Konoha's Weasel Prince
Summary: Itachi never got to use his Susanoo in his fight with Sasuke. As soon as the Kirin hit, he was sent back through time to the founder's era and it was up to him to ensure a safer and surer future for Konoha and the world at large. KisaIta TobiMada HashiMito others mentioned
Senju Tobirama had sensed it the instant their prisoner/patient had taken off one of the suppression seals put on him and he glared murder in the middle of a sentence, whirling around on the heels of his feet and entering the room without explaining himself to his companions as he prepared himself to yell himself raw at the black haired man he and his scouting party have found just the day before, only to freeze upon seeing the hospital room empty, the chakra restraining straps opened, the sheers a bit rustled and the window open but the room was empty. Had they not had a potential spy on their hands, Tobirama would have taken this moment to smugly tell his companions "I told you so," even if it would have been completely out of character for him. It would have been the right thing to say in that moment and they would have deserved it for him to rub it into their faces, since they had been fighting him regarding the stranger since they finished healing him.
But before Tobirama could alert everyone that they had a strange, foreign ninja moving about without supervision, he felt the stranger's chakra signature flare in a certain despair Tobirama had very rarely felt before and it intrigued him what could have caused it. Especially since it was literally coming from across the street. He made haste to the window, aware his brother, cousin and sister-in-law were following him in a slight panic.
There, he looked out and saw the young man perched precariously on the single pole across from the hospital, looking out in the distance with a face that was slowly drifting into indifference from what had looked like devastation had overtaken him just seconds before. Now, the white haired man was even more curious as to what could have caused such an emotional state.
The stranger just stood there, looking off into the distance, at one same spot with a crow on his shoulder, his black tresses dancing in the wind. Tobirama took this chance to fully study the stranger. He was younger than him by three to four years, Tobirama could easily tell. He was lean and thin but he had muscle underneath his clothing that had pretty much hidden his fit state from them until they had taken a hold of him and felt all that muscle. It was nothing over the top, but rather a subtle strength, like the one a dancer hides behind all of their complicated moves. His fecal features were almost noble, from his strong jaw, to his high cheekbones to his aristocratic nose and finally to his endlessly black eyes. When they had first opened and Tobirama saw them, he had nearly gotten lost in them, unfocused and unseeing as they had been. The man was an attractive one and he was sure to gather a lot of attention if he were to stay here. With his pale complexion, dark eyes and ash-black hair, he will stick out like a sore thumb among the brunets that dominated the Senju clan with their rich tans and large builds. Yes, the youth was tall but Tobirama was at least four or five centimeters taller. His royal like beauty will definitely get him some admirers.
But aside from the aesthetic beauty of his features, it also belied a certain character. The boy was confident, but not arrogantly so, his stance revealed. His build was that perfect for a shinobi, allowing both strength and speed, both hidden in a thin frame but with strong shoulders and muscular legs. The way he kept his face blank despite the emotional turmoil Tobirama had sensed earlier spoke of years of training, either as a shinobi or to become a political negotiator, meaning he came from a wealthy family. The shinobi gear they found on him couldn't be used to judge, as everyone carried some ninja weapon with them these days. Tobirama was unable to find a single scar on the young man's body, which either spoke of his skill or of his lack of battle experiences. Seeing as he had escaped his binds and was so casually standing on that pole, thirty feet above the ground, the younger Senju brother was inclined to believe it is the former, which brought him back full circle.
Was he a threat or a victim of an attack? Was he a spy or just a random passer by? Is he an Uchiha or not?
He was broken out of his musings when the crow looked his way and cawed, alerting the raven haired man that he had an audience. Tobirama was prepared for a fight and immediately drew a kunai, ready to attack when he saw those impossibly black eyes open, expecting them to turn that cursed bloody red any moment, but instead of that, confusion settled on the handsome features. Then, something like dawning realization and the man moved and Tobirama reacted, throwing his kunai with speed and precision. The man was obviously trying to escape. He was justified in attacking, or so he will tell himself for the rest of his life as he watched the younger man jump up with the grace of a cat and start falling-
Only to land perfectly balanced in the exact same spot he had been before the kunai was thrown his way. Black eyes settled on him again and the younger Senju brother swore those black eyes were far more dangerous than any pair of Sharingan eyes that he had glimpsed so far. Had he not been as good of a sensor as he was, he would have been sure that the man had already trapped him in a genjutsu with how drawn into their depths he was. There was something there that just drew people in. Something dangerous yet oh so alluring. It made you both be at ease and completely on guard. A sort of unimaginable power that simply cannot be understood radiated from the younger man. It was unnerving.
