Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Her awareness started to develop when she was six months old. 

Her eyes started to form shapes. Different voices started to come from distinctive shapes. Different phonetics from what she usually heard, but still familiar enough to understand. 

When she was one year old, she realised her name was Madoka. 

When she was one and a half years old, her mother died. Her eyes turned red, not because she cried so much, but because she activated her sharingan. She activated one tomoe in both of her eyes. Her nii-sama(s) were shocked, they hugged her and guided her until her eyes returned to black. 

Her father found out about it. But because she was a girl, he didn’t expect her to join the war. Instead, he gave her to the Elder to train as a prized mare because of her eyes. She didn’t quite like it. The lessons were hard and degrading somehow. But she learned to be silent and meek, just like all the best wives were. 

She also started her training as the Uchiha healers. The Elder, Kawa-sama, was one of the healers in the compound. Throughout the years, she would learn that Uchiha healers were not as good as their Senju counterparts, and thus casualty rates were higher within the Uchiha. But Mother Nature was fair. Uchiha, by nature, were emotional creatures and they bred faster than Senju or any other clans. So the death rate was matched by their birth rate. Thus, Madoka learned more about assisting birth compared to saving lives.  

When she was three, she slowly regained another set of memories:    

Memories of another time, where buildings were taller, sky were filled with cables, people were higher in number, but less livelier. Looking down onto their screens and not watching their surroundings. Where chicken was not luxury, and gold could be eaten. Women could vote. Wars and genocides were even more terrible. 

And she remembered this universe written like an entertainment enjoyed by appreciative audiences. 

She woke up one day and realised she was reborn in the Narutoverse, but in the predecessor period. 

That was the start of this story, the way Madoka decided to live her best. 

She had five brothers. She now has two. 

Madara-nii sama and Izuna-nii sama were the ones who survived. They were little themselves, the older barely eight. Madoka could count--her mother has been bred like child making machines, producing one after another, until her body gave up. It was sad, but expected of the era she was in. 

But Madoka respected her father. He had the right to remarry because he was the Clan Head--having more children to spare was expected. But he didn’t. Madoka wanted to believe, in his deepest heart, Uchiha Tajima loved her mother. 

They told her she looked like her mother--with her willowy built, long straight hair, big eyes and pretty lips. Mother was an Uchiha beauty of her own right--and Madoka didn’t know whether it was a blessing or a curse. She tried to be a little girl, once, to her father. He was alone in his room, reading. She slipped into the room, little legs waddled towards her father--her mother just died a few days back, and she wanted his hugs. Surely she could get it from her other living parent? 

He looked at her and watched her approaching him, but did nothing to welcome her. Instead, when her hands touched his arm, he shrugged it off and he looked away. 

The rejection hurt. 

Madoka didn’t cry, but she crawled out of the room and hid inside the dark cupboard for the night, wondering what she did wrong. Her brothers found him in the morning, and she got her hug from her older brothers instead. 

She cried and they held her tight. 

After that, she became Kawa-sama’s apprentice and had no time to cry. 

Watching her brothers come back from the fights with other clans in burns and painful scars made her want to help, at least to ease their pain. Watching the Uchiha low-born women walk for kilometers just to get their water and wash their clothes made her frowned from the inefficiencies. Watching wounded soldiers and birthing mothers death because of infection because of dirty medical tools made her want to scream. Watching all the backward things they did made her want to laugh with desperation. 

But she was a high born lady, so of course she didn’t outwardly show her frustration. 

Before, she liked biology and engineering. Before, she studied medical science and basic engineering. So she vowed to do something about this. It started with simple sterilization. She boiled all her tools before she assisted in any birth or healing process. Kawa-sama tried to forbid her at first, because boiling water for the sake of washing was just a waste of resources (of wood and water), especially since the boiled water was thrown away. Yet Madoka pushed through. After the fifth time, Kawa-sama finally let her do it, assuming it was one of the weird things about the silent Uchiha main daughter. 

Despite being familiar with the Medical palm jutsu, Uchiha healers were not really good in controlling their chakra (which their clan was famous for--Uchiha equated to emotions. Control required years to master). So Madoka started to gather vegetation she knew was effective: crushed and brewed willow bark as pain med; red clover to treat common cold and aftercare for poisoned blood; prickly wild lettuce sap as mild sedatives; Yellow wood sorrel as source of vitamin C especially for young mothers; Lobelia Inflata as analgesic; Plantain as antidote to insect bites (especially from the fight with Aburame clan) and lemongrass as mosquito repellent.

Kawa-sama taught her a lot of other medicinal herbs and ointments which have been passed through to her; but Madoka filtered through the information, selecting the really effective ones and the one which only brought placebo effect. Kawa-sama loved and hated her for it, because Madoka improved some of the ointment, yet also disproved some of the old recipes of their legacy.     

When Madoka used stitches and compress instead of chakra, Kawa-sama scolded her mercilessly. But Madara-nii sama let her do it to him and he even told her that her salve made it painless. She gave him her warmest smile. She knew he didn’t really need the pain reliever, he just wanted to give her credits so Kawa-sama would stop scolding her. When she finally took off the stitches, Madara-nii sama praised her for her work and his barely scarred knitted skin. 

Madoka worked her way throughout the whole community. She treated the birthing mother, sick children and elderly, wounded shinobis. Mornings were filled with medicinal preparation and Kawa-sama lessons (usually writing/reading or how to seduce men). Afternoon was filled with treating any patients or reading, or if her brothers were around, playing. She only saw her father in glimpses, and she avoided him as much as she could. 

Slowly she built her own name within the clan. Madara-nii sama was the strongest and the heir, Izuna-nii sama was the best warrior and idol. Madoka became the only daughter and the healer. Kawa-sama approved of Madoka’s reputation and grilled her even deeper into the healing art. 

Madoka found that with her one-tomoe, she was basically a baby compared to her father or brothers. They used their sharingan with massive chakra to produce powerful jutsus. But her one tomoe acted differently. She was able to wave gentle genjutsu around her patients, so that they wouldn’t feel pain when she treated them, or they didn’t feel fear when she closed their eyes. It was a mercy. She knew she couldn’t save everyone. But she could give them peace on their last moments. 

She also learned about the side effect of overusing her sharingan. 

When she was five and a half, treating a beserk wounded soldier with gangrene, she tried to keep him calm with her genjutsu. It worked for the whole two hours she tried to keep him down, but by the end of it, she fainted and her eyes bled. Kawa-sama kept her from work for the next three days, and then gave her a long lecture on overusing sharingan and their eventual blindness risk. Madoka realised that her brothers were in risk as well, especially since they used it more taxingly compared to her. And she knew, from watching the anime, that the only way to keep them from blindness was to swap their eyes. 

But who would do it? Would they let her? She was not good enough to operate on such a delicate thing. Nohara Rin could do it because of her perfect chakra control, like Tsunade or Sakura. But Madoka, being an Uchiha, has no such control. This bugged her so much, but she hid it from others. She would keep searching on ways to keep her brother’s sight. She wouldn’t let them become blind. 

When she was six, she started to venture out from the Uchiha compound forest. 

She only knew the basic taijutsu Izuna-nii sama taught her. She only has one kunai slipped on her obi. But she wanted to go out and ventured and found more herbs so that she could make better medicine. The first time she went out, Kawa-sama’s son caught her and brought her back to the compound. She got a long scolding and was grounded for a week. 

Learning from her mistake, she begged her brothers to accompany her. 

They indulged her like older brothers indulged their baby sister. The three of them left the compound on a cold morning, her brothers on her either side. They followed her pace and let her have odd stops to gather small herbs and tree barks. They took her to some swamp when she asked, and she happily took a lot of mangroves trumpet tree, which could be used as antiseptic and for oral hygiene. She demonstrated the oral care to his brothers, who was skeptical yet still followed her but didn’t like the taste. 

She also pointed some vegetation along their paths, pointing out the poisonous foxgloves (which she took as well, for treating one of the elder’s heart condition), Oleander (which she advised her brothers to never eat), Aconite (pretty as the flower might be, it may caused death within hours. She told them that and saw interest in Izuna-nii sama’s eyes), Nightshade berries (she stopped them from eating the blueberries-look alike poisonous fruit) and Hatisur flowers to treat ringworms infection. In return, they saved her from snakes and spiders along their path, which she was very thankful for. 

They found a nice patch of grass under the tree beside the river, and enjoyed lunch. She made them rice balls with dried plum, which they enjoyed while watching the clear sky. She laughed at their banters and let them baby her. She showed them the simple dance Kawa-sama taught her, because all honorable wives should be able to entertain. They clapped when she finished her dance, which made her flushed with pride. 

It was such a lovely day. 

Sadly, it was the first and the last time. After that, the fighting with Senju escalated. Both of her brothers were seldom at home. But they appointed Hikaku-san to accompany her. Hikaku-san was polite and calm, which was a unique breed within the Uchiha clan. Matched with Madoka, who kept to herself, their journey was filled mostly with silence. But their walks were fruitious, because she found more herbs and fungi. 

Also, she managed to reach the river. 

She knew the place from the anime. It was where Madara-nii sama met Hashirama. She didn’t know whether they had met or had they betrayed each other. The riverbank was devoid of people. So she asked Hikaku-san to have lunch there. He just nodded and sat beside her, helping her take out their lunch. 

She blinked when she saw a figure appear from the other side of the river. The older boy has white hair, red eyes, and three lines tattooed to his face. Senju Tobirama. 

Hikaku immediately stood in front of the Uchiha princess protectively, body ready for attack. 

“Hikaku-san. Please.” 

“Madoka-sama?” 

“... Senju-san, do you want to join our lunch?” She asked instead

The other two looked surprised. She took a bite of the rice ball and swallowed. “No poison, Senju-san. Only an offer to share a meal.” 

“...Why?” he asked suspiciously. 

Madoka just smiled and gestured for Hikaku to sit down. He obeyed her and sat very close, still protecting her from the Senju. The white haired boy jumped and took a seat across them. Madoka stuck out her arms with the bitten rice ball, and Tobirama took it quickly. Then she took another one and gave it to Hikaku, before enjoying one herself. 

“Isn’t it a nice day?” She smiled, “It’s too pretty to be tainted with hatred.” 

They ate in silence and when he finished, Tobirama stood up. “Thank you.” he grumbled. 

“You are welcome.” she answered. 

They went back to their own compounds in silence. 

They met again the next time she ventured to the river. Tobirama brought them mochi. 

It became a habit-- until Hikaku told her elder brothers about it and they forbade her to go to the river ever again. 

Winter came. 

Uchiha Tajima passed away. 

He was wounded from the last clash with Senju. Madoka, accompanied by Kawa-sama, tried their best. But the wound was too extensive--his heart stopped beating in the middle of treatment. In desperation, under the watchful eyes of the Elders, Madoka asked her eldest brother to give shock using his lightning jutsu, yet Tajima failed to wake up even after being shocked thrice. 

She knew it would happen, but with her hands wet and red from his blood, she felt like a failure. 

“I am sorry.” She apologised. “I am sorry.” 

Her brother tried to console her, but all she said was endless sorry. Sorry for failing to save their father. Sorry for being a failure. Even Kawa-san was unable to scold her, and ultimately her second brother forced her under genjutsu to calm her down. 

They washed blood from her hands and tucked her on her bed. That night, both of her brothers slept beside her. 

Even in her sleep, she still murmured a thousand apologies. 

The next day, Madara became the clan head, and Izuna became his heir. 

The day after that, the Elders called for Madoka, trialling her for using lightning jutsu on Tajima. She knew they would blame her for it. They were not familiar with defibrillation. And they would want a scapegoat for Tajima’s death. An Uchiha Clan Head needed to be strong, even when he was wounded. Killed while being treated was more acceptable than losing from a Senju-inflicted wound. 

Kawa-sama tried to help her apprentice, but she was out voted. 

Madoka demurely accepted her sentence. She felt guilty too, for her failure saving her own father. Even with her medical knowledge, with her experience. With her information. She still failed.

But before the trial was closed, Madara entered the room with obvious anger. He asked what was happening, and when an Elder answered about Madoka’s trial and sentence, Madara exploded. 

“How dare you sacrifice my sister for your own pride!” he hollered. 

She watched as he slaughtered the Elders. Including Kawa-sama. No one survived, as expected. The room was red from splattered blood and dead bodies of the Elders spawned all over the tatamis. Madara blinked and his eyes returned to black, before turning to Madoka. Ready to alter her memory of it, so she wouldn’t remember the brutality and the horrible politics. 

“... Can I keep this memory, Madara-nii sama?”

