Yume braced herself and quickly did the hand signs required for the Gokakyu no jutsu. Immediately a sea of flames came from her mouth and made its way to her opponent. However, said opponent was ready with a jutsu of his own, and she only heard: "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu" before a dragon shaped mass of water came hurling to meet her flames.

Water and Fire met midway and as expected started annulling each other fading into a thick cloud of vaporized water.

Yume frowned harder, sending more chakra to her feet to keep herself rooted to the ground when faced with a jutsu of this magnitude. Clearly she had underestimated the power of her opponent because three seconds later, her fire technique was completely over taken by the water and she barely had the time to throw herself to the left before the water dragon reached her. Still, even if she dodged in time, she found herself sitting on the ground, her right sleeve slightly wet.

A boyish young voice came from in front of her: "Sorry, I didn't mean to throw you to the ground like that."

She raised her head and was met with the red and calm eyes of Senju Tobirama. Just like her, his expression was impassive, not letting out any of his emotions. Yet, she had known him for long enough to be able to read the sadness in his eyes.

Getting up from the ground, she bent down to dust her pants from the dirt they had gathered in their little spar, as she calmly replied: "No need to apologize. This is the whole point of the exercise. Your suiton techniques need to be strong enough to overtake any katon technique. I'm happy to help."

He nodded heavily at that, his lips threatening to let out a small smile. Yume was probably the only person who could amuse him like that.

Over the last few months, ever since he and his brothers had started to train with Hideki-sensei, he had gotten to spend a lot more time with her, and he could safely say that he knew her quite well.

Yume was a really a sweet girl, who cared so much about others and was always ready to help. Her problem was that her expression never really matched her interior thoughts. To those who didn't know her really well, she seem cold and aloof, even haughty at times, and even when she said really nice things like before, her apathetic tone never conveyed her true sweet nature.

Such contrasts amused his brothers and him greatly, and had become something they teased her about frequently.

Tobirama couldn't help but be amazed by how much his views on a person could have changed so drastically over the span off eight months. At first, he never really cared about Senju Yume that much. He knew of her, and had seen her around sometimes, but that was all. Like everyone in the Senju clan, he had been made aware of her Rinnegans, and their potential power, but he had also been warned about her lineage. Everyone in the clan knew that her mother was an Uchiha, thus making her untrustworthy in their eyes. After all, who knew what her mother could have taught her and if she wasn't going to turn on the clan someday, and use her powers to destroy them.

Tobirama didn't even understand why his father insisted on training Senju Yume. To him, she was a threat, and the logical thing to do was to minimize that threat. He wasn't a monster, and wasn't thinking about killing her, but if it was him, he would have just let her lead a civilian life, away from anything shinobi related, thus leaving her unaware of the power that she truly held, and unable to use it, to either help or harm them.

But he always kept that thought to himself, and now, eight months later, he couldn't be happier about having kept his mouth shut.

He didn't know exactly why, but he was just certain that Yume was incapable of betraying them. Perhaps it was because of his abilities as a sensor. Chakra signatures could tell a lot about a person, adept sensors could even link them to a particular image or sensation, and use it to analyze the person.

After having familiarized himself with Yume's, he was 100% sure that she was a good person. Her chakra signature was different from the ones he was used to. Most Senju clan members had chakra signature that reminded him of the forest, noble, proud and full of life. On the rare occasions he had met an Uchiha on his few missions, their chakra had reminded him of the warm feeling you get around a camp fire at night. It had stricken him as odd how people that were described to him as the devil's incarnate could give such a warm vibe, but he had kept that question to himself.

He had expected that Yume's chakra would be some kind of mixture of both, since she was half-Senju and half-Uchiha, but to his surprise she was nothing like that.

To him, Yume felt like the cold morning breeze. Fresh, soothing, invigorating yet gentle.

Once the initial awkwardness of the first training sessions had gone by, he had felt quite horrible about the things he had said about her back then. He had felt that it was a bit too late to apologize, but he had tried as hard as he could to make it up to her, in his own awkward way. Somewhere along the line, she had finally understood his intentions, and happily accepted his implied apology. Ever since then, they had become great friends.

Truth be told, it wasn't that surprising that they would hit it off. Their personalities were well matched, both quite calm and down to earth, as opposite to the other three hooligans who trained with them. Their levels were also quite close to each other, so Hideki-sensei liked to pair them together in exercises that required a partner. Yume wasn't as big on reading as he was, but she was probably the only kid around their age who had the intellect, seriousness and patience to keep up with all the experiments he was attempting to further his training. If she wasn't helping him out with that, then they both just usually sat down together, each to their own business but still together.

It had become a really common sight in the compound to see them together, either on the way to the library hands full of books, or in a candy shop, bags full of sweets. The two most anti-social kids in the clan had found each other, much to the delight and amusement of Hideki, Hashirama, Butsuma and his wife, and to the incomprehension of the rest of the clan members.

