through her veins.

Her mangekyo swirls to life the same time as Matatabi's eyes snap open.

—---------

The fight takes a total of five days and thirteen hours.

Hashirama draws up a seal for sealing the bijuu, and her sharingan follows through every swish of the paintbrush.

"Good job subduing the bijuu with your sharingan." Hashirama compliments her when he finishes the sealing, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Good job with your earth cage." He compliments Itama.

The two teenagers shine with pride for the remaining of the day, despite their exhausted states.

One down. Seven to go.

—-----

Five months and twenty days go by before they've finally gotten to the eight-tailed beast.

By the end of the fight, Hashirama struggles to heal Itama while Isamu takes care of the sealing. When the Uchiha is done, she staggers to where her friend lays, bloody and chakra-exhausted. Hashirama's hands shake as the soothing green chakra covers Itama's stomach wound, the chakra flickering every now and then. His chakra is depleting- and if it keeps depleting at this rate, Isamu knows it will drain his life force.

"Stop." She says. Hashirama ignores her, his eyes fixed on his brother, his breathing haggard. "Stop." She repeats, her hand coming to grab his.

"No, I can't." He says stubbornly, removing his hand from her grasp. "He's my brother, I can't leave him." He shakes his head. "I can't lose another."

"You will die if you keep going." Isamu does not sugarcoat her words. "You are the Hokage. Your village needs you. Please." Her hands gently remove his from Itama's wound.

Hashirama stays silent, his eyes empty and devoid of life. "Madara can be the Hokage."

"No." The girl disagrees. "You know what changing leadership can do to Konoha. We will become everyone's targets. Please, Hashirama-sama. We need you."

A breeze brushes against their hair, fluttering her long locks into her face and plastering them to the sweat.

"I'll heal him." Isamu's hand glows green, her sharingan replaying Hashirama's past medical efforts.

"But you'll die." The Hokage hesitates, but does not deny the offer.

"I will be chakra exhausted, and I can die." Isamu forces her words out through her teeth, her arms straining. "But, I will heal him until he can survive the five-day trip back to Konoha. You can stop me before I drain my life force."

Hashirama nods, desperate for the last chance of his brother's survival.

Isamu doesn't know how long she has been healing Itama, but true to his word, the older Senju stops her eventually, his strong grip on her wrist. "That's enough, Isamu-chan."

Her hands shake minutely before the green chakra flickers away from them. "Good." She mutters, before everything goes black.

—--

Six months.

That is how long it took to capture seven tailed-beasts.

She wakes up in a hospital bed- has Madara built a hospital while they were gone?- and groggily reaches for a glass of water by her bed. A flaring pain in her arm stops her from doing so.

Isamu gives up and lies back on the bed, before the aforementioned glass appears in her vision. She grabs it out of Tobirama's hand with a raspy thank you.

"Half dead." He says. "You come back to Konoha half dead."

"How long was I asleep?" She asks instead of deigning him with a reaction, or an explanation-whichever he is hoping for.

"Three days."

Isamu is not new to chakra exhaustion, but each time it happens is still a complete pain as the last was. She finishes the remaining of the glass.

"Hmm. Did Madara kill Hashirama?" She asks in both an attempt at a joke and in seriousness.

"No," Tobirama denies. "But he was close."

The corner of her lips quirk up. "It would be too much of a hassle to get a new Hokage, isn't it?"

The man beside her stays silent at her words, simply staring at her disheveled form. "Thank you for saving my brother."

She closes her eyes and succumbs to the exhaustion. "You're welcome."

—------

When she wakes up again, words of her powerful sharingan had spread across the whole village.

"You're already a legend among our clan," Kagami says while they are walking back to their compound, ignoring the stares and whispers. "But now? Everybody in Konoha knows your name."

Isamu hums in acknowledgement. She doesn't wish for fame or fear, but instead she sometimes lets her thoughts drift away to a faraway land where she settles on the living room couch and watches television shows free of worry, free of blood in her hands. It is a faraway dream, but still as vivid as ever.

—--

Takaki comes up to her while she sits in a park, letting her body recover from its recent use. The older man smiles down at her.

"You've made quite a name for yourself."

He has been something of a teacher-figure to her when they were in the warring period, teaching her techniques and allowing her sharingan to copy them when he had no reason to do so. Four years had passed since she last saw him.

"I have you to thank for that." She tilts her head. "You have not aged a single day."

"I did nothing. You had a gift to begin with, and I could see that the first day we sparred." His hair is graying, a sign of weakness among active shinobi.

Isamu says nothing, her eyes staring at the children playing in the park.

"My son is very fond of you. He worships the ground you walk on." Takaki says with an amused edge.

The Uchiha girl hesitates before a face appears in her mind. She shakes her head with fondness. "Kagami is your son? I should've known."

"Keep him safe, will you?"

"With my life." Isamu promises.

She is not a person who makes promises easily. The last time she made a promise, she lost the only person she cared about.

This time, she is determined to make things different.

21 March 2022