A/N: Everyone is spiteful. Kagami triggered a giant change in Konoha. Hashirama is spiteful enough to support it.
Sharingan was known for its photographic ability.
One gaze when it was activated, and those memories will be ingrained forever in the sharingan, tinted in red like the typically bloody circumstances that awakened the red dojutsu for the first time.
The first dream was scorching hot and bloody red.
Izuna knew it was not a figment of his own mind because he could feel the heat of the fire and the wet warmth of blood that splotched on his own face. Everything was the perfect crystal clarity of the sharingan, tinted with the slightest hue of red that seemed to illuminate the surrounding fire with an echo of the strange anger and sorrow that he felt building up in his chest.
Hunched and curled up on the ground, barely hidden behind the collapsing hut, Izuna found his gaze to be fixed on the mangled body of a young boy.
A dead boy that carried an eerie resemblance to his own half-brother.
Izuna wanted to tear his gaze away, wanting to know what was happening around him but he couldn't. His gaze was fixed on the dark eyes of the dead boy—no matter how he tried, he couldn't tear his gaze away from the dead glaze—as a feeling of deep sorrow that he last felt when Jiro died brimmed up in his chest.
That was when the delirious chanting echoing in his mind registered to his awareness.
Otoutou. Otoutou. Otoutou. Otoutou. Otoutou. No no no no no no no no no no no
Despite how much he was internally screaming that he did not know this dead boy, Izuna could not tear his red-tinted gaze from the lifeless gaze of those open onyx orbs nor did he was able to stop the delirious chanting in his head.
Izuna heard a rustle. Someone moved behind him, the malicious intent was clear from the way their chakra flickered with manic glee and Izuna found his own body moved faster than possible, using the broken piece of a metal rod by his side as a makeshift weapon.
The masked man seemed like he was moving in slow motion in Izuna's red-tinted clear gaze when Izuna lunged and took the man's throat with a mournful howl that ripped out of his own.
He was too small and short; thus the attack was barely able to kill his opponent. Instead, he only managed to graze a shallow wound on the man's throat. The failed kill made his opponent even more angry and violent against him.
Izuna almost wished he could close his eyes to wait for the impending blow that will strike him dead.
The blow never came.
Instead, the man collapsed in a spray of blood, head separating from his neck. Standing behind him like an angry wolf whose cub was threatened, was a woman—the very same woman Tajima carried home the day he brought Tobirama into the Uchiha compound. Her silver hair rose like the hackles of an angry beast, her teeth gleamed in an angry sneer and her dark eyes carried the promise of death for those who dared to come near her. She whirled around in a fluid movement—and Izuna was stunned, breath hitching in his throat as he watched the angry goddess slaughtered the remaining offenders, slamming the wrath of hell down onto the group of men
When it was over and Izuna was finally snapped out of whatever shock he was feeling, he was already safely cradled in her loving arms, her gentle voice crooned soothing words to his ear.
Izuna felt the tears pricked his eyes and was barely able to stop himself before he started to wail.
The woman hushed him gently, running her coarse fingers on the damp skin below his eyes in a soothing manner, soft chapped lips peppered his face with kisses.
"You did great, pup," she crooned, rocking him in her arms. "I know you defended your little brother well," she soothed, nuzzling his hair affectionately. "It is not your fault."
Izuna felt the start of an argument rose up his chest but was stopped as his gaze stared past the woman's shoulder to stare at a familiar man—looking much younger than the last he saw him, but there was no mistake—as the man wrapped the mangled broken body of the dead boy in his cloak, carrying the corpse towards them.
Despite his red-tinted gaze seemed to be fixed on the man's solemn face, Izuna found himself focusing on the fan emblazoned on the dark fabric that wrapped around the corpse.
"Tajima," the woman greeted in a soft sigh, reaching out a hand towards the man.
Tajima only caressed her wrist before his arm reached past her outstretched hand to cradle her shoulders, pulling both her and Izuna to his chest. Izuna felt a gentle kiss on his forehead, the lips that bestowed him that kiss was much drier and chapped than the woman's, but it was loving nonetheless that Izuna could not resist the urge to move closer and snuggle to his father's chest.
"I'll see to their gruesome end," Tajima's voice bore the same anger and bitterness that Izuna often heard after each of his brother's death. There was no doubt that it was a promise of revenge. "You have my words, pup. Your little brother's passing won't go without retribution."
Izuna felt something snapped inside his small body as he started to burst to tears again.
