Unchained

Tōka is practicing her chakra control –without Tobirama around she's going to have to get much better at medical jutsu– when the screaming starts. Actual genuine panicked screaming, terror clear in tone and pitch; grabbing her naginata, Tōka runs towards the compound's main gate–

–and takes a sharp, panicked breath of her own as she turns a corner to see an Uchiha in bone-marked armour walking leisurely across the main gathering area, Yagura's razor-edged chain-whip going through them like smoke.

"Vengeful Ghost!" Someone shouts; Uchiha Taka however turns towards Tōka and grins, teeth a flash of white that match the highly realistic skeleton design decorating her close-fitting and fully covering suit of armour plates.

"Fatal Flower," The Uchiha says, her red and black eyes twisted with something that is not the usual trio of tomoe and her voice pitched to carry through the frightened screaming. "I came ahead to inform the Senju clan of a formal Uchiha delegation that will be at the gates in," she glances at the sky, "about a quarter of an hour."

"To what do we owe the honour of your warning, Uchiha Taka-sama?" Tōka asks, wary and mindful of her manners.

Taka smirks unpleasantly. "Why, Uchiha Izuna-sama comes to make an official complaint against your clan head, for the unprovoked and dishonourable assault upon her concubine, Uchiha Tobirama-san."

Tobirama. Her honoured uncle just tried to–? Is her cousin hurt?

Taka is not keeping her voice down, and her intangibility combined with her failure to attack anybody in particular means they have a wary audience. "Assault?" Tōka asks, also pitching her voice to carry. "I trust Uchiha Izuna-sama's honoured spouse was not severely harmed?"

The Uchiha rolls her shoulders. "Five assassins at the dead of night, all to murder one man whose chakra is bound firmly beyond his reach," she says conversationally, "the daimyo will be most disappointed to hear that the Senju have broken faith so soon after his letter of congratulation to their clan head for his second son's most advantageous match."

Izuna's marriage gambit has teeth and the Senju will soon be feeling them. She did say all of this to her honoured uncle when he was debriefing her; he evidently believed her views were unsubstantiated, so disregarded them. "The front gates in a quarter of an hour you said, Uchiha-sama?"

Taka hums, walking casually forwards until she is within arm's reach. "Be there, Senju Tōka," the harsh-faced woman says mildly. "Your presence is required." Then she reaches out and pokes Tōka in the forehead before turning and vanishing in a blur of chakra.

Tōka sways, abruptly realising that the Vengeful Ghost had been tracking her while both armed and fully armoured, when all she herself is wearing is under-armour.

"Tōka-san?" Yagura hurries up to her, bladed whip neatly looped up at his hip again.

"I'm fine," Tōka insists, leaning on her naginata and breathing through her sudden panic. She misses her armour so much! "But as many ranking people as possible need to have a view of the front gate; if Izuna's visiting Madara will be too." Just the two of them plus Taka could cut a bloody swathe through the compound, and Tōka has no illusions that it will be just the three of them. No, an 'official complaint' is going to involve a quorum of respected Uchiha and an honour guard, just to make it all exceedingly public and embarrassing for her uncle. Well, maybe this will let her find out exactly how many lineages the Uchiha have beyond Amaterasu, Yatagarasu and Inari.

"You believe her?" Yagura seems doubtful.

"I spent two months watching Izuna work," Tōka says grimly; "she won't pick up a sword when words will do the job, and by playing the injured party to the daimyo –when the Uchiha are a noble clan– she can get us into some very unpleasant trouble; worse than she could do with a sword, even. That she's coming here at all is unnecessary, unless there's another layer to the scheme."

Which there is, and not even a subtle one: the clan still has the option of letting her uncle take the blame –and the fall– for this, which won't last beyond Izuna taking the matter to the daimyo. Tōka grinds her teeth as she turns and runs back to her parents' house for something vaguely smart to wear; even knowing his father tried to assassinate his little brother, Hashi won't step up. It's going to be up to her, even though she's got no armour, no sword and knows she's not good enough to beat her uncle yet. In two, maybe three years? Yes, she will be then, but that's not soon enough. She's stronger than him now, in chakra at least, but she is certainly not more experienced or more cunning and the lack of equipment is a critical handicap.

Maybe her mother can advise her. First though, throw on something vaguely formal and grab her parents.

Oh yes, and send people to fetch Tou-san, Ōka-ba, Obaasan and Hashirama.


