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There was a rumour in Konoha.
Well, if one was being specific, there were several rumours, some of which were more believable than others, but this specific rumour was not only strange but also very amusing.
The village had only been established not too long ago and the shinobi clans and civilians still had some trouble getting used to each other, but if something brought them together it was the rumours. Civilians loved gossiping and the shinobi tended to gather information on instinct, so when the rumour concerning the new establishment of the village's leader started making rounds, of course everyone was very interested.
The village hadn't yet had an official leader and thus there had been several disputes between the clans and the civilians, but it had recently been decided that the residents of the village, both shinobi and civilian alike, would be given the choice to vote for their preferred leader. Due to the absence of other clans and the two founding clans making up most of the village residents, it was decided that one of the clan leaders, either Uchiha Madara or Senju Hashirama, would become the first official leader of the village.
Now considering Madara's sour disposition, stubborn nature and penchant of scaring children by merely existing, Hashirama should have been the obvious choice, right? He had after all been the one to offer peace to the stubborn Uchiha, and had even helped the Uchiha who had willingly surrendered to the Senju during their conflict in the face of their unreasonable leader, Madara.
Yes, Hashirama was strong, kind, quick to smile and laugh, and was easy to talk to. But then again, Hashirama was also terrible at concentrating in meetings, would fall asleep at the drop of a hat and disappeared to who knew where at the most inconvenient times, leaving people in the taxing position of waiting for Tobirama or Madara to fetch him so they could actually hold the meeting, even if he himself had been the one to call it! He would forget important details or dismiss their importance to achieve something he wanted, and besides that he was also unfailingly naïve.
Senju Tobirama's irritated nagging echoed in the halls of the government building at all hours of the day, and Hashirama getting any sort of paperwork done in time was usually achieved under Madara or Tobirama's strict supervision.
Still, despite his shortcomings, Hashirama was more approachable than Madara, and had shown his heart to both his own clan and to the Uchiha. They all knew they could trust Hashirama to defend them, and as such, when the notice of village wide vote to the leadership was brought up, many swore they would vote for Hashirama.
But that was when it started.
The rumour was, that should Madara be chosen as Hokage instead of Hashirama, he would marry Senju Tobirama.
Absurd, the people thought. The two hated each other, could barely be in the room together! Such a rumour had to be false.
But then people saw them together; having lunch together at a cafe, giving talks at the academy, demonstrating techniques at the training field, and even going out of the village together to achieve peaceful negotiations of alliance between other clans interested in joining the village.
When Tobirama was by his side, Madara was more approachable; Tobirama would never allow Madara to stare anyone to death, and would poke at his ribs to get him to answer questions. People found that Madara was much more agreeable to talking if the person who approached him had a child with him, and people took to terrifying their children or their friend’s, or even neighbour’s children by dragging them over just so they could convince Madara to talk to them.
It was obvious by Tobirama’s twitching lips that he found the situation extremely amusing, especially because it seemed to baffle Madara that so many people wanted to talk to him.
And so, due to the amount of appearances Tobirama and Madara made together, and how many people were able to talk to the Uchiha clan head, the rumour kept on circulating. Although it was indeed considered strange and absurd, it was also amusing and sort of sweet. Some even called it romantic, while others wondered if their hearts wouldn’t just break if Madara didn’t indeed get the position so he could marry ‘that handsome Senju boy’.
On the day of the election, people gathered in front of the government building to vote by forming two lines and signing their names on the scroll held by the person standing in for the Hokage candidate. Both Hashirama and Madara were present, the former looking excited while the latter had a foreboding expression as people started to step into line.
The vote began and the foreboding expression on Madara's face slowly started to change into utter bafflement as he watched more and more people, mostly civilian, elderly and giggling children, stepped into line to give their vote to him. People saw him glance at his grinning friend in apprehension and confusion while Hashirama seemed oblivious.
In three and a half hours, the votes had been given and counted.
Madara and Hashirama waited for the counts to be given to a third official who then stepped up to the platform with the designated headgear to present it to the elected village leader.
"Congratulations for your appointment, Shodai Hokage, Madara-sama."
Madara's eyes widened and he glanced at Hashirama who was smiling at him proudly.
"I... are you sure?" Madara asked, his tone unsure.
"There's no mistake, Madara-sama," the official assured. "You won by almost two dozen votes."
Madara stared at the hat, glanced at the expectant crowd, the grinning Hashirama… and then finally allowed the official set the hat on his head.
The official stepped away and the crowd broke into cheers.
Madara stood there, speechless as he took in the celebrating crowd, until Hashirama set a hand on his shoulder.
“Well, say something! These people elected you to lead them, you should at least say thank you.”
Madara gave Hashirama a suspicious glance, unsure what to say, but then, as he looked at his friend, he remembered what Hashirama had said as they had stood on the cliff watching over the village. Taking a deep breath, Madara stepped forward and gave the people a short bow. As he straightened, he raised a hand to signal for quiet, which people surprisingly gave him.