His chin was tilted up to meet two pairs of eyes—one was gleaming as dark as the night while the other was spinning in vicious Mangekyou—as Tajima's rough thumb gently wiped his tears away. Tajima leant down to kiss his forehead again.
"For now, try to get a rest," Tajima murmured, quirking the tiny rare smile that was only used when he wished to soothe his children. "It has been a day."
Izuna blinked at the man, feeling a bit disoriented when the adrenaline faded away and the shock of the traumatic event finally hit him. Tajima kept his face tilted up, the hard edges of his vicious Mangekyou softened when he crooned in a mimicry of soothing hum to match the woman's voice as he added;
"Can you try to do that, Tobi?"
Izuna jolted awake.
Two weeks later, Izuna swore that he was going to murder Kagami.
This was surely a genjutsu cast by the boy. There was no other explanation. It was a genjutsu.
After all, these vivid traumatic dreams only started after the boy's little show of defiance the other day.
Kagami must have weaved Izuna into an intricate genjutsu then. It wasn't that much of a far-fetched idea, knowing how powerful Tobirama's genjutsu was. The boy was Tobirama's student, having been toddling after the demon everywhere ever since he was three, thus it was perfectly logical if Kagami picked up a trick or two from the deceased demon.
This must have been a genjutsu.
A genjutsu cast to drive Izuna crazy, sending him into fake memories where he has to repeat what that was supposed to be Tobirama's life over and over again, feeling the emotions that were not his and responding to deaths of the people that he didn't even know.
The second dream he had has jolted Izuna awake with tears streaking down his cheeks, mind haunted by the violent image of his mother (no, it was not; she was Tobirama's mother) as her spine was snapped like a twig, the sickening crunch of her bones rung in his ears even after hours since he was jolted awake hurling the acid in his stomach to the side of his bed.
As much as he hated to admit it, he felt a deep level of understanding, remembering the death of his own mother.
But that doesn't mean anything. A lot of kids lost their parents during the time of war.
Tobirama wasn't a special snowflake.
A lot of kids lost their parents during the war.
Lots of kids lost their parents during the war.
Tobirama wasn't special.
He wasn't special.
(Even if he witnessed his mother being tortured and murdered right in front of him.)
(Even if he witnessed his mother's corpse been violated and defiled before she was mangled and broken like twigs.)
(Even if they tied him up and had him witnessed everything, sharingan spinning to record everything in eternal memory.)
Tobirama. Was. NOT. Special.
Izuna repeatedly reminded himself that—reminded himself of the fact that Tobirama was not special—as he squashed down every shred of sympathy and guilt that started to grow within him every time he was jolted awake from his restless and traumatising sleep.
Despite being a shinobi with enhanced endurance, reliving traumatising events every night eventually has taken a toll on Izuna's health.
He became jumpy, avoiding all Hatake woman at all cost because their silver hair and dark eyes kept reminding him of the livid gleam in the eyes of the angry goddess in his dreams—the very same goddess he had to watch being defiled and violated as her last dying breath left her lips. Izuna grew even crankier than Madara ever was (and that was saying something because the younger of the Senju brothers was infamous for his snappy and vicious temper) as he stopped sleeping by the end of the first week, only falling to restless naps whenever his body gave up.
Every morning, Izuna never forget to remind himself that his deceased elder brother was a bastard and a demon that the world was a better place without Tobirama in it.
His voice lost its confidence by the end of the first week. Doubts laced his words even when he tried to convince himself that he was never wrong about Tobirama.
No, he was not wrong. His judgement was not misguided by envy and fear.
Tobirama's violence in the battlefield was because of the demon's lust for blood.
Tobirama tried to be everywhere in the battlefield all at once, attempting to kill all foes that crossed his path because he genuinely enjoyed the feeling of cutting down their enemies.
If the demon's gaze always skittered to the clan members he just took the blade for with pure relief, it has nothing to do with his past experiences watching the people he cared for being taken so ruthlessly from him.
It has no relations.
Izuna loathed the sway in his own voice when he repeated those words to the mirror every day. He abhorred the desperation in his own voice as he attempted to convince himself that this horrible genjutsu was not taking an effect on him.
It won't change his opinion on his demon of a half-brother, no matter how vivid those "memories" were.
Izuna's health was declining.
The ruby eyes he used to covet now started to lose its lively gleam, being weighed down with his own exhaustion.
By the end of the fourth week, Izuna was swearing deaths to Kagami's name and chanting curses of hell towards Tobirama's soul.
