Well, that was unexpected

Dango

When Tobirama woke up, the bed was strangely empty. It took a few seconds to realize that he was in Izuna's bed, and a few more seconds to realize who exactly he was looking for (somehow, things had gone from him constantly searching for Madara to searching for both him and Izuna). There was a heavenly scent in the air, which he realized must have been Madara's cooking. After a long stretch, he shuffled down to the kitchen. Izuna was seated at the table when he arrived, sleepily explaining that he was not attempting to steal away his brother's lover just because they fell asleep together. Unfortunately, it seemed Madara's love rivalry with his brother didn't seem like it was going to fade away any time soon- especially if Izuna kept intentionally riling him up. When the two of them noticed Tobirama in the doorway, they flashed him near identical smiles. The two of them looked so similar, unlike him and Hashirama. It would have been a little off-putting if not for their opposing personalities.

"Good morning, you two." He took what was becoming his normal seat in front of Izuna, and thanked Madara when he sat a cup of hot tea down on the table for him. The tea smelled strongly of lemon, which he appreciated.

"Morning, Tobi!" As usual, Izuna was chipper and grinning his way. It was a relief to see that he was back to normal after how upset he'd been the night before. Instead of a normal greeting, Madara stooped to press a good morning kiss on one of Tobirama's cheeks, which sent Izuna gagging (he seemed to get more childish each day).

A few minutes later, breakfast was served. Izuna spent a lot more time talking about how much better his eyes felt than he did eating, and Tobirama asked him a few questions to make sure there were no negative side effects of the jutsu. To his relief, his vision seemed to be improved and pain lessened with no notable issues. It seemed that his jutsu would work, if only he could find a way to untangle and repair the unfamiliar nerves behind the eyes that were unique to the Uchiha clan. They appeared to be linked directly to the sharingan- more specifically the mangekyou- and he had a feeling they were among the main causes of blindness. Perhaps he could create a jutsu to allow the nerves to regenerate, or even one that would protect them from the harsh conditions that mangekyou chakra imposed on them. It would be much more efficient to stop the deterioration before it became an issue, rather than just repairing the damage after it was already done. After many repairs, there may come a point where the damage could no longer be undone, and Tobirama would be back at square one. He did a quick exam with medical ninjustu of both brothers' eyes and found that none of the nerves he had rebuilt had any noticeable changes yet. Just as he thought, the nerves weren't targeted one by one and destroyed, but all sustained damage at near equal rates.

"Madara, we are still going back to the labs today, aren't we?" The guilty smile he got back was enough of an answer. He figured it had something to do with the meeting Madara had with the elders last night, and, after years of doing the clan head's work, he knew those meetings were hard to avoid. It was disappointing that he could not continue his work yet (Madara did not trust him not to use the acid method if he went to the lab alone), but he understood that duties to one's clan came first. "You can explain later. Since you cooked breakfast so early, I suppose that means you'll have to leave soon." Tobirama knew from the way Madara avoided his eyes that he had guessed right. Knowing how guilty his Madara must have felt for breaking his promise, Tobirama stood and pressed a kiss into his hair before heading for the door. "Let me know when you are done with your meeting. I am going to train."

••••••••••

He settled on training in the garden. It was a wide span of open space, and neither Madara nor Izuna came there often, which meant it was empty of people (distractions). Not to mention the koi pond and stream that ran through the garden, which provided a steady supply of water to draw from should he practice any jutsu. Water techniques were his specialty, though it was an odd feeling to be a water user living among the fiery Uchiha clan. He had originally perfected his water techniques in order to combat the Uchiha on the battlefield, so now Tobirama felt it was a little useless.