Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto. I just fool around with it.
Notes: Written for the Tobirama week challenge.
Edo Tensei
The wailing of women is what first alerts Tobirama to the return of a ninja party to the Senju clan's settlement. They were being told, no doubt, of who had fallen at the hands of the Uchiha, who was now a widow and who had outlived their sons.
As the clan head's son, Tobirama knows that the only squads away at the moment are his brothers', Itama's and Hashirama's, so it is with a constricted heart that he abandons the scroll he had been reading about the history of their Uzumaki kin and rushes outside. The brief pause he has to make at the door to put on his sandals annoys him far more than he can explain. It barely delays him, but, after what happened to Kawarama a few months ago, he is desperate to know that his brothers are safe.
Hashirama is the first person he sees when he finally reaches the street, leading the group of survivors and speaking quietly with one of their fellow clansmen. He appears to be unharmed, his clothes almost immaculate, if not for a dark blood stain over the breast plate of his armour. An unfathomable pressure lifts from Tobirama's chest at the sight of him, even though the widows still cry like their world has ended.
Two other men in full battle gear accompany Hashirama. Tobirama recognises them as his brother's team. They too seem to have returned unscathed from whatever fighting had come upon them. Really, it is almost unprecedented that a team should arrive reporting no casualties, much less no injuries, so Tobirama is left confused. What is the cause for all the shouting and tears?
He has to look closer to find the caskets the team has dragged behind them, three of them in total, which until then had been hidden by the crowd that surrounds the survivors. He is quick to do the math: Hashirama's team is accounted for and the only other Senju known to have been away at the moment were Itama and his two teammates.
For a second, Tobirama feels like he cannot breathe. His vision blurs and a dizzy spell hits him. He has to reach out a hand to steady himself against the wall of his house.
When he pulls himself back together, he catches Hashirama, still all the way down the street, staring at him with a concerned gaze. Their eyes lock in silent communication, one apologising, the other accepting.
He remembers nothing of the funeral that takes place that afternoon other than the back of Hashirama's head, his single remaining brother whom he swears to himself he will not lose.
As he finds himself alone that night, the rest of the household laying around him close by, safe in a world of either dreams or nightmares, all that Tobirama can think of is that there must be a different way, a better way, to end this cycle of war other than to constantly feed their loved ones to the God of Death.
o
Butsuma Senju takes his sons with him on an official visit to the village of their distant relatives and oldest allies, the Uzumaki clan. The ceremonial nature of the proceedings as the Senju arrive irks Tobirama. Their father had lectured him and his brother extensively on how they should behave, from what they should wear, to how they should address the Uzumaki and, especially, on how they should not, under any circumstance, mold chakra without first gaining permission from their elders.
Pragmatical as ever, Tobirama cannot decide what to make of it. The Senju and the Uzumaki are either allies and kin – in which case it should make little difference how they act, as long as they do not cross the same boundaries imposed by respect and civility that they have at home – or they are not. The fact that Butsuma and his sons' garments bear the Uzumaki insignia alongside the Senju's, however, says a lot about the trust that exists between them, so the whole exercise in restraint seems pointless to Tobirama.
His doubts notwithstanding, the young boy actually enjoys the week-long visit very much. Since the village is located in an island of its own, the sights are dramatically different from those of the forest back home. All of the houses are mostly made out of white stone that gleams in the unfettered sunlight and the stunning designs and colourful ornamentation on them reflect the Uzumaki's penchant for the arts and creative endeavours in general.
The port is beautiful, with carved pillars sprouting from the waves in some pattern that Tobirama cannot decipher but that seems meaningful all the same. The place that grabs his attention the most, however, is the Mask Temple, a circular building with a domed roof crowned by a cupola with a panoramic view over the village of Uzushiogakure.
Hashirama says that the temple had given him a bad feeling, so he does not accompany Tobirama when the younger boy decides to return there a second time. When he gets there, the young Senju meets one of the caretakers of the holy space in the middle of her cleaning routine. She offers to tell him the stories behind the masks that cover the walls of the temple. There are dozens of them, so it takes them a long while to go over them, but Tobirama is all too eager to know more and takes great delight in listening to her speak.
His memory is unable to retain most of what he hears that day, but the story about the Mask of the Death God stays with him long after he has left Uzushiogakure.
o
The cycle of war continues on, Senju slaying Uchiha and Uchiha slaying Senju. Tobirama does not see it ending any time soon. The numbers they kill match the numbers they lose, so perhaps the two clans will fight until only one man remains standing on each side and then rid the world of their existence altogether by annihilating each other.
The young Senju wanders the battlefield in the aftermath of a particularly violent battle. As the carrion birds descend on the upturned terrain, he and the few allies who are left alive search through the bodies strewn over the broken rocks and trees, looking for anything and anyone worth saving.