It didn't get better after that.
Oh, no. It gotten worse.
It was like everyone was out to drive Izuna crazy.
Izuna blamed Kagami.
And Tobirama. Definitely Tobirama. Tobirama was the root of all of this insanity.
Even in his death, Tobirama was the bane of Izuna's existence.
"Kagami-san?"
Kagami turned his head in the direction of his teammate's voice, chakra instinctually unfurled to sense his friend. There was a slight resistance when he found Danzou's chakra but in an instant, the resistance was gone as Danzou allowed Kagami's chakra to wrap around his own. Kagami raised an eyebrow, mapping out the nervous fluctuation of the younger boy's chakra. He then tipped his head in confusion, pinpointing the flow of Danzou's chakra and reached out a hand to ruffle Danzou's hair.
Danzou made an adorable little squeak.
"I told you to not be so formal, Danzou," he reprimanded with a tiny grin. "We're friends."
"But you're our taichou now," Danzou muttered, cheeks flushed to a light hue of pink.
Somewhere from behind him, Koharu snorted and rolled her eyes. Hiruzen and Homura exchanged a discreet teasing laughter while Torifu sighed fondly at his scheming friends.
Danzou scowled. Traitors. He befriended a bunch of traitors. He needed new friends.
"We're friends," Kagami insisted, throwing an arm around Danzou's body and pulled the boy closer, totally unaware of the deeper shade of pink on the younger boy's face. "Outside of a mission, I'm not your captain. I'm your friend."
"Kagami-taichou sounds so cool, though," Koharu inputted, smoothing out the edge of the scroll she was reading. "Thank you for sharing sensei's works with us, taichou-san," she added with a teasing giggle.
"And for allowing us to crash at your house, taichou-san~" Homura added with a cheeky chirp.
"Even when you're not around and off for a mission," Hiruzen resumed in a sing-song voice. "Taichou-san, you're the best!"
Torifu snorted a giggle.
Kagami pouted.
"The three of you!" the former Uchiha whined. "Stop treating me like a superior! I'm just two years older than the rest of you!"
"Kagami-taichou~!"
The team (minus the oddly flushed Danzou), chorused teasingly, invoking another distressed whine from Kagami.
Trained and practically raised by Tobirama himself, Kagami was already above ordinary jounin by the time Hashirama set the ranking system up. Hence, with the passing of his dear shishou, Kagami was naturally promoted as the captain of Team Demon.
(Tobirama always sighed whenever they used that name, but the fond quirk of his smile told the team that he was more exasperated than offended with their choice of name.)
Their team—Team Demon—was the prototype and the first attempt to group children of different clans together. Shishou has ideas about it, wanting to enforce the idea of peace and acceptance of their diverse clans early on with the new leaves of the village.
Children were the best start to enforce their new peace after all.
But six was definitely too large for a group.
The Senju brothers has voted to cut the number of children per group to half of that, much to Tobirama's distress.
Thus, the in-depth meeting that Kagami was roped into has gone on like this;
"No one but you want to handle six of those mini horror," Madara has pointed out, arms crossed over his chest stubbornly. "Three kids per group. One jounin captain."
"But—"
"I second that motion," Hashirama meekly agreed, inching to hide behind his baby brother. "Six kids are too much of a challenge to pile on one jounin."
Tobirama opened his mouth to argue again, but upon seeing Madara's steely resolve, he shut his mouth, lips pursed in a sulky pout as he tipped his head to the side, ruby eyes gazed upon his own lap dejectedly.
It was such a pathetic look to appear on the infamous Uchiha Demon's face that the reactions that followed afterwards were fully justified.
Kagami watched in pure amusement as the God of Shinobi wailed to the heavens, eyes squeezed forcefully shut as the newly crowned Hokage screamed in distress over the unfairness of the world for gifting the Uchiha Demon an irresistible pout that melted everyone to his will.
As for Senju Madara (bless his poor soul), he simply gaped for a moment, cheeks flushed to a deep pink before he quickly gathered himself and steeled his shattered resolve again.
"Three," Madara growled, shoulders tensed.
"You're not separating my kids," Tobirama growled back. "Six."
There was a beat of silence
"Your…," Madara faltered, voice trailed softer, "…kids?"
"My students," Tobirama said, voice edging into a possessive territory, his chakra flared in defence. "My kids— Kagami, Hiruzen, Koharu, Danzou, Homura and Torifu."
