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2 | Proposal

Hashirama wakes up early the next morning. He doesn’t want a repeat of what happened yesterday morning. After taking a brief shower, he heads straight to the dining area and eats breakfast with Tobirama. Over the meal, the younger goes over his schedule for the day.

The two Senju brothers are just in time as they reached the eastern gate of the village. The Uzumakis can already be seen from where they are standing. Hashirama assumes that the old man leading the party must be Ashina and the young woman beside him must be his daughter, Mito (he remembers Tobirama has told him over breakfast).

"Good day, Ashina-dono. Welcome to Konohagakure," Hashirama greets politely, offering a smile to the Uzumaki clan head and his envoy. He and Tobirama bow their heads and their guests do the same.

“You don’t have to be so polite, Hashirama-dono, Tobirama-san. Thank you for welcoming us in your village,” Ashina notes, a kind smile present on his face.

"This is my daughter, Mito," he refers to the lovely kunoichi beside him. She has long bright-red hair (an obvious common feature of the clan) neatly tied up in two buns with hair pins in them. There’s a rhombus mark on her forehead, symbolizing the Strength of a Hundred Seal which Hashirama has only heard about before. Elegantly hanging from each of her hair buns are chakra-infused tags with kanji writings on them. She wears a plain-colored kimono and her appearance is truly that of a graceful and refined young woman.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hashirama-sama, Tobirama-sama,” she says, bowing her head courteously. The Senju brothers smile at her.

Together with the father and daughter are four other Uzumaki shinobis. Hashirama and Tobirama led the group to their house in the Senju Compound, where they’ll be staying at. The Uzumakis have travelled for days from Uzushiogakure. The two brothers has already made arrangements to let them rest for the rest of the morning and schedule the meeting in the afternoon.

“You two have grown into such fine young men. You even built your own village. Your father would be very proud of you," Ashina muses as they’re walking to the compound.

“You flatter us, Ashina-dono." Hashirama answers with a slight chuckle. “We can’t take all the credit. This village was found because the Uchiha clan allied with our clan.”

The rest of the walk involves a few small talk. Hashirama is able to closely observe their guests, especially Ashina. The clan head really seems to be kind and humble.

They reach the compound sooner. As the clan head, Hashirama’s (and of course Tobirama’s) house is the largest one in the compound. Aside from their own rooms, it has spare rooms for guests. The house is spacious enough to host a maximum of ten guests. There are three private onsens in the house—one for Hashirama, one for Tobirama, and one for the guests. During daytime, servants would be present to cook food and do the chores, especially the cleaning. Both brothers have a full schedule almost all the time so they don’t have time for doing those on their own. At night, they have the house on their own.

There’s a huge garden in the backyard that Hashirama himself takes care of. For a person who doesn’t know Hashirama enough, it can’t be helped to wonder how he maintains it—all the bonsais, flowers, and the sakura trees in his garden are in full bloom, despite now being autumn. When they pass by the garden, the guests visibly marvel scenic view.

"We'll leave you to rest, Ashina-dono. We understand you’ve had a long journey,” Hashirama says before leading them to their respective rooms. “Lunch will be served at noon. We scheduled the meeting in the afternoon and Tobirama will accompany you to the Hokage Tower.”

The elder Uzumaki nods, noticeably pleased. “You have my thanks, Hashirama-dono, and also Tobirama-san."

“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to tell the servants. We’ll be going now, Ashina-sama, Mito-san,” Tobirama informs the group. They bow their heads in a polite gesture and after making sure that the guests are completely settled, they exit the house.