"We're here, brother," said Senju Tobirama.
Hashirama gazed down, then turned to his brother. "There's no time to waste. Let's go, Tobirama."
"Wait." Tobirama wedged a Flying Thunder God kunai into a crevice between two rocks. "We need to be absolutely sure."
Though he was confident about the upcoming negotiations, nothing was ever certain. If talks broke down, they could use the Flying Thunder God to escape. Hashirama didn't argue with his brother's caution. Once Tobirama was ready, the two of them descended the cliff toward the Sarutobi and Shimura clan grounds.
***
Inside the compound, Sarutobi Furukawa received a message that left him utterly shocked. "What did you say?!" he asked in disbelief. "The Uchiha have withdrawn their army?"
Shimura Keizo, who had been on the front lines and had rushed back overnight, sounded just as incredulous. "Furukawa, I was just as surprised when I got the news. But I saw it with my own eyes. Yesterday at dusk, Uchiha Madara led the entire Uchiha army, along with the Watanabe, Fuma, Kikawa, and Saito clans, in a full retreat. They are now more than a hundred li away from our territory."
Sarutobi Furukawa's face was still a picture of disbelief. In order to hide the current weakness of the Sarutobi and Shimura clans, they had gambled, sending most of their Jonin to the front lines. Until yesterday, the battle had been a stalemate, but overall, the Uchiha had held the upper hand. Furukawa and Keizo couldn't fathom why the Uchiha would retreat at such a time.
"Could the Senju have made a move?" a Jonin suggested.
The moment he said it, Furukawa and the others thought it was a definite possibility. If the Senju had mobilized, the Uchiha would naturally have to fall back to deal with them. After all, they were old rivals.
"But our intelligence ninja haven't received any news of the Senju deploying their forces," another special Jonin pointed out.
Shimura Keizo stroked his chin, muttering to himself, "Could the Uchiha have gotten word ahead of time?"
"Whatever the reason, this is good news for us," Sarutobi Furukawa said. "What do you all think we should do now?"
"We should recuperate and train the next generation," suggested Sarutobi Kosuke, a Jonin who had once served as an envoy to the Uchiha and negotiated with Madara.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
Everyone was in favor of recuperation. Even Shimura Keizo, an ambitious warmonger, remained silent for a long while before finally uttering the word "agreed." On the surface, the two clans seemed fine, but in truth, it was all a bluff. If the fighting had continued, they would have been the first to break. The Uchiha's unexplained retreat was a godsend.
Just as the clans' high-ranking members agreed to a temporary respite, a guard rushed into the meeting room, panting. "C-Clan... C-Clan Head! B-bad news..."
Shimura Keizo shot to his feet. "What? Did the Uchiha attack again?!"
"No, not that." The guard took several deep breaths, his voice steadying slightly. "The Senju... Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama are here!"
"Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama?"
"The Senju's Vice-Clan Head and the ninja known as 'The Senju's Fastest'?"
"What are the Senju doing here?"
The high-ranking officials erupted in discussion.
Shimura Keizo narrowed his eyes. "Where are they?"
The guard pointed a trembling finger back at the door he'd just entered. "R-right outside the meeting room."
*Hiss...*
Everyone, including the two Kage-level ninja, Shimura Keizo and Sarutobi Furukawa, couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
They had assumed the two brothers would, at most, bypass the Uchiha's line of sight to reach their front-line camp. They never imagined they would show up right at their main gate.
Shimura Keizo flicked his sleeve in irritation. "What are you guards paid for?! How could you let members of another clan reach our main gate without even noticing?!"
The guards were speechless. They had no idea how Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama had managed it.
"Forget it. In the end, it's only two of them," Sarutobi Furukawa said, rising to his feet. "Why are they here?"
"They said they wish to negotiate with Clan Head Furukawa and Clan Head Keizo."
"Negotiate?" Sarutobi Furukawa's eyes darted thoughtfully before he nodded. "Let them in."
"Yes, sir."
Soon, the two brothers, Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama, stepped into the grand meeting hall.
Hashirama was the first to cup his fist in his hand. "I am Senju Hashirama, Vice-Clan Head of the Senju. I pay my respects to the clan heads of the Sarutobi and Shimura." With that, he offered a junior's bow to the two men seated in the center.
*He's certainly more polite than that Uchiha Madara...*
Seeing Hashirama bow to them, Sarutobi Furukawa and Shimura Keizo couldn't help but compare him to the current Uchiha clan head, a man they had faced many times on the battlefield. Just as the previous era belonged to Senju Butsuma and Uchiha Tajima, the future of this Warring States period would belong to Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
"To be able to slip past the eyes of so many of our two clans' ninja and reach our very doorstep... The Senju clan truly is brimming with talent," Shimura Keizo said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"My deepest apologies, Clan Head Keizo. We were blocked by the Uchiha and the four-clan army at the front, making it impossible to send a message by letter. We were forced to resort to this crude method," Senju Tobirama stated, though not a trace of apology could be found in his defiant expression.
"Tobirama, watch your manners in front of the two clan heads," Senju Hashirama said, shooting his brother a look.
Tobirama clicked his tongue but said no more.
"Enough. Vice-Clan Head Hashirama, please speak your mind. What is your purpose in bypassing the battlefield and venturing so deep into our clans' territory?" Sarutobi Furukawa asked.
"I have come today hoping to establish an alliance with the Sarutobi and Shimura clans," Hashirama began.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Tobirama immediately added, "To deal with the Uchiha together."
Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama eventually walked out of the Sarutobi and Shimura meeting hall with expressions of utter disbelief.
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