Hashirama runs around the corner of the clan hall and starts shouldering through the gathered crowd, who part for him. It's not a crush, but there're a lot of people here. Mostly warriors; it's suddenly very obvious how many people are sitting around or training because they've got nothing else to do. If they got peace, there'd be more of this; being bored is awful, so there need to be things for people to do besides missions.

Well, the clan could take on more missions, but father won't because that would mean there being fewer people on hand in case of an Uchiha assault. If they had peace they could take more missions, then? But then again, sometimes there aren't more missions… he can't ask Tobi, so he'll have to talk to Mito about it.

There's a whistling sound; Hashirama glances up, then spins around with his hand on his sword as there's a loud thud behind him. Taking a quick breath he gags, pressing his sleeve to his mouth and nose; that's a dead body. Not a particularly fresh dead body either; why are the Uchiha–

There's another whistle and a wide circle clears; this body bounces into two separate pieces on impact.

The nearest body is Chirinma-ji, Hashirama realises belatedly; Chirinma-ji who's been at both of his father's most recent report-meetings on what Tobirama's doing.

Another whistle; this body hits a roof, bounces and slides down to land in a garden, leaving a horrible red-brown smear in its wake and highlighting a burnt hole through the middle of the torso, large enough for two clenched fists to pass through cleanly.

The fourth body splatters, head and legs detaching and armour thoroughly caved in, crush-marks like giant fingers denting the steel. Hashirama feels the blood drain from his face; that's Kyōzoma-nii, one of his cousins!

Kyōzoma-nii, who is an assassin. Chirinma-ji, who's a stealth specialist. Two others –and that armour over there on the half-body looks like it belongs to Misu, the clan's senior assassin– all very clearly killed by Uchiha, who are 'returning' the bodies.

Did his father send assassins after Izuna?!

He turns to Shurō, who is now kneeling beside Chirinma-ji with a cloth wrapped roughly over the lower half of his face. "Set a guard to keep the children away and have medics fetched; the bodies can go to the morgue for now." There will be funerals later, but right now he needs to go find out what happened. No matter how much he wants to go talk to wives and siblings and children of the dead, to offer comfort and reassurance, he must go find out why the Uchiha announced this visit and then threw corpses at them. To disrespect the dead so is unthinkable, but there must be a reason. Or even an excuse; something to make sense of this horror.

The gates are open. Why are the gates –of course; because they don't want the Uchiha to break them. Realistically, there's no way they can keep Izuna out, but the gates protect them against boars and other wildlife more than against shinobi. There are fewer people standing around here now that there is the distraction of dead bodies to catch their attention, but it's enough to block Hashirama's view of the outside until he pushes through to the front row.

There are Uchiha standing outside the gates, but Hashirama recognises them mostly from Madara's unruly shock of hair; not one of them is wearing a coat. Instead they're dressed in odd-looking fitted armour in a range of colours and vibrant patterns, including the rather disconcerting skeleton design Shinso-kun told him about when he arrived at the training field to warn him about the Vengeful Ghost invading to talk to Tōka-nee and say the Uchiha were coming to talk.

No, not all of them are wearing armour; Izuna's wearing black silk and two swords tied with bright blue cords.

Hashirama looks around for his father, finds him standing to one side of the gate with Tokonoma-ji, Zōden-ji, Tanka-ba and Shitomi, all in armour. On the other side of the gate are Obaasan, Ōka-ba, Tōka-nee, Sumi-ba, Rika-ba, Mito-chan and Yagura, all in kimono and hakama like Hashirama is. Obaasan is wearing a very pretty kimono and has put pins in her hair.

Hashirama dithers for a split-second, goes to stand behind his father like he's supposed to, then almost trips over his hakama hem as a snow leopard steps out from behind Izuna and twines proprietorially around her legs. That spot pattern… Tōnari?

But, but Tōka said Tobirama's chakra was bound! Is that not true anymore? Was Tobirama injured during the assassination attempt? Or was it a kidnapping attempt and Izuna disagreed strongly with anybody stealing her spouse?

Madara tilts his head towards Izuna, who nods; the Uchiha walk closer, Madara falling behind Izuna and the warriors in plain armour spreading out to bracket the more colourful ones. Closer to, Hashirama can see a colourful scaly pattern like a snake, Raijin the thunder god, the skeleton armour, clever fire patterns intertwined with compass points and gates, bundles of rice with clouds, sunbursts and crows, and Madara in vibrantly colourful phoenixes. It's all lovely, but it has to be ceremonial; Madara's never worn this in the field, it's always his coat and the plain red plate armour over it.