''Tobirama, what the hell!?'' His brother yelled and came into view of the stranger, whose eyes only widened further. The pale raven haired man even went as far as to pinch himself, looking ready to rub his eyes in disbelief. Tobirama wasn't sure why he and his brother garnered such a reaction. The other probably knew who they were and was shocked, but why have such a severe reaction. It's not impossible to meet other shinobi in the world, no matter how famous they might be. You never know when or whom you will run into in their line of work. ''Don't attack my patients!''
''Well, at least we know for sure now that he is a shinobi.'' Toka said, appearing beside Hashirama and looking at the stranger with an appreciative eye. ''He's hot.''
''Very.'' Mito agreed, coming to stand by her husband and in-laws, getting a squeak out of the tall brunet man.
''Mito! That's mean! Don't say stuff like that about another man in front of your future husband!'' He wailed and Tobirama saw the raven haired stranger sweat drop as he studied them, his crow never leaving his shoulder after he landed again. Although the bird gave off strange protective vibes that Tobirama could just barely pick up. He was impressed. It was apparently a far more sentient animal than an ordinary animal would be and yet it wasn't a kuchiyose. He was broken out of his thoughts when his brother turned to talk to the stranger. ''Excuse me, but could you please return here? You were very sick and injured just yesterday. We have to make sure you will be okay.''
''I don't know you so how can I trust you?'' The stranger said in a clear voice after a moment of thought. He had a slightly uneasy gleam in his eyes as he regarded them. Tobirama guessed it was well warranted. They had tied him up and he was in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers who had not even introduced themselves. He had a right to be wary. Tobirama couldn't help but feel a grudging ounce of respect towards the younger man start forming. This one was no fool.
His older brother did a shameless facepalm at their rude behavior and Tobirama sighed. ''Oh! I am so sorry for coming off as rude and untrustworthy. Let me introduce myself and my companions.'' He said with a friendly smile, belying his great power with his cheerful personality. ''I am Senju Hashirama, this is my brother Tobirama,'' he pointed first at himself before placing a hand on Tobirama's tense shoulder. ''This is my lovely wife Uzumaki Mito,'' he gestured towards a redhead woman dressed in a beautiful white kimono with her hair done up in two buns before pointing to a light haired brunette woman with her hair done in an elaborate and intricate top-knot on top of her head. ''And this is my cousin, Toka. May we know your name now and will you please come inside?''
Tobirama resisted smacking Hashirama over the head for revealing their family name to this stranger, a thing they were taught never to share with strangers due to them being potential enemies since they were children. Still, it's not as though their identities would stay hidden for long. Toka was still in her battle armor and Hashirama had a cloth around his head with their clan's symbol on it. Anyone would be able to deduce which clan they come from and he guessed it was a show of trust and faith that Hashirama had introduced them so openly.
They all nearly jumped out of their skin when the young man appeared in front of them, his speed startling even for Tobirama, who had achieved a whole new level of speed with a recent jutsu he was developing. He reached for another kunai but Mito placed a hand on his arm and squeezed in warning not to make a scene and make this even more difficult than it already was. Black eyes flew over them one more time, as though trying to make sure they were real or serious, Tobirama couldn't tell, before the younger sighed.
''I am Itachi and I thank you for saving me.'' He said with a bow, his long hair falling over his shoulder. The three Senju exchanged looks, trying to remember if they ever heard of a ninja named Itachi - since he was obviously a very talented ninja, they should have known of his name as soon as they heard it - while Mito was busy trying to make Itachi a bit more comfortable.
''Itachi of what clan?'' Tobirama finally asked, interrupting the small talk the Uzumaki was trying to make with this stranger who refused to give them his family name when they had given him theirs. Tobirama was even more suspicious of him than before.
A dark looks settled over Itachi's face, he turned his face away and lowered his eyes. ''Itachi of no clan. They are all dead.''