A wet gurgle has him snapping his head to the side. He follows the sound to a man whose armour bears the Senju symbol, but whom Tobirama does not know personally. The man's eyes latch on to him, tearing up in joy like the boy was an envoy from the gods. He tries to speak, but nothing but blood spills from his lips. He then lifts his hand towards him and Tobirama clues in as to what he wants.
The man does not last long, the slash across his stomach ensures that, but, throughout those final moments, his grateful eyes do not once stray from Tobirama's. It is such an intense gaze that the young Senju finds himself holding on to the man's hand as hard as the man does his. Still keyed up from the battle, his superior sensing skills allow him to keep track of every detail of that man's passing, even the slight brush of chakra against his senses that signals the departure of the soul.
He remembers the story of the Mask of the Death God he heard on Uzushio. He also remembers Itama's funeral and thinking that there had to be a way to end the war that did not involve the Uchiha and the Senju's mutual extermination.
o
Tobirama keeps mostly to himself over the next month. He can see Hashirama getting worried about him, waiting for the right moment to catch him alone so he can ask him about what it is that he does when he disappears without telling anyone.
They are sent out to battle before such a chance arises. As always, Hashirama sticks to his brother's side as much as possible, despite the fact that it has been long since Tobirama has needed any type of assistance. The two of them work well as a team, but, because they are so preoccupied with one another, they tend to get separated from whoever else is fighting alongside them.
Such a tendency almost leads to disaster this one time. Correctly assessing the two brothers as the greatest threats on the field, their enemies focus on taking out the rest of their team, one by one. Hashirama uses his wood style techniques to try to protect them from a distance, but Tobirama quickly realises that his brother's effort will not be enough to save everyone. They are too far apart and outnumbered by at least three-to-one. Their enemies will not let them go so easily.
He decides to take a risk and put the project he has been working on over the past month to the test.
Trusting Hashirama to watch his back, Tobirama launches into a long sequence of hand seals – something he will have to fine-tune in the future, so the technique can be more readily used. As he puts his hands to the ground, a large array of interlocking black symbols takes form under his feet. After that, he keeps his hands in the position of the final hand seal and waits for an enemy to step into the trap. All it would take is for one toe to cross the edge of the array.
He barely has to wait for someone to fall for it. The technique runs its course, enveloping the body of an enemy ninja in flakes of earth, suffocating the life out of him as it takes on the form of one of their father's commanders who had been buried back at the Senju compound only a week ago.
The completion of the technique leaves Tobirama almost too exhausted to move – something else he will have to perfect – but Hashirama does not miss a beat, rushing to his side and doing a good enough job of fighting for the both of them. Meanwhile, the newly-revived Senju is backing up their remaining teammates, all the deadlier for his invulnerability to injury or death.
The battle ends shortly afterwards. None of the Senju are gravely wounded, thanks to their revived ally who continuously put himself in the way of any attacks that might have proven fatal. Tobirama smirks in victory. The technique he invented, his Edo Tensei, is a success.
Hashirama is not so enthusiastic.
"Tobirama! What is the meaning of this? What did you do?"
The younger brother's smile fades in the face of Hashirama's outrage. "It's exactly as it looks. I brought back one of our fallen soldiers to fight for us," he explains haughtily.
Tobirama realises what Hashirama will answer before his brother can open his mouth. Until then, he had been surprised by the appearance of their summoned ally. Now, horror overtakes his expression.
"I forbid you from using that technique ever again!" Hashirama exclaims. "You can't just use the dead like... like... it's disrespectful! Not to mention the disaster that it would spell for us if such a technique were to fall into the wrong hands!"
Tobirama knows that his brother has always been more uneasy on the topic of death than him, but he should think that, if the dead are to have any opinion on the matter, then it would be contentment that they can keep their loved ones from joining them for a little while longer. Hashirama should be congratulating him for his success. He should realise the difference this will make in the way they fight from now on, the way it will save them while those who are past salvation shoulder the burden of war in their stead.
"Tobirama!" he shouts when the younger brother does not reply immediately. "Do you understand what I just said? I forbid you!"
Tobirama hesitates. He thinks of Itama and Kawarama and of that man whose hand he held so he would not have to die alone in a battlefield while the carrion birds fed off of his flesh. He understands nothing of Hashirama's objections, only that the current course of events will lead them all to their premature deaths, while this technique has the power to change their doomed fate.
However, out of the two of them, he is not the older brother.
"I understand, brother. I will be more careful from now on."
The answer pacifies Hashirama, though only until Tobirama uses a perfected version of the technique he calls Edo Tensei the next time they find themselves fighting a losing battle.