The Uchiha in colourful armour spread out on both sides of Izuna, three on one side and four on the other –it's the Deathblow in the crow armour– spaced out like they're expecting an attack. They stop far enough away for it to be respectful, but also close enough that if several of them rush the compound at once, Hashirama probably won't be able to intercept more than just Madara. And even that will be hard, given as Madara's in armour and Hashirama isn't even armed.

Madara then steps forward on Izuna's right; Hashirama tenses, but his friend takes the proper three steps for announcing a senior kinsman –which is confusing when Madara is older than Izuna and also superior on the battlefield– then turns the half-step sideways to bow across the path between Izuna and Hashirama's father.

"Presenting Their Imperial Highness Uchiha Izuna of the fourth-rank dōjō kuge, Inheritor of the Uchiha Clan, First General of the Imperial War Ministry and chosen successor to the Junior Assistant of the Imperial War Minister, to Senju Butsuma, Head of the Senju Clan." He then turns back that half-step so he is one again facing the Senju, but remains in the position of herald.

Hashirama can't make sense of those titles though. Izuna is an Imperial Highness? Isn't it Madara who is the clan heir, not Izuna? Why is Izuna 'first general' when Madara is stronger? What's the 'junior assistant' thing? It feels important but this isn't the time to ask; maybe Tōka will know?

There's an uneasy pause, then Tokonoma-ji takes three steps forward on his older brother's right, turns and bows.

"Presenting the Most Honoured Senju Butsuma, Head of the Senju Clan, to Uchiha Izuna Denka." Then he too straightens and takes the requisite step back as the rest of the Uchiha delegation bow as one, the movement fairly shallow.

Formalities were always Tobirama's strong point, but if Hashirama remembers right then the next step after introductions is, um, gifts? No, that's for visiting; this is confrontation, so the next step is for the injured party to air their grievance.

Sure enough, Izuna loudly slaps both her hands on her thighs, keeping them in the shinobi-polite position –clasped hands in front of the chest, as is polite among civilians, is a threat to ninja who see it as a prelude to handsigns– and speaks:

"Senju Butsuma-san, I demand an accounting from your clan for the wilful, witnessed and proven assassination attempt upon my concubine!"

Hashirama's ears fill with static and he misses whatever Izuna says next, as well as his father's retort. This, how can this? This? Is? His father–

–his father isn't denying it, Hashirama realises, chill creeping into his bones. His father's claiming Izuna has no grounds for her complaint, but he's not saying he didn't send assassins after Tobi.

His father sent Chirinma-ji and Misu-san to kill Tobirama. Misu, who Tobirama has always spoken warmly of for helping him develop his sensing so much. Kyōzoma-nii, who was one of the few older cousins willing to play ninja tag with Tobi growing up and liked that Hashirama's little brother had such sharp senses, as it pushed him to improve his stealth.

Their father. Wants to kill Tobi. His own son.

Why?

Tobi… Tobi loves the clan. There's nothing he won't do for the clan. He's not, not warm but if the two months without his little brother have taught him anything, it's that Tobirama has spent his life trying to make life better for the Senju, finding ways to improve efficiency and income and reduce expenditure, as well as helping with medical research and supporting the clan's warriors and ensuring as many children as possible get good training before they're old enough for the field.

He always thought Tobi was reclusive, but his little brother was working all the time. No wonder Tobi was always grumpy when Hashirama dragged him off to socialise, he'd been resting!

Does, does his father think Tobi being in love means he will betray the clan? That's silly; Tobi has never let his feelings get in the way of what the clan needs. In fact, he's more likely to break his own heart than he is to reveal anything to Izuna.

Tōka said Izuna wasn't asking Tobi anything; that she didn't need to. That she could still win without extracting a single secret.

Looking at the audience of elaborately-dressed Uchiha, who must be clan elders or at least senior warriors, who are all watching with bland scorn as his father proves beyond question that he sees nothing wrong with filicide and has no intention of apologising to Izuna or making restitution for the harm he has done to Tobi, Hashirama can sort of see her point.

There's a commotion behind him; Hashirama turns just in time to catch Ajisai-ba, Toshinma-ji's widow, before she can run out of the gates at the Uchiha.