She surprised him. 

“Can I keep this memory, Madara-nii sama?”

“Why?” he asked, unsure. 

“I want to carry the proof of your love for me.” 

In the end, he let her kept her memory and her silence. 

The death of the elders created a riot. Their families demanded investigations and punishment. But the only ones who knew what happened were the Clan Head and his sister, so the investigations fell to a dead end. Within a month, the number of riot instigators slowly dwindled to zero. The smarter ones stopped asking and went with the new rules under the new Clan Head.  

Madoka found herself increasingly sitting beside her eldest brother in the Meeting room. Her brothers created a new council, this time younger and with less traditional views on things. She saw it as both good and bad. Uchiha needed to innovate, otherwise they would keep loosing to Senju. Not to mention that they were actually poorer than the Senjus (that was why they had no armor, while the Senjus gave armors even until their lowest soldiers). The bad thing was she knew some of the old ways would be lost. Traditional didn’t mean useless. There were always learning and reasoning that had been lost in time. 

She was flattered when her brothers asked her for her opinion. They seemed to see her as the intelligent one among them. It endeared them to her. She really loved her brothers. 

With the allowance they gave her, she started to introduce things for change: 

To ensure their water resource, she asked the blacksmith to create copper pipes. Copper was especially chosen because it was readily available at the mountains behind Uchiha compound, as well as its anti-bacterial characteristic. Then she asked her brothers to spare a group of Uchiha shinobi with earth affiliation to help her putting the pipes from the river to their compound. It took three weeks to finish, but by the time they did, the Uchiha compound finally had their first running water without the need to walk kilometers to the river. 

She asked the women in the compound to produce soap from leftover animal fat, ash and lavenders. After culling them for 4 weeks, the first batch was ready to be used. Using her reputation as a healer, she encouraged everyone to start washing everything, from household items to their clothes and take a bath everyday instead of once a week. With the water and nice smelling soap, the habit started to spread nicely. She also asked for batches of soap with no lavender for their shinobi to use. 

Next, she tackled their waste disposal system. Before, they had limited chamber pots: one in the main and elder’s houses, while the rest of the clan shared three public chamber pots. The chamber pots themselves were basically holes with a bucket underneath that would be emptied by the women on cleaning duty. Most of the time, children and men relieved themselves in the wild.

So Madoka tried to introduce a better system. She asked the same team who built the pipe to dig into a large patch of land right behind the compound, and created a compound septic tank. The septic tank was attached to five pipes drain-field. Since plastic was yet to be invented, she made do with cement from sand mixtures. She then required the tank to be pumped every six months by a shinobi as there were no electric pumps available. The drainage allowed the water to be further filtered by the bacteria and used to irrigate their farm. 

Lastly, she tackled the drinking water. Boiling water was good but not very effective because of the size of their pots and the amount of wasted fuel it needed to boil. Thus, she made a big stone compound, filling it by layers from the top: the gravel, sand, activated charcoal and ended up with linen spread on the bottom. She then encouraged the clan to use the water from the bottom for cooking and drinking. 

The whole time she was making changes, she asked her brothers to stay put and not challenge Senju to any fight. Her brothers were not too happy, but Madoka saw that they were relieved too. Their people were happier too, because they could focus on their own betterment and not the tiring war. Their blacksmiths were overworked, but they were also cheerful and intrigued in making things they never made before. The ladies were very happy because of their workload reduction. Children got more attention from their parents because of it. 

But she was also aware there were whispers about how a woman was ordering the Clan around--several men had come to her brother with objections. Yet Madara-nii sama and Izuna-nii sama staunchly support her. None of the objections ever reached her. 

She couldn’t ask for better brothers. 

The result of her changes were apparent by the first month. They had fewer cases of gangrene because women didn’t venture out to get water. They had fewer cases of food poisoning, cholera and ringworm infection because of the water treatment. The compound smelled better and people felt more energized. Instead of wasting hours filling their house bath, now they could focus the hours and energy somewhere else. The childbirth mortality rate decreased as well. 

On the last day of the second month, Madoka stopped to watch her clan compounds while enjoying her afternoon tea. The tea was a bit sweeter and lighter because of the better water. She felt her brothers joining her, and Izuna-nii sama put his hand on her shoulder. 

“Thank you, Madoka-chan. We couldn’t be prouder of our imouto chan.” 

It made her so happy her whole face reddened. Her brother laughed at her for it. 

She didn’t mind it. 

“...Alright, what’s next?” Madara-nii sama asked. She turned to him innocently, and he raised his eyebrows. She chuckled. 

“You know me really well, Madara-nii sama.” 

“Of course. You are our precious little sister after all.” He smirked. “This is just the start.”

“Yes, Nii-sama. I am planning on improving our nutrition through farming and education next.” She nodded and sipped her tea. “Also, what would you say about a peace treaty with the Senju, Nii-sama tachi?” 

They roared in anger and rejection, but Madoka knew they were intrigued. 

She knew how to play her cards with her Nii-samas. 

Chapter Text

The first ones she gathered were the wives and mothers. They used to be the heart of the society, doing all sorts of house chores and child rearing. This usually took them the whole day, every day, every week, every year with no end in sight. However, with the piping, getting water required much less time and thus they were left with more hours in the day. 

Madoka proposed for them to join her morning class, just a simple hour each day. At first, only the well, high class daughters went, for the simple wish to copy Madoka-sama’s qualities (which apparently became much sought after within the society) and also had a glimpse of Main House’s inner chambers. Her brothers had graciously let her use one of the empty meeting halls for her class.

She only had three students in her first class. However, by the end of the week, she has seventeen of them, all crammed into the same small space. Although it was not as diverse as she hoped for, she continued to pass along her message. And by the end of the second week, she has little girls listening as well, which was great to the knowledge sharing. 

She started with five food classification and the Food Pyramid. Since she was still in the old periods where physical activity was high, she opted to use the older food pyramids, basing on carbohydrates. She slowly explained the required servings of carbohydrates (mostly from rice), green vegetables, fruits, protein (mostly from eggs or tofu) and fats (mostly from vegetable oil). She followed the traditional Japanese rule: every meal has to have something from the land, something from the mountain, and something from the water/sea. 

She then shared some simple recipes that could add more vitamins in an easy way: such as adding chopped kaffir leaves into their rice for better taste and vitamins; or using honey as preservatives. Then she started to medicinal values of vegetations and flowers, bringing her herbs with her to share with them. Slowly it turned to a biology class where she taught them basic anatomy and simple medical aid, as well as womanly problems and how to tackle them (luckily there were not many chlamydia cases in the Warring Period and none within the proud Uchiha Clan). 

Kawa-sama, whom she missed sometimes, would scold her for sharing such intimate information to the public. The healers, or any professionals-really, didn’t like to freely share their information, in fear of losing their “referred” status. But since there was no Elder and they were her clan, Madoka didn’t feel like it really mattered anyway.   

Teaching was mostly focused on repeating the information until the whole class understood--since most of the ladies were low born and never had class. To aid the class, she also used many visual aids instead of writing. She brought the special bowls designed to provide adequate servings of each food group, so wives/mothers who were visually/kinetically inclined could understand better. She commissioned the bowl sets for all of them, double for those who were low born and with limited income thus unable to commission for their whole family. She funded the bowls from her own practice, with the help of the two carpenters in exchange for their family’s treatment. But even then, Madoka still couldn’t mass produce the bowls because of limited resources and funds. 

While tending to her patients in the afternoon, Madoka realised that she couldn’t rely solely on the clan’s economy to survive. There was only so much that could be pushed within a limited scope. Without additional new money, they would stagnate. 

So she turned to her clan’s speciality. She asked her brothers what Uchiha Clan produce that was usually bartered/sold to outsiders. Their answers worried her. The Uchiha Clan mostly provided shinobi services as bodyguards and war armies. They made up almost 90% of their Clan income (made sense, because shinobi fees weren’t cheap). The 10% consisted of normal produce such as paddy and metalworks. In essence, if Uchiha stopped producing good shinobi, they would starve to death.    

She couldn’t raise this issue in fear of offending her brothers’ shinobi pride. So she decided to find it on her own. She spent one afternoon going around the compound instead of staying in her usual healing chamber, watching her people doing their chores and activities. Hikaku, as usual, came with her as her shadow. Most of the clan members bowed and greeted her with warmth that made her feel like she needed to do more for them. 

Two immediate answers came to her: the carpenters and the blacksmiths. 

There were only two carpenters in the whole compound, and with great reasons too. Uchiha mostly have Fire, Earth and Lighting affinity. Woods were easily burnt, so it wasn’t a good source of building materials. Even their daily tools like eating utensils were made from metals or stone more often than not. But if she could train them to make stamps, she probably could pioneer some sort of printing press. Learning from the Main House library, Madoka found that all the books were hand written and without copy, as paper and writers were precious. One writer like her could produce up till three readable book copies per month at most. 

If they could make stamps instead, like the printing press, it would definitely change the game. Luckily the Japanese Hiragana and Katakana were not unlike alphabets--a series of limited symbols that could be individually carved. Deciding that this might be a suitable option, she filed it for next week’s work, and would check with her brothers beforehand. 

The blacksmiths were obvious--in the warring period, everybody wanted weapons and metal tools were more durable than wood. However, she was aiming for a different thing: the vanity of the Ruling Class. Uchiha should aim for the Luxury market; because it was where the source of money was. Blacksmiths supposedly worked with high heat and melting. She wanted them to make glass. Glass beads, glass figurine, glass jewelry. 

Also, glass sheets to make some greenhouse with. Or new windows. The potential was endless. 

Suitably excited, she dragged Hikaku and went back to her brothers’ compound to find them sitting in their usual space, discussing missions division and budgeting. She smiled and waited for them to invite her into the discussion, before launching on her plan. 

“I can see the potential for the glass jewelry and I know who to sell it to,” her older brother murmured. “But I am not really sure about the prin-ning thing?”

“It’s printing, Izuna-nii sama.” She smiled. “Books have been the way to distribute knowledge in generations. It is cheaper and lighter than stones too. Imagine that we can increase the rate of production, from three writers producing nine books a month at most, with these stamps that can produce nine books a week.”

“Hmmm…” 

“And it’s not just books on knowledge, we can start story books, or children books. It will be a great aid for reading and writing lessons too. We can sell it to the capital masses. And another thing, we can also spread… our reputation.”

“What do you mean, Imouto-chan?” Madara-nii sama asked. 

“People tend to believe what they read more than what they hear, Nii-sama, because it is there. They have the proof. This way, we can spread… information on Uchiha reputation too, or any other information, really, that needs to be spread, at a faster rate.” Madoka smiled politely. 

“... It has the potential to be great, but also horrible too.” Izuna-nii sama noted, getting the message. 

Afterall, the one controlling the printing and subsequently in that period, the media , has all the power. In the period where reputation and trust were valued like money, he who controlled the information spread, controlled the masses. 

“Yes, Nii-sama. That’s why we need to start, before someone else starts it before us.” 

The room was silent for some moment as they chewed on her information. 

“Do you think you can manage it?” Madara-nii sam finally asked. 

Madoka nodded softly. “I will not disappoint you, Madara-nii sama.”

“You’ll never disappoint us, Madoka-chan.” Izuna-nii patted her hair. She laughed and tried to shy away from the hand on her head, to no avail. 

Despite her new self appointed job as the economic chief, teacher and engineer, Madoka was still the daughter of the Main Family. Because of that, she received other kinds of attention. The morning started when Madara-nii sama received a guest of one of the small local Nobles’ intermediary, asking for her hand in marriage. 

She blinked when she saw the entourage. She forgot that she was still in the olden era where girls were only good for marriage and housework. Also, apparently she was old enough to be married away. 

Luckily her Nii-sama has some tact while refusing the offer. It was a generous one too: she was worth five cows and twenty sacks of rice. But it reflected more of her worth as the daughter of the Uchiha Main Family, and not her worth as an engineer or healer. 

She almost fell when she walked onto someone’s chest. Two strong arms held her before she could. 

“My apologies, Madoka-sama.” 

She smiled at Hikaku. The boy now turned a man has grown, but would not relinquish his spot as her bodyguard even though she didn’t have much time for trips anymore. 

His calm and serious demeanor also endeared him to her. He silently followed her to wherever she went for the day, showing support by standing behind her (and intimidated those who looked down on her). And she was thankful for it. She knew if Hikaku was any other Uchiha, they would be suspicious of her. No women, even the highest born of them, could go around and order the Clan to build a septic tank. But Hikaku seemed content in his role as her shadow, and questioned none of her actions--sometimes he even asked in curiosity, which she answered to the best of her ability. 

