Compass of thy Soul
"Right, the good news is that the sword barely grazed your spleen so I was able to heal it completely before you bled out," Yori says briskly, looking Izuna in the eye from where she's kneeling by the side of the mat he is laid out on in his undershirt, his side neatly bandaged. "The bad news is that the blade went right through your pancreas and ruptured it, and there is precisely nothing I can do to even attempt to fix that which won't kill you much faster, probably in some novel and interesting manner. We've managed to keep you from dying of shock and the medical seals mean that infection won't be an issue, but you're going to be constantly nauseous and eating will make you vomit so don't, you're going to be in constant pain and it's a tossup whether it's going to be the kidney failure or the lung collapse that kills you first. If you move as little as possible and drink plenty of lightly salted water sweetened with a little honey you might see next week, but don't count on it."
Madara can't move. It is visible in every line of her body that Yori is bitterly unhappy with her diagnosis, stripping off her gloves and blood-spattered smock and adding them to the pile of soiled linens with the bloody sheets that Izuna was lying on during treatment, and Madara can't move. All he can do is stare at his baby brother's face, at Izuna's expression twisted with pain and grief and anger and growing resignation, as the words, 'you might see next week but don't count on it,' echo in his ears.
"Madara-sama." His cousin's wife bows to him deeply before slipping out of the room, one hand cradling her pregnant belly. Her assistant follows her, carrying the bloody linens.
Madara still can't move. He can barely breathe.
"So, this is it then," Izuna croaks, staring blindly at the ceiling above him.
"No!" Madara can't– "Otōto please!"
"I'm going to die," Izuna says steadily, breaths shallow and the every rise and fall of his ribcage causing pain to tighten between his eyebrows. "So brother, please, take my ey–"
"No!" Madara storms out of the room before he loses control of his chakra; in the state he's in right now that could kill his little brother and– no. No. This can't be it. He can't lose Izuna!
Kita. Kita has seals and seals can do miraculous things; that the Uchiha can do as much as they can to heal people now is thanks to her seals as much as to Yori's yin technique. A week isn't long but maybe–
Kita knows her husband and brother-in-law are back in the Uchiha compound. She knows Izuna is injured; she felt it, both in the muted agony of his chakra as he was carried to the healing hall and in the wild, terrified swirling of her husband's presence. Her two three-year-olds have bento and are running around wild in the compound somewhere with the other small children, five-year-old Kinu keeping an eye on them both, and Benten is at naginata training.
There is nobody in the clan hall except her. Nobody to see her husband stumble in, shed sandals and drop his bloody coat, armour and weapons in an untidy heap just past the genkan and stagger through the front hall, almost tripping over the edge of the tatami before collapsing to his knees in front of where she's doing the Outguard accounts, prostrating himself and pressing his face to the mats.
"Madara!?" Kita shoves her writing desk aside, scooting forward but not quite daring to touch him. "What's wrong?!"
"Please!" He begs her, not getting up from that terrifyingly deep bow. "Can you use seals to heal Izuna? Kita please help him!"
"Madara what's wrong with him?" Is this–?
Her husband levers himself up a little, but does not break dogeza. "Yori says his pancreas is ruptured," he chokes out, "and that he has a week at most. Please. I can't… can't–" he sobs, his entire body shaking, forehead knocking back down on the tatami.
Kita feels her own chakra spike, barely noticing the world coming into unnatural focus around her as her mind whirls. She discards the first three things that come to mind –there's nothing she can do in so little time– if he's dying they have nothing left to lose –what will the clan give for peace– brings her chakra back under control, takes a careful breath and asks a question:
"Madara, have you or any others in the Outguard ever seen a Senju take an injury like Izuna's and return to the battlefield afterwards?"
Madara rises out of that terrifying bow, sharingan lighting up as he focuses. "I– maybe?" He looks her in the eye, desperation in every line of his body. "I'll find out." He stumbles to his feet, turns and strides out of the side of the house, barely taking the time to slip back into his sandals, tears still streaking his cheeks as he dashes across the garden in a straight line towards the Outguard headquarters, bounding over the koi pond in his haste.
