Light of the Sun

A thin mist curled around the experimental field in early spring, shrouding the black soil in a milky-white haze.

Utsusemi held a sandalwood box, its fine seeds lying dormant within.

They were exotic flower seeds that had yet to appear in the Warring States era.

Lavender seeds carried the salty tang of Provence sea breezes, Roman chamomile seeds glittered like flecks of gold, and there were Bulgarian rose pods and her favorite vanilla seeds.

She solemnly placed the wooden box and a scroll describing Byzantine crop rotation into the Senju patriarch's hands.

Hashirama Senju supported the box in his hands. "Utsusemi, you always bring out treasures that make people's eyes light up!"

Tobirama Senju stood beside him with his arms folded, his gaze sweeping over the words on the scroll. "Crop rotation?"

He raised an eyebrow and reached out to stop Hashirama with a hand on his shoulder. Hashirama had been trying to use Chakra to make a lavender seed sprout.

"Read the farming manual first." Tobirama's voice was cold and hard as iron, but when he read "a three-year cycle of alfalfa, wheat, and fallow," his tense expression eased a little.

"Lavender keeps insects away, and roses can be made into fragrances..." Utsusemi suddenly stopped when she noticed Tobirama carefully prying open a vanilla pod with the tip of a Kunai.

"The essential oils can be extracted and made into luxury goods, or added to soap and perfume for the high-end market." Utsusemi glanced toward the distillery in the distance beyond the experimental field.

The glass vessels still bore the Gunbai mark of the Uchiha Clan Crest on their bases.

Since the two clans signed a ceasefire agreement at the end of the previous year, cooperation between their craftspeople had quietly begun.

The rich fragrance of perfume and soap was replacing the smell of rust and gunpowder.

The linen sack delivered with the farming manual contained modern crop seeds from the Spacetime Tower.

Hashirama Senju clapped his hands and laughed. "They really are high-yielding and delicious! The children all said the tomatoes you grew last year were sweeter than konpeito!"

He counted them off on his fingers. "The women praised the loofahs for being crisp and tender, the men thought pickled cucumbers went well with drinks, pumpkins were perfect for little children, and the moonlight pears..."

The white-haired ninja rubbed the seed sack thoughtfully. "Cash crops require caution."

Utsusemi tilted her head and smiled. "You haven't said which one you like best yet, Hashirama."

Hashirama Senju's eyes lit up like morning stars. "Fruit corn, of course. You can eat it right off the cob!"

He gestured animatedly. "The golden kernels burst with juice when you bite into them, and they're as sweet as..."

"Plant all the crops," Tobirama interrupted, staring at the seed sack as his moonlight-silver hair stirred gently in the wind. "Set aside one mu of experimental land for the flowers and herbs first."

"The new project is perfect for you, Hashirama." Utsusemi unfurled a scroll and tapped the lines of a rice panicle diagram.

"By crossbreeding male and female parents with different traits, the offspring may inherit both disease resistance and high yields. The key is to get the timing of pollination just right."

A burning light danced in Hashirama Senju's eyes. He clenched his fist and slammed it into the soil. "But right now, the clans are fighting over even the wild fruit on the borders. If we can't establish a village and achieve peace..."

Tobirama Senju picked up a drifting sheet of data, complex formulas reflected in his crimson eyes. "The concept is indeed ingenious, but even in a time of lasting peace..."

He formed Hand Seals and created three Shadow Clones, each checking a different set of parameters. "According to projections based on the optimal model, conventional breeding requires a seven-year cycle. Even with my elder brother's Wood Release to accelerate growth..."

With a few soft pops, the clones vanished one after another.

He lifted a foot to chase away a field mouse trying to steal the seeds, then inscribed the information into a sealing scroll. "Ultimately, this project needs an era of peace, when we can wait patiently for the seeds to sprout."

Utsusemi looked at the seedlings in the experimental field. "Farming in troubled times is like planting rice on an Explosive Tag."

Hashirama Senju opened his arms and pulled them both into an embrace, resting his chin on top of Utsusemi's head.

His voice rumbled through his chest. "But even in the hardest cracks in the rocks, grass can find a way to grow."

Tobirama Senju awkwardly turned his face away without breaking free of the embrace. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of petals clinging to his elder brother's lapel.

Children's laughter drifted over from the distance as they chased one another. Utsusemi gripped a dirt-stained fold in Hashirama's sleeve.

"I've always believed... there will come a day when children come running home hungry only because they were too busy playing and forgot to eat."

The rice panicles rustled in answer, gently enveloping their overlapping shadows.

Utsusemi stood before her own fifty mu of farmland and called Itama over. "Use the same planting method as last autumn again this year."

At a light tap of her finger, two flower-shaped barriers glowing with Chakra rose swiftly, keeping the voracious insects outside their fragrant walls. "Remember to take the barriers down when it's time for the pollen to spread."

"Got it," Itama answered with a smile, holding the birthday picture book Utsusemi had given him in his arms.

He had kept the picture book close ever since the day he received it.

"Should we use the same Water Release ninja as last year for the watering?"

"You're in charge of everything, and the wages will be doubled." Utsusemi straightened her sleeves. Thanks to trade, her income was ten times what it had been before.

She now had more money than she could spend, but she would have to wait until the alliance was formally signed and the village built before she could buy new land without worry.

With the Spacetime Tower, she was not short of money at all. Rather than leave the currency of the Warring States era sitting unused, she might as well give it generously to everyone.

This time, Utsusemi did not take part in the farming herself, instead turning her attention to more pressing matters.

The alliance between the Uchiha and the Senju had reached an impasse because of the curse on Uchiha Izuna.