As her best friend, Tobirama didn't also miss the secret looks Yume kept giving his older brother. Even at the age of eight years old, he was quite aware of what a crush was, thank you very much, and he was almost sure that Yume had a crush on his brother. That was the only thing that explained those long gazes and how she would blush a deep red and fidget awkwardly whenever Hashirama so much as looked her way for too long. He knew her well enough to know that despite her gentle, withdrawn and socially awkward nature, she wasn't the blushing and fidgeting type of girl, unless there was an underlying reason for that.

Still, it was an awkward subject, and so he avoided mentioning it too.

After she finished dusting her pants, she looked at him : "Want to try again, or we go back?"

Both of them were standing near the lake, to help him train his suiton jutsus. Suiton was his affinity, and as it was Hideki-san's too, so Tobirama was receiving an extensive training in it. So far, he knew how to execute a lot of techniques, but he still needed a source of water next to him for the larger scale ones. Yume's presence was to help with that. She was a great master of katon techniques, so she was his perfect training partner. Lately, Hideki-sensei had suggested that she scale down the magnitude of her jutsu until he was able to reach her level, and then she would move to the next one, allowing him to slowly master more complex jutsu.

He was making good progress, proven by how he had overpowered her just now, but he also knew that his sudden leap in power was due in large part to the rage he felt internally, so it would greatly bias his results. He just sighed and said: "No, thank you, let's just go back. I don't feel like training anymore."

Without question, she followed him back to the back porch of her house. Sitting on the wooden steps, was Hashirama, with a book on his thighs that he was heavily glaring at. A little bit further, Itama stood facing the target pole and throwing shuriken at it.

Yet if you looked attentively, you could see that Hashirama's gaze was absent minded, and that he hadn't turned the page ever since Tobirama and Yume had left 30 minutes ago. Itama was also in as bad a shape as his older siblings were. His shuriken missed more than they hit, and even then he hadn't hit the center once. This result was in no way a reflection of his true level, because Hideki had spent the entire first month heavily working on his youngest pupils throwing skills, and Itama had improved greatly.

Yume made her way to the steps were Hashirama was, and sat down leaning on the railing opposite to the one the eldest Senju brother was leaning on. Tobirama chose to sit down on the ground, right next to her.

The group of four, didn't speak, each to their own thoughts. The atmosphere was dark, and all of them had a heavy feeling on their hearts. Somehow it just kind of felt wrong that they were all there.

Suddenly, Hashirama smiled bitterly and said loud enough for all of them to hear: "Am I the only one who thinks that the only one who could have improved our moods after this was him?"

All of them smiled at the thought and Yume replied: "He would have probably said something really inappropriate, and Tobirama-kun would have scolded him. And then the two would start bickering."

Tobirama gave a snort: "And then Anija would have probably tried to smooth the situation and gotten his delicate feelings hurt in the process."

Hashirama said in a playfully indignant voice: "At least it's better than watching from the side lines like Yume-chan and Itama would probably do."

Itama, who had dropped his shuriken and came near them then said: "Yeah, that's sounds exactly like a regular afternoon for us. Or at least what it used to be."

The four kids returned to glaring at the ground, eyes full of anger and sadness.

Itama was right, their afternoons would never be the same, now that Kawarama was gone.

War between the Shinobi clans had started about four months ago, and was claiming the lives of their clansmen left and right.

The four Senju brothers, along with all eligible boys, had been drafted into the army a month after it had started. The idea was that they would be sent as support squads from time to time, to let them get used to the sights of war, until the day they would be really needed.

For the most part, they only did logistics; transporting weapons, food and medical supplies whenever needed, but it had taken a big toll on them already. Yume had felt the distinct change in her companions after they came back from their first war related missions. Tobirama had given her a summary of what they had seen, and from the looks in the eyes of the others she knew that it had been a lot more terrifying that what her friend had chosen to share.

So far the young kids had been spared on either side, but disaster had stricken a week ago. The Senju had been facing the Hagoromo, an allied clan of the Uchiha, and they had been heavily outnumbered. Kawarama had been a part of a squad tasked with bringing more weapons to that front when they had been ambushed by a squad of Hagoromo shinobi.

None of the kids had made it out alive.

The news of Kawarama's death had crushed them all. They all knew that they were in a war, and that as shinobi, they should expect death at any moment, but this was the first time death had hit them so close to home.

Yume wasn't really close to Kawarama. She had made friends with both Hashirama and Tobirama, but her relationship with the two other brothers was strictly that of two fellow students. They just never clicked. Kawarama and Itama had stopped antagonizing her, and were even nice to her, but she still could feel that weirdness in the looks they gave her. They could never become her friends because they were wary of her.

Still, she had been saddened by his death too. When her mother had died, she kind of had been expecting it. Mama had always been really sick. But with Kawarama it had been so sudden. One day he was here, training and goofing around and the next day he was gone. The shock was too much. She could only wonder what his brothers must be feeling.

As for the brothers, they were still at a loss of what to do, or even feel. Anger and rage mixed with sorrow was a cocktail their young minds had yet to fully process. All they knew was that they didn't want to stay home. Their house felt too empty with Kawarama gone, and the sound of their mother's cries was too much to bear. And they knew that going to any of their regular spots would bring the same kind of pain. They had also had enough of people coming every second to give their condolences. They knew that their friends and clan members meant well, but they just didn't want to hear it anymore.