Madara did an impression of a fish out of water, seeming like he was thinking about something that Kagami was both interested yet refused to know, before the Senju Clan Heir flailed—arms waving around like he was attempting to banish some unsavoury thoughts from his mind—as a deeper shade of pink painted his face.
It was another full minute of Madara being adorably Madara before the young man gingerly agreed.
"Fine. Six. But only your team," the Senju Clan Heir said, pointedly avoiding from meeting anyone's eyes. "Other teams are going to be three kids per team led by one jounin captain."
Tobirama smiled—the genuine one million raiton jutsu smile—as he hummed happily;
"Thank you, Madara-kun."
Madara flailed.
That was the moment Kagami knew that Senju Madara's soul was officially sold to his Clan Head.
It was such a good old time.
Kagami clung to the memories he had of Tobirama hunched up at his table, spending all night long in his study as he drew out plans and drafts for the academy that the founders wished to be the starting point of enforcing the bond of unity and comradeship among children of different clans.
Kagami deeply missed the excited smile and manic gleam that would be on Tobirama's face every time the famed demon worked on his projects.
It was some of the memories the blind boy so desperately clung to.
"Kagami-san?"
"Danzou," Kagami sighed, exasperated yet resigned. "Do I even have the hope that you will stop being so formal with me?"
Silence. Then, Hiruzen broke it with a teasing giggle while Koharu snorted in pure annoyance.
Kagami frowned.
Danzou sent glares of death to his traitorous friends.
"No, then?" Kagami pouted, dropping his head in a resigned slump. "Fine. So, what is it you wish to talk about?"
"Um," Danzou hesitated, looking away from Kagami's bandaged eyes and definitely away from his friends' mixed expression of disapproving scowls and teasing smirks. "Nothing," he promptly said when Kagami's head tilted in confusion again. "I just want to ask about the kids? They have been here for a week? Like, they have been living here for the whole week you're on your mission? Their parents should be worried?"
Danzou blurted out his impromptu responses in hesitant questions, cheeks an adorable shade of pink as he avoided looking at Kagami's face.
Torifu sighed in amused exasperation.
Hiruzen buried his face into Torifu's shoulder to muffle his laughter while Homura claimed the Akamichi's back to muffle his own. Koharu's brows twitched, her fingers clenched around the edge of the scroll—her annoyance clear from the glare she directed towards Danzou.
Kagami, however, promptly snapped to attention.
"Wait, what kids?"
Kagami really was attempting to kill Izuna.
At least, that was what that Izuna has convinced himself to think.
"Izuna-kun."
Izuna winced, hands coming up to clutch his own head as his head snapped up from the paperwork to deliver a nasty glare at the concerned Hokage.
"What?" he growled, hissing when his own voice rung inside his brain in a painful echo, the headache now returning full force.
"You're not looking well," Hashirama murmured, keeping his voice soft and low as he noted on the familiar signs of migraine. "You may leave early if you wish," he added with a gentle smile.
Old habit died hard, and Hashirama couldn't resist the urge to soothe a pained baby brother. Moreover, now that Madara was away on a mission and Izuna was lacking a big brother to care for him, Hashirama felt obliged to honour Tobirama's memories by looking after Izuna.
Not that the little brat would appreciate it, but Hashirama has lived through Madara's amusingly annoying and bratty "I'm a big boy" phase, so he could deal with Izuna's brattiness just fine.
"It's nothing I can't handle."
Hashirama resisted the urge to roll his eyes and pout. What was it with little brothers and their chronic stubbornness of not admitting when they were in pain?
"Do you want me to take a look at it?" the Hokage insisted, offering his palms—both hands now glowing in a peaceful green chakra.
Izuna seemed to consider the offer but then he grimaced, ruby eyes narrowed in suspicion as his lips curled to a sneer.
"No, thank you."
Hashirama frowned.
Stubborn brat, thought the God of Shinobi.
"Unless if you allow me to maim Kagami, there was nothing you could do to help," Izuna sneered in a grimace, eyes darting back to his paperwork.
He didn't notice the way Hashirama's dark eyes narrowed in disapproval.
"Kagami-kun has done nothing wrong," the Hokage's voice steeled just slightly—still calm with a hint of his bouncy cheerfulness, but the tone of warning in his voice was clear. "Why would you wish for harm to befall on that boy?"
Izuna sneered.
"The brat cast this horrid genjutsu on me," he growled.
Hashirama frowned deeper.
