Chapter Text
Sasuke wiped all expression from his face as he took a seat on a tree stump near the crackling fire. Some fish roasted over the flames and the fragrant aroma of meat and seasoning tickled his nose. His body was clean and sated; though his mind still fought against things it did not want. Sexual desire was not something he was used to directing toward any person in particular. He was human and had desires, but rarely sated those with actual persons. Participating in sexual endeavors made him nervous and he could not shake the sense of being open for an attack. If he wanted to be honest with himself, he was not sure how to deal with intimacy, even with the company of the prostitutes located in the red light district of the village. The peculiarities of his sexuality were not something he wanted spread around the village. Whores were not known for their closed lips.
"You're thinking hard, Sasuke. What's on your mind?" asked Hashirama as he handed Sasuke a skewer of fish.
Sasuke shifted his eyes from the fire and to the fish in his hand before following to where Hashirama now sat across from him. The light of the fire flickered on his skin, creating a flickering dance between light and shadow that drew his eyes along the strong cut of jaw and deceptively delicate skin.
"What I'm thinking isn't any of your concern," he replied with forced calm. He was forgetting himself and the purpose of this venture into the forest of Fire Country.
Hashirama smiled and slid from the overturned log, bracing his back against the rough bark and then using it to prop his elbow upon while he stared at Sasuke. "You're probably asking yourself why you're out here and that I've likely chosen your friend as the successor since my granddaughter has a great fondness for him and has practically groomed him for the role."
"I wouldn't presume anything."
"That's a lie." Hashirama's eyes grew intense. "You presume a lot of things. Uchihas always do."
"Don't lump me with them," spat Sasuke, his eyes flashing instantly from black to red and then back again.
Hashirama smirked and arched a brow. "You're angry at a lot of people, aren't you, Sasuke?"
"I'm not angry at anyone."
A low hum rumbled from Hashirama. "But something is eating away at you. What is it?"
"It's none of your concern."
"It is if it affects how you would act should you become Hokage. With an attitude like that, I wonder what you really seek by staking a claim to the seat."
Sasuke scoffed and clenched his hands at his side, fighting the urge to reach for the katana settled at his side. "You wouldn't understand."
"I spoke with the former Hokages at length and know all the major events that took place since my death. I'm not completely in the dark about everything regarding your brother."
Sasuke turned his face and stared into the surrounding darkness. A sudden sense of claustrophobia took hold despite the openness of the clearing. Even though they sat in the open, he felt as if the darkness was closing in and he was unable to keep back the nightmares that lay hidden in the depths, things that he wanted to forget.
"Your brother sacrificed more than any shinobi should for the village."
"He should not have had to do it," spat Sasuke, something in him breaking. "He was forced to kill our entire clan just so he could save me. How do you think I feel knowing that my life was worth more than our entire family?"
"Do you hate him?"
A faint tightening of his jaw was the only outward sign of his mental struggle. Inward was a maelstrom of memories and emotions. He went from adoring Itachi to hating him to grieving him to finally understanding him only to have him ripped away from him once more. The wild ride that was his relationship with his brother might be at an end, but the emotions created from that experience were far from finished. Itachi's final words to him had destroyed and remade him in an instant. In some ways, he thought that becoming Hokage would allow him to destroy the old village and rebuild it with ideals more suited for Itachi's beliefs. It was his focus and now he felt as if he was losing what little ground he had taken.
"I don't want to talk about Itachi."
"But I do," replied Hashirama. "Do you hate your brother?"
"I love him...more than anyone in the world. He has always been my entire focus, even when I hated him, I loved him too."
"And Itachi loved Konoha."
Sasuke turned his gaze to the crackling of the fire. "He said that he had always been Konoha's Itachi."
"And you hate the village because of that, because the village sentenced him to the life of a missing nin for no other reason than he was the most loyal of any shinobi and as a result, could not take his own life in case the village should need him again. Yet still, he loved Konoha. That was a poor reward for doing what was best for the village."
"Best for the village," scoffed Sasuke. "That is the core of all the problems. What is best for the village seems to be decided by a select few while everyone else is left in the dark until they meet the end of a blade because their death better suited the village's goal."
"You think the Uchiha were in the right concerning their rebellion?"
"It's not a matter of right or wrong. The village elders and the Hokage did nothing but kill them rather than deal with the problems when they began. They knew for weeks or months prior to the rebellion and still the only option they took was death. Then, they hid the truth and allowed a loyal man suffer to protect their own reputations and agendas. And he did it. He suffered for them."
