Chapter 9

It is two more weeks before Isamu is allowed to be put on the active roster.

"Remember, the healer said your body cannot handle one more chakra exhaustion. Your childhood chakra exhaustions have put too much of a strain on your body." Izuna frets over her like a mother hen, keeping an eye out for sharp edges the Uchiha girl could fall over onto.

Isamu hums in acknowledgement and Izuna crosses his arms, displeased with her dismissal. "This is serious. You could die the next time you pull something like that."

She nods. "I will try to not worry you."

The man next to her groans at Isamu's evasion and gives up. They part ways, Izuna heading to the Uchiha compound while she heads to the Senju's. The Senju guard recognizes her immediately and seems to struggle between bowing at her and throwing her the stink eye. He settles for a nod, before leading her to the Senju head's home.

"You're here." Senju Hashirama greets her, his presence and voice as warm as the midday sun with rays as warm as its center.

"Thank you for inviting me to your home, Hokage-sama, Mito-sama." Manners were ingrained into her body from her childhood, and Isamu blinks when her thoughts drift away to the nights of caning from a decade before.

Mito smiles, her eyes crinkling into crescents. "Would you like to see him?"

Isamu nods subtly, bad thoughts dissipating from her head. It is why she is here after all.

The red-haired woman disappears into the hallway and comes back, this time with a bundle snug in her arms.

"His name is Senju Shori." She stares at the baby, a progeny of the God of Shinobi and the greatest fuinjutsu master in all the five nations combined. The tiny baby, with soft tufts of red hair and eyes as dark as the deep forests descended into the night. "You're his godmother."

Isamu hesitantly reaches a finger towards the tiny thing, watching as he garbles and struggles to grab her finger with his pudgy right hand, squeezing it with all the might of an infant.

"It's an honor." She whispers.

It is one more life she has to protect.

"He was born when you two were off chasing the bijuu," Mito says, a tender smile on her lips as she looks at her son. Isamu turns to look at Hashirama. That means he had missed his son's birth, all for the search of a potential peace attainment, for a maybe. He looks sheepish but even that cannot hide the rumbling guilt in his eyes.

"And you still have the Kyuubi to search for." Mito finishes.

"We do." Isamu agrees, looking to Hashirama for his guidance. It's been three weeks since she was last hospitalized and there has been no word of the hunt.

"A month." Hashirama decides. "When Itama is fully healed."

"He's going along?" It is Mito who asks the question, disapproval lacing her tone, like a mother chiding her child.

"No," Hashirama says, then says in a softer voice. "But I need to make sure that he is okay before I leave Konoha once more."

Silence descends at his words. Isamu nods. "One month it is."——-The number of missions are on a rise with the formation of four other nations. Conflicts arise and active shinobi suddenly find less and less time for themselves, the people who were once students now become shinobi, forced to fill the workforce. They find themselves fighting again- and this time with a different enemy.

Isamu lugs her body from one mission to another, sometimes on solo assassination missions, sometimes on team tracking and infiltration. Akio, Nobu and Kagami are exceptional shinobi, as to be expected from the students of The Uchiha Isamu, and it is not long before they are each sent on their own solo missions.

She shouldn't be worried. Isamu was way younger when she first stepped foot into the battlefield and her students are remarkable, unrivaled in their own right. Still, they are her students of two years and she can't help but let her mind drift away to them when they are on separate missions.

Just a little longer. She tells herself. And then there will be peace.———Madara has resigned as the clan head to work as the Hokage's right hand man. Officially, at the very least. Izuna steps up as the Uchiha clan head, much to everyone's pleasure.

They hold a feast in the compound- the first one in a while.

"Congratulations, Izuna-sama." Isamu says, genuine. "You're going to be stuck with paper work for the rest of your life."

Tobirama has been complaining about the mountain of paperwork ever since he became the Senju clan head, and Izuna is sure to be doing the same in the future.

"Don't miss me too much." Izuna grumbles. "Your mission partner is stuck behind the gates."

"You love paperwork," Isamu recalls the days she and Izuna used to bug Madara to complete his work. "I got you a gift."

Izuna's eyes light up at those words, hands reaching to grab it from her hand. Then, he knit his eyebrows in confusion. "What is this? Wait-" Izuna gripped the gift harder. "You got me... a back massager."

"You're welcome, Uchiha-sama." Her words were flat, but Izuna still smiles. Isamu fishes an envelope from her pocket and hands it to Izuna.

"Do I open it now?" He asks, flipping the envelope in his hands.

"No. You will know when to open it."———"Is that for me?" Madara questions, pointedly staring at the envelope as if it would explode at any given moment.

"Yes." She gives him a soft smile. "Congratulations on becoming an advisor."

"I'm still going to go on missions." He insists automatically, as if it has been something he has been saying all day.

"I'm sure." Amused, she looks at the envelope in her hand then back at him. He takes it. "Open it when the moment comes."