Not to mention, amongst all the beautiful Uchihas, Hikaku was one of the most handsome. 

Madoka flushed when she thought about it, and decided to keep it to herself. She shouldn’t burden Hikaku with her child crush. It would pass soon enough, and it wouldn’t be fair for Hikaku to refuse her crush because he was lower born than her. 

With her newest projects, she has no time to dwell on other things. Even her herbal picking trips were delegated to two youngsters (with the same age of her, but felt like younger) whom Izuna-nii sama picked. Slowly, she also realised that there would always be someone near her at all times, even her brothers spent the night in her room. It was inappropriate considering she was already in the marriage age, but since there were no old Elders to scold the Clan Head, Madoka continued to wake up with her brothers by her side. 

Thus, it was a rare afternoon when she returned from the carpenters’ workshop--both of them decided to move into one workshop so that she could guide them together. The progress was massive and the ink Madoka ordered would arrive just the next morning. They even started to get apprentices, and three young boys joined them yesterday--and took to walk alone back to the main compound. Hikaku was out for a mission and both her brothers were in the Capital to negotiate for new duties from the Daimyo. 

It wasn’t dark yet, but it was quiet. 

Too quiet, in fact. 

Madoka realised her mistake and immediately shouted, “Kai!” 

She almost wished she didn’t dispel the genjutsu. The first thing she realised was someone had kidnapped her by carrying her like a rice sack. She screamed out loud, but was subdued the next moment, when a particularly hard chop hit her neck. She lost her consciousness. 

She woke up in a dark, smelly place with straw beds on the floor. She quickly checked her body and sensed that she was fine with no notable pain. Her hands and feet were bound. She was caged. She looked around, but it was very dark and she could see or hear nothing. 

She never knew she hated the dark until that moment. 

She wanted to scream, but she settled with sobbing instead. She was not weak, damn it! But it was scary and she was cold. She wondered whether it was the nature of the Shinobi world she was in. would she be killed? Raped? Sold as slaves?

Would she ever see her brothers again? 

It was dark, smelly and cold. 

She wanted to go home. 

She was given some water (of which hygiene she questioned) and some stale bread. Taking her chances, she ate the small portion she was given slowly while watching her kidnappers. 

There were three of them. They were armed and at least two of them were shinobi, while the other seemed to be a samurai. Madoka wondered whether they were hired by someone. 

“When can we deliver her?” one of them, the Samurai, asked. 

“When it is safe outside. The Uchihas is on our asses.” 

“Excuse me,” Madoka asked with a raspy voice, “May I know where I am?” 

“ Excuse her, she said.” The other shinobi huffed. “What a polite princess.” 

She blinked. From the answer she guessed that they were kidnapping her for some clients, some Nobles perhaps. Since she was sure nobody outside the compound knew her worth as a healer or engineer, she must have been kidnapped for her value as a prized mare. 

“She’s pretty. Shall we play?” the Shinobi sneered. 

“Don’t touch the goods.” the samurai snorted. “Damn you shinobi, have you no honor? She is just a child!” 

“A child old enough to be a Noble’s concubine. Oh well. She is a pretty one.” 

Madoka shuddered when she realised that she was kidnapped (probably) by the Noble whose hand his brother rejected. Of course, it was the matter of pride. The curse of being a daughter in the shinobi clan in the Warring period. It was a miracle that she had never been kidnapped before. She knew her three deceased brothers probably were killed in action, or tortured, and she was sad for them. Just being kidnapped was already this scary, what about them, the child soldiers who faced no mercy in the moment before their death? 

She closed her eyes and welcomed the darkness. She tried her best to hide her eyes, calming herself down and hiding all the other emotions down. She couldn’t afford to show her sharingan here. At least she has small insurance that no one would rape her because her viriginity was all she was worthy of. So she focused on that and tried to go back to sleep. 

She was awakened from the ruckus and some explosions outside her cage. When she tried to make sense of what was happening, someone already came towards her cage and she involuntarily scooted away from the foreign danger. 

“Madoka-chan? It’s me! Are you alright?” 

She knew that voice. She looked up to see Izuna-nii sama's face. 

“Izuna-nii sama.” She sobbed in relief, and started to cry. “Izuna-nii!!!” 

“I’ll let you out of this cage, alright? It’s alright, Madoka-chan, we got you now.” 

She nodded and sobbed while her brother opened the cage and pulled her out, then cutting the ropes around her arms and legs. She immediately clung to him, and he clung back. He took her out from the wretched dark place into the sunlight. 

“...Thank you, Senju.” her brother growled before sunshin-ing them away. 

Madoka thought she saw Tobirama for a second. 

One of her students who was also a help in the Main House, Yumi, assisted her throughout the wash. Thank Kami for hot water and soap. Madoka felt her whole body ache and she was so weak. 

“It’s been three sun rises, Madoka-sama.” Yumi murmured softly while she scrubbed Madoka’s arms. “We heard your scream but when we searched for you, you were already gone. We were very worried. Your brothers were called. Thank Kami-sama you are saved now.” 

Madoka’s breath hitched. It was a scary and humiliating experience. She didn’t want to ever have that again. To be so scared and helpless and caged like a dog. So weak. So useless. And she dared to call herself the daughter of Uchiha Tajima, with such a weak constitution? 

After she was cleaned, Yumi opened her room and her brothers were there, standing and looking very worried. Behind them, Hikaku looked pale. 

“Nii-sama. Hikaku-san.” Madoka greeted them. 

When Madara-nii sama and Izuna-nii sama came near, she started to sob again. The sobs grew into uncontrollable howls, and her eyes turned red, matching those of her brothers’. 

“I am sorry.” she sobbed in their arms. “I am sorry for being so weak.” 

“No. We are sorry.” Madara-nii sama growled. “We failed to protect you.” 

They let her sob her heart out. She refused to let go of their arms for the whole night. Her dreams were scary, but she couldn’t wake up. She was a mess for at least a day after she was found, but it seemed everybody granted her the luxury of time to find herself back. And she couldn’t be more thankful about it. 

She was right. 

The noble whose marriage offer they rejected hired the team to kidnap her. He planned to make her his concubine, with or without force. Apparently the news of her “beauty” (she couldn’t retell it without the urge to air quotes) already reached the Daimyo himself. Apparently, the news was spread by her own clan--all the Uchiha bragged about her outside the compound. But most people only believed the “beauty” part. 

Her brothers were called back the night Madoka was kidnapped, and it started a three days mass search. The emotional Uchiha Clan never did things halfway--they focused on one thing, and their emotions fuelled the obsession. Even the civilian members of the clan actually walked around and asked around. Her face became the first stamp their carpenter made-- and also the first mass printed poster (Madoka was mortified when she saw the poster. Her brothers were convinced it was one of her best ideas instead). 

Luckily for Madoka, while due to the mass search, the local Noble didn’t dare to receive her; yet he couldn’t reach the team in fear of suspicion, hence the delay and Madoka being caged. Desperate for her, Madara-nii sama actually went to Senju Hashirama (and Madoka was surprised they still kept in contact after their childhood fallout) who enlisted Senju Tobirama, the sensor of unparalleled range. He took Izuna-nii sama and a few other Uchihas towards where she was kept, an underground shallow cave just by the outskirts of Senju-Uchiha borders. 

The rest was history. 

It also sparkled something else. 

The rumors of how the Uchiha clan has the amazing means to quickly mass produce posters with consistent quality was one. Their Clan’s massive focus and how even the Uchiha Civilians were to be reckoned with was another. It wasn’t all serious though. Some rumours about how all Uchihas were pretty (probably because of the frequent washing and bath that made Uchiha less … filthy compared to the normal pheasants in the period). Another was about how Uchihas looked ... shinier (probably because of the better nutritions). The rumour of how beautiful Uchiha Madara’s little sister was the worst one (Madoka disgracefully snorted whenever she was told this).  

But the most important thing was, Uchiha worked together with the Senju. 

It was enough to be the precursor of a peace treaty, in a way Madoka herself would never ever have guessed.

Chapter Text

A week after she was saved, Madoka started to train under Izuna-nii sama. 

She requested it, her brothers were against it but keeled under her demand, as doting older brothers usually were. She needed to learn how to protect herself. She knew she was so weak especially for a member of the Main Family. She knew her brothers hated how they couldn’t protect her all the time, which burdened her even more. She didn’t want to be a burdensome sister to such amazing brothers. 

Her second brother was a tough teacher. She returned from their first practice, to the main compound, black and blue, prominent on her pale skin. Her chakra was very low, a new feeling for her. Sharingan training was harsh--she didn’t even know what her brother was doing and suddenly she was in the middle of a flower field (of course it was genjutsu). When she tried to dispel it, her brother was already in front of her, pushing her with taijutsu (which she suspected only less than half of the force Izuna-nii sama usually used), then she fell onto the earth because her stance was too weak. She cried from the surprise and pain, with big honking tears. But she wasn’t ashamed of it and quickly wiped it off. She stood up again and again, because that was what she had--she has no stamina, no chakra, no experience. All she had was her persistence. 

It ended up with her weak legs and chakra exhaustion. All the fanfics she read before spoke of low chakra as something painful, and it was quite true--it felt like she had been awake for weeks without food. It was not pain, per se, but the sluggishness and the emptiness that made her puke before she could reach the house. She was saved from falling by Hikaku, who held her up. 

Madara-nii sama stood on the engawa, looking down on her with a frown. 

“...Do you want to stop?”

Madoka shivered. She knew Izuna-nii sama wasn’t even using half of his ability and she already felt like a walking corpse. She knew Madara-nii sama ordered her second brother to show her what a real fight of shinobi looked like, and what kind of training it required, to deter her from continuing her wish. It would only get worse after this. But what choice did she have? She was so useless and weak. She needed to do this. At least until she could fight any enemy enough to run away. 

“No, Madara-nii sama.” She answered eventually, breath hard and body sticky from sweat. “Your little sister will not be a burden to you.” 

Big words, of course. Madoka then shamefully fell into unconsciousness from her low chakra. 

She woke up two days later, famished and ate three full bowls of rice. Then demanded another training session. 

Her brothers looked helplessly at each other, then appointed Hikaku as her daily kata teacher. 

Her Clan were very joyful with her return and decided to throw a party to celebrate her return. 

Two weeks after her rescue (because she ended up fainting from chakra exhaustion), they organised a clan party, everybody invited. The Meeting Halls were filled with mismatched tables and sitting pillows. The gentlemen gathered all the tables from their own homes, the ladies cooked everything in their arsenal. The whole house smelled heavenly with all the food, the merchants contributed sake. The young men prepared for the sword dance, the young women practiced their shamisen. The whole compound was lit with lights and bonfires, adults laughed and enjoyed themselves, kids squealed with sweet cane sticks on their hands. 

And in the center of it all, Madoka sat beside her brothers. Her eldest brother, the Clan Head, sat on his top seat, watching them with a smile on his lips. Izuna-nii sama, the Heir, sat beside him, on a lower level, but no less respected. Madoka sat beside Izuna-nii sama, her hair styled complicatedly, adorned with bejewelled kanzashis. Her four layers blue Uchiha kimono was something very extravagant for her, heavy and restricting. It took four hours to get ready and she wanted it to be done soon. Hikaku sat behind her, solemn and stiff, her staunch supporter. 

But she kept her serene smile and blushed throughout. Her clan members took turns to wish her well and told her they were happy for her return. She could feel their sincerity, especially from the mothers she taught, the young women she encouraged, the blacksmiths and carpenters she worked everyday with. 

They also had other clans coming. Representative guests from Akimichi, Yamanaka and Nara clans came in trio, bringing with them spices and expensive fabrics as gifts. Hatake Clan sent their second son, bringing high quality dried meat and pelt. The Inuzuka Clans sent their Heir and a bodyguard with their five dogs, bringing with them some jars of Inuzuka special salves. The Aburame Clan sent their branch family with three barrels of special honey. It was the biggest meetup the Clans had ever seen. One hour into the party, Madoka wasn’t aware that “everybody invited” means everybody , not until he saw a group of convoy, this time bearing the Senju emblem --asking for entrance. 

She was very surprised to see that the convoy included the Clan Head himself, Senju Hashirama, and his brother, Senju Tobirama themselves. Their arrival increased Uchiha’s alertness. But they did nothing to jeopardize the situation--after all, their Princess was saved by the help of Senju. 

Madoka noted how Hashirama was full of smiles--but it still couldn’t keep his dangerous aura--and greeted Madara-nii sama like a friend. Her eldest brother just “Hnn” Uchiha style, but it was enough to make the Senju Clan Head laugh. Meanwhile, Izuna-nii and Hikaku moved nearer to her seat when Senju Tobirama walked towards her seat. 