"And that is the core of your hatred. You do not fault the village for dealing with your clan the way it did, but rather your hate stems from the elders hiding the truth and allowing it to fester over time."
"I don't hate anyone." The words were more of a half-truth than a full out lie. He was not sure the full depths of what he felt for the village and the elders that controlled it. He did not hate it, but he could find little to endear him to it. Itachi was what kept him there. Making the village a place that Itachi would have wished it to be was his purpose.
And Sasuke needed a purpose.
His entire life was spent following one goal or another. His first goal of memory was to be just like his older brother. That eventually transformed into his desire to kill his brother, which was what set him on a path taking him far from the village. Goals were what kept him going. Without them, he floundered about.
"I asked you before, but I'll do so again. Why do you want to be Hokage?"
"Because the village needs someone who will fix what is rotting away instead of merely covering it up with thin bandages and temporary fixes."
"And you think you are that person? What makes you think Naruto couldn't do it?"
"He's too nice," stated Sasuke mildly. "He would want everyone to be happy. He would allow the elders to dictate his every move and would be little more than an idiot figurehead begging for scraps to support his own small projects while the actual control of the village would be in the hands of people who would continue doing what they wished."
"But you know better? Is that not a good thing to want everyone to be happy?"
"Making everyone happy is a pointless endeavor. Trying to do so will only make matters worse in the end. The core is souring and needs to be reformed. The old must be torn down so that the new can be built."
Hashirama's lips quirked slightly. "Like a forest?"
Sasuke frowned, not quite following the reference. "What do you mean?"
"When a forest burns down, the soil is renewed and new plants and trees grow from the ashes of the previous forest." Hashirama sighed and steepled his fingers together. "That is a dangerous road to follow for it could easily lead to anarchy and the complete destruction of everything the village is supposed to stand for."
"Not if there is a strong leader in place."
"And you consider yourself strong enough to do such a thing?"
"Who else could?"
Hashirama was silent and his silence annoyed Sasuke. Where before he spoke almost continuously, he now kept his own council within his thoughts. He wanted to yell out for Hashirama to tell him what he was doing was the right thing. Some innate part of him wanted his approval, and not because he was the first Hokage. He respected the man as a warrior and as a shinobi, but that was not the reason he sought out his approval. He did not understand why he needed it, but it ate away at him until he was very nearly ready to leap across the length of the camp and tackle him to the ground, demanding everything.
Enough time had elapsed and Sasuke came to the only conclusion he could. "You don't approve?"
Hashirama started slightly and glanced to Sasuke. "So much has changed since I formed the village. The world changed. People changed. I'm an archaic being—no longer fully human, yet unwilling to pass on to the afterlife. It is not my place to approve or disapprove the thoughts of others not raised in my time."
"That's an evasion."
He chuckled lightly. "I am a shinobi after all."
"You asked me to be honest, why can't you do the same?"
Hashirama sighed and looked directly into Sasuke's eyes. "Because you are not the only one who is afraid of speaking your thoughts."
"I am not afraid."
"You hide it well, but I know you're afraid of disappointing your brother."
Sasuke snarled and with little thought, lunged across the length of the campsite. Maybe he caught Hashirama by surprise or perhaps the former Hokage wanted to allow Sasuke to vent his frustrations on him; whatever the reason for his attack not being deflected, Sasuke did not care. He was seeing red. Without even willing it, his eyes were spiraling into the Mangekyou and locked in the haze of the dōjutsu.
Hands moved on instinct. A kunai was extracted from a hidden pouch in the sleeve of his left hand and pressed against Hashirama's throat in a reversed image of the end of their earlier spar. This time, Sasuke was in the dominant position. His anger was rolling off of him as he bent low so that he could stare directly into dark eyes with his swirling red. He did not activate the abilities of the sharingan, yet continued to force eye contact.
"I'm not afraid of disappointing Itachi," he stated firmly.
Hashirama's expression did not change as he lay beneath Sasuke. "You can lie to me, but never to yourself."
"And what about you?" hissed Sasuke, pressing the kunai a bit more firmly into the tanned skin. "What are you afraid of?"
"You know you can't kill me like I am. I'm no longer human. I will regenerate no matter how many times you stab me."