"Ba-san–"

She elbows him in the gut. "Where's my son, Uchiha!" She demands shrilly, yanking on Hashirama's hair and making him wince in pain. "Where's my Tōma-kun, give him back –he deserves a proper burial–" she sobs, flushed and ugly in her distress.

Tōma-kun's thirteen. His father sent–? Tobi would never hurt one of their baby cousins, not if he could help it!

Izuna's eyes drift from Hashirama's father to the grieving woman, who lets go of Hashirama's hair and starts shaking against his chest, caught between fury and despair. He cautiously tries to hug her a little bit.

"Senju-san," she says blandly, one hand dropping to rub Tōnari behind the ears, "Senju Tōma-kun surrendered himself after witnessing the deaths of his fellow assassins. He is currently being held, pending the Senju Clan providing suitable restitution for the attempted murder of my spouse. If no suitable terms are offered within the next seven days, then I will take my grievances to the daimyo; Senju Tōma-kun's fate will then be out of my hands."

Tobirama's married to a noble; Tōma-kun will be lucky to just get his head cut off. The daimyo's laws about assaults on nobles by non-nobles are very strict; shinobi may flout those laws regularly, but that is only possible because the families of those nobles they assassinate cannot conclusively identify the individual responsible, either for the commission or the murder itself. Tobirama explained it to him when they were younger, how it's not safe to talk about those kinsmen with certain specialties, both for their personal safety and so the clan doesn't get blamed just because somebody saw a Senju in the area when somebody important died.

Ajisai-ba sags into his grip, turns her face into his collar and starts sobbing quietly, relief mingling with the expectation of loss. If Izuna does take matters to the daimyo, they are very unlikely to get Tōma-kun's body back.

"Seeing as at this time the Senju Clan are unwilling to make amends, the Uchiha Clan will depart," Izuna continues smoothly. "If in seven days time there has been no indication that the Senju clan is willing to offer reparation, I will appeal to the daimyo to correct the matter according to law."

She nods to Madara then turns around and walks away, Tōnari at her side and her more colourful kinsmen falling in around her. The plainly-armoured ones linger with Madara as a rearguard, walking backwards so as not to take their eyes off the watching Senju. The party walks as far as the treeline, then vanishes into shunshin; Hashirama breathes a sigh of relief.

Nobody died. That's got to count for something.


Tōka doesn't fight the probing wisp of chakra coiling around her ear as her uncle proves beyond all doubt that yes, he had just tried to murder Tobi despite everything she'd told him about how her little cousin was a prisoner, trying to make the best of his situation to benefit the clan. Tōnari is right there, which says both that Tobirama is endorsing the 'make restitution to the Uchiha' approach and that he fully believes that the Senju will survive it.

It also says that Izuna trusts him with chakra now, at least a little bit. That's also important. The leopards may not fight on demand, but they will be willing guards and offer an implied threat to anybody trying to harm him.

The aural illusion slides into her chakra and vanishes from her limited senses; Madara's voice speaks in her ear, short and to the point:

"Izuna-san would speak to you afterwards, Tōka-san; choose somewhere discreet and she will meet you there. If you must bring a witness, have a care that they are to be trusted."

Tōka meets Madara's eyes across the field and nods ever so slightly; he gives no indication whatsoever of having seen her, but he will have done.

The confrontation is a complete disaster. Nobody dies, but that is not exactly a good thing when her uncle is blinded by pride and loathing to the point of condemning the entire clan to death. Why? Why would he do that? Does he think the daimyo won't take the Uchiha's accusations seriously, because of the feud? Does he not realise that the ongoing détente between the clans will have been noticed, and that combined with the Uchiha's notice of Tobirama's marriage, it paints a certain picture to civilian eyes?

Her uncle received a letter of congratulations from the daimyo, for goodness' sake! To then turn around and make the ruler of Fire Country look like a fool is deeply unwise!

Then again, Tōka only knows all that from two months of helping Tobirama wrestle with the court transcripts. Before her Uchiha imprisonment she was just as ignorant on the nuances and why they matter as her uncle is. But he could still stand to exercise his imagination a little.

As soon as the Uchiha vanish from sight she turns around and marches back into the compound; Hashi has his hands full with Ajisai-ba and of the clan's other sensors, there's nobody who'll be able to track her all the way up to the river. And after that, nobody is going to question her taking a walk to clear her head.

"Daughter?" Except her mother.

"I'm going for a walk," Tōka says shortly, hoping Kaa-san doesn't stop her. She wouldn't do it directly, but her mother is very good at bending the world her way.