The little family couldn't help but flinch at the cold statement and they shared a look between themselves before Hashirama turned back to the stranger. ''Well, Dare no Ichozoku no Itachi, you will be welcome here for as long as you wish to stay. You can leave as soon as you are healthy enough-''
''If you would allow me, I would like to leave right now.'' Itachi interrupted, shooting a glance at them before turning towards the window. Tobirama thought him very arrogant to turn his back to a roomful of potential enemies. He didn't like, however, the way that bird kept staring at them. One of its eyes was red. He had never liked crows before but he especially didn't like the one on Itachi's shoulder now. ''I do not belong here and I must find my way back to where I should be. I do not know how long I have been unconscious and would rather like to make as good a time as I can. I am in a stable enough condition to be let out of the hospital, so if you would return my things to me now, I would be very grateful.''
''It is too bad, then, that we will not let a potential spy just walk out of here.'' A new voice said and Tobirama repressed a flinch when his father pushed past him and reached for Itachi. The crow puffed up threateningly but it let his father lay a hand on Itachi. Itachi even let himself be turned around to face Senju Butsuma, his features impassive and as cold as Butsuma's were as they stared at each other, eyes so dark brown they were almost black glaring at eyes so dark gray they were black. Itachi did not flinch when Butsuma tightened his grip or when his hand moved upwards, from his shoulder to his throat. ''Do not presume that you will receive an imperial welcome here, Uchiha scum. You will leave here either as a dead body or as a bargaining chip.''
A fine black eyebrow arched at Butsuma's words, a hand moving up casually to lightly push away Butsuma's hold. ''I am not of the Uchiha Clan. My family has been dead for the past eight years.'' Tobirama focused his senses on Itachi's chakra, knowing any lie he were to tell would immediately be reflected in the pulsations of his chakra, but Itachi's chakra stayed completely level. He was not lying.
Still, his father was not satisfied with this answer, Tobirama knew. The man hated the Uchiha and he saw a spy or enemy in anyone who so much as resembled an Uchiha. Unlike his sons, who liked to make sure the person about to be executed (or spared, if Hashirama were to find them or if they were children) is indeed an enemy, Butsuma asked no such questions and instead just killed whoever he suspected of being a spy or an enemy. Add to that that he lacked Tobirama's senses or Hashirama's gut instinct when it came to such things, and Butsuma was a downright tyrant and horror for all those who resembled or allied themselves with the Uchiha. Itachi very much looked like an Uchiha and he even felt somewhat like one, so the chances of him staying alive were all but slim to none. That is, he is only alive because he is classified as Hashirama's patient. Butsuma knew better than to try and kill Hashirama's patients. Usually.
Butsuma moved his hand back towards that thin throat, making as if to grab it and strangle its owner, only for a paler hand to shoot up in that same amazing speed, grab hold of it and twist painfully just so that Butsuma crumbled under the pain, his knees giving out underneath him and nearly laying him flat on the ground before Itachi. Said stranger's face remained perfectly unchanged, not a sneer or a growl in sight. There was no boasting or goading coming from the twenty one year old man. His grip was strong and steady, showing some of the hidden strength Tobirama had suspected to be there, yet never twisting enough to break Butsuma's arm, showing the Senju Clan Head the mercy the other would not have bestowed upon him. When Butsuma moved to take out a blade to attack Itachi, the younger just put a bit more pressure on the captured appendage and Butsuma crumbled completely under the pain with a loud grunt. "You bastard!" Was the barely whispered insult his father managed to ground out through clenched teeth and Tobirama suspected it would have been a whimper had the man not had so much of his damned pride. "If you don't let go, I will kill you!"
The threat flew right over Itachi's head, the young adult just arching a delicate eyebrow at his captive while the rest of the Senju and Mito watched in a sort of morbid fascination. "Many greater shinobi than you have tried and yet I still walk this earth, Senju-san. However, I wish you luck with your attempts." Itachi released his arm and turned towards their stunned audience and bowed. "My apologies for coming off as rude. It was not my intention to seem ungrateful to those who have spared my life. Out of respect to you, Hashirama-san, Tobirama-san, Mito-san and Toka-san, I will stay for however long you deem it I should or may."