"Inomaru-san said that there is no foreign chakra in your system," the Shodai said, voice dropping to the stern tone that matched his famed nickname. "There is no genjutsu. Whatever that you're experiencing, it is not because of foreign interference, let alone to be caused by that boy. Your accusation is baseless."
"Tobirama named him as his legacy," Izuna sneered, not even glancing up from his paperwork. "I wouldn't underestimate that boy if I'm you."
"He is sixteen," Hashirama countered.
"And we all know that a sixteen years old boy beheaded your father."
Hashirama went into a cold silence.
Izuna didn't bother to acknowledge the sudden spike of chakra that flared in silent fury from the older man. He had his paperwork and his too distracting headache to deal with. He did not have the patience capacity to deal with Hashirama today.
Thus, when Hashirama's lips curled to a suspiciously evil smile, Izuna didn't notice.
It was such a good thing that nobody believed Madara when he said that his dear Aniki was the most childishly and dangerously spiteful person in the whole Senju clan. Like how the Uchiha clan refused to see the warm human in the Uchiha Demon, the Senju refused to see the spiteful menace behind the bubbly foolish oaf Hashirama appeared to be.
It drove Madara crazy. No one believed him whenever he pissed his Aniki enough to cause the older man to start retaliating in spiteful revenge.
Izuna wouldn't know what would hit him.
And Hashirama was going to enjoy every second of it.
"Betrothed. "
Upon hearing the fond exasperated sigh of his nickname, Hashirama promptly schooled his face to the face of innocence, all white teeth flashed in a bright smile as he bounced to his fiancée, arms open to pull her into an embrace.
Mito rolled her eyes but did not resist his embrace.
"You're supposed to tell him," the Uzumaki princess chided, despite the fond quirk of her painted lips. "This is a big issue."
"I forgot," Hashirama grinned, casting a leering gaze to the piling papers on his table. "And oh, look at that. I have so many other works to do, so perhaps I will tell Izuna-kun some other time~"
Mito gave him a disapproving look.
Hashirama pouted, pleading with his eyes.
Mito rolled her eyes.
Hashirama made a little celebratory dance when Mito's shoulders slackened in resigned acceptance.
"I believe Madara-chan now," the Uzumaki princess grumbled, somehow managing to appear poised and elegant while doing so. "You're one spiteful menace."
"I have no idea what you're talking about~" Hashirama sing-song, pulling out the thick form from his "Pending Approval" shelf and smiled brighter as he read the name on the cover page of the clan registration form.
Hashirama then stamped a red giant block of approval on that form.
If he cackled evilly while doing so, Mito was the only one who witnessed it.
Hikaku swore under his breath, cursing his clan members as he paced in front of Izuna's house.
Izuna was going to kill him, he was sure of it. He was going to die a virgin at such a young age by the hands of his not-that-much-older cousin because his clan was such neglectful parents.
How the hell a bunch of parents could miss that their children have been missing for a whole week and just now only realised that it should be wise to alert the higher-ups?
They didn't realise that their own spawn was missing from home.
Hikaku was so close of throttling his own throat once the parents came to his office in the compound to complain about Izuna hoarding their kids, despite the peace that should allow them more time to attempt some bonding with their kids.
Izuna. With kids.
Izuna. Hoarding kids in his house.
Hikaku so sorely wanted to point out that they got the wrong Clan Head. Izuna was not the one who enjoyed the presence of rambunctious spawn of hell they called as children.
Izuna was not Tobirama.
These parents seriously accused the wrong Clan Head for that accusation.
Frantic at the reports of the missing children, Hikaku has sent an urgent message to the Hokage, hoping for a tracker team to be dispatched to help them track the kids before anything bad happened to them.
The twittering robin that came to deliver Hashirama's cheerful reply was like a mocking taunt to the Clan Heir because Hikaku was sure he was going to be tortured to death once this came to Izuna's knowledge. Dead. Uchiha Hikaku was a dead man. He was going to die. His own cousin was going to kill him.
And he blamed Kagami for it.
The Uchiha clan, as a whole, was used to the idea of communal day-care.
It was the tradition of the clan, to raise their children together as a large unit of siblings in one part of the compound. Back during Tajima's reign, the responsible person who was appointed to care for the children was Elder Maiko. She was the aunt for Tajima's wife, the remaining member from the maternal side of the Head's family and was a fearsome kunoichi back in her prime.
Takuma and Masami grew up together under her care.