Her mother eyes her thoughtfully. "It's not a good time to be out of the compound unarmed and unarmoured," she says, tone soft with worry. "Yagura-san?"

Her fellow warrior pauses. "Yes, O-Sumi-san?" Yagura's always very polite. Tōka suspects it's because of his utter infatuation with cousin Keika; he wants her to think well of him and that seeps into everything he does. Yagura is well-regarded by many, but his manners have not yet won him the attention he seeks.

"My daughter needs to clear her head; would you accompany her?"

Yagura nods. "Of course, O-Sumi-san."

Well that's inconvenient. Then again, Yagura did change out of his armour for the meeting, so that's something. More than her father did, certainly. If it comes to it she can always sneak a genjutsu over him so he doesn't notice she's having a chat with their sworn enemies.

How is it she is now the person agitating for peace? This is all Izuna's fault; Tōka's going to complain about this at length. To her mother, at least.


"We've passed beyond the patrol boundary, Tōka-san."

"I know," Tōka says shortly, still running. To make it plausible she headed out the western side of the compound and is currently tracing a wide loop north almost to the river; Izuna is presumably a good enough sensor to track her movements and intercept accordingly. She will be found, as otherwise Izuna wouldn't have bothered to try and set this up. "But I need to run or I'm going to do something stupid like Challenge my honoured uncle."

"You don't have any armour. Or even a sword."

"I know. Hence the running." She's still wearing her formal shirt and hakama because she doesn't have any armour. The tantō slung across her lower back is also it for good-quality weapons right now, and even that is her father's on loan.

She slows as the thicker underbrush of the riverside comes into view ahead, then turns east and walks briskly parallel to the water she can hear but not really see. If Izuna wants to talk she'll show up in the next few minutes; if it's a wild goose chase it was enough to get out of the compound for a bit.

It's a pleasant walk; there's birdsong and rushing water and croaking frogs. She's just about to turn south again when Izuna's voice comes from behind them:

"Ah, Tōka-san; how convenient."

She's spun around even before Izuna's finished saying her name, ducking behind Yagura's right shoulder as he too spins and puts his hands on his sword hilt, but otherwise doesn't attack. The smart move when Izuna can annihilate both of them without raising a sweat.

"Uchiha Izuna Denka," Yagura says politely, eyes fixed on Izuna's chin.

"Please, 'san' is fine for the everyday," Izuna replies, still wearing her many-crested black silk and her brother lurking by the riverside behind her; how did Tōka miss Madara?! He's not remotely subtle with his chakra! He's genuinely unmissable! And yet, she didn't sense him at all until turning around and actually seeing him; is that genjutsu or fuuinjutsu? Or is it both?

"Izuna-san then," Tōka says, trying for conciliatory and mostly succeeding. Madara is always a blatant threat; Tōka had been expecting the Deathblow or some other Uchiha. Evidently not; is that because there wasn't anybody else with the delegation Izuna trusts with this? "We were led to believe there would be a week before the Uchiha retaliated further against our clan?"

Izuna smiles faintly. "No retaliation; my concubine requested I return your sword, Tōka-san." She slowly brings her hands together, then plucks a lacquered scabbard with black ties from the general vicinity of her sleeve.

It's Tōka's sword. The one that got confiscated when she was stripped of her armour and weapons while lying on the path outside the Diplomatic Quarters, legs newly broken and Hikaku standing over her to ensure she didn't dare lash out at his squad. It even still has all the fittings.

"If Izuna-san would set it on the ground and back away–" Yagura begins, but Izuna shakes her head before he can say anything more.

"Tobirama-san agreed to my conditions of the sword's return, which were that Tōka-san must take it from my hands herself."

Tōka elbows Yagura. "It's fine," she says quietly; "the Uchiha aren't going to compromise their perfect setup over one person. Not when they'll have all of us like a driven boar on a mountaintop by the end of the week."

Yagura's shoulders sag. "As you say, Tōka-san." He steps aside for her to pass.

Izuna stands still, Tōka's sword balanced on outstretched palms, as Tōnari lopes out of the undergrowth and butts at Madara's thigh in passing on her way to twine around Izuna's knees.

"Hello Tōka-chan," the leopard says affably. "Wasn't that a complete disaster; I've been telling Tobirama-kun for years that his father needs to go, and now look where not doing so had brought your clan."