He only bowed and greeted Izuna-nii sama, congratulating him for his sister’s safe return. 

Which--a miracle!--Izuna-nii sama replied with thank you. 

Senju Touka, the cousin, came bearing three delicate gold hairpins, all engraved in Uchiha and Senju symbols. 

Madoka was frozen when Senju Tobirama took one of the hairpin and asked permission to insert it into Madoka’s hair. Izuna-nii sama growled in displeasure, but allowed it. Madoka blushed hotly, because  the act was very intimate, especially from a man to an unmarried woman. She didn’t move a single muscle until Tobirama finished inserting it. 

The room was silent. 

Tobirama bowed and returned to his brother’s side. Hashirama used the moment to give a speech to promote the Uchiha-Senju peace treaty to the whole Hall. Madoka turned to Madara-nii sama, and saw his ploy--he was using this party as the starter for a peace treaty and possibly a unification through a Village. 

She couldn’t help but smile at her awesome, coolest big brother. Madara-nii sama just stared at her strangely. 

The party continued. Everyone kept their manners, or at least keeping themselves from being hostile to each other, and the night was filled with celebration. Madoka was finally able to leave the party when the moon reached its peak, citing the need to rest and prepare for tomorrow’s class. Her brothers let her go, busy entertaining their guests. Hikaku followed her, helping her with the heavy kimono. 

“...Are you alright with this, Madoka-sama?”

Madoka blinked. “With what, Hikaku-san?”

“With… your engagement with Senju.” he answered in distaste.

Madoka stopped walking and turned to Hikaku. “...What? When? I don’t…”

“You accept his gift, letting him put it on your hair. It's a courting gift, Madoka-sama.” 

“Courting gift…?” She asked weakly. She has misread the situation. “But…! But Nii-sama didn’t say anything, and Izuna-nii sama was the one who gave permission?”

Hikaku sighed as if Madoka was too naive to see what happened. Which, actually, was true. 

Madoka was mortified. She forgot how in the era, her brothers were the one with authority to determine her marriage partner. While being married to Senju was alright in her book--she could just lay back and think of peace--but her brothers have done it without telling her at all. 

It was the highest betrayal in her book. She thought they loved her enough to be open with her. This tore her naivety about her current position as a woman in the Warring Period. No matter how much her brothers said they loved her, she was still only a possession in their minds. 

She couldn’t sleep and stewed on it. 

Despite knowing and understanding that, in the period, her brothers had no responsibility to talk to her about it, she still felt betrayed. She trusted them. She even smiled at her brother, congratulating him for his cunning ploy. She knew she was the one to push a peace treaty with the Senju. But she didn’t mean it like this… although, she knew she needed to be a responsible daughter of the Main Family. She would learn to lie back and think about the peace. Hopefully Tobirama didn’t hate the Uchiha that much. 

She faced her brothers in the morning, having breakfast together. There were only three of them, sitting in their small family room like usual. Madoka cooked for them three bowls of simple porridge. This morning she was angry towards her brothers, so she opted for only plain porridge and bitter tea. When her brother entered the room and sat on their seats, they looked at their tray and realised it wasn’t their sister’s delicious breakfast food. 

“...Madoka-chan…?”

She put down her bowl and snapped. “I know I have no right to be angry at you for arranging my marriage. I am fine with marrying Senju to bring peace. But I thought… I thought you would tell me beforehand. Give me the courtesy of telling me so I can prepare myself. Yet you tell me nothing--and I needed to learn it from Hikaku-san, no less. After all I’ve done for the Clan, and my own brothers thought my value was just that--of a sister to be married off.” She rambled. “It pained me that you still see me as a burden, Nii-sama tachi.”

“Imouto-chan, it’s not like that.” Madara-nii sama growled. “You are, never , a burden. … but this marriage will bring peace, just like what you want.” 

“I understand that, Madara-nii sama. All I ask is the courtesy to tell me in advance.” She gritted her teeth. 

“Madoka, Senju Tobirama is a strong man. He will protect you and treat you right.”

“It’s NOT that! I am fine with lying on my back and thinking of my Clan as any husband of your choice defiles me, but I thought you love me enough to at least ask my opinion beforehand!” she shouted at them for the first time in her life and ran to her own room. 

She screamed into her futon until she felt her anger dissipate. 

Slowly her rationale brought her back. She has no right in getting angry. It was basically foreign for her brothers--who were born and bred in the East Asian-like culture, to think she has the right to know. Because she was, by any current law, a possession of her brothers’. 

Regardless of her wish, or her preference. 

After she could handle her temper, Madoka felt the need to apologise to her brothers for her temper tantrum. So she tidied herself up, and went to search for them. She found her eldest brother in the study room, brooding with a cup of sake in his hand. 

“Madara-nii sama.” She demurely asked. “May I?”

“Madoka-chan.” her eldest brother gestured for her to come in. She took the seat across him. 

“My apologies for acting badly, Madara-nii sama. I wasn’t thinking properly. ...When will the marriage be?” 

He stared at her, “... If you don’t want it, I will cancel it.” 

“It’s not the matter of my preference, Nii-sama. This little sister accepts her older brother’s order.” 

“No.” Madara-nii sama growled. “It’s not an order. I am sorry, Madoka-chan. We can still cancel this arranged marriage.” 

“Is it wise?” Madoka challenged. “It’s alright, Madara-nii sama. I understand.”

Madara-nii sama looked at her. “Will you listen to my explanation?” 

She nodded solemnly. 

“That time when we lost you, we… I was afraid. I cannot lose you. You two were my precious little siblings. After two days of no result, I started getting desperate. In the hour of my desperation, I asked an old friend, Hashirama. 

When I told him, his little brother volunteered himself to help search for you. He said he knew your chakra signature. He guided us to where you were held, and we managed to save you because of him. We ended up with a big debt to the Senju, Madoka. 

Hashirama used this debt to ask for a peace treaty. I thought it was a good thing, and isn’t that what you wish for too? But a peace treaty is weak without collateral, so he offered his brother’s hand in marriage to you. I refused at first, but it was the rightful choice: the Heir of Senju to the Uchiha Princess. And I thought you would be happy. You were smiling last night. 

I am sorry that you need to do this. You are a very valuable bargaining chip, imouto-chan. Not only by birth or beauty, but also by your vision. But before all that, you are my beloved little sister. You were never a burden to us and will never be. You are my beloved little sister, and I wish you all the best.”

She let her brother wipe her tears. 

“So… Please forgive this foolish older brother...?” 

Despite everything, she still loved her older brother. Of course Madoka nodded and forgave him, letting him hug her close. 

Most of the Clans delegations left the compound at noon, except for the Senjus. They stayed to discuss the details of the marriage arrangement. They sat together, Madara-nii sama on the Head position, with Izuna-nii sama, Madoka and Hikaku on his right. Across them, Senju Hashirama, Tobirama and Touka sat quietly. 

Madoka watched the Senjus as close as she could without being rude. 

Hashirama was a man with open disposition, laughing and being loud unlike the other two Senjus. His smile hid power of massive proportion. Even Madoka could sense how powerful his chakra was. His wish for peace was as clear as day--and he seemed to sincerely like her Madara-nii sama. 

Senju Tobirama was like ice. Cold, stony and calculating. He was busy glaring at Izuna-nii sama, whose pinched look was funny. She watched him scowl at his brother, but also sneaking glances at Madara-nii sama. Madoka also caught him staring at her sometimes, but everytime she caught him, Tobirama immediately looked away. This arranged marriage has changed everything. She thought Tobirama would be a great partner to Madara-nii sama. But because she was there, the partnership changed. And with the stolen glances Tobirama gave to Madara-nii sama, she didn’t know what to feel about that. 

Senju Touka was the epitome of cool kunoichi. Despite her physical look similar to Hashirama, she acted more like Tobirama. She caught Madoka’s stare and smiled. Madoka smiled back, wondering whether the woman would be open for a friendship offer. Looking at Izuna-nii sama who drooled everytime she flexed her splendid biceps, Madoka wondered wouldn’t it be better if Izuna-nii sama married Touka for the peace treaty instead. 

It was decided that the marriage will be held in the Senju compound, two and a half months from that day. While Madara-nii sama and Hashirama were busy haggling over her bride price (she hoped she was prized more than five cows), Tobirama and Madoka were pushed to walk together, to explore the garden whilst introducing themselves to each other. Hikaku followed them, but kept a polite distance. 

Madoka brought Tobirama around, tackling the silence. 

“Are you alright with this, Senju-dono?”

“... This is the best option.” he murmured. “Are you alright with this, Uchiha-san?”

“We can be friends first.” She smiled. “... Afterall, I still remember our river meetings.” 

Tobirama gave her a smile. “You were a weird girl.” 

“And yet you still accept the half bitten onigiri.” 

They talked and found a common ground in compound management. He was intrigued by the big water purifier tower, which she explained in detail. He asked who designed it and she skirted around the question, because she knew men of their time would look down on any innovation that was invented by women, even women of high birth like hers. Instead, she asked for possible feedback, which Tobirama welcomed. 

Their discussion became more and more heated, with additional rainwater collection tanks and possibility of underground water pumps Madoka didn’t know how to build because there was no electricity (Tobirama, who was very well educated on chakra, knew how to infuse chakra into things and substituted electricity). 

When Hikaku finally told them that dinner was ready, Madoka found they had spent the whole day, forgone lunch, discussing the water filtration system. What a novel experience. She thanked Hikaku before apologising to Tobirama for wasting his time. He deflected her apology and stated he was enjoying their discussion and planning as well. Before they went to the dining hall, Tobirama caught her hand. 

“Uchiha-san, I can still cancel this arrangement if you want.” he stated quickly.  

“What do you mean, Senju-dono?” 

“I overheard your discussion with your brother.” He looked awkward. “I won’t force you if you don’t want to marry me.” 

“I am fine with this arrangement, Senju-dono. You are a kind man, after all.” she smiled reassuringly. “But I also want to make sure, are you alright with this arrangement?”

Because Madoka still believed Tobirama was more attracted to her brothers rather than her. 

“I don’t see any problem.” Tobirama answered solemnly. 

“Alright.” Madoka mussed. “I believe we’ll do great, Senju-dono.”

“Call me Tobirama, please.” 

“Then please call me Madoka.” 

After the Senjus left with the promise of upcoming marriage, Madoka decided she had wasted enough time and needed to continue with her projects. She started by delegating her teaching position to two of the high born ladies who seemed to be responsible enough to keep the teaching going. She gave them the study plan, as well as aid plans, and then gave them freedom to teach other things based on their own education. Although it wasn’t perfect, but at least she kept the ladies and little girls educated enough 

The printing blocks were going well, and they had started to include several popular kanjis. Their second printing was books for children, designed to allow them to learn about reading and writing hiragana. An Uchiha merchant, Uchiha Sugawa, took the book to sell it in the capital, while Madoka kept ten copies to teach the Uchiha children. The book helped a lot in educating their clan, and by the end of the month, the children were literate in hiragana. The book itself also sold quickly especially for the upper middle families in the capital, with orders for more. 

With the success, they tried other books, such as famous poetry and children story compilation. It sold even better than the children writing books, and slowly there were other merchants coming to the compound, negotiating books they wanted to print out. Madoka ended up delegating this printing managerial task to Sugawa, but after establishing the guideline for prices as well as inbuilt taxes for the Uchiha Clan. She also tasked the clan accountant to help as well. 

Due to increase in demand, the needs for paper and ink increased as well. Since Uchiha didn’t have their own ink or paper making abilities, Madoka sourced it out to the other clans, the Naras for ink and Iwami for papers. It raised Uchiha’s importance in both clan’s economies, so she invited their representatives over for a discussion to raise their productions and negotiate contracts. When Nara and Iwami representatives realised that the head of the printing press was actually a woman, they were flabbergasted. The Naras learned quickly and addressed her properly, suitable discussing and negotiating like usual. On the other hand, the Iwami decided to diss her for Sugawa, which angered the man on Madoka’s behalf. Immediately they changed the paper supplier to the Sarutobis instead. Madoka was surprised with Sugawa’s attitude, but flattered nonetheless. They were more expensive, but more professional and with better quality. 

On the other hand, the glass manufacturing has started, since the blacksmith has found the suitable sand as well as chakra level to start manufacturing the glass beads. Madoka had fun designing the glass jewelry. Combining it with soft ropes made from metal, she created a series of charm bracelets. Learning from a brand she knew from Before, she separated the ropes and the charms, and created a charm that differed in colours and attachments. Then she created stories for each of them and presented them in a lovely, feminine manner and well printed notes with Uchiha Symbol. It created the illusion of luxurious fragility. 