"Maybe not, but I would be willing to bet it still hurts." Sasuke sneered down at Hashirama and pressed the kunai firm enough that a thin trail of blood appeared and trickled down his neck. "Don't try to detract from what I asked you. You say I'm afraid of disappointing Itachi. Then tell me, what are you afraid of, Hashirama-sama?"
"You're not ready for what I'm afraid of." With a quick motion, their positions were reversed and suddenly Sasuke found himself staring up into Hashirama's face, the hand holding the kunai pinned with a firm hand to the wrist.
"Coward," snarled Sasuke as he struggled to pull free.
"Do you truly not know your own fear? Does it frighten you so much?" Hashirama lowered his head so that their noses were scant centimeters from touching. "Can you not see it?"
Sasuke stopped struggling and stared with impossibly wide eyes into the dark orbs that gleamed down at him. His breath caught in his throat and he could think of nothing but how it felt to be pinned beneath the man of which his more recent fantasies revolved around. What did he do or how did he react to the feel of body heat pressing into him?
An unbidden shiver rippled through him, starting at his scalp and working down to his toes. His breath finally began again, but with shuddering whispers as the heat melting into him began to travel along his body and into his groin. As a shinobi, he had complete control over nearly all of his body functions from breathing to heart rate to chakra output. And yet, he felt like an academy student once more as he pressed against the man rising above him.
There was no denying that Hashirama could feel the rise of his erection as it began to press insistently against the material of his trousers. The release he had taken earlier might as well have not happened for his body screamed out its need once more, even against his will. It knew what he wanted even if his mind refused to acknowledge any sign of desire. It knew...and reacted.
And Hashirama's eyes never left his, not for an instant. There was something hidden in those dark depths, a flash of emotion that seemed to express everything Sasuke felt—accepting him for what he was and asking the same in return.
And for that moment in time, it was enough. He reacted without thought—only the drive to complete the connection that had risen to life. Forgetting the world and his past and his brother for what seemed like the first time, he closed the distance between their lips and finally tasted what until that moment had been only a fantasy which in no way compared to the reality.
Lips, moist and hot, were pressed to his and he could not restrain the delight that spilled rapidly into his bloodstream. Heat and lust and need were pressed upon the meeting mouths. It was not enough, the pressing of closed lips, and Sasuke had no experience with kisses, excluding those two fallacies of lip meeting between him and Naruto. If anything, those faux kisses were a reason he chose to never kiss his few lovers. He knew the mechanics of kisses and attempted to gain more intimate knowledge of the man pressing him down into the cold ground.
Hashirama's body froze at the touch of his tongue tracing along the seam of his lips. For a moment, Sasuke pulled back in disappointment and renewed anger. His desire was being rebuked and he needed an outlet for the built-up lust plowing through him. Anger had always come so easily to him, so he instinctively fell back on that old constant.
"Get off," he snarled.
Hashirama did not move, his breath coming slow and easily. He chuckled lightly and removed a hand from restraining Sasuke to stroke his thumb over Sasuke's turned down lips. "You kiss like an adolescent."
Sasuke glared and moved to shove the man from him when lips crashed down into his. The hand formerly at his lips was now holding his jaw and guiding his head into the perfect angle for their lips to completely meld. Sasuke's earlier kiss, innocent and yet desire fueled, in no way compared to the utter taking of his lips now.
Lips and tongue completely devoured him and the gap in their experience was made obvious in how completely he was consumed by the lips sucking at his. There was no sense of time and just as easily as his anger had come, it drifted away under the assault to his mouth.
Arching against Hashirama, he opened his lips wider in an unspoken demand for more while his hips unconsciously rolled against the weight of the body pressing him down into the dirt. It was a dual assault that left him completely breathless and very much needing reprieve from the building lust.
And his unspoken need was answered as the hand cupping his face drifted down the length of his neck and chest before slipping beneath the black shirt he wore. The instant fingers brushed against the sensitive flesh of his stomach he went rigid. It was enough to bring a whimper from him—a sound he never thought to make during this particular act. During each of his previous encounters, he was always in control, even when choosing to play the bottom. Now, it felt as if all that control was being taken, ever so willingly, from him.
Lips were drawn apart and Sasuke tried to follow, only to shudder as they were pressed to his ear. "Shall we forget our fears for tonight?"
"I told you that I'm not afraid."
Hashirama pulled back with a chuckle. "Then, neither shall I be."