"What moment?" The Hokage advisor asks, but Isamu is already gone, whisked away by the Kagami brat to enjoy the street food. Madara shakes his head in what one could potentially call fondness, but that might just even be pushing it.——One month comes and goes. She visits the hospital, wandering down its increasingly busier hallway. A slow methodical knock raps on the hospital door before she enters.

Itama sits on his bed, looking healthier with more color on his face than when she had last seen him.

"You're doing better." She points out.

"I'm discharged from the hospital tomorrow morning." Itama replies, before a soft blush settles on his cheeks. "Um... thank you for saving me. Again."

"You're welcome." Isamu places a bag on the table next to his bed. "Uchiha chakra replenishing pills."

Her eyes scan his body again for any more injuries before deeming him safe from harm and Itama flushes even more. Isamu quirks an eyebrow at that, before turning around to take her leave.

"I-I can go with you guys tomorrow." He stutters out. "Please."

Her hand remains on the door knob. "You almost died." She says, softly. "And I almost died saving you."

Isamu turns around to face her friend. "Your body needs rest. It will take at least one more week to flush that bijuu chakra from your system," she sighs at the disappointed look on the mismatched haired friend. "Hashirama and Tobirama will not forgive themselves if something were to happen to you again."

Itama's head hang low.

"It is for the best," she reassures, "I will make sure your brother returns to Konoha alive."

———It is Kagami who passed the news to her. Akimichi Nobu was killed in action last week against a Kumogakure squad.

She prays for him. Isamu is not a believer- years in the war had stripped away all of her remaining faith, but Nobu was one and she will honor him.

She spares a moment to mourn for a life lost, for a life she has failed to save.

Isamu then straps on her mission gear and steps out of her house. She has a mission to complete.———Tobirama comes to send them off.

"Do not worry." She says. "I will make sure your brother returns to Konoha alive."

He levels her with a stare. "And what about you?"

Isamu hesitates. "I will do my best."———In Itama's place is an Inuzuka known for tracking skills, the most capable one in the clan. Together, the three of them head south, to where the Kyuubi was last seen.——They are a formidable team. Inuzuka Kai can smell the slightest of chakra flicker from a mile away, Senju Hashirama can cloak at least three nations with his chakra, and there is nothing Uchiha Isamu's sharingan cannot see.

And yet, they return to Konoha two months and three days later with no tailed beast sealed in their scroll.———That does not stop Hashirama. He is a man of vision, Isamu muses, and she trusts his decision. She sets up the paperwork for his travel to Sunagakure- the first village. Senju Itama, Uchiha Madara and Nara Shidai will accompany him.

"One last thing," Hashirama says, having the decency to look guilty. "You're going to be acting as a Hokage while I'm gone."

Her paintbrush halts midair.

"It's just that," the most formidable man on the planet stumbles over his words, "the last time Madara was an acting Hokage, there were complaints over having a clan head as a village leader. So, um, you're the only person I trust left in Konoha who isn't a clan head."

Silence.

"This peace treaty will only take one month and a half, it's four great nations to travel to, mind you. We will be back before you know it." A big grin on his face, albeit a little forced.

"Thirty days." Isamu says, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Any day after that will be Uchiha Kagami sitting in the Hokage seat."

Hashirama visibly pales.———They return after exactly twenty nine days. The big grins on their faces say it all.

The peace treaty is in place.———"I think we've found it." Isamu says from her knelt down position, her hand tracing Uchiha Kenji's name. "I think peace is here."

The boy who gave her the meaning of life. She thinks of him every day. Isamu wants to be with him, but there are people here who need her.

"I wish you were here."

When the time comes, nothing will part them.———"I think you'll love this." The man before her is positively giddy. He whips out a headband with a symbol on the metal plate.

"This is...?" Isamu takes the metal plate into her hand, testing its weight. Surprisingly light.

"The symbol of Konoha." Hashirama grins. "Every shinobi will get one."

It is starting to shape like the Konoha she used to know, used to watch on television. It's about time.

"I'm here to tell you something." Isamu draws in a breath. "I'm retiring."

"You want to retire?" Hashirama's eyes widen. His surprise draws attention from his secretary outside, Matsuri poking her head into the room.

"Yes."

"You're seventeen!" He splutters, before he leans forward in epiphany. "Is this because you want to build a family? Because if that is the reason, you can come back after a year or two-"

"No, Hokage-sama." Isamu stops him before the Senju could go on a rant. "I just think I've done my part."

Isamu gives him a soft smile. "It's been too long for me. Ten years." She has given away everything; her childhood, her innocence, her freedom. She has given away enough.

Hashirama levels her with a stare as silence descends the room. His serious face breaks into a gentle smile. "Alright."

Isamu bows, this time lasting longer than the previous times. She moves to his table to place the Konoha headband back in place but Hashirama stops her.

"That one is for you." Hashirama takes the headband from her hand and ties it around her forehead.

"Thank you for your service, Isamu."

———Author's Note:Can you smell it? The smell of the story slowly coming to an end. One more chapter and an epilogue25 march 2022