was dangerous, perhaps deliberately so. All of Tobirama’s missions of late had been fraught, but this one, this one felt different. There was no coincidence of danger but only because it was clearly overt, and the timing of it was obviously punitive. Even Tobirama knew that sending just one shinobi on a mission like this was-
Stupid.
And Hashirama wasn’t stupid. He might play the fool, be naive where a leader could ill afford to be, but he was solid enough on military matters to know exactly what he might be sending his brother into.
He’d been certain. But how then? What if-
What if he’d been wrong?
“I’m sorry, nephew,” said Mutsuhito, sounding truly sorrowful for the first time in Tobirama’s memory. He met his uncle’s gentle gaze, surprised at its depth of sincerity he saw there when the man put a hand on his shoulder. “It has to be this way. Duty, family, honor. You know which comes first.”
Tobirama did. His father had pounded those words into his bones. And he knew. He knew his place.
He smoothed out his face and rerolled the scroll, tucking it into a pouch at his hip.
“Very well,” Tobirama said.
Mutsuhito nodded. He seemed actually proud.
It set Tobirama's teeth on edge.
Tobirama gave him the most shallow bow required, and ghosted by.
There was much to do. And evidently, little time to do it in.
-
Uchiha Saiyuri had never known what to do with her wayward youngest. Today was no exception.
“Let me go!” Kagami shouted, trying to yank his arm out of her grip, but she was hardly going to listen.
“You were told to stay in your room and that’s where you are going to go.”
“No!” he shouted, as though she was the one being unreasonable. “I have to go see Tobi!”
His feet slipped across the smooth wooden floors of their new house as she dragged him, yet again, back to his room.
“We’ve been over this, Kagami. You’re not to see him again.”
No one had ever told her that motherhood would be so terrifying. That children could be so fragile. And stupid. They had no understanding of consequences. Not like her, whose heart had stopped when she’d heard that her youngest had been with the Ghost all this time.
She should have known. She should have known that Kagami would find danger wherever he went.
Whether her son wanted to understand or not, Senju Tobirama was dangerous.
She’d seen firsthand what he’d done to her kin. She wouldn’t risk her son becoming another victim of that Senju’s hatred for their family. She couldn’t.
“He’s my friend! And Auntie Niita! I said I’d-”
Temper snapping, Saiyuri yanked at his arm, hauling her child to her. “He’s not your friend!” she shouted at him in her terror, “He’s a Senju and he’ll kill you without a thought!”
“No! You’re wrong! He told me so! He told me that he’s my friend and he needs my help!”
In such a rage as only terror can bring out in a parent, she grabbed his shoulders and shook.
“Listen to me, you stupid boy! Tobirama is dangerous. He’s killed dozens of your cousins. Dozens! They were all shinobi and older and wiser than you and Senju Tobirama sent them home in pieces!”