Kita takes a second to pray for the unfortunates she has just inflicted her panicking husband upon, then gets to her feet. His armour and weapons need hanging up on their rack and his coat needs cleaning; she will grab a passing clansman to take the coat to Midori, deal with the armour and weapons herself and then make use of the time Madara's frantic mass interrogation will hopefully buy her to go over her seals and come up with a strategy that both he and Izuna will consent to.
Izuna is likely to be the hard sell here. He still unthinkingly hates the Senju; Hikaku has at least learned better.
An hour later Madara has bullied thirteen Outguard members into the clan hall and is glaring impatiently with sharingan swirling as they take it in turns to share a genjutsu with Yori so she can analyse the injuries and reappearances they have witnessed. The searing heat and low-grade intent rippling through his chakra and coiling around him don't really do anything for the atmosphere; Kita quietly fetches her husband's armour kit and pushes it into his hands along with his chest plate. He starts slightly, but does sit down and start the process of cleaning and oiling his armour. Once he's settled Kita fetches the entire stand; that should keep him busy for a little while.
It doesn't take much focus and at the end he will have accomplished something tangible, which is more that can be said about what Kita is attempting here. Well, will be attempting shortly; the whole scheme does not hang on her alone but she will have to do her part.
Yori does not rush herself. After a first run-through she dismisses eight of the men before re-examining the memories of the other five. Madara finishes with his armour and starts sharpening his scythe, then moves on to his twin swords and various knives. Kita is bent over her desk, frantically leafing through her notes and throwing together the new seals that her plan is going to require, occasionally consulting the diagram of the chakra system that Tajima-sama let her trade with the Hyūga for. Both diagrams; the Uchiha chakra system is a little idiosyncratic due to their bloodline and Hinagiku-san kindly agreed to produce a specific Uchiha version for her in exchange for an entire kimono of figured wild silk, using the Squad delivering the request as models.
Worth it. So very worth it.
Yori finally dismisses the remaining warriors and waits for them to not only put on their sandals but leave the grounds of the hall entirely before speaking. "Well, I can now state conclusively that yes, the Senju have some kind of comprehensive healing programme and can regenerate organ damage in about a fortnight, as well as treat other serious injuries such as shattered bones and third degree burns." Her face is tight; no doubt she's remembering all the Uchiha who have died of comparable injuries over the past seven years. They're a markedly bigger clan than the Senju, but all that means is that they've been able to match their enemies' numbers in the field despite sustaining considerably greater casualties. Dead is dead, but the gap between where the Uchiha and the Senju set the 'as good as dead' benchmark makes a big difference; the Senju have demonstrably better healers.
Madara breathes out, trembling slightly.
"Thank you, Yori," Kita replies quietly. "Please arrange for Izuna to be moved back home, and be assured that you will be consulted before we move him again or attempt treatment."
Yori leaves. Kita turns her full attention on her husband. "Madara, I have a plan," she says gently, "but for it to work Izuna has to cooperate and you need to present the casualty statistics to the elders first, so that they can agree that seeking to make peace with the Senju is in fact for the good of the Uchiha in both the short- and medium-term, even if things fall through in the long term."
"Peace?" Madara glares, gesturing wildly. "Kita! Tobirama has all but murdered my brother!"
"Madara, the Senju can heal your brother," Kita replies patiently, "and this is the best time to determine whether Hashirama is actually serious about wanting peace. If he is, then he will agree for your brother to be healed and Izuna will live. If he is not," Kita sighs, "well, we're hardly going to entrust our Clan Head's brother to our enemy without taking an equally valuable hostage in return, are we?"
"You want to neutralise Tobirama," Madara deduces instantly, which yes; it would have the benefit of depriving the Senju of his sensory skills and tactical acumen. Never mind the likely long-term logistical issues as Hashirama's carelessness starts to have more of an impact. "Hashirama will have to relinquish his brother for the exchange to be equal, and we will of course bind his chakra for the safety of our clansmen and because Izuna is currently helpless, for fairness' sake if nothing else. If Izuna is restored to full health we swap them back, and with that demonstration of good faith the Elders will have to agree to full formal terms, and if not–" his bitter grin is somewhat deranged.
"I believe Hashirama will agree," Kita says carefully; first-hand evidence and her memories of a former lifetime both imply that the Senju Head is a blind zealot pursuing the ideal of peace, so will likely jump at the chance. Tobirama will be far more wary, but he is loyal above all else so if his brother orders it he will comply. Even though he may well believe the Uchiha mean him dead. Yes, certain individuals do, but not all of them. Not even most of them.