The first set was sent to Daimyo's wife for the celebration of her birthday. 

The second set was sent to His Heir’s wife for the birth of their first child. 

It immediately became the trend. Every Noble woman suddenly adorned their wrists with the bracelet. Madoka made three lines: the custom ones, the event-specific ones and the affordable ones. For the affordable ones, she varied them by available dye colours. For the event-specific ones, she varied them by shapes and symbols. For the custom ones, she charged the highest based on their customer’s wish. Every single one was branded with a small Uchiha logo on the insides. And every single sale has inbuilt tax to the Uchiha Clan, which Madara-nii sama use to fund their shinobis and Madoka for their improvement. 

When the value order for one single custom for a Noble’s concubine matched their A-rank mission costs, Madoka started to open a free school for glassmakers, taught by the blacksmiths for new Uchiha youngsters who were interested and showing talents. Before, being a shinobi was the only ‘cool’ aspiration a boy could have (of course being a farmer or a merchant was not that cool), while being a good housewife was the only thing a girl would strive for (because no matter how good you are as a seamstress or chef, a girl will end up in the kitchen of their husband’s home). Now that the Clan has found other means to attract wealth, suddenly children have new avenues to grow into.  

She knew that before long, some other clans might start to copy them. But she wasn’t particularly afraid of it (and she believed in a few years they could make lab grown diamonds, with the Uchiha’s ability to control fire). The Uchiha Glass Beads has been the pioneer and the original. Her printing service helped with it, posting posters with photos of beautiful Princess wearing the beads. Sometimes she wished she could push the invention of the camera, but alas, it was still a long time before they could develop the film. 

The Uchiha Clan slowly became a household name. Instead of the ‘emotional’ shinobi Clan with ‘Demon Eyes’, they were now known for their printing press and glass beads. They were known for their nicer scent, cleaner appearance and better built. Because of the increase in wealth, their status was raised as well, and slowly Uchiha civilian members opted to be a merchant or a blacksmith or a carpenter instead of a farmer. 

And it worried Madoka. Because they still needed their food. Food source dependency could lead to the downfall of the clan, since it could easily be controlled by their supplier. 

So she tackled it next: the agriculture. 

Instead of planning a wedding, she focused on making a glasshouse and farming education instead. 

The Clan was used to her antics by this point: nobody questioned her, just following her instruction waiting for new things she came out with. So when she came to the glassmakers and asked them to make a house from glass, everybody just shrugged and asked her for blueprints. Madoka managed to come up with a picture diagram of what a glasshouse looked like, but the details were scratchy. In the end, Izuna-nii sama helped her with it, building the miniature from thin paper and twigs. Madara-nii sama found them sleeping beside the table, having spent the whole night designing how it was supposed to stand and open. 

(By this time, Madoka also had become penpals with Tobirama. When she mentioned her plan for the glasshouse, he supplied her with construction calculations, which was very useful. Madara-nii sama actually searched for her because Hashirama sent him a message questioning what was ‘Madoka-chan’s new invention’, because Tobirama suddenly wanted to visit the Uchiha compound to discuss the said project. Alas, meeting your bride before the wedding was considered bad luck, so Touka held Tobirama back from running to Uchiha compound). 

While the glasshouse was being built, Madoka started to go around on their farms, talking to their civilian farmers. She noted their use of old tools, manual ploughing of the land as well as deforestation to make new farms. Madoka decided to open a class for the farmers on crop rotation, inorganic fertilizers as well as  the use of irrigation from their septic tanks. After discussing it with Hikaku, she also hired Uchiha’s own shinobi to do intensive tillage for their farm lands, making C-ranks for their payments. She also asked (read: begged) Madara-nii sama to allow her listing “irrigation with suiton” as a mission worthy of B-rank, so she could hire those Senju whose affiliation was water to keep their farm alive. Meanwhile, she opted to improve their pest control by keeping eels in the farm to eat the pests.   

She also asked Tobirama on Senju’s agriculture practices and found that the Senjus were actually ahead of the time with their farms. Decidedly that she needed to learn more of that before trying to improve things, she asked for more information. Tobirama sent Touka instead (and also a few scrolls on suiton for irrigation). 

Three days after her arrival, Madara-nii sama blamed Madoka for Izuna-nii sama's obvious pining for Touka. Her second brother followed the Senju woman like a puppy, and it seemed Touka also developed likings for Izuna-nii sama. 

So Madoka sat beside Madara-nii sama and watched the interesting train wreck (you knew it would be a disaster, but you couldn’t ignore it) that was Izuna-nii sama and Senju Touka. Madara-nii sama became clingy for the past few days too, because her time inside the Uchiha compound was numbered with the impending wedding. Madoka let him, because she would miss her brothers too. 

It was three days before her marriage to Senju Tobirama. 

That night, Madoka had her first ever period. 

Chapter Text

She wasn’t looking forward to the whole two days walking journey to the Senju compound (they were travelling with civilian pace, as it was ceremonial as well), especially since she was still on her third day. Her bleeding has slowed, but her stomach still felt like someone punched her womb once every fifteen minutes. 

The only redemption (and maybe curse) was that she was walking on her two feet. 

Her brothers suggested palanquin--but it was impractical as well as unneeded exaggeration. They were not a Noble Clan and she was no princess--so she could walk. But walking with her period--she needed to slow down every four hours because she needed to change her pads. She vowed to innovate the rags they used as pads. It was basically layers of rags pieces that were tied to her fundoshi. She has been chewing on the willow bark, wishing for the best. 

Fortunately, her three travel companions were very lenient and let her take a rest for every four hours of walk. She was traveling with Hikaku, a young Uchiha guard and a female helper. Her brothers would be joining her in the Senju compound at a later date, because they could do shunshin and the distance would only be half a day at most. Hikaku was hovering over her, noting her pale face and shaking hands from the pain; but she refused his offer to carry her on his back because she didn’t want to open her legs at the moment. 

They continued their journey at the snail pace, up until two hours later a group of half black and half white plant-like homunculus surrounded them. 

“What do you want?” Hikaku growled, pushing Madoka behind him. His hands were already locked on Katon jutsu’s hand sign. 

The creatures didn’t answer but kept circling them and suddenly attacked. Madoka’s three companions all fought against one for each of them, while Madoka tried her best to fight with the limited katas Hikaku drilled her.   

However, it wasn’t enough. Quickly her two companions fell--the creature snapped their heads easily. Madoka realised there was only Hikaku and her left. Hikaku was winning because of the katon--but it was chakra intensive and the creatures kept splitting up like amoeba. Soon he was panting heavily. Meanwhile Madoka was able to run from the creatures, but never hitting them--they were too fast for her in her weakened state. Her eyes were hot and itchy, she knew she had her sharingans turned on. Her sharingans helped her by showing the creature’s weird chakra points and avoided its attack; but dodging was just postponing the inevitable. 

She didn’t see where she was stepping and fell forward because of uneven ground. Her fall put her in direct line with the creature’s outstretched sharp fingers. She watched in slow motion as those fingers slurred towards her; when Hikaku jumped in front of her and lost his entire right arm. 

Madoka watched helplessly as Hikaku’s arm flew away, and the man screamed from pain. His blood splattered and it drenched her face in red blood. 

Her scream filled the air. She felt her eyes burn in pain. 

In her mind, she saw very clearly Hikaku’s Katon hand jutsu, which she emulated perfectly with her hand. The resultant fire coming out from her mouth was not as big as Hikaku’s, but enough to keep the creatures taking some steps back. Hikaku collapsed to his back, and Madoka used her body to quickly cushion his fall. 

The man was out of consciousness, his face pale and clammy. She knew if he didn’t have treatment quickly, he would die. She didn’t want that. 

Brothers, please save us! 

“Are you alright?” Someone suddenly appeared in front of them--and she knew that long, brunette hair (and his chakra, too). Senju Hashirama. 

She was saved. 

That was the only thing she had in mind before she closed her eyes and everything went dark. 

She woke up to find that she had been sleeping for two weeks. Apparently she was under severe chakra exhaustion and almost died, but the Senju performed chakra transfusion on her. Her eyes had a second tomoe, which made her brothers look at her with sadness. 

Hikaku was already awake, but he lost his right arm. When she asked to meet him, to see his injury, they told her Hikaku was treated by Hashirama himself, and already recovered. However, he returned to the Uchiha compound earlier to manage the Clan while Madara-nii sama and Izuna-nii sama were indisposed. 

Madoka missed her supposed wedding by a week. 

Izuna-nii sama and Touka-san took her and Tobirama’s place instead. 

The wedding must go on, and no one has the heart (or able to go against Madara-nii sama) to force the marriage with an unconscious bride. So Izuna-nii sama volunteered and Touka accepted the proposal. They were married and Izuna-nii sama became a Senju, thereby relinquishing his claim as Uchiha Heir. It wasn’t perfect, because Touka was not from the main Senju Line, even though she was Hashirama’s closest cousin. The kimonos were the wrong size for both bride and groom, the colour off because the groom wasn’t a Senju, but married into Senju Line. The guests were surprised. But in the end, it happened and they were married. 

Privately, Madoka believed it was a great win-win solution all around. But she was aware of the imbalance--Uchiha looked weaker now, because Uchiha gave up the Heir to be married to a non Main House’s Senju. Thus, another arrangement should be made to even out the imbalance because of politics. 

Madara-nii sama was very protective of her that the only couple who was allowed to be in the same room for the first two days with them was Hashirama and Mito, his Uzumaki fiancee. She thanked him for helping her and Hikaru, which Hashirama just laughed at. However, they grilled her with questions about their attackers. She explained as much as she could--it was a creature of sort, a plant-like white and black abomination who seemed to mitosis quickly. 

Soon Tobirama joined their discussion, and they decided it must be something inhumane--and a massive threat. Tobirama, the great sensor that he was, said that he did sense a strange chakra body around the place Madoka was attacked. It was a strange, inhumane, black chakra. However no matter how far he stretched his senses, the chakra was gone. They decided to keep it a secret for the moment. 

With Hashirama and Tobirama in the same room, however, Madoka realised how much blunder she has made. Immediately, Madoka kowtowed with her head on the floor, apologising to all the Senjus about the ruined wedding. 

Hashirama laughed it off (again!) and stated the result was better--Izuna-nii sama and Touka seemed happy with the match. They were already back safely in the Uchiha compound, and enjoying their honeymoon there before returning to the Senju Compound for good. Madara-nii sama and Madoka were expected to return in three days' time, until Madoka had fully recovered. 

Within the three days, Madoka pushed forward the plan for a combined hidden village. It was very fruitful, between her and Tobirama discussing city planning, while their older brothers argued like cats and dogs about the name of the village. Within the first day, they had already come out with the initial location allocation (still to be updated based on the land they would build the village on), street mapping and building construction. By the second day, they managed to plan out the water and sewage system. By the third day and the day before Madoka returned to the Uchiha compound, they had already negotiated on probable new chakra-based power generators and government systems. 

Meanwhile, their elder brothers still couldn’t settle on a name. 

They collected all their discussion and planning with Tobirama’s scrolls, and Madoka learned alot about the man’s systematic method. She praised them for it and asked for permission to copy the method for Uchiha’s filing system. It would be a great help especially since now the Uchiha clan has started to change from scrolls to papers. Sooner or later, they would need to make an archive and Tobirama’s filing system should be applicable. Madoka didn’t need to have a clash over a simple filing system, when she felt Tobirama’s was appropriate enough. 

But the best thing out of the three days was Madoka’s start of friendship with the Uzumaki princess. They started with stiff smiles--while her brother and Mito’s husband-to-be watched them from the side. They covered the safe topics first, but slowly they bonded over feminine pads and sterilisation methods (this has Madara-nii sama and Hashirama silent for the whole conversation, while Tobirama twitched awkwardly). 

In the end, Mito has generously given her several storage strolls. Mito was a master in fuuinjutsu, as per her clan. With her upcoming marriage to Hashirama, she brought with her massive amount of fuuinjutsu information which Madoka couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Tobirama was sort of in between--he could understand sealing almost at Mito level, while also proficient in chakra enough to help Madoka with civil engineering projects. He acted as their buffer most of the time. 

The night before their leave, Madoka found herself sitting beside Tobirama, watching the dark garden. 

“Thank you,” she said. “Although it doesn’t end well between us, can we still be friends, Tobirama-san?” 

