Chapter Five

"What do you mean you're leaving the village?!!" Tobirama screamed at Indra.

"True, what do you mean by that Indra?" Hashirama asked with a completely different countenance to his brother.

"Sensei," Indra said, addressing Hashirama. " I came here to learn how to be a shinobi, and I've done that already. While I'm grateful for you letting an unknown 8 year old into your village and then taking me as a student, I have fulfilled the first part of my goal. And now I have to leave to be able to find my mother," he added.

"Indra, while I understand you need to find your mother. You have no clue on where to start, you don't know who had taken her three years ago or if she's still in the country you're originally from. I know you want to find your mother, but you still lack the experience needed to be able to do so.

Strength alone isn't enough, you need information which you'd have no access to if you leave. If you join the Anbu, you can find your mother and Tobirama would allow you to use the resources of his Anbu to find her." Hashirama said, trying to get Indra to see reason. While he wants Indra to stay in his village, he won't stop him if he is adamant about leaving as he know he'd most likely return if he manages to find his mother. "I want you to find your mother too, but you'd end up dying if you rush out of the village unprepared."

"Wait, what do you mean 'Tobirama would allow him to use the resources of his Anbu'?!!" Tobirama interjected immediately.

"Shut up, Tobirama."

"I'd think about it," Indra replied already deep in thought. Not waiting for a proper dismissal, he turned and left the Hokage's office.

While Indra walked out of the Hokage's tower, a serious conversation about his future was happening behind him.

"Hokage-sama, we should kill him now before he becomes a much higher risk than he already is to Konoha. He would never be loyal to Konoha, and who knows what he'd do if he can't find his mother. Someone with his potential lashing out won't be good for the world." The masked man said. "We searched for his mother as you instructed us, but after three years we still haven't been able to find a trace of her. The possibility of her still being alive is very slim."

Tobirama slightly turned to look at his brother, "Anija, he's your student so what do you want to do about him?" he asked.

"I have passed down my will of fire to him, so I will believe in him." Hashirama replied resolutely.

........

Indra was currently sitting on Hashirama's heron on the Hokage's rock, he has been here since he left the Hokage's office. Looking up at the already retreating sun, he sighed before standing up and taking a leap of faith.

'Sensei is right, I lack experience but I need to find mother. It's been three years already and it would become increasingly harder to find her if I delay any longer.' He thought, his mind already made up.

On his way back to his apartment, he ran into his friend from the academy. "It's been a while Sakumo," He said, waving at the white-haired boy.

Over the span of the last two years, he has spent time with members of team Tobirama, but the only one he could tolerate was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the other two, on the other hand he could not stand. Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane, he found them insufferable. And from what he has witnessed when they sparred with each other, they weren't very skilled. And Indra theorised the only reason they haven't died on a mission yet was that they had Tobirama as their team leader and Hiruzen in the team.

Walking closer to Sakumo, "Where are you heading to?" he asked.

"I'm going to the new Akimichi restaurant with my team, I was promoted to chunin so I want to celebrate and then say goodbye to them. I have been looking for you so I'd tell you, but you're very hard to find. But now that you are here, you should join me, I'm sure my teammates would like to meet Lord First's student." Sakumo said, before chuckling as he knew how much Indra hated interacting with other people.

"Sure, I don't have anything better to do anyway, besides I was going to come to congratulate you later," replied Indra as they both started walking.

Sakumo led them to the restaurant and then to his already seated teammates. "Indra, this is my jonin sensei.... and then my teammates....." Sakumo said, introducing every one of them to Indra. Although Indra wasn't listening as he was certain he'd never meet them again, so he didn't bother with their names.

"I'm Indra, Sakumo's friend from the academy," Indra introduced himself, although he didn't even let out a friendly smile.

'God!' Sakumo sighed, covering his face with his palm. "You know you would actually make friends if you tried to smile," he whispered to Indra.

Just as Indra was about to reply he heard the voice of the only female teammate of Sakumo. "Are you Indra? as in Lord First's Student? That Indra?" She asked, visibly excited.