"Our clan, Tōnari?" Not hers and Tobirama's too?

The leopard swings her tail idly. "The leopards are allied with the Hatake not the Senju, Tōka-chan. And you likely know what my summoner's father was of a mind to do when his second wife's firstborn proved more Hatake than Senju, despite our having claimed him in the cradle."

Yes. Tōka does know. There wasn't a five-year gap between Kawarama and the stillborn girl Kikuno-sama died bearing because her uncle was inclined to give his wife a rest after three sons in as many years; it was because Hatake apparently have a very different perspective to Senju in what counts as 'debilitating brain damage' in toddlers and her aunt took offense at the medics' verdict, then greater offense at Butsuma-oji-sama trying to convince her to give up her eldest. Tobirama certainly grew out of most of his difficulties, was never as self-absorbed or as incapable of basic tasks as the medics claimed he would be, but she can see how that would permanently alienate Kikuno-sama's summons.

"So you don't care."

The leopard shakes herself. "Tobirama-kun will be sad if you all die, the cubs especially," she says matter-of-factly, "but Izuna-bi has given him a foster-cub to tend to, which is a fine distraction, and his own cubs will follow soon enough. He also knows without question that you are beyond his power to save; your deaths will not break him."

That is chilling to hear when Tōnari cannot have spent more than half a day at most with Tobirama before accompanying Izuna here; there will be no help from that quarter.

She stiffens her spine, walks forwards –right up to Izuna, whose calm expression has not wavered once through that short but revealing conversation– and takes her sword from Izuna's hands, immediately stepping back out of reach and tying the cords around her waist.

"Thank you," she manages.

"His clan's loss might not break him," Izuna replies quietly, hands falling to her sides, "but it would certainly break his heart, Tōka-san. Please do not do so."

It is not quite an order, but Tōka can feel the trees closing in nonetheless. "What choice do you think I have?"

Izuna smiles mildly. "There is always a choice, Tōka-san. It is simply that so often people choose to do nothing, because it is so much easier to stand by and claim blamelessness. But I firmly believe that when we are weighed on the scales at the end of our lives, it is not only for the evils we have wrought, but all the times we could have made courageous and moral choices yet held back out of selfishness and fear."

Tōka stares. "Do you think you are saving my cousin?"

Izuna actually laughs. "Of course not, Tōka-san; he is saving himself." Tōka can't help flinching from those words, so simply spoken yet so painful to hear; Izuna smiles, eyes knowing. "Until we meet again."

Then she, Madara and Tōnari are gone.

Tōka turns around, glares at the silent and only faintly judgemental Yagura and marches past him further along the path. "I will tell my father how I got my sword back," she announces, "but it's not anybody else's business, Yagura."

He makes a faintly affirming sound, falling in behind her. Tōka picks up speed, breaking into a run, but it doesn't let her outrun the pain of Izuna's words.

Tobirama is saving himself.

A lifetime of saving the Senju clan, of covering for Hashirama, of helping their aunts with the accounts, arguing about better training for younger kinsmen and honing his sensing to better tailor their tactics to his father's strategic goals. Not once has she considered that maybe, this wasn't good for her little cousin. She knew he was stressed; she knew he was lonely. But only now, with the benefit of the hindsight granted by two months of enforced tedium, can she see that what she previously saw as Tobirama's normal routine was not actually sustainable.

He put on weight while imprisoned, and it wasn't anything to do with lazing around all day. He's still growing and filling out; he's only twenty, he could keep growing for six or seven years and his mother was tall too. He was sleeping better and smiling more, the lines carved by stress less prominent. Captivity had started out stressful but swiftly became terribly, terribly dull, even with books to read and somebody to talk to, but they had developed a routine and it had never been truly uncomfortable despite the threat of maiming looming over her like a storm-cloud on the horizon. The lack of responsibilities and duties had given her cousin time to rest, then relax and even indulge himself in joy.

It's not just his growing feelings for Izuna. It's the lack of pressure to perform to his father's exacting yet imprecise standards. Izuna doesn't care about those standards; she just wants Tobirama, exactly as he is. She doesn't mind the teeth or the body language or the tonal oddities when he missteps while socialising or the frighteningly focused obsessions; to her that's just part of what makes him Tobirama and not somebody else entirely.

She is never getting her cousin back, Tōka realises, dread like a weight in her gut. Even if they miraculously get out of this mess without the daimyo wiping them off the face of the continent and manage somehow broker peace with the Uchiha, Tobirama will never come home.