Tobirama just nodded. “Of course.” 

“...May I be bold?”

“Please.” 

“I saw you staring at my Nii-sama.”

Tobirama was stunned before asking, “What do you mean?”

“I won’t judge you, Tobirama-san. I am aware of attraction between men. I can still persuade my brother to change his mind and get you for himself instead.” 

Tobirama’s blush confirmed her suspicion. She was ready for him to be angry and refute his attraction to Madara-nii sama, as although male-male relationship was allowed in the Samurai world, Shinobis didn’t have such luxury. Shinobi didn’t have laws on honors like those of Samurai’s, and instead focused more on survival and descendant instead. 

“We can’t have everything we want, can we?” He shrugged instead, surprising her with his honesty. 

They watched the moon in silence.  

They arrived safely on the Uchiha Compound. Izuna-nii sama welcomed them by the gate, plucking Madoka from her perch by Madara-nii sama’s back (he was running with the shinobi speed, so she ended up being monkey-carried) and hugged her tight. 

She apologised to her brother for the changes in the wedding, but Izuna-nii sama just grinned and told her it was not a problem at all. Izuna-nii sama would return to the Senju compound in a week, and though Madoka knew they would soon be united again when the village was born, it still saddened her very much. Madoka turned to see Touka standing beside them, Touka-nee sama now, smiling at her too. She apologised to her new sister and got a hug in return. 

But everything stopped mattering when she saw Hikaku--he looked tense, watching her. He looked better, with a bandaged right hand. She immediately caught up to him, touching him everywhere, just to ensure he was alright and standing. He let her, even though it was inappropriate especially with the public audience. She touched his right hand too, caressing it. The appendage was stiff and inanimate, feeling like a wood instead of flesh. 

“I am sorry.” she whispered and started to sob. “I am sorry.” 

“I am the one who should apologise, Madoka-sama.” he grimaced. She pushed herself onto Hikaku’s chest and cried. Slowly she felt his arms circled around him. They stayed that way for a moment, before she pulled away. 

“Is this wood prosthetic? How does it work? Is it fully attached? Who made this?” 

Someone chuckled behind her, and she turned. Her brothers, new sister and the other members of the clan were chuckling. She blushed when she realised that she was behaving impolitely because of her exhilaration upon finding a new thing to ponder upon. 

The Clan was glad that she was safe. They ended up having an impromptu party by the open ground, that afternoon, everyone and their family rejoicing on the wedding, their safety and Madoka’s return. Madoka gravitated to where Hikaku was standing most of the time, reluctant to leave the man because everytime she closed her eyes, she could see his arm flew away because of her. In a jest, some of the clans muttered that Madoka should not leave the compound--because she always gets attacked or kidnapped. She paled when she heard the joke, because her brothers might take it seriously.

“It’s alright, Madoka-sama.” Hikaku whispered to her. “I will always protect you.” 

Somehow that made her feel better. It also made her face flushed and her heart fluttered. 

She returned to her normal schedule. 

Touka-nee sama was intrigued with her, so she followed Madoka and Hikaku while the Uchiha Princess went around the compound to check on the progress. The women class was going well, with Madoka taking over for fifteen minutes, explaining about female organs and ovulation. She also checked on the nutritions material and found it suitably received by the students. 

Moving along, she checked on the water filter and septic tanks, both working perfectly. She noted that it would need a clean up in a week or so, and told the Uchiha guard in charge to schedule a clean up. Touka-nee sama questioned her, and commented how Madoka seemed similar to Tobirama, but with a more civilian approach. Madoka used the moment to ask about using suiton jutsus for irrigation purposes, and wondered whether it was alright if Touka-nee sama taught some of the Uchiha shinobi some simple suiton. When she agreed, Madoka excitedly asked the guard shinobi who could volunteer for that. She kind of regretted asking them, because all of them ended up brawling to get the chance to learn suiton as she requested. Madoka ended up with five Uchiha shinobi (including Hikaku) who won the brawl and presented them to laughing Touka-nee sama. It would be tough, Touka-nee sama noted, because Uchiha chakra was more to fire, earth and lighting. Yet the five of them looked determined to learn. Madoka hid her smile behind her sleeves, knowing that a focused Uchiha could turn the world upside down.

She just loved her Clan so much. 

After the fiasco, she was surprised when some of the soap makers called her and showed her their own ideas--to make the soap in different colours and shapes, as well as with natural flowers and scents. They were very excited to start selling the soaps in the capital, after it was fully cured in another two weeks or so, alongside their glass beads and books stall. She was also impressed when they showed her the new source of oil--vegetable oil instead of expensive animal fats--which decrease the cost of production. The soap makers looked proud when she approved of their plan, and gave both her and Touka-nee sama a piece of a beautifully made lavender flower soap. 

She thanked them before moving along, this time visiting the glass beads workshop. Instead of checking the workshop though, she checked on Uchiha merchants who showed her their balance sheets. She checked and corrected some of them, noticing some of the mistakes on profit and stocks. However she gave them the benefit of the doubt, that they were simply mistakes on calculation and not deliberate miscalculation to avoid clan tax. She would discuss this with the clan accountant and Madara-nii sama for future check up. 

When it all seemed to be back in order, she randomly checked on the new batch of glass beads, noticing they were becoming better and shinier. It seemed that one of the new apprentices had the idea to cut the beads a bit to make them shine -- which Madoka approved of. It would be the precursor to polishing technique that would produce crystal-like materials. If they could make it in red, they could essentially produce man-made glass jewel enough for mass production. She then told the glass smith representatives about turning the glass into small figurines and chalice shaped. She planned to make a new trend soon, promoting glass chalice for luxury table setting, collectables or trophies for competitions. Since her current market was mostly ladies, the throphy could start to penetrate the gentleman’s market. 

Then she went to check on Sugawa for their printing queue. The man looked very happy when he presented her with three months worth of queue. Madoka noticed that some of them were adult literacy. She was suitably mortified but unable to comment because the clients paid a lot. Furthermore, Sugawa told her about some other clan in the Land of Iron having started their own printing press. Madoka noted the competition, but price and quality wise, Sugawa assured her that Uchiha were still superior. Instead of the printing press, Madoka wondered maybe they should improve their ink instead. She asked Sugawa to check on with Nara Clan, for they would need more ink aside from the black and red they currently used.  

The end of the daily check up was on the glass greenhouse. It was building nicely, with glass sheets fitted into the woods perfectly, based on Tobirama’s calculation. The group of civilian carpenters who was building the greenhouse greeted her warmly and showed her the progress. She calculated by the end of next week, she would have the green house ready to cultivate some more sensitive plants. With this, she could introduce some planting that doesn’t depend on season, especially for her medicinal plants. 

She was very tired by the end of the afternoon, yet she still needed to go to her clinic. The healers were surprised to see her, but they let her take her old chair and started to treat some of the ill Uchihas. She thanked them for keeping everything to her standard--clean, sterilised and separated based on their symptoms. She was quite happy to see that the number of heavy cases has decreased, the worst was an elderly who has a broken hip and diarrhea. 

After cleaning themselves, they had dinner in the private Main Family’s dining room. When Izuna-nii sama questioned his bride about her day, Touka-nee sama went on showing her approval for “Madoka-chan’s projects”. She could see why losing Madoka would bring a great loss for Uchiha. Maybe she married the wrong Uchiha, she joked. Madoka blushed so red that even her arms were red and hot. She thanked her new sister for her praise then asked for an audience with Madara-nii sama after dinner. 

She updated her eldest brother on the Clan’s progress status and her future plans. She also asked him to keep an eye on the accountants and their bookkeepers, to avoid tax avoidance and any dishonesty within the Clan. Madara-nii sama took her advice and promised her he would check on it the next day. He also updated her on her B-rank suiton request, which she countered with Touka-nee sama’s offer to teach their clan some suiton jutsus so they could save that money. Madara-nii sama was surprised, but he laughed and patted her head instead. 

Then Madara-nii sama suddenly looked at her seriously. “Madoka-chan. I want to ask you first.” 

“Ye..Yes, Madara-nii sama?” 

“With Izuna becoming a Senju, there is still the need to balance it out. Hashirama has graciously offered Tobirama to be an Uchiha instead. Your engagement to him may continue. I see that you two also go along greatly. So… do you want to continue the engagement?”

“Ah…”

“I don’t want to push you into it.” Madara-nii sama smiled affectionately at her. “I won’t continue this if you don’t want it. So this is your choice.” 

Madoka took a deep breath. Yes, Tobirama would be a great working and discussion partner. Yes, Tobirama would be a great addition to Uchiha’s strength. But they were just that--friend. She couldn’t see them … having kids or such. And in her little mind, she already knew whom she had a crush on. 

“... Can he be your bride instead, Madara-nii sama?” 

He raised his eyebrows at her. 

“... I think he likes you, nii-sama.” 

She watched her brother’s flush and chuckled in amusement. 

Three days afterward, when Madoka returned to the main house for a meeting with Nara Clan, She accidentally saw her brothers having a meeting with someone. She walked closer with interest, and saw Hikaku had his head on the floor, kowtowing in front of her brothers. 

She was surprised, but before she could burst in, Hikaku looked up. 

“Please allow me to court Madoka-sama.“ 

Chapter Text

It has been a week since she found out about Hikaku’s proposal for her. 

It has also been a week since her brothers forbidding Hikaku coming close to her. 

Madoka wanted to scream at them, but their puppy eyes stopped her. Madara-nii sama even assigned a new guard for her. Madoka hadn’t seen Hikaku for the whole week.  And today was the last day for izuna-nii sama in the Uchiha compound. Tomorrow he would leave the compound and continue to live in the Senju Compound with Touka-nee sama until they could combine again in the new (still nameless) village. She couldn’t let her anger at them keep her from spending the time with her second brother. 

After an uneventful lunch, Madara-nii sama asked Madoka to stay. Her plan for the rest of the afternoon (planting the herbs inside the glasshouse) was postponed. He took her to the main open court, and she was very surprised to see that the court was filled with spectators, with Izuna-nii sama and Hikaku standing across each other with swords on their backs. 

She questioned her eldest brother, and he grunted that this was Hikaku’s offer. Although Hikaku was the only child from an Uchiha branch family who were fairly strong and influential, he was not rich. He couldn’t give her the luxurious courting gifts like what the Senju offered, but he promised them that he would protect her forever from any harm. To prove that, he challenged one of Madoka’s brothers for an all-out fight. 

When they finally sat on the engawa facing the court, Hikaku turned to them and bowed. 

Madara-nii sama nodded and the fight started. 

Despite knowing that it was honorable for Hikaku to offer that, and understandable for her brothers to accept the challenge, Madoka still felt it was too barbaric . She didn’t need Hikaku to prove his worth for her. He already gave her everything, even sacrificing his limb for her safety. He has no need to prove to her. She was the one who needed to prove her worth for him. She wanted to argue, but her brother just shook his head. 

“This is his way to show your worth to him, Imouto-chan.” Madara-nii sama stated. “Accept this gesture as the proof of his determination to protect you with all his might. Honor this as the proof of our love for you too. We only want to give you the best.” 

So she forced herself to watch. 

Hikaku was a very strong fighter. He was one of the best Shinobi in the Uchiha Clan. However, he was still not in the same league with her nii-samas. Her nii-samas were in a different league, the direct descendant of Indra. That was the reason why they were strong enough to fight against the strongest Senju--Hashirama and Tobirama. 

From the start, it was clear who has the upper hand. Hikaku’s sword style was beautiful; but her brother’s was deadly. Their katon, head to head, was enough to burn the air around them to unbearable heat. Their taijutsu was clearly enough to bruise and kill; Hikaku seemed to gain upper hand when he used his wooden arm. However, the wooden arm was almost burned by Izuna-nii sama well timed katon.  

A slice that cut off Hikaku’s sleeve made Madoka gasp and almost jumped to stop them, but her brother kept her on her seat. 

It was almost the end -- it felt like ages, but it only took less than fifteen minutes -- when Izuna-nii sama turned on his sharingan, and Hikaku did too. The physical fight stopped, it continued as sharingan against sharingan. She wanted to stop them, especially when both of them started to bleed from their eyes. It was then her brother stopped the fight. Hikaku fell onto his knees, resting on his sword which stood on the ground. Izuna-nii sama fell back, with Touka-nee sama quickly breaking his fall and cradling him to her chests. 

Madoka ran towards Hikaku, kneeling beside him and checking on his eyes. They were bleeding and he didn’t open his eyelids. Without asking, Madoka kissed his eyes with the gentlest kiss she ever gave anyone. His hand shook a bit before grasping her arm and brought her onto his embrace. He smelt like sweat, burnt clothes and wood; and she embraced him as tight as she could without hurting him further. They said nothing and only let go when Madara-nii sama’s hand clasped her shoulder. 

