"Tou-sama," Naruto started. "Why do I have red hair?"

One day, when they went on a hunt, Madara heard his younger brother asking for the first time why he had red hair.

Yes, his two-year-old brother had red hair, unlike their father's black hair ― which Madara was sure he had inherited from.

"Your mother is from a faraway land," Tajima said, sharpening his katana, without missing a beat. "They all have red hair there."

"How far is her land?" Madara asked, despite knowing their father wouldn't give them a direct answer.

With a long suffering look, Tajima bit out, "Far."

"How's your training, Nii-san?"

"It's," Madara wiped the look of exhaustion out of his face and said, "wonderful."

"Here's your towel."

"Thanks."

"Tou-sama is going to have another contract with a woman," Naruto spoke up after a moment of silence between them. "I think we should go live with our mother."

Madara contemplated for a while and then he nodded. "You're right. The last contract failed when the woman was found to be not pregnant with our sibling. For Tou-sama to successfully copulate with the upcoming contract woman, we must do our best not to bother him."

The identity of the woman who produced them was still a mystery, but they was sure they would find her somehow.

They were in their father's room, trying to find a clue on how to find their mother by reading hard kanji-filled scrolls, that it slowly occured to Madara.

It was like not knowing a thing but the next day he woke up and suddenly, it was like he knew everything there was about the world. Out of nowhere, his entire body hurt. It was like that time when he was four, which was one year ago, where he cut his hands trying to juggle five shuriken at once without prior training ― but worse.

Slowly, with the feeling of his stomach being dropped, he brought up his hands up to his face.

His hands.

Madara knew he wasn't supposed to have chubby hands. So he backed away, trying to distance himself from the foreign-looking, chubby, not-adult hands.

Once he knew he couldn't part ways from his hands, he convulsed. He was shaking, feeling of terror coursing his body.

Trying to make sense why he was feeling this way, Madara let out a scream.

Their mother loved seafood, their father had once said. That was why Madara was named after a type of saltwater fish and Naruto was named after a fish cake.

"She must be living near the sea," Naruto pointed out, sitting on the edge of his brother's futon. "Here, we eat fresh water fishes but Haha-ue clearly does not."

Madara bit his tongue, his eyesight blurry. He was still not pain-free after the breakdown earlier.

"She has red hair, Tou-sama says she requires a politer form of the term 'mother' for us to call her..."

At that, Madara wheezed.

"There is no mistake," he rasped, "Uzumaki. Our mother must be a fucking Uzumaki."

"Fucking Uzumaki?"

"Oh, shit..."

"Nii-san, are you sure we don't need anything?"

They were currently gliding through the countless trees, that Hi-no-Kuni was known for, to travel to their mother's homeland.

They didn't tell anyone about it, for the journey to find their mother was a secret just between the two of them, or so Naruto was told.

"I am sure as hell," Madara affirmed with a small smile that was soon turned into a scowl. "Tch. Uzumaki. This explains a lot."

With his grip on his brother's shoulders tightening, Naruto asked, "Explains what, Nii-san?"

"Nothing. Now, go to sleep; it'll be five hours before we reach the nearest port town..."

Madara was just minding his own business, arguing about the ticket prices with the ship owner to cross to Uzu no Kuni, when he felt it.

Hashirama's chakra.

It's Hashirama. He was nearby, of course with a few men from the Senju clan. Lips twitching, he told himself that that Hashirama was not the one he knew, as that Hashirama was still five.

Frowning a little, he looked over his shoulder to inspect Naruto's sleeping face. Eyes on his younger brother's red hair, he growled low.

Focus. He had to focus.

Shrugging the thought of Hashirama off his mind, Madara continued on to threaten the ship owner.

"Where are we?"

Naruto was finally awake. The boat had been sailing for hours. Madara knew that Naruto was a heavy sleeper, but not to this extent.

Letting out a relieved breath that Naruto was conscious now, Madara snapped open one of his eyes and answered, "We're on our boat."

"Huh. Nii-san, you work fast..." Naruto let out a yawn before blinking. "Wait. Our boat?" Naruto tilted his head, confused. "Since when did we have one?"

Madara only hummed to that. He resorted to borrow the boat, as its owner was too uncompromising. Moreover, he's a shinobi, definitely not someone who would think twice about taking someone's property.

"It's temporarily ours," Madara stated matter-of-factly after having enough of Naruto's bewildered expression being directed at him. "Don't question it, brat."

"... fine." Naruto pouted a little at his brother, upset. He resorted to look around. "Whoa," he gasped in awe after taking in his surroundings. Naruto bounced upright and said excitedly, "Everything's so blue, Nii-san!"

"Yeah," Madara let out an agreement, a small smile on his face.

This is their 'first' time seeing the ocean, after all.