He's gone.


Hashirama is slumped over the breakfast table. Normally this wouldn't be Tokonoma's problem, but his wife is taking tea with his mother and Tōka-chan is off putting the fear of herself into a range of idiot warriors who have decided that his daughter escaping from the Uchiha compound in indigoes with Madara's name-character neatly stitched into the collar and waistband means rather more happened than she admitted to when making her report.

Tokonoma has also inflicted a range of bruises to silence the gossips, as well as handed out a number of punishment duties. But this is honestly more about their more fanatical kin wanting an excuse to resume the conflict that has been strangely absent for the past two and a half months, along with the fiction being emotionally compelling.

The truth is not particularly interesting in comparison, and is sadly lacking in scandal beyond the fact that Tobirama is even now wearing kimono that would each cost a warrior the better part of a year's wages and acting as Uchiha Izuna's bedroom plaything. Which is genuinely scandalous, but nobody dares talk about it where their clan head might hear them. It's too scandalous.

So they speculate about Tokonoma's daughter instead.

His nephew however isn't wailing or sobbing, which means this is probably something serious. "Hashirama-kun?"

The tall boy with Kaika's eyes looks up at him, misery radiating from his every pore. "Jichan," Hashirama whispers, lower lip wobbling. "Mito… Mito-chan told me she's leaving."

Tokonoma honestly can't blame her; goodness knows he'd send Sumi back to the Kurama if he didn't know she'd stab him somewhere painful for so much as bringing up the subject of her family. He's honestly thankful Tanka's girl is in Uzu with her father; at least she'll make it through this.

"She's going home?"

"I, maybe?" Hashirama looks so terribly lost; Tokonoma knows the boy adores his spitfire Uzumaki bride, who will sit and serve tea with her head bowed and a faint smile painted across her features because she knows that if she starts talking she'll rip her father-in-law a new orifice over whatever casually callous thing he's said to Hashirama this time.

Mito loves her husband, just as fiercely as he loves her; however she's practical in a way that Hashirama isn't. She's strong, a highly capable fuuinjutsu master even, but she knows some battles are better not being fought at all and that's a lesson Hashirama never learnt.

"She asked me if I was going to Challenge Otousan over what he tried to do to Tobirama," Hashirama continues, voice still small and miserable. "And I said no, because even though it was wrong of Otousan to try and," he swallows hard, "to try and have Tobirama killed, if I Challenge him I would have to be willing to kill him, and I can't."

Tokonoma isn't sure what his older brother has done to deserve such a virtuous and filial son; nothing, probably. This gentle yet unyielding virtue is all Kaika.

Tokonoma misses Kaika. Butsuma was his best self for her.

"I can't kill my father," Hashirama rambles on, "and she got so cross with me, and I'm not sure why? I don't think it was about me not wanting to kill Otousan; she said something about the look of the thing, then asked me to come to Uzushio with her and I said no because I'm Clan Heir. Then she told me there wasn't going to be a clan if Otousan wasn't removed from power as quickly as possible and I said that the only people who might win a Challenge were either blood relatives or Otousan's lieutenants and it's bad enough us feuding with the Uchiha without us killing each-other as well. Then she told me I was a blind fool and she was going home and I could come or not, but she wasn't going to let Otousan's stupidity kill our unborn."

Hashirama regularly forgets that his wife is an Uzumaki fuuinjutsu master; she's definitely capable of winning a Challenge against her father-in-law, for all that the clan wouldn't follow her afterwards. The Senju may claim that all you have to do lead the clan is win a Challenge against the current Head, but the truth is that unless you have majority backing then you are likely to get Challenged immediately following your hard-won victory, and are far less likely to win that second battle, when you are tired but your Challenger is fresh.

"She's leaving today then?"

Hashirama crumples in on himself. "She had her packing scrolls out."

"Would you like me to talk to her?" He normally wouldn't get involved in his nephew's marital spats, but generally it is Tobirama who helps Hashirama see past the end of his own nose. However Kikuno's oldest isn't here to rescue Kaika's youngest from himself, so Tokonoma will have to brave the glares.

His mother is an Uzumaki. He'd never have dared marry one, much less one of their vaunted fuuinjutsu masters, but Hashirama is fearless in every situation, especially the ones he shouldn't be.