"How do we make it work?"
"Seals," Kita says succinctly. "I can put a temporary pain-numbing seal on Izuna, so he can move and breathe through the pain for transportation, and a more permanent seal to ensure nobody can touch his eyes along with a tracking seal so that we will know immediately if he dies. I have chakra-binding seals we can put on Tobirama, additional seals I can put on a bedroom to block his sensing and a leash seal so he can't leave clan grounds without a designated escort. The best way to get an audience is for you to march down to the border in full armour and yell at the Senju who are definitely going to be lurking there that you want a formal meeting with their Clan Head midmorning on the following day. Maybe take a letter? Whatever the formal protocol for arranging a short-term truce is." Tajima-sama never trained her with that kind of diplomacy in mind.
"I'll go now–"
"Madara, wait! We have to convince Izuna to agree first. It's his body; using him as a bargaining chip without his consent is," Kita makes a face. "He is the one who has to agree to allow the Senju to use their chakra on him, who will be unconscious and vulnerable in their care."
Madara sags back into a sitting position. "Yes. You're right." His face hardens. "If you put the pain-numbing seal on him this afternoon, so he can think clearly while we discuss it and agree, I can go tomorrow and negotiate with Hashirama the day after." He sets his shoulders, the pervasive despair that was gouging deep cracks in his façade almost entirely contained. "Whatever happens, the situation with the Senju will be less desperate for trying this."
Kita nods. She put a lot of effort into coming up with something that would provide benefits regardless of the outcome. Even if Hashirama says 'no,' they will still have set doubts to rest.
Izuna agrees. Kita suspects he is agreeing because he fully believes he will die, and that dying at the hands of the Senju is a better death than fading away in his own bed –also this way he can die knowing Tobirama will not outlive him– but he still agrees, with his full faculties available to him as granted by her pain-numbing seal, and that is the important part. Izuna's only condition is that his brother takes his eyes before they do this, which Madara agrees to. Kita manages to get them to agree to a proper swap –Izuna needs to be able to see while in Senju hands– and Yori agrees to carry out the procedure after Madara has demanded the truce tomorrow morning.
Convincing the elders is more challenging. Kita is present at the meeting backing up her husband, wearing her black Toyotama tomesode inherited from Great-Grandma and a suitably elegant hairstyle as a sign of respect, and a reminder both of her status and the importance of what is at stake. It takes hours to argue them into submission, even with Ohabari-oba helping, and Kita has to really spell out all the things that her seals –on both Izuna and Tobirama– will guarantee. She's glad for the sound-blocking seals on the shōji leading to the girls' bedrooms; without it they'd probably have been woken up several times by now.
Tobirama will have to stay in the clan hall; it's the only place Madara can guarantee he'll not be murdered in his sleep by grieving Uchiha. Not in Izuna's room though; Kita will move Benten's futon in there and put Tobirama in Tajima-sama's old room. That will be a suitably neutral compromise, as it's not like Madara's father is alive to complain about a Senju getting the best-appointed bedroom in the building.
The elders do finally subside, if only because the plan places the risk firmly on the Outguard Head and his immediate family rather than on any of their close relatives. Kita demonstrates her chakra-binding seal on an impatient Madara for their benefit –he collapses to the floor gasping as soon as it takes, but does manage to wobble to his feet and totter around the room a few minutes later, breath steadying with every step taken– releases her husband so that he can accept the Uchiha clan's formal commitment to making peace with the Senju and then bids her guests a polite goodnight before closing the door behind them and groaning. It's really late now and there's a lot to do tomorrow.
"Kita?" Her husband wraps his arms loosely around her waist, desperate hope in every line of his body.
"This is scary and unprecedented and it's going to be a lot of work," she tells him softly, "but I have faith we will prevail. Izuna will live and we will have peace."
"Thank you," Madara murmurs, gripping her tight and pressing his face into her hair. "Kita thank you, without you–" She hugs him back just as tightly as he shakes, wetness seeping through to her scalp. Today has been a nightmare and a test of everything she's spent her life building, but tomorrow will be better.
It has to be.