She tended both of them while scolding them gently for being reckless, with Touka-nee sama sitting beside Izuna-nii sama’s bed looking amused. Madoka kept their eyes from opening by covering it with cool cloths, then tending the superficial wounds they had. She was still restless, and was reminded of her old age promise to prevent her brothers (and now, Hikaku) from being blind by continuous Sharingan use.  

When Madara-nii sama joined them in the afternoon, she expressed her concern as well as her proposed solution. Saying her brothers were surprised was an understatement, even Touka-nee sama asked Madoka whether she was sure about it. She firmly answered her, ensuring that it was the right treatment. However, since the operation was very difficult, she needed Senju Tobirama’s help.   

Touka-nee sama promised her she would inform Tobirama about the potential operations while keeping it a secret. Madoka thanked her, before noting that the exchange should be done between her nii-sama and Hikaku, while keeping herself out of it because her sharingan wasn’t strong enough. Hikaku softly took her hand and put it on his warm chest. Madoka blushed. 

Madara-nii sama broke the moment by growling, “No touching before the wedding!” 

She blinked while Hikaku let her go, but her mind was focused on her brother’s statement. 

“Wedding? Are you giving us your blessings, Madara-nii sama?” she asked, happiness colouring her expression. “Thank you very much!”

Her brother just grunted and looked the other way. She laughed while wiping her happy tears. What a tsundere lovely brother. 

Building a village was one thing, getting permission was another. In order to create the village, they must request permission to build a village on the Daimyo’s land. In order to do this, the head of Senju and Uchiha, as the village founders, needed to ask for an audience and proposed the plan for approval. And that took a lot of delicate strategy, political maneuvering as well as patience. 

In essence, something that Senju Hashirama and Madara-nii sama didn’t have. 

In the end, Uzumaki Mito-dono, Touka-nee sama and Izuna-nii sama took over the proposal to the Daimyo instead. Tobirama was tasked to help them with preparation, while Madoka helped reigning Hashirama and Madara-nii sama’s fight over the name of the village (Hikaku returned to be her number one bodyguard, which made her flushed with embarrassment everyday). Hashirama actually spent the week waiting for Mito-dono by living in the Uchiha compound, with Tobirama in tow. Their visit was supposed to be the part of good-will, where it showed no fighting agreement between the Senjus and Uchihas. 

Hashirama took Madara-nii sama for a playful inspection around the compound, where he “aaah” and “oooh” whenever he saw something, from the glass workshop to glass houses, from the water tank to printing press. He was especially excited when he saw the agriculture practices Madoka introduced, and ended up as a carpenter himself, growing woods from nothing into big, strong woods in seconds. An Uchiha’s carpenter apprentice, Uchiha Sei, started to follow Hashirama around, learning about wood carvings and shavings. Madara-nii sama gave up following them around and stayed in the Main House instead, supervising Madoka and Tobirama.  

Without engagement hovering on their heads, Madoka found easier camaraderie with the white-haired Senju. Tobirama and her hit it off quickly, muttering together over the blueprints of many things, from finalisation of compounds and buildings to irrigation and village mailing system. Their room became sort of a war preparation room, and no one dared to come in without permission, as they would be scowled at everytime they stepped on something--which was hard, because papers and scrolls were strewn everywhere. Madoka really appreciated the red-eyed Senju's quick mind while Tobirama praised her data presenting skill and detailed diagrams. 

This planning was add-on duty on top of her daily Clan Management. She spent mornings checking out the compound, sometimes adding cleaning or maintenance or possible improvement for her clan's business, before joining Tobirama in their war room and spent the afternoon discussing everything from infrastructure to the Village' Police Force System. 

They had some great additions to the planning with the primary concern on public welfare such as village-wide sanitation, protection of the village with walls and barriers, as well as preservation of the environment especially for water source and agricultural land. They also agreed on the structure and number of training grounds available for the Village’s shinobis, the Academy compound and Village’s government buildings. However, they still argued about other things, such as the Village laws, Academic curriculum and admission, clan compounds segregation and public administration system. It was a massive project to be tackled just by the two of them, but they knew they were the right team for it: enough logic to lay the foundation, enough knowledge to create the basic system, and enough persistence to ensure fruition.  

Madoka was so busy she forgot to eat sometimes-- and Tobirama’s meal skipping habit gave her positive reinforcement. Her only salvation was Hikaku--who came to drag his fiancee (Madoka blushed everytime she remembered their new promise), sometimes by manhandling her, for meals and bed. She also knew that Tobirama would be staying later than her, but Madara-nii sama would come to rescue his newly minted fiance so Tobirama would return to his futon for a short night sleep. 

On the fifth day, Madoka woke up to find she was sleeping with her face on the papers while Tobirama was still muttering crazily about some seal formation for the Police force. She quickly wiped her face and tidied up her hair. It was … unusual. Usually Hikaku would drag her to her bed before she fell asleep on the table. Looking out of the window, it seemed night had turned to a new day. 

She quickly excused herself and went out, noticing Tobirama was having the same conclusion--why did Hikaru and Madara-nii sama didn’t drag them to sleep last night? Did something happen? 

She found Hikaku standing by the backyard of the main house, staring at the mountain and morning sun. He looked like a painting, too beautiful to be true. 

“Hikaku-san…?” She asked. 

Instead of the usual calm (handsome) smile, Hikaku just watched her with sad eyes. 

“... Are you sure you want to continue… our engagement, Madoka-sama?”

She blinked. “What brings this on?” he already called her Madoka when they got Madara-nii sama permission. Calling her ‘Madoka-sama’ back meant regression. 

“You seem to be more at ease with … Senju. Madara-sama also noted the same thing. He will be glad to continue your previous engagement, Madoka-sama.” 

“That… is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Madoka deadpanned, grabbing her shawl. “Tobirama and I shared nothing between us outside our curiosity. We are planning the Village, Hikaku-san. I am never unfaithful to you, nor Tobirama to Madara-nii sama.”

But she could see why. Uchiha, the men especially, were driven by their intense emotions. They felt very deeply, loved with their whole heart, loyal to a fault and protective till their last breath. Madoka’s behaviour was almost unacceptable, because Tobirama and her spent so much time together as the planners. Despite the nature of their discussion (that was the furthest thing from romance as possible), they did spend too much time with each other and neglected their partner’s needs. It was no wonder Hikaku and Madara-nii sama felt lonely enough to entertain the possibility of unfaithfulness. 

She took his hand and put it on her cheek. She knew she must have looked very unkempt, with yesterday's clothes and messy hair and barely woken up face. Yet she pushed through. Hikaku’s hand was hot on her cheek. 

“...Do you trust me, Hikaku-san?”

Hikaku’s eyes searched for hers for some moment before he kissed her on her forehead. 

She ended up spending that day with Hikaku, walking around the compound but not working at all; just enjoying the compound, playing with the children and chatting with the clan members. She realised that both of them needed this: the peaceful reminder of why they were doing this, as well as their future where their children (Madoka blushed when she thought about this) would enjoy the peaceful prosperity. 

That night, she told Tobirama about Madara-nii sama’s apparent jealousy (that was enough to make him commiserate together with Hikaku despite Hikaku’s ‘unspeakable sin’ of taking his little sister away). She urged him to do something about it, as well as closing the war room the next day, so both Tobirama and her could focus on other stuff. 

When she saw her eldest brother sitting in the same room with Tobirama, each having their own scrolls to read, but two cup of warm tea were served between them, she smiled. Her smile was less happy when they decided to have a three way spar with Hashirama and destroyed a considerable amount of forestry nearby the Uchiha compound. Her complaint to Hikaku was met with a rare laugh, with Hikaku telling her it was her own idea to match them up. 

She wanted to visit (and subtly scold) them, but Hikaku forbade her from leaving the compound. “With all due respect, Madoka-chan,” he coughed awkwardly, “Something happens every time you leave the compound.”

“Are you caging me now?” She asked in disbelief. 

“... My heart cannot take it if anything happens to you. Please... for my sake?” 

Although she understood why, she still felt down from being caged. It was her fault Hikaku lost his arm, afterall. Hikaku looked troubled enough after her sudden silence and offered himself to call the three unholy menaces back into the compound. She relented and let him go, then sat on the engawa, waiting for them with a freshly brewed pot of tea. 

It was a calm, sunny afternoon with soft breezes of mountain air. The glass wind chime she commissioned from the worksmith sang alongside the wind, narrating her thoughts. 

Her sharingan was the only thing that gave a warning. She threw herself to her side, splashing the whole pot onto the engawa floor. Her eyes sharpened, sharingan activated by default. She saw the homunculus reaching out to her with its dark, liquid shadow-like limbs. She quickly did the katon jutsu she learned from Hikaku-- burning the homunculus part in front of her. 

The commotion brought attention from the members working around the Main House-- and the guards came to defend her and attack. It snarled and mitosis itself into three identical clones, each attacking with the same ferocious force. Soon Uchiha’s Katons were everywhere, with Madoka herself forcing another one to keep the creature from hurting one of the guards near her. The creatures were stronger than them, though. With its inhumane structure and force, it didn’t seem to understand pain and just kept coming. 

She was very relieved when her eldest brothers came with Hikaku and the other two Senjus. The fighting turned to their tide, especially with Madara-nii sama’s powerful sharingan and Hashirama’s mokuton. Soon, the fighting ended with a heap of charred substance melted to the ground. She fell onto the engawa, her legs too unsteady to keep herself up. Hikaku immediately came to her and she buried herself inside his arms. 

“ Anija .” Suddenly Tobirama said with great distress. “They are going towards Mito-nee and Touka.”  

Without preamble, it was decided that Madara-nii sama, the Senju brothers and two Uchiha guards went to help Izuna-nii sama’s group. Meanwhile Madoka and Hikaku stayed in the compound, tending to the wounded. 

Fortunately, everyone was alive and without major wounds. The combined team managed to subdue the plant homunculus, even sealing it inside a lock barrier courtesy of Mito-dono. It seemed it was unkillable, so they might need to seal it permanently with the help of Nara-shadow coffin. 

Next, Tobirama agreed to operate on her brothers and Hikaku, so they did the operation within a day, exchanging the eyes between the three Uchihas. Madara-nii sama received Izuna-nii sama’s eyes, Izuna-nii sama received Hikaku’s eyes, and Hikaku received Madara-nii sama’s eyes. The operation was hard and delicate, with Madoka and two healers helping the Senju genius for the whole operation. It was a success, and thus, ended up the threat of blindness for Madoka’s beloved people. She was very happy and relieved that she could finally fulfill her own promise to herself since she was young. 

On the other hand, the Daimyo gave his blessings (and the Uchiha Glass Treasure bribes helped as well). They chose “Konohagakure no Sato” as the official name of the village. They were given the area between both Senju and Uchiha compounds, expanded until the Mountain Hill. With the permissions, The Nara-Yamanaka-Akamichi clans came to the Senju compound to request permission to join the village. The Aburame, Hatake and Inuzuka clans were next, visiting the Uchiha compound for agreements. Everyone bonded over the objective of the village which was to prevent children from becoming pawns in war. 

The Village progress was slow but steady. It took longer than predicted especially with all the drama. Firstly, Senju Hashirama was a kami-send gift with his mokuton that could grow a house in minutes. However, the houses that he grew were without proper interior structure (like ventilation holes) and for-lack-of-better-word: gaudy. Madara-nii sama mostly followed him and burned any building erected by the Mokuton Shinobi if it was deemed too gaudy (which was almost 90% of them). It caused Hashirama’s depressive episodes and Madara-nii sama’s guilt trip. 

Next, there were a lot of inputs from other clans that shifted the preplanned structure made by the Tobirama-Madoka duo. Both were becoming famous as the Merciless Duo who were in charge of the whole village planning and building. Not only were they hard to argue with without proper reasonings or data, they were both backed by the Shinobi Gods themselves. They gung-ho-ed every meeting, hand in hand, keeping everyone from being distracted or being too outrageous. Discussion on laws were arduous and hard, because everyone fought for their own rights and needs. More often than not, they were fending nice-to-have ideas like an onsen in every building (Izuna-nii sama’s idea), bee hives in every building (Aburame’s wish), sleeping room disguised as ‘shinobi relax station’ in every corner (Nara’s proposal), flower shops in every corner for a flowery Village (Yamanaka’s proposal). 