“Thank you,” Madara started. “For trusting me to protect you, to lead you, to guide you. I… know a lot of people here are probably not happy by my appointment, especially… those I’ve let down before. But I promise you, I’ll do my very best not to let you down again, and should I ever stray from my path again, please… correct me, guide me in turn. I’ve been a leader, but I was a leader of soldiers fighting a war, and I wasn’t doing it alone… I don’t want to do this alone. I want to consider each and every one of you my family, so please, try to consider me as your family as well. Thank you.”
Madara bowed again, and the crowd broke into a loud cheer once more. As soon as Hashirama straightened again, Hashirama wrapped his arm around his shoulders and hugged him close.
“I told you they’d love you.”
“… you did, but I still don’t understand why,” Madara sighed as he allowed Hashirama to walk him down from the platform.
They walked through the village, meeting more people as they went. Madara was grateful for Hashirama’s presence as his light apparently negated Madara’s darkness enough for people to approach them and for children not to run away. They were nearing the Senju compound when an elderly woman with a Senju emblem on her sleeve approached them with three children in tow. She walked up to Madara and took his hand in hers and patted it with a smile.
“Congratulations for your appointment, Shodai-sama.”
“Thank you, Senju-san,” Madara nodded gratefully, wondering just how many times he would have to keep thanking people.
“Now that you’ve got your hat, when are you going to make an honest man out of our Tobirama-kun?”
Madara choked, his eyes widening.
“I- e-excuse me?”
“We know you promised to wed him if you became the Hokage, so we’ve all been waiting for this day very eagerly you see,” the old Senju woman continued. “So when is it? There’s so much to do, you know, weddings, they’re a lot of work.”
“Are you going to become a Senju then, Madara-sama?” one of the children asked.
“Or will Tobirama-sama become an Uchiha?” another asked.
“If Tobirama-sama becomes an Uchiha, does he get the Sharingan?” the youngest child of the three asked.
Madara gaped at them, speechless-
A sharp pressure of killing intend flooded the street and Madara stiffened, turning to look at Hashirama whose chakra was creating cracks on the ground as he let it loose in his anger.
“… Madara… what was that, about you marrying my baby brother?”
“I haven’t- I didn’t- I have no idea-” Madara sputtered, raising his hands defensively. “I swear, Hashirama, I’m not-”
“Oh?” Hashirama’s tone dropped a notch. “So you’re not marrying him?”
“No, of course not!” Madara choked out.
“… of course not? Are you implying there’s something wrong with Tobirama?” Hashirama’s killing intent rose. “Are you telling me my baby brother isn’t good enough for you?”
“What?! Have you lost your mind-” Madara sputtered, before swiftly back-pedalling as Hashirama took a step forward. “That’s not what I said! He’s- he’s very… uh, strong, and proper and, uhh, e-easy on the eyes… it’s not that he’s not good enough for me-”
"So you are marrying him then?" Hashirama demanded.
"What- no! Hashirama, I'm not marrying your brother!" Madara snapped, flustered. He glanced around, half in the hope of finding a way to escape the situation and half in the hope to find an explanation for the accusation. Instead of finding either, his gaze found the problem in question; Senju Tobirama was leaning on the Senju compound gate, looking as amused as Madara had ever seen him, immediately raising his suspicions.
"You just said he was suitable!" Hashirama insisted, but Madara was no longer listening, leaving his incensed friend to seethe on his own as he made his way to the younger Senju.
“Tobirama,” Madara greeted, making note of how the man made no attempt to hide his smirk.
“Hokage-sama,” Tobirama nodded his head in a short bow. “Congratulations.”
Madara hummed, watching him suspiciously.
“Don’t suppose you know anything about this absurd claim of us marrying if I was appointed? Considering you know more about what’s going on in this village than just about anyone else.”
“I might have heard some rumours,” Tobirama admitted.
“And you didn’t mind?” Madara raised a brow. “They think you’re marrying me.”
“No, they think you are marrying me,” Tobirama smirked. “There’s a difference.”
“There is?” Madata frowned.
“Of course. I’m not marrying the dour Uchiha clan head, you’re marrying the reliable Senju brother,” Tobirama explained, a hint of laughter in his tone. “People find you easier to approach when I’m with you and they like your work ethic better than Anija’s, so if you want to keep me at your side, it means you’ll continue to be approachable and have someone reliable to support you throughout your reign.”
“What does marrying you have to do with it?” Madara watched Tobirama in confusion as he tried to understand his reasoning. “You would be part of my council nonetheless.”
“Ah, so you haven’t heard?” Tobirama’s eyes glinted with amusement.