So that morning they had just decided to go spend the day with Yume. Hideki-sensei was out with their father on yet another campaign, but it didn't mean that they couldn't go. Yume would be there, and since she was alone too, they would be keeping her company. They had done this a lot of times over the last few months.

As the silence still reigned in the back porch, Yume started thinking about her father. Usually, she was never worried when her father went on missions. After all, he was so strong, what could ever happen to him? But Kawarama's death had made her paranoid, so two days ago, when her father was leaving for battle, she was visibly shaken. She didn't want to let him go, fearing that the person she loved the most in this world would leave her forever.

Hideki had tried his best to comfort her, but nothing worked. He also knew that he couldn't ask to be left out of this mission. He was the Senju's best fighter, and after such a resounding defeat against the Hagoromo, they needed a win. And most importantly, they were facing the Uchiha this time. He couldn't show a sign of weakness in front of the Uchiha.

Hideki was clear on the Uchiha clan head's, and his kind of father in law, mind frame. That asshole was shaking heaven and earth to get his hands on Yume, and Hideki wouldn't let that happen. His main goal for the battle was to get rid of him. It had to happen now, no matter what. After that,he and his daughter would be free to continue their lives for a while. Uchiha Tajima as the heir of the clan would have his hands full with his new title and responsibilities, and hopefully he would forget about them until the time Yume was ready to go on the battle field and prove to everyone once and for all that she was a Senju.

A small part in Hideki's brain felt guilty about betraying Akari this way, but he was human after all, and he had his flaws. He was a Senju, and he despised the Uchiha, especially after what they had done to the love of his life when she was pregnant with their child. If they hadn't forced her to flee like that, Akari wouldn't be dead, and Yume wouldn't have had to lead such a harsh life. So ever since Akari died, he had been subconsciously drilling into his daughter that the Uchiha were her enemy, and could in no way be considered as family. He didn't know if it had worked, or what his daughter's feeling towards her maternal clan were, but he couldn't bring himself to take the highroad on this one.

So with the thought of murdering her grandfather in mind, Hideki did the only thing he could think of to reassure his beloved Yume, before leaving. He stood in front of her and did a series of hand signs, then slammed his hand to the ground and said: "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" . As the smoke cleared, a dog about Yume's size stood in front of them. Hideki explained that the dog was his summoning animal, Baji, and that, as he was capable of speech, he would be the messenger between him and Yume for the duration of his absence. That way he could keep her updated and she wouldn't have to worry so much about him.

With Yume slightly more reassured, Hideki laughed at the curious look she was giving him: "I know, I know. You want me to teach you this jutsu. I know that your Rinnegans have already helped you memorize all the hand signs needed, but there is more to this jutsu than that. When I come back, I will help you with it, and then you can have your own cool summon, ok?"

Yume nodded enthusiastically at the promise, and with that her father was off.

True to his world, Baji had come to her two times, once her father arrived at the campsite near where the battle would take place, and the second time on the morning of the next day.

He still had to come today, but Yume knew that her father was busy, she just obediently waited for an update. After all, there was nothing that she could do, as no one in the clan would bother with keeping her informed like did with the other families of shinobi. Her only links to the clan were sitting with her on this porch too, grief stricken about their brother, and worried about their own father, so she didn't think it appropriate to bother them more.

They spent the rest of the afternoon like that, sometimes exercising, sometimes talking to each other, or lost in their own thoughts. Yume made them some light snacks, with the huge supplies her father always left her whenever he had to leave her alone.

Around night fall, the boys were starting to think about going back home, even if the two eldest still felt uneasy about leaving a young girl alone at this time, and outside the compounds walls. They made a move to depart when, suddenly, they noticed an armored silhouette making its way towards them.

They held their breaths for a few seconds, and exhaled heavily when they finally recognized Senju Butsuma. Itama ran to his father, and hugged him obviously thrilled to see him. The two others deemed themselves too old for such a demonstration of affection, but they both smiled when they saw him, relieved that he was back, safe and sound.

When he was finally in front of them, he said to his sons: "I was wondering where you guys were. It's good that I found all of you together."

His eye then went to look at Yume who was standing one step behind Hashirama. He knew that the girl found him really intimidating, and he couldn't fathom why, since he had never been anything but nice to her. His own kids could testify that he was far gentler towards her than he ever was with them, at the very least.

And he knew that the news he was about to give her wouldn't make her like him more.

He sighed and made his way to her, crouching to be at her level.

Yume's heart was beating loudly, her eyes wider than usual. She had a bad feeling and it kept getting worse by the second. Why wasn't her father here? Why hadn't he sent Baji if the battle was over? What was the clan head doing here in person?

In her head, she had a feeling that she already knew the answer, and that's why she didn't want to hear it. Hearing it makes it real, and she didn't want that. Yet the clear sorrow in Senju Butsuma's eyes was there, and very real.

She stood frozen as the Senju clan head started: "Child, I'm so sorry."