A hand tugged the kunai from Sasuke's slack fingers and tossed it aside before sliding both palms against his stomach and tugging his shirt up and over his head. There was no point in resisting because he did not want to. His body screamed for it and his mind was barely able to do anything other than follow through with the demands made in the fog of lust.
Firelight played over his skin, dancing and flickering. His hands tugged insistently at Hashirama's fishnet shirt and it too joined the growing pile of their clothes. Things were moving far too slow for Sasuke's desires and he once more turned the tides and shifted them so that he straddled Hashirama's hips.
This motion brought added pressure to his throbbing groin and he threw back his head as he pressed down into the matching hardness. Even through the barrier of their pants, he could not get enough of the pleasure brought on by grinding against a hard hip. His breath panted in and out rapidly and his eyes were clenched tight as the pressure grew and threatened to overwhelm him.
Hands slid to his hips and then slid around to release the snap and hidden zipper. As the warmth wrapped around his dick, he went rigid and it took all the control he could muster not to spill himself under such a simple touch. He felt like a teenager again with the accompaniment of raging hormones.
Wanting and needing the building of pressure to end, but not wanting to simply take his own pleasure like a cad, he fumbled for the release on Hashirama's pants and reached inside to pull the inside hardness free. He could not stop himself from stroking his hands along the length, testing the girth from base to flared tip. The sound of Hashirama's indrawn breath created a sense of satisfaction within him and repeated the action so to hear it again.
Through the haze of lust, he stared down with hooded eyes at the man beneath him and was unable to stop himself from lowering his lips to press against the warm skin of his chest. Hashirama felt alive to the touch and not some remnant created from a dead Zetsu clone and chakra. Hashirama was real to him and that was all he cared about.
"What are you doing, Sasuke?"
Sasuke's eyes flickered upward. "Tasting you."
"Then, come here."
Sasuke allowed himself to be drawn upward to meet the lips of his companion. Tongues began to duel once more, distracting him from the hands that found their way once more into his pants and began to tug at his dick with hard pulls. He tried to pull away, but a hand kept him pressed close while the hand stroking him adjusted just enough to press their genitals together—cock to cock, before resuming the stroking.
"God," growled Sasuke against lips as his hips began to roll and thrust in time to the stroking hands.
He could feel Hashirama's cock pressed to his and slithered a hand between their bodies to assist the hand in their mutual pleasure. Their pleasure was of the simple sort. There were no obvious emotions, only the slaking of lust, and yet it seemed to be so much more. Unlike with any past sexual partner, he felt bared in more than just skin. This felt more real to him than all those past experiences combined and as he came with a long and drawn-out growl, his soul and mind felt at peace for an all too brief moment in time. The splash of added wetness and an equally fulfilled grunt alerted him to Hashirama's release.
With the tension gone, the strength left his body and Sasuke finally slumped over the body of the former Hokage. His eyes were closed and little sparks of residual pleasure worked through every possible pathway in his body. He barely registered a dry cloth wiping at his body or how his body somehow ended up curled against a warm frame. Satiation and relief from the agony of his desires was all that he could focus on. As sleep tugged him, he wondered offhandedly if this act would influence Hashirama's decision on who became the next Hokage, hoping it would not.
oOo
"Good morning," said Hashirama quietly, as if he was opposed to disturbing the gentle silence of the early morning.
Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement before reaching for the shirt that had been discarded the previous night and slipped it over his head. His thoughts spun with insecurity. It was a rare day when he was unsure of how to proceed. His confidence was always something that annoyed Naruto, yet now he felt like a teenager.
"About last night..."
His head shot up and he stood in a rush. "Don't."
He refused to be rejected. If anything, he would be the one to place distance between them. He needed to be in control of what happened to him. Control was all he had at times.
"Sasuke..."
"I did not intend for last night to happen, but it was not meant to sway your decision. It should not have happened."
Hashirama's face hardened and his hand shot out to latch onto Sasuke's arm before he could flee toward the nearby stream. "Don't run from me. Maybe it was wrong of me to let things go as far as they did, but I wanted it to happen. I have wanted it to happen for a long time."
Sasuke was stunned. His lips parted but no sound escaped. He blinked and swallowed before finally speaking. "What?"