“People have been talking about your need for a partner ever since before the alliance was finalised. It’s not just that they want to see you receive support in your job but also in your personal life. The Uchiha especially have voiced their concerns over your loneliness and how you wouldn’t hear their voices and locked yourself away into solitude after losing your family. It was Hikaku, believe, who ran into me in the street soon after the first walls around the village were raised, and drunkenly railed at me about taking responsibility for taking away the last of your familial support.”
Madara grit his teeth at the reminder of Tobirama’s role in Izuna’s death. Even if he had come to accept his loss and understand that Tobirama hadn’t had a choice, not when pulling his blows would have meant getting killed himself, it still hurt more than he had words to describe.
“You can’t… no one can replace Izuna.”
“I know that, and believe me Madara, I wouldn’t dream of trying,” Tobirama assured him. “However, there are more types of familial support than that of between siblings… more specifically the type between spouses.”
“Wait…” Madara examined the man in front of him. “Senju, are you telling me you started those rumours?”
“Ah,” Tobirama’s lips stretched into a faint smile. “Accidentally, at first. I had a conversation with Hikaku as he told me to take responsibility; I asked how he suggested I could do so and he threw his hands in the air and said ‘I don’t know, genius, how about marriage?’, and well… I was taken off guard, had a headache and just wanted to go home, so I said I would think about it and left. A few days later I heard rumours of us considering marriage, and the popular consensus seemed to be in favour of it, but our relationship was cool at best, so I did my best to make up excuses to spend more time with you under the guise of our duties.”
‘Excuses?’ Madara mumbled soundlessly, staring at Tobirama in disbelief.
“You’re a good conversationalist and we had a lot to talk about so it was… a surprisingly easy thought to start to entertain after a while. Then the issue of village leadership came up and I knew your reputation versus Anija’s was a terrible match so I did my best to nudge you into conversing with the people. Of course then the rumour got more wind under it since we were seen together more often and so, finally, I slipped the clause of us marrying if you got the leadership into the rumour mill… let’s just say romantic declarations are well received by the older folk, while the younger folk found it amusing to see if you really would marry me if you got the position. Many voted on the hope that you would finally get married if you got enough support.”
“I do not need village wide support to marry you!” Madara sputtered.
“Oh?” Tobirama raised an eyebrow. “So you’d have just told me yes if I had suggested it then?”
“What?” Madara’s eyes widened. “No! No, I didn’t mean- I meant to marry, at all, in general-”
Madara jumped as a heavy hand landed on his shoulder and turned to see Hashirama, who had noticeably calmed down while Madara had been conversing with his brother.
“Oh, so that’s how it was,” Hashirama laughed. “I thought you’d gone and asked Tobirama to marry you without asking my permission. It wouldn’t be proper you know! But if Hikaku-san has already been discussing your marriage with Tobirama, well, you don’t have to ask for Tobirama’s hand in marriage if he’s the one courting you!”
“Courting?!” Madara squawked, turning to look at Tobirama. “Was that, did you, have we-”
“I paid for your lunch that time you hadn’t planned for lunch in advance and didn’t have money on you, brought sake and mochi to the office a number of times when we had to work late, and we’ve taken long strolls across the village during our work discussions, so I suppose you could say that I’ve been courting you… with Hikaku’s drunken permission,” Tobirama admitted.
The Senju brothers and the crowd around them had the distinct pleasure to see the Uchiha clan head blush brilliantly while opening and closing his mouth speechlessly.
Tobirama stepped forward, a smile twitching on his lips.
“How about we go somewhere a bit more private to discuss this, just the two of us? Depending on the decisions we come to, we can inform our families-”
“I- I…” Madara cleared his throat. “Izuna wouldn’t approve.”
“Now, now Madara,” Hashirama squeezed his shoulder. “You know as well as I that Izuna would want you to have support and love in your life-”
“Love?!” Madara sputtered, looking frantically between the Senju brothers, visibly blanching from whatever it was he saw in their expressions before tugging himself out of Hashirama’s grip and disappearing from sight.
“Oh dear,” Hashirama sighed, raising his hand to follow his friend but found his wrist grabbed by his brother.
“Don’t, Anija,” Tobirama requested softly. “Let me go after him. It’s between us now.”
“Well… I guess,” Hashirama pouted and watched Tobirama follow Madara with a swift seal and rush of chakra.
The chatter of the crowd brought Hashirama out of his thoughts and he looked down when one of the children from earlier tugged on his haori.
“Hashirama-sama, will Tobirama-sama get the Sharingan or won’t he?” the little boy asked.
Hashirama’s laughter echoed down the street.
The rumours of Uchiha Madara and Senju Tobirama’s public discussions of marriage circled around the village within hours, becoming more ludicrous and unbelievable with each retelling, but no one regretted their part in supporting the Uchiha in becoming the Hokage in his endeavour to marry ‘that handsome Senju boy’.
That was one rumour that made the history books, in more ways than one.