"Would you?" Not even the offer to risk his skin and sanity draws a smile from his oldest living nephew, which says a lot about how bad things are. "I just, I don't know what to do," Hashirama confesses, hanging his head. "I miss Tobi. He always knew what to do. And how to explain things. I want peace, and I know we can have peace because we've not been fighting with the Uchiha for months now, but I can't kill my father for peace, Jichan. I, that's not peace."

His nephew is correct; patricide is not a good foundation for anything. Neither is fratricide, come to that, but Tokonoma is as much his parents' son as his older brother is; the clan comes first. And what his brother's done recently really isn't good for the clan.

Butsuma's lost a lot, putting the clan first. But some of those were things he didn't need to give in the first place.

Five dead sons, two of them lost to the battlefield before they were ten; unnecessary losses. Two more sons, dead at thirteen and fifteen; Tokonoma's sure somebody must have mentioned Harima in Hashirama's hearing before now, but Kaika's youngest never met her oldest in more than passing, so may never have realised they were brothers.

Kikuno's refusal to allow her husband near her children for those five years after the mess over Tobirama's developmental oddities had led Butsuma's older children to shun the younger ones, and Keika-chan disowning herself age eight to live with Ōka-nee didn't exactly help. She's Hashirama's only surviving older sibling, and for all he calls her 'Nee-san' Tokonoma isn't sure his nephew realises she is actually his sister, not just another older cousin.

"What do you want to say to Mito-chan?"

"I want her to be happy," his nephew whispers. "I don't want her to go; I want her to stay here with me. She's so good to me, Jichan. But if she wants to go, I won't stop her. I can't abandon the clan, but she's right that she should put the baby first. I just, I don't know what will help."

It is unfortunately true that Tobirama was always the one with a knack for extracting Hashirama from messes of his own making; Kikuno's boy would have made an excellent Clan Head, but Butsuma was never going to pass over the boy with Kaika's eyes and smile in favour of the child he once condemned as 'unnatural' and tried to convince his second wife to send back to whatever hell it had sprung from. Hardly better than the medic's assertion that Tobirama would never be more than a burden on the clan, which has since been proven wrong ten thousand times over; his nephew is a fine warrior and making the best of a bad sittuation, not an oni bringing down sickness and bad luck on them all.

Kikuno had taken her husband's superstition and the medic's censure exceptionally badly, and that fight split the clan for five years. Her death less than a year after their tentative reconciliation hadn't exactly helped, but at least by then Tobirama was growing into a promising young warrior and his younger brothers were far more in line with their father's expectations. Publically at least.

Then Itama and Kawarama had died, and Tobirama had once again borne the brunt of his father's displeasure. Not that Hashirama had ever noticed. He should have, should have been made to see, but Tokonoma has never had to step in to cover up for his nephew's various mishaps; Tobirama always got there first.

"I'll tell her."

"Thank you, Jichan."

It's a short walk to the Clan Hall; Tokonoma walks in the front door, takes off his sandals and sets out along the central corridor towards the back of the building where Mito's private wing is. He's halfway down when he hears a cascade of shattering ceramic; turning towards the noise, Tokonoma bounds across the courtyard in bare feet, over a roof and lands in the private garden attached to his brother's favourite meeting room.

The doors to the garden are open; the tea set is scattered across the stone floor around the table, mostly broken shards, and his brother's headless corpse is slumped across the tray. Shitomi is sprawled by the door leading to the hallway, body in at least seven pieces. The air tastes of iron, acid and voided bowels; Tokonoma groans.

The perpetrator stands frozen in the middle of this mess, Shitomi's sword gripped in their off-hand.

"So, why?" Tokonoma asks, then immediately waves a hand. "No, don't answer that; I can guess." He steps quickly into the room, gently takes the sword and bends over Shitomi's corpse to open the fingers of his severed right fist so they grip the hilt. "You walked in on Shitomi having just murdered our Clan Head and instantly acted to avenge him. Understood?" People who really understand that doing something for the clan is costly are few and far between and he doesn't want to lose this one.

The bloodied killer blinks very slowly, then ducks their head, murmuring agreement.

"Good. Go through the courtyard and over the back wall to the well and get that blood out of your hair. Maybe change clothes as well; I want you looking pristine for when I have to present this to the clan later." It wasn't a Challenge, so Butsuma's death puts his next of kin in power. However Hashirama is most certainly not able to lead the Senju without Tobirama here to hold his hand, which means Tokonoma is going to have to do it.

His wife is going to skin him for this. But at least they'll be alive for it.