Then, she passed away—the heads of the bloodline hunters that tried to harm her charges laid by her feet as she collapsed out of blood loss.
The new batch of children was temporarily transferred to the Clan Head's house, considering the level of security and protection Tajima had set up around the perimeter of his residence.
Two days after the move, Senju Madara sliced Tajima's chest open to avenge Butsuma's death.
The children never left their new residence, only returning to the embrace of their parents whenever their parents came to pick them up.
Most don't.
Hardened after a lifetime of war, most of the Uchiha parents chose battle and actions—taking up more and more missions despite the slight disapproving frown on the Demon's forehead—as they chose their missions over the tedious task of babysitting their own spawn.
They were terrified to raise their own children, knowing that their own hands knew nothing about tender care after a lifetime of being soaked in blood.
They assumed that the servants were the one caring for the children.
The limit of the Uchiha's imagination could not reach the level required to imagine their fearsome new Clan Head hanging around any of their rambunctious spawns. Even Izuna kept on going to missions or crashing on Hikaku's bedroll—the Clan Heir found it impossible to stand being under the same roof with both of the Uchiha Demon and those rabid mini hordes of horror that will be their future military power.
They somehow did not notice those servants, happily helping out sorting the management around the compound for one last month before leaving one by one—none of them bearing the slavery seal marks that Tajima's grandfather has placed on their ancestors.
They were free, and the Clan Head's house remained servant-less.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was invented not long after that.
With such neglectful track record of the Uchiha as parents, it shouldn't be a surprise when they took far too long of a time to notice the disappearance.
And when they did, it was too late to do anything.
Shimura Danzou had a problem.
"What are you children doing here?!" Kagami wailed in a mix of distress and panic, rushing all over his living room to chase after the giggling children. "Your parents are going to accuse me of kidnapping you!"
"Heeeehhhh?" The children chorused, stopping in their tracks and tilted their heads in an eerie display of solidarity.
Kagami grabbed one of the smaller children by her collar and tucked another one under his arm.
"Why are you even here?" the teenage captain panted, turning his head around out of reflex, pinpointing his tiny guests through their undeveloped flickers of chakra.
Twelve. There were twelve children that were not his in his living room.
"We used to hang out at your place aaaalll the time!" The boy in Kagami's hold piped, no longer resisting now that Kagami has cradled him to his chest. "We miss you, Kagami-niichan!"
"That was when I still live in the compound!" Kagami wailed again.
The children giggled at his apparent distress.
"You used to play with us every time shishou is busy," another one chirped, climbing up Kagami's leg to half-cling around the blind teen's waist. "You never come back after you left..."
"True!" one of the older kids said, reaching out her hand to tug the front of Kagami's shirt. "Nii-chan, we haven't seen you in months!"
"So we decided to move to your house~!"
"I—," Kagami swallowed, opening his mouth as if he wanted to speak but the children's voices drowned his next words.
"No one plays with us anymore."
"The adults are busy with their grown-up things."
"They don't know how to play with us."
"They think playtime is training time."
"We hate it. It's not fun."
"We miss you, nii-chan!"
"We miss you!"
"We miss you so much!"
"We miss shishou!"
The last one came in the form of a chorused cry filled with mixed emotions.
Kagami stood dumbfounded, completely speechless.
"We miss Tobirama-sama!"
That was the trigger.
The children broke.
Some of the children broke into tears as they clung to Kagami, keeping the teen in their grasp with their small little fists. Some was sobbing the name of their deceased Clan Head, hands clutching the plush toy the demon has gifted them. Some were straight up wailing for the deceased demon to come back and play with them.
Danzou saw the moment Kagami's stoic mask shattered into pieces.
Kagami's mouth slacked open like he was gasping desperately for air before he clamped it shut, teeth gritted tight in an angry grimace as tears flowed down his cheeks, wetting the bandages wrapped around his eyes. His knees gave up and Kagami collapsed onto a broken heap on the floor, the grieving children piling up on him, small grabby hands clung to his shirt for comfort.
"I miss him too," the young captain whimpered, clinging to the child in his arm like his life depended on it, his other arm curled around the pile of grieving children that has surrounded him. "I miss shishou," he murmured, burying his tears-stricken face into the children's hair. "I miss him."
Kagami broke.
Danzou's chest hurt.
Shimura Danzou had a problem.
And he was determined to fix it, even if it breaks the forbidden boundary of life and death.
Danzou clutched the forbidden scroll tighter to his chest.