Indra nodded. The girl jumped up immediately, grabbing his shoulders. "Wait you were in the academy with us? How come I didn't see you? Can you tell me about Lord First?" she asked, beginning to shake him.

"Maybe you should stop shaking him, and let him sit down first. He might be able to answer you then." Their sensei said, laughing at her antics.

"Sorry," She apologised before sitting. With Indra and Sakumo sitting opposite the trio.

After sitting down, Indra noticed the last teammate of Sakumo staring at him intensely. "What is it?"

"Since Lord First has been teaching you, it means you are very strong right? can we spar?" The male teammate of Sakumo asked eagerly.

'Of course!! a battle junkie,' Indra thought, rolling his eyes. "Sorry, I'm not allowed to spar with anyone unless sensei allows me to," he then replied, gently turning him down.

'Sensei?! he's calling Lord First Sensei.' The girl thought with a dreamy look on her face. Who it was directed at, no one knows.

Sakumo smiled watching the interactions between his teammates and Indra, he then picked up the menu to order food as he was starving.

They all spent the next few hours dining and talking about random stuff with the occasional reply from Indra when he was asked a question. And by the end of it, he was already exhausted from the entire ordeal and wanted to return to his house.

After waving goodbye to his teammates, Sakumo turned to talk to Indra. "You should join us next time," He said with a wide smile on his face.

"Not interested," came the reply from Indra as he walked away.

Dejected, Sakumo ran after him. "Wait, we haven't trained together in a long time, do you mind if I join you tomorrow?"

Indra nodded, "I'd be training Tsunade tomorrow, so you can join us if you want."

........

The next day, after getting up for the morning, Indra wore his 4500kg weight, did his morning exercise, and then left for the Senju compound. Since it was Saturday, he knew Tsunade won't be at the academy so he was going to get his promise of training her out of the way as early as possible.

By the time he got to the door of Hashirama's house, it had already been opened by Uzumaki Mito. Seeing her, he let out a smile as the red-haired woman reminded him of his mother.

"You don't visit me anymore Indra-kun," She said affectionately as she pulled him in for a hug.

"Sorry, I've been busy with training Mito-sama," Indra replied, pulling himself away from her hug.

"Hashirama mentioned you plan on leaving the village?!" She sternly asked." I've been asking you to be my student for over a year now and you keep refusing, and now you're planning on leaving the village. How am I going to teach you fuinjutsu if you leave the village huh?" she asked him, placing her right hand on her waist.

Indra was about to respond but she shushed him by placing her left index finger on his lips. "I know you need to find your mother, but what good would that do if you end up dying in the process. It's different outside of Konoha, and with you being the student of Hashirama, the other villages have been looking for ways to exploit that, and the moment you step out of Konoha's protection, they'd be nothing stopping them anymore.

I know we're not related by blood but I think of you as my own son, every one of us thinks of you as our family member, even that ever stoic Tobirama. So you don't need to leave the village to find your mother, you can do that while you're still here."

"Thank you, Mito-sama."

Mito sighed at his bland reply, "Have you had breakfast?" she asked while pulling him into the house. "Tsunade was up all night waiting for you, so she'd be sleeping for a while. So you might as well just eat something."

Not even waiting to confirm if Indra had eaten or not, she went into the kitchen to prepare a suitable meal for him.

......

Three hours later, Indra was walking towards the training ground he usually used with Sakumo. 'Crap! I forgot to tell him what time we'd meet. I just hope he is still there, I feel like beating someone up today.' He thought as he increased his speed into a slight jog. Considering he mostly spars with Hashirama, the number of times he had won a fight could be counted on one hand. And all those times were against Sakumo.

Sakumo perked up as he saw the familiar visage of Indra, He rose up to his feet and hurried to him. "You're late," he said. "Although we didn't actually set up a time to meet, so I guess it's fine."

"Sorry, I was busy this morning," Indra replied, somewhat apologising. "Don't tell me you've been here waiting since dawn?! That's just sad," He quipped, mocking his friend.

"Haha, funny."

"Where is Tsunade?"

"She'd be joining us later, so we'd be having a spar till then," Indra told Sakumo with a menacing smile. "As usual you're free to go all out," he added.