"The first time I saw you, you were barely out of childhood. You were curious and quiet, not yet grown into the person you were to be. There was coldness in your gaze that called out to me. And, I wanted you then and there. I wanted to burn away that ice I felt from you. It is quite shameful that I, a resurrected shinobi, should lust for someone who was barely more than a child, and yet I could not take my eyes from you. I'm sure my brother noticed and that was why he treated you so coldly. At first, you reminded me so much of my lost friend, but even I could not compare the two of you for longer than an instant. Madara was a mere shadow compared to you. You were willing to listen and make your own judgment even when two opposing forces seemed to be pulling you in multiple directions. I respect power, but I do so even more to those who are willing to bend rather than break."
Dark eyes widened noticeably and Sasuke could not halt the shocked look from spreading across his face. There were no words to describe the thrill of pleasure and unhampered confusion working through him at the confession from Hashirama. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"You were young, still are, though you're more mature now and have proven that you do not need others to tell you what road to walk. I've watched you for a long time."
"It's you that I feel watching me, even without being able to figure out whom."
"Yes."
The shock gradually faded and anger rose to the surface in its wake. "Then you brought me here to seduce me? You never had any intention of supporting my bid for Hokage."
"No," said Hashirama quickly. "I wanted you, but the reason I brought you here was the same as the reason I spent time with Naruto and Sakura. You were one of the few that had proven yourself worthy of my eye along with your teammates."
"Former teammates," snapped Sasuke.
Hashirama sighed and shook his head. "You have so much anger inside of you. I had thought to help you work through it, but I fear it will take more than a few days to do so."
He tightened his hand on Sasuke's arm before releasing his grip and stroking fingers down Sasuke's cheek in a tender gesture that soothed some of the anger. The touch was gentle, as was the expression on his face as he stared at Sasuke. There was no deception evident in his voice or his body language.
Sasuke was torn—his emotions running amok. He did not know what to think or how to react. A part of him wanted to embrace the man before him while another wanted to run and hide. He had not felt this indecisive since he was an adolescent torn between gaining the power to kill his brother and remaining in the village of his birth.
"What do you want from me?"
"Nothing you can't give." Hashirama dropped his hand and stared intently at him. "I simply want a chance."
In the end, he just needed to think. Some might say it was the fear talking. He had argued so firmly against possessing any fear and yet he was now backing away from the man who wore his emotions so plainly on his face.
"I need to go."
He did not stop to wonder how he might look to be retreating so easily from what some might term a battle. Discretion was sometimes the better part of valor, or so he had heard.
Pausing only to grab his travel pack, he fled into the trees. Hashirama did not follow. He was certain he would have felt his presence because he pushed himself almost to the point of passing out from exertion. The former Hokage could never have maintained invisibility and kept the pace.
The trees passed in almost a blur of green and brown as he sped through them. His focus remained completely on placing one foot in front of another. Even with the forced focus, his mind spun the events of the past day. His attraction to the man warred with his long held desire to rebuild the village. Now, he was uncertain what this turn of events between him and the former Hokage would hold for goals.
He stopped running, slowing to a jog before halting in small clearing surrounded by large trees. Sweat dripped from his brow and his shirt clung to his body. The midday sun was bright through the canopy of trees, leaving him surprised at how long he had run at such a full-out pace. He was too exhausted to continue and jumped into the branches of a sturdy tree to rest a bit before continuing onto the village. The long detour left him at least five hours of hard running from home.
Leaning his head back against the trunk, he heaved a sigh. It was times like these when he missed Juugo's silent presence. Unlike Karin and Suigetsu, Juugo would simply listen on the rare instances when he needed someone to speak to. He could express his worries to him and feel the comforting understanding from the large man. When he had parted ways with the members of his self-made team, he had never thought to need them again for they could never truly be at ease in Konoha and would never be welcome amidst the Konoha shinobi ranks as his own position was barely tolerated.
He turned his gaze upward and stared through the thick foliage. Did he hate the village? Hate seemed like such a strong emotion and yet, there was little to love about the festering place he called home. He was barely welcome amongst his fellow shinobi. Not for the first time, he wondered what it was about the village that Itachi had loved so much that he would risk everything to protect it. Could he find it within himself to cultivate such a feeling where disdain had once prevailed? So much about the village needed correcting and as Hokage, he could easily do so, but could he do it without being in that ultimate position of power?
His mind had always been quick. It would be hard and he would need to put aside his disdain for the village, but he could change the face of the village. Regardless of whether or not he was named Hokage, it was time that he began correcting things in Konoha until it was a place his brother could truly be proud of. The understanding of what he would do eased the part of his mind that gnawed at him and peace prevailed. He knew what he would do.