Thirdly, they fought over general shinobi levels and politics. Senju Hashirama was chosen as the first Hokage who handled the political and public front, with Madara-nii sama as his co-Hokage who handled security and administration behind the screen. All the other clans demanded their place in the power and politics scheme. Tobirama finally came out with the Genin-Chuunin-Jounin-ANBU levels to determine their shinobi levels, while also structuring D-C-B-A and S ranking for shinobi missions. Meanwhile, the United Police force (combination of shinobis from all Clans) was created to look after the internal village security. 

There were also civilian councils who would be in charge of village civilian immigration as a Village needs both shinobis and civilians to keep alive. They were chosen from civilian structure from the respective clans as well as independent elders who were registered as Land of Fire’s citizens. Madoka ended up campaigning for the clans to not only chase the shinobi missions, but also civilian missions such as art, medical and agricultural missions. It has mixed reception from the clans, but most of them agreed to give it a try.  

Last but not least, Madoka campaigned for a medical system with clinics in every neighbourhood and clan compounds, with two main hospitals for the whole village (one for general admissions, while the other for the shinobi cases that require secrecy). Some of the Clans mentioned it was too much and a waste, but she was adamant that there was no substitute for health, and she wanted approachable and affordable healthcare for every single citizen in Konohagakure no Sato. 

The clans and civilians gradually moved in stages to their respective compounds, with Madoka’s compulsory settlement training (such as water source information, basic civil law, safety concern and customary law between clans). The Uchiha and Senju were the first to move in, and Madoka oversaw the process of safely moving their clan’s workshops into their new place. They kept their glass workshop and printing station secured in the middle of the compound, to keep the clan’s economy, but they also provided cheaper printing services/glass commission rate for the Village, as well as cheap fancy soaps for the village’s citizens. The Senju brought in their knowledge about agriculture, as well as their massive jutsu information to the Village. The other notable contributions were Akamichi’s food processing method; Aburame’s insect pollination and bee keeping; Nara’s ink method; Inuzuka’s veterinarian service; Hatake’s Kenjutsu dojo and others. Slowly but sure, their Village was built. 

With time, more and more clans came to join. Shimura, Hyuuga, and Sarutobi Clans sent their representatives to negotiate their alliances. Madoka was surprised how effective the Madara-nii sama and Hashirama’s tag team were, especially during negotiation against those hard-headed clans. Tobirama told her to trust their elder brothers, because no matter how incompetent they seemed in their daily life, both of them were dependable and strong Clan Heads. 

She realised how right Tobirama was. And so, the Village was born and got stronger every passing day.

Madara-nii sama married Tobirama the first week after the Village was officially opened. Their ceremony was splendid, with no expense spared. It was the symbol of blessings for the Village, the tightening over two strongest shinobi clans in Konohagakure, as well as the symbol of peace. Every clans donated their speciality while the civilians made the week as festive as possible. It was held in the Uchiha’s temple, with Madara-nii sama promised his life to make his spouse happy. Madoka cried when her brother drank the sake and kissed his bride(groom). Madara-nii sama looked so handsome in his dark Uchiha Kimono and happy with Tobirama-nii sama (wearing Uchiha Shiromuku) by his side. With that, Tobirama-nii sama was officially her brother-in-law. He looked so beautiful with the Uchiha symbol. He blushed when he saw Madoka and they smiled at each other.

Madoka was still sniffling from the ceremony and following Hikaku to get back to the Uchiha Main House. When they reached the engawa, suddenly Hikaku turned to her. 

“Madoka-chan.” he called her in a very serious tone, making her blinked. “Please accept this.” 

Hikaku took out a small, thin red cloth-wrapped bundle from his sleeve. Madoka accepted it and opened the cloth, to reveal a very delicate, beautiful pink-white-transparent sakura blossoms hairpin made from coloured glass. 

“I may not be able to give you the pure gold hairpin like Senju,” Hikaku murmured, cheek blushing in shame. “This is not much in comparison, but I make this myself, to match your beauty. I hope you would give me the honor by accepting this.” 

She was speechless and her eyes watered. “It’s beautiful, Hikaku-san. Thank you. I love it!” 

“You do?” He asked, looking hopeful. “... Shall I put it on your hair?”

“...Please.” Madoka blushed and let Hikaku come closer and gently slipped the hairpin on her hair. She was enveloped by Hikaku’s warmth and scent although they were not really touching. He kissed her hair before letting her go. 

She sobbed and kissed him. He kissed back. 

When they let go of each other, Izuna-nii sama was waiting for them with face red from anger. “Madara-nii said no touching before the wedding!” while Touka-nee sama just laughed at them. 

In contrast to Madara-nii sama’s grand wedding, her wedding with Hikaku was small and intimate, held a mere fortnight after. Or it was supposed to be small and intimate, with just the Uchiha Clan's members celebrating with them. However, a lot of other clans crashed the party, bringing alcohol and their own food, happy to have another reason to celebrate. Her clan members growled when they saw the party crasher, yet in the end, it became an all out party. 

Hikaku looked very, very handsome in his Uchiha Kimono, while she wore the Uchiha Shiromuku and her most favourite sakura blossom glass hairpin on her hair. They drank their sake and gave respect to their ancestors in the Uchiha temple, before returning to the compound for the celebration. 

Madara-nii sama drunkenly cried and told Hikaku he took back the permission to marry Madoka. Tobirama-nii sama just dragged his husband and apologised to both Hikaku and Madoka for his husband’s improper behaviour. The Shodaime and Mito-dono congratulated them and slipped her some ‘useful seals’. She whispered to explain that the seals were barrier seals to keep their voices from being heard outside the room and ‘excitement’ barriers that will improve stamina and unleashed inhibition. Madoka was mortified to realise that she has given her some kind of viagra seals. 

Izuna-nii sama hugged her and cried, refusing to let her go. Hikaku ended up requesting Touka-nee sama for help. Some of the Clan Heads who crashed the party also gave them several ‘normal’ and ‘private’ gifts. Apparently Madoka was influential and likeable enough between them, especially since they spent so much time debating in meetings and coming up with excellent ideas for the Village. Hikaku told Madoka how he received a lot of bodily threats if he made her unhappy. In return, she laughed and mentioned how Hikaku’s family and the Clan members also told her to make Hikaku happy. She also assured Hikaku that she would hurt herself if she ever made him unhappy too. 

It was a very eventful wedding, and she enjoyed every single moment of it.   

It was also a very pleasurable first night for both of them. 

Madoka was born in the Warring Period Era within the Uchiha clan as the only daughter of Uchiha Tajima, the youngest sibling of Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izuna. 

She remembered bits and pieces about her previous life, where her current life was just a story.  She tried her best to make her brother and clan proud. 

She was now thirty years old, with a little baby on her arms, sleeping soundly while she sang to her some old Uchiha lullaby. Her husband sat beside her, accompanying her while enjoying the slow breeze and falling sakura blossoms. She felt very content and accomplished, also happy that the Village has prosper enough to make her children and their children have a better life. 

Hikaku was the next Clan Heir and the head of Konoha Police, while Madoka worked as an advisor in the council. Madara-nii sama was still the Clan Head and also the co-Hokage, with Tobirama-nii sama as the Clan Matriarch. They didn’t have children of their own, but they amassed a lot of nephews and nieces and students that were enough to fill the Main House to the brim. Madoka could see that they were very happy with each other, and she knew Madara-nii sama adored his spouse, very, very much. Tobirama-nii sama’s finally requited love made her happy as well. Both of them deserved each other and more.

Tobirama-nii sama and Madoka were still the ultimate Konoha’s Merciless Duo, still working together to improve the Village’s administration and city planning; however nowadays they were working more on clan management and their own projects. Tobirama-nii sama invented some amazing time-space jutsu while Madoka focused on her innovation, such as trying to invent bleach and making comfortable but durable footwear (she wanted to make sport shoes and boots so badly).

The clan was flourishing, and there were other inventors in the clan that learned from her methods to find amazing inventions. They invented automatic (one click) water heaters, glycerin (by-product of soap making) dynamite and chakra-electricity generators. Nowadays, she mostly threw the idea of what could have been and let the think-tank to develop it with their knowledge. The members of the think-tank used to be only Uchiha Clans (who were used to Madoka’s weird but good inventions), yet recently Madoka opened the positions to some promising Senjus and Naras as well. She also encouraged intermingling between clans, and it was working well, creating adorable kids and new Kekkei Genkais. Not all Clans wanted to intermingle because of reasons (such as Aburame) or pride (Hyuuga) though. 

Her first child, Uchiha Kagami, was a third year in the Academy. He was a carbon copy of his father, but with his Mada-jii”s explosive personality. Sometimes she wondered how that could happen, since Hikaku and her weren’t very expressive. Izuna-nii sama told her that it was Madara-nii sama’s influence when Kagami’s was small since Madara-nii sama doted on his first nephew so much. He also activated his first sharingan tomoe, when he was almost kidnapped by a Kumo missing-nin for ransom. Fortunately the kidnapping was a failure because Tobirama-nii sama’s strong sensor ability, and her baby watched the missing-nin mercilessly slaughtered by Madara-nii sama. It created nightmares for her poor baby, however he came back from it stronger and adored his strong ‘jii-chan’ even more. He promised to train and be as strong as his ‘jii-chan’. 

Her second child, Uchiha Mito, was Madoka’s copy with her father’s facial structure. She was a calm girl who had Tobirama-jii and Izuna-jii on the palm of her hands. She was quiet and studious, loving the quiet reading time with Tobirama-jii or training time with Izuna-jii. She also became the main source of fighting between Izuna-nii sama and Tobirama-nii sama, for they both wanted to spend time with her. 

Her third child, Uchiha Madara (Junior) was born a month ago, and a month premature, so Madoka still kept him inside their house until he was strong enough to receive any family or guests. Hikaku knew her fear for their smallest child, and she was glad for his staunch support keeping their baby from the outside world before they were ready. Both her older children were staying in their Jii-sama’s place for the past two weeks, and would return to their home tonight. 

Izuna-nii sama and Touka-nee sama have a daughter called Senju Yuna. She was the same age as Mito-chan, and they were very close. She was having a sleepover at Madara-nii sama’s place as well. She was a nice mix between Senju and Uchiha, with dark raven hair and hazel eyes. She was quite tall for her age, and very strong just like her parents. Her strong-headedness and Mito-chan’s calm demeanor matched perfectly. They trained under Izuna-nii sama together, as they would be entering the Academy in a year. 

Shodaime-sama and Mito-dono have a son called Senju Kurama. He was in his first year of Academy, and has red Uzumaki hair with Senju eyes. The boy was very cheerful just like his father, yet also very smart and insightful like his mother. Kurama was his mommy's boy, and ran away from his father’s public wet kisses and hugs. Madara-nii sama cruelly laughed at Shodaime-sama everytime it happened, then preened when Kagami-kun asked for an ’up!’ from his ‘jii-chan’. 

Meanwhile, Tobirama-nii sama also took in the first batch of genins. They came in the set of three, and his were Sarutobi Hiruzen, Danzo Shimura and Koharu Utatane. They were adorable with their own quirks. Being a teacher suited Tobirama-nii sama very much, and the genins often being roped to be babysitter for Yuna-chan, Mito-chan and Kurama-kun. 

Their clans and village have prospered. Konohagakure was the strongest of all hidden villages, who started to form after Konoha. Their shinobis were famous for their strength and teamwork, as well as their other missions such as medical help or building contractor missions. The Hokages tag-team were famous for being the strongest shinobi in the Land of Fire, as well as the craziest Kages amongst all. Senju Hashirama still randomly talked to trees, while Madara-nii sama still had pyromaniac tendencies especially when he trained with Tobirama-nii sama.

The Nara-Yamanaka-Akimichi Clan became strong pillars for the Village structure and economy, while the Hatakes, Aburame and Inuzuka became number one search and rescue teams in the Land of Fire. Their village system underwent some revision across the years, and was always reviewed yearly by the council and Merciless Duo. Their Academy produced their first batch of genins successfully, which would grow to be their next generation of Konoha. Their rate of immigration kept increasing year after year, so they actually needed to cap the intake otherwise the ‘hidden village’ wouldn’t be much ‘hidden’ anymore. 

It was not perfect, but it was damn close to it, in Madoka’s own humble opinion. 

She smiled and kissed her husband’s cheek. Hikaku smiled back at her and gathered her close to him. Madara Junior slowly opened his dark eyes and the parents smiled at their baby. 

“Thank you, Hikaku-san.” Madoka whispered. “Thank you for giving me all of this… happiness.” 

Hikaku kissed her temple, “The pleasure is mine, Madoka-chan.”  

END