He would make Kagami happy again.
The day Kagami decided to defect from the Uchiha was the day Team Demon become one unit of family.
They each had a role in Kagami's new household.
As for Utatane Koharu, her role was to manage Kagami's official business, including the tedious menial task of sorting out letters and mission scrolls for her friend.
Not that Kagami actually needed any help, since he was able to read despite the lack of eyes (how the hell he did it Koharu has yet to pry) but it felt nice to ease up Kagami's burden when the older boy has already too much things to juggle in between leading their team, his own solo missions as well as continuing sensei's researches and projects.
Koharu was on her way to deliver a message to Kagami when she saw Danzou.
She halted in the middle of the corridor, eyes softening at the sight of the determined flicker in Danzou's own.
The whole team knew that the serious boy had it bad for their new taichou. It was endearingly adorable, to see Danzou's feelings grew from genuine admiration to Kagami's prowess in the battlefield to an actual crush as their team bond knitted closer to become this fearsome elite team known as Team Demon.
It was cute. Kagami was terribly dense while Danzou was so fun to tease.
Even sensei has his kicks teasing Danzou by using Kagami's obliviousness.
Whoever that said the Uchiha Demon has no sense of humour has definitely never seen the way he was holding back laughter every time their training ended with a distractingly wet and shirtless Kagami fretting over a flushed Danzou.
Koharu was pretty sure that sensei had a bet going on with Madara-sama regarding the two stupid boys. Who wouldn't?
The thought of her deceased sensei sent a flash of sorrow and guilt in her chest.
It was her injuries that he healed.
It was her injuries that caused Tobirama to be drained of his chakra and become vulnurable when the Kumo-nin attacked.
It was her fault the Uchiha Demon was killed.
It was her fault.
Thus, Koharu gritted her teeth, turning a blind eye when she saw Danzou retreated away with one of sensei's forbidden scroll in his grip.
Edo Tensei was an immoral jutsu—to sacrifice a life and disturb the dead definitely crossed the lines of morality, even for a shinobi—but she was willing to turn a blind eye to Danzou's obvious intention.
She hated it too when Kagami plastered that fake smile on his face.
Plus, the team missed sensei.
The team blamed themselves for sensei's death, knowing that if only they were a little stronger, things would have gone differently.
They all needed a proper closure to truly accept his death.
Meeting him again would give them that.
The teenage girl then stepped back and headed in the opposite direction from the living room, leaving the Uchiha pile to their mourning. She'll let them have their comfort in the embrace of each other's warmth tonight, the approval paper that Hashirama-sama just sent to taichou's study slipped back inside the pockets in her sleeves.
Hashirama-sama would be coming tomorrow for the discussion to arrange the official ceremony anyway so Koharu would let the Hokage to be the one breaking the news to Kagami.
Such mischievous smart little ones, these children were, to comb through the newly established law of Konoha and seek for a loophole that will benefit their wants and needs.
Izuna-sama would blow his head off. Oh, Koharu was sure of it.
And she didn't care. Team Demon would have Kagami's back if the situation called for it. They were no match against Izuna, but if they could buy some time and opportunities for Kagami, they would do it in a heartbeat.
Plus, it's not like Tobirama Clan did not have a nice ring to it.
"Repeat that again."
Hikaku winced, already seeing the glimpses of death as Izuna looked up to glare at him with those piercing ruby eyes.
"Twelve of our children are missing," Hikaku started, inching backwards as Izuna's eyes narrowed in his direction.
"And why aren't you out there tracking them?"
God, just let Hikaku died already. A cranky and displeased Izuna was far scarier than anything that has ever wrought hell on Earth.
"Because they are still in the village."
Izuna's brows twitched.
"So, pray tell, why haven't you retrieved them yet?"
Hikaku gulped, stepping back until the door was flat against his back. Squaring his shoulders, he memorised at least five escape routes using his sharingan before he blurted out his response.
"Because they ran away and officially defected from the clan."
Izuna's eyes squeezed shut. Hikaku felt the cold sweat trailed down his back.
"Ayame-kun, the only shinobi of age out of all them has filed a request to Hashirama-sama."
Izuna's knuckles went ghostly white as he gripped the edge of his table with force enough to leave cracks on the wood.
"She filed an official declaration for all of them to defect from the clan," Hikaku rambled, hands fumbling for the doorknob, "…and since we have never changed the official guardianship of the kids to their biological parents, their guardianship still belongs to Tobirama-sama…"
The edge of the table in Izuna's grip crushed to splinters.