Hashirama seemed to relax at this while Tobirama once again eyed the stranger with suspicion. He could see and sense what no one else seems to have picked up on just yet. Itachi is most definitely dangerous. He is fast and strong and skilled, with an impeccable chakra control if he had managed to get out of those chskra restraints and take off one of his seals or move about as though his chakra wasn't bound. He held a certain amount of intelligence and poise within himself, still not displaying all of his cards just yet. He was charming yet honest, blunt yet secretive. If Tobirama hadn't known perfection was impossible, he would say Itachi was it in the shinobi sense.
"If that is the case, you will stay for at least a month due to your past illness. I have never seen an illness like that before and the fact that you were alive after having it for years astounds me." The brunet of the Senju brothers told Itachi, hesitantly reaching out a hand to place on the younger man's shoulder. Itachi didn't move away or react negatively to the contact, so Hashirama relaxed. "We will give you a small house near the hospital where you can stay while you recover. When you are well enough, we will not force you to stay."
"However," Tobirama broke in before Hashirama could start giving the other whatever the hell he wanted. Hashirama wanted to make everyone happy, so he tended to give into demands other would view as atrocious. That was why Tobirama always followed his brother wherever he went, ever since that one fateful day at the river, when he and their father all but stole Hashirama's dream from him. For that one dream, Hashirama was prepared to do anything and Tobirama knew he was needed to stop his brother from doing something foolish or dangerous. The same could be said for this situation, also. He wasn't sure if it was Itachi's coloring or some part of his calm demeanor that drew Hashirama - and everyone else other than Butsuma, if Tobirama was honest with himself - in due to the resemblance of a friend he could no longer reach out to due to the war going on, but he could see that Hashirama would for now do pretty much anything to keep Itachi with them at least for however long it took him to fully recover. Itachi didn't look like someone who would abuse and use such kindness and generosity, but, then again, he was a shinobi. And a damn good one, it would seem, if even Tobirama was questioning his judgment of him. "You will be required to wear that suppression seal all the time and will be under surveillance."
Itachi met his hard stare with an understanding one, not a hint of protest in his person. "Perfectly understandable. I am a stranger and you have young ones running around these lands. As little as my word may mean to you, I will still give you my promise not to cause harm or endanger anyone here. I prefer to avoid conflict as much as possible."
This was not good, Tobirama could tell by the gleam in his brother's eyes. It was the same gleam he got whenever he thought of that one summer of his childhood where he had had the chance to really dream, when he had been able to fantasize of a better future, where he had regained some of his innocence and his hope, despite them losing two brothers that year. It was the gleam that was ever present in his eyes as he rushed out into the war zone, ignoring ever Uchiha but one, that was there every time he tried to reason with him and that nearly dimmed out every time the other turned him away. It was there, renewed again, when he talked of that impossible, pipe dream he shared with an impossible friend that he was still clinging on to despite how many of their brethren may have fallen at the end of the other's blade or on the receiving end of his jutsu. With that one sentence, Itachi had rekindled that gleam, that fire in his Anija and while Tobirama loved that his brother never lost his light, he knew such dreams were dangerous.
What Hashirama saw was just a fantasy world, one that would not last even if that dream was achieved. Hashirama didn't seem to understand that, or he simply ignored it. Tobirama was usually the one there to remind Hashirama of how cruel reality really was and that he could not spend all of his time dreaming and hoping. The war they were stuck in was led by old beliefs, ones that will never die out as long as there were elders in both of the warring clans. Neither of the Clan Heads wanted to end the war, either. Their sons might, but they also understood that they have to continue fighting for the sakes of their clansmen. The heirs of both clans were the strongest fighters in either clan for centuries, perhaps simply the strongest either clan had ever produced. The one time they had seriously went at it, no restraints, no stopping them, was when Tobirama and the other second heir had been downed in a fight, a stray jutsu causing them to fall through the earth. The result of that clash, when rage had taken over Hashirama's friend unlike any other before seen in any human and when Hashirama had had to push himself to new limits just to stay alive, had forced them all to draw new maps because the devastation to the battlefield had altered the terrain for the next couple of miles. Tobirama and his own rival had been lucky that day, to have survived.
But not even that event was enough to shake Hashirama's beliefs. He would have taken it upon himself to help the other through his grieving, under the misleading impression that one can help an Uchiha grieve. The other would have torn him apart. There would have been no peace, just more death and destruction and chaos.
Itachi's words have given Hashirama a certain hope that he will have an alley in his impossible dream.
Tobirama will have to keep an eye on him from now on, this Dara no Ichozoku no Itachi.