But, the issue with his village was not the only thought laying heavy on his mind.
There was still Hashirama and his confession to deal with.
The lust he felt for Hashirama still coiled inside him, as real as anything he had ever felt. He could no sooner deny his attraction to him than he could say the sky was green. But, did he want more than a quick fuck and the emotionless pleasure that came with it? For the longest time, there had been little to occupy his thoughts but furthering his goals; and yet now here he was, having run away like a scared virgin because his goals were suddenly less important to him. He had been alone for so long that the thought of no longer coming home to an empty apartment was almost a welcome fantasy.
His thoughts did not have time to truly cultivate before the sound of a twig snapping jerked him from the workings of his mind. A kunai was in his hand and he was crouched in preparation to attack from above when his eyes lighted upon Hashirama standing calmly beneath him. He then realized the snapping of the twig was done to purposely announce his presence.
While he would have rather thought longer on the subject, he knew there would be no more running. He would face things as they were. With that in mind, he leapt gracefully from the tree and landed lightly before the man that had forced him to face things he had hidden from.
"Why did you follow me?"
"Did you think I wouldn't?"
Sasuke inclined his head and stared at Hashirama. His body language blared nervousness and uncertainty, something he had never thought to see on a Hokage. He then realized that Hashirama was allowing him to see it. He was allowing Sasuke to see the man instead of the icon.
"Did you think I would abandon the village again? Is that why you followed?"
Hashirama froze and shook his head. "That thought never crossed my mind."
Sasuke snorted and leaned against the tree. "Then, you're the only one in the village who would not have thought that."
"Sasuke..."
Shaking his head, Sasuke held up a hand. "Before we go any further, I have to know. Are you going to recommend me for the position of Hokage? Be honest with me."
Hashirama's lips tightened and he blew out a puff of air before answering. "No."
Sasuke closed his eyes. He thought he would be angry or at least a bit more disappointed. Instead, he felt nothing except a bit of relief. "I see."
"Sasuke, you are a strong and capable shinobi, one of the strongest I have ever met, but there are things you have to work out before you can lead a village."
"I know."
Hashirama's eyes widened. "You know?"
"I've had time to think."
"About what?"
"A lot of things." Sasuke pushed away from the tree and did not stop until he was face to face with Hashirama. "I know you've chosen Naruto, but I still think the village elders will walk all over him."
"Are you angry?"
"No. I thought I would be, but I'm not."
Hashirama released a small chuckle. "I have a confession to make, Sasuke."
"While it is true that I had no intention of choosing who I would back until I had time with all three of you, the two who are not meant for the roll of Hokage were not intended to be discarded and forgotten. A Hokage needs advisors he can trust. I had always intended for the two not chosen for Hokage to be sworn in as advisors. You aren't the only one who sees corruption in the village. Perhaps much of it was meant with good intentions, but sometimes such only leads to suffering. You wanted to change the village and thought the only way to do so was as Hokage, but there is another way...if you want to take it."
"As Naruto's advisor?" Sasuke laughed, unable to remove the bitterness from his tone. "What makes you think he would listen to me?"
"Because he told me so. He values your opinion greatly."
"Does he?" The thought was almost funny. He and Naruto had competed for so long that it was almost second nature to do so. That Naruto would actively listen to his advice seemed to exceed his ability to fathom.
"I think it's time the two of you put your past behind you. It is long overdue."
"An advisor to the Hokage?" His lips twitched faintly before turning down. "And us?"
Hashirama face softened. "I pushed for too much, too quickly. I was greedy and afraid of missing my chance. Tobirama always yelled at me for being such. I would like to try again, the right way."
"Is there a right way?"
"I don't know, but I would like to try regardless."
Sasuke nodded and sent him a small smile. "I would like that as well."
"Does it bother you what I am?"
"No. Does it bother you what I've done?"
Hashirama scoffed. "No."
"Then, I suppose we should see where this takes us."
"I suppose we should."
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could almost see his brother smiling as peace took hold. He was under no beguilement that things would be perfect and last forever. Working on a daily basis with Naruto would try even the most stalwart shinobi, but things suddenly seemed to be falling into their proper place. He would not get the position of Hokage, but perhaps he would get something better out of the ordeal. When he felt Hashirama fall into step beside him, he was certain of it. The darkness in his soul seemed a little less cloying as he stood within Hashirama's light. If it would last, he did not know, but regardless, he would bask in it for as long as he could and let the future come as it willed.