Hikaku felt tears pricking his eyes. Kami-sama, he was going to die. Izuna was going to torture him to death.
"So, according to Konoha's law that have been officiated last two months…," Hikaku went on despite the fear over his impending death, "…their guardianship now fell to the hands of Tobirama-sama's heir, as stated in his last will," the terrified Clan Heir gulped, knowing that he was as good as dead once he delivered this final blow. "The children are technically at the house of their legal guardian. They are at Kagami-kun's house."
The table burned to ashes.
Hikaku choked a terrified sob.
Dead. Uchiha Hikaku was a dead man.
Despite everything, the last blow to Izuna's declining health and sanity actually came directly from Kagami himself.
"Izuna-sama."
Izuna turned around to face his former clan member—the now newly-crowned Clan Head of Tobirama Clan—and resisted the urge to sneer, having to keep up a mature and civil appearance here in the middle of a ceremony that gathered all Clan Head in Konoha. He already felt that some of them were looking at him with a condescending look—knowing that Kagami and a bunch of children have defected from his clan to create their own using the name of his deceased half-brother—and he refused to lose any more face in front of these people.
The Akimichi matriarch was eyeing him intently as if waiting for Izuna to snap and showed to the whole Konoha's council how unfitting he was to be the Clan Head worthy of replacing Tobirama.
Izuna could see Nara Shikako exchanging hushed whispers with Yamanaka Inomaru and Inuzuka Hitokuchi—their judgemental cynical gaze occasionally darted in Izuna's direction.
He despised the way these people placed his bastard demon of an elder brother on a pedestal as if Tobirama was the only Uchiha deserving of their admiring respect. These people should realise that Izuna was the Uchiha's Clan Head now.
Izuna deserved the respect befitting of his position as a Clan Head.
"Kagami-sama," thus, Izuna greeted back in a civil purr, allowing a little bit of his spiteful venom laced their way into each of the syllables. "Congratulation on the formation of your new clan."
"Thank you, Izuna-sama," Kagami tipped his head, lips curled to a calm smile, his face was unreadable. "This is all Ayame-kun's handiwork. She is the one who deserves your praise."
"I did what I thought was the best for us, Kagami-sama," the twelve-years-old girl (now offically the Clan Heir to the newly formed Tobirama clan) beamed, preening when Kagami's hand landed on her head. "This is the best option for my siblings and I."
Izuna held back a sneer.
It was unnerving, how similar Kagami's presence was to Tobirama's. The way the sixteen years old boy stood and carried himself despite his own blindness, the way Kagami spoke with a soft voice yet still commanded respect from the ones who heard his words and not to mention the air of lethal confidence that emitted from the boy—everything bore a form of resemblance to Tobirama.
It was unnerving. It was terrifying.
Izuna was uncomfortable.
"Izuna-sama," Kagami's voice was firm as he spoke, face slipped to a complete emotionless mask as he offered a worn leather-bound book to Izuna. "I wish you to have this."
Izuna cocked an eyebrow, despite knowing that Kagami could not see his expression.
To his surprise, Kagami let out a dry chuckle, as if the teen could see Izuna's expression and know exactly what emotion was raging inside him right now.
"Read it. Perhaps it will shed some light to your darkness," the boy hummed, hands sliding into the sleeves of his official kimono as he added; "Maybe you could even get some sleep after reading it."
Izuna's ruby eyes shifted its angry gaze to glare at the boy.
"Finally admitting that you did something to me, brat?" Izuna hissed, chakra flared dangerously as his ruby eyes spun with dark tomoe.
The whole party room fell into silence. Hashirama's chakra flared in warning while Mito glided in their direction, eyes narrowed in disapproval.
Kagami smiled. "I didn't do anything at all," the teenage boy hummed, leaning close to Izuna until the Uchiha Clan Head could feel the heat from his skin. "Sharingan developed after an Uchiha experienced a strong emotion from a traumatic event," he murmured, and Izuna felt chills, as if Kagami was glaring at him through those bandages.
But that was impossible. There was nothing inside Kagami's eye sockets.
"You gained his abilities, Izuna-sama," Kagami's voice was that of a dangerous sneer, slender fingers reached up as if the teen was about to gouge Izuna's eyes out.
Izuna backed away.
Kagami was smiling harmlessly when he delivered the final blow of this conversation.
"Thus, it is only fair if you experience his pain as well."