Chapter no.10

Naruto submerged his head in the water in his bucket and drank it quickly. He had the thought, "Man, all of these guys sure do like to talk quite a bit."

Kagami's perspiration dripped down onto him. Tobirama mumbled something about "the boy" while looking over his shoulder. "He discovered a greater sense of belonging with your clan than he did with mine, Kagami." His pupils contracted, and a hint of perplexity could be seen in his eyes. Even after they made an attempt to overthrow the government.

The corners of Kagami's mouth twitched up into a smile. "Tobirama-sama, you almost made it sound like you were complimenting me there. Never in a million years did I think I'd see this day, "He poked fun at her while glancing up at the apples hanging above them.

"Where does one stand with Madara? The fact that he loved his brother more than anything else contributed to the growth of his hatred in equal measure. His heart had already turned to evil by the time he left the village."

Kagami shrugged and said, "You're right." "However, I believe that Izuna and Naruto have begun to bring about a positive change in him as well,"

Tobirama eyed him with a suspicious expression. "As you pointed out, he cherished the relationship with his brother above all else. If anyone could bring him back, it would be Izuna. Besides." He cast a glance in Naruto's direction. A few stray bubbles floated to the surface of the water as his head remained submerged in the bucket. "...he has a gift for communicating with people of all kinds... Since when has he been acting in such a manner?"

Naruto tore his head open, sending water flying in every direction. He yelled into the void, "Dammit, Kurama, that's cheating!" but no one heard him. "I can hold my breath for a longer period of time than you can, ttebayo! You haven't won just because you said that, though!"

His features became contorted with rage. "Oh yeah? I'll bet you can't balance as much weight on your nose as I can." Almost immediately, he set off in the direction of the house.

"...you had better go stop him," a sweat drop fell from Kagami's forehead.

Tobirama heaved a sigh as he stood up from his seat. He muttered under his breath, "Just like Hashirama, but worse."

Naruto stormed into the house and frantically searched everywhere for his tanto before finally locating it on the couch. He was running through the house when he tripped over the rug that was lining the hallway. He had a vague recollection that Hashirama and Madara were sitting in one of the sitting rooms.

His face landed with a thud on the ground below.

He moaned and shook his head, "Stupid rug."

Hashirama leaned into the hallway and stared down at him with a perplexed expression on his face. "Naruto-kun? Where have you been?"

Tobirama yelled as he flew in, a dramatic flaming aura surrounding his form, "Absolutely, do not attempt to balance seven tant's on your face under any circumstances!" Tobirama's form was surrounded by seven tant's.

"You're a buzz kill!" When Naruto shouted, his voice was muffled by the floor.

"And you're half braindead," he continued.

"Either I'm brain dead through and through, or I'm not brain dead at all, old man," I'll respond.

"Old man? Little brat with no respect for elders."

"Tobirama, what in the world-"

"Really?" After floating through the wall, Madara stood in front of Naruto in the corridor, looking down at him with a questioning expression on his face.

Naruto gestured in his direction. "Don't tell me that in all the years you've been alive, you've never done anything stupid." Madara rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Have you done anything besides argue?" is a rhetorical question.

Hashirama started his response with "No, because he is-."

Madara's response was a resounding "No, because Hashirama is an idiot." Hashirama immediately began to act resentful and withdrew to a secluded area created by the hallway table. The Uchiha narrowed his eyes at Tobirama, who responded by staring at him with a blank expression.

"You two argue very frequently. You are going to have to g."

"If you say 'get high on whatever Madara was taking,'" Madara said, his eyes becoming even more narrowed into slits as he leaned down in a menacing manner, "so help me kami-" Madara then leaned down and pointed a finger at Kami.

"As soon as you show me proof that you weren't getting high on something, then..." A raven flew in through the open sliding doors in the room Madara had been in, which caused Naruto's train of thought to be disrupted. Because it had landed on his nose, he had to cross his eyes and blink in order to look at it before taking the piece of paper that was wrapped around the insect's leg. He quickly scanned the message before shrugging his shoulders, tossing the paper into the air, and burning it with a small flame from his mouth. Karin had informed him in a message that she wouldn't be back until late because she was on a mission, and she'd run into Sakura, who was working late shifts at the hospital with Sasuke. Karin had also mentioned that she'd run into Sakura. "I know! Why don't the two of us go down to the cellar? It's going to be a wonderful opportunity for team building."

"No," Madara said dully.

"It's going to be fun-"

Spend some time together?" "No." "No." "No."

"Let's go!" Naruto jumped up and down, cheering and punching the air as he went down the hallway. He stopped when he realised that no one was following him, awkwardly standing in one place while staring. "Get a move on!"

"Uh...well, I guess that works!" Hashirama chased after him while flashing a gleaming smile that matched the blond's, and then the two of them vanished around the bend.

Tobirama let out an irritated sound, and Madara glared in the direction that they had just come from. Before following after the two, they exchanged suspicious glances with one another and made sure to keep a safe distance from one another while they did so.

Naruto jumped off the back porch and ran into the trees behind his house. After a short distance, he came to a stop at what appeared to be the entrance to a root cellar. The wooden entrance was flanked on both sides by bushes, and the trees on either side of the entrance were covered in climbing vines. He fished his keys out of his pocket and undid the lock on the doors, removing a number of different sealing tags before flinging them open. He then peered down into the pitch-black abyss that greeted him before stepping back and gesticulating with a grin. This is the cellar.

Hashirama's brow furrowed as he muttered, "This...doesn't look like a basement." He envisioned something more akin to the entrance to an underground base.

Naruto leaped to the edge of the cliff and looked below him. "It's not a problem at all. Simply a network of underground passages."

"Does Izuna spend the majority of her time there?" Madara scowled as he floated over to Izuna and made a reference to the fact that whenever the two of them got into a childish argument, as siblings are wont to do, Izuna would simply burrow into the ground and reappear a few hours later with an immaturely triumphant air about him. Madara was referring to the fact that siblings are wont to get into childish arguments.

"Yeah," Naruto shrugged. "Once upon a time, I got lost in here. To get out of there took me four days."

Why didn't you just use the Hiraishin like everyone else does? Tobirama inquired while cocking an eyebrow in the direction of the doors.

In a flippant manner, Naruto replied, "Oh, I was seven," which caused Hashirama's face to become lined with confusion.

"D...were you able to bring any food with you down there...?"

"Nope," Naruto said. "All right, let's go!" He threw himself into the hole with complete disregard for his own safety, completely ignoring Hashirama's scream of alarm that it elicited. His voice could be heard calling out from below, "Dammit!" "I completely forgot that there were stairs there!"

"For what reason exactly are we down here once more?" Tobirama muttered something sour while giving Madara an unflattering look. He was under no illusions that being forced to spend any significant amount of time with the man was going to make him happy.

Naruto swung his torch around in the air. "Because it's fun, and you need to relax a little bit," she said.

Hashirama cocked his head to the side. "Chill?"

"Yeah, chill. To put it simply, relax. Do not panic. Stop arguing like five year olds."

The man huffed and puffed as he followed him, Tobirama trailing behind them both. Madara hovered a few paces behind them all and ignored them.