Kita is right; marching down to the Senju border in full armour and shouting does indeed summon a Senju patrol in short order. They agree to take the scroll he throws at their heads back to their Clan Head, so Madara then runs all the way back to the compound and hastily strips out of his gear so that Yori can carry out the agreed-upon eye surgery in Izuna's bedroom.
It's a surprisingly speedy procedure, one the Uchiha have used again and again over the centuries; barely half an hour later he's looking around at a world that is in sharper focus than he's seen without sharingan in almost a decade as Kita paints her eye-protecting seal onto Izuna's temples.
"It's got to be visible, so the Senju know what precautions we've taken," his wife says absently as she slides an open scroll covered in kanji, lines and symbols under Izuna's neck, "but if this ends up going on every member of the clan we can hide it under the hairline. No need to advertise that it's there, after all."
"What are you calling this one?" Izuna wheezes. Kita's pain relief seals are dangerous in the long run as they prevent a person from noticing that they're doing themselves damage, so Izuna is just having to suffer quietly for now. At least he won't be suffering for very much longer.
Kita's lips twitch; Madara is already looking forward to the inevitable pun. His wife likes her puns. "It's a hands-off seal," she says cheerfully. "People will keep their hands off your eyes, or their hands will come off at the wrist."
Izuna trembles. "Ow, ow ow!" He gasps, tears welling up in his eyes. "Don't make me laugh like that!" He flaps a hand, hitting her leg. "That was dreadful!"
Madara thoroughly approves of this new seal; he's tempted to make it compulsory, in the Outguard at least. "What about necessary eye surgery?" Eye surgery is one thing the Uchiha are probably better at than the Senju –implants and swaps, as people do take eye injuries on the battlefield sometimes– but with Yori's healing technique the recovery period is cut down from a week of blindness under bandages to a mere half-hour. They also know Kita's immune-boosting seals don't cause the body to reject another's eyes, which had been an early concern that a retired Outguard member volunteered to test for a few years back. He's still in good health now, so that's proof enough.
"A seal master with access to the encryption key can remove the seal," Kita says, picking up her brush again, "and for a brief examination, if both the patient and the practitioner channel chakra into the seal at the same time it will temporarily open to allow for physical contact. However neither a chakra examination nor applying healing will set it off; it specifically counters physical attempts to puncture or remove the eye, as well as chakra-assisted attempts to sever the optic nerve."
"By removing the hand," Madara finishes. "Put it on me too, afterwards?"
His wife blinks at him. "Erm, let me fine-tune it a bit first? This is a bit rough and ready so I'm planning on taking it off once we get Izuna back. I want to incorporate a dead man's switch, to liquefy the eyeballs if the body they're in has been dead for more than a day, and fine-tune the whole structure so it's a bit more elegant. This is pretty crude."
"As you say then." If Kita thinks she can make the seal better than Madara is more than happy to wait for her to be satisfied with its quality.
"Right, this shouldn't hurt," Kita says firmly, "so if it does tell me immediately so I can remove it. Here we go: three, two, one, seal!"
There's a flash of blue and all the ink converges on Izuna's temples, forming little hand-print shapes with the palm outstretched as if to ward off a blow. Kita then applies a pain-blocking seal to Izuna's bare shoulder.
His brother blinks, slowly rolls his eyes one way and then the other, then briefly activates his sharingan. "Nothing hurts."
"Try Mangekyō for me; that channels a lot of chakra and I want to be sure the seal doesn't obstruct it."
Izuna's eyes twist into a new and unfamiliar pattern that is a mix of his and Madara's former Mangekyō. "Still nothing," he assures her, managing a shadow of his usual cocky grin.
Kita sits back on her heels and sighs, tugging the now-blank scroll out of the way. "Perfect. Now I'm going to replace this seal with a similar one that will reduce pain rather than numbing it completely, so you can try to sleep a bit. You need all the rest you can get."
Once the shōji to Izuna's room is closed behind them, Kita gently leads him into the dining room and puts a kettle over the iori for tea. Madara lets the calm steadiness of her movements and the familiarity of the process soothe him, waiting patiently for his wife to pour the tea into their cups and decide what it is she wants to say.
"You've mentioned a few times that you and Hashirama had an idea for a village," she says once the tea has brewed and has been poured. "Will you tell me about it?"
Madara gratefully seizes the distraction. "Do you have some paper, so I can draw it?"
Kita immediately opens her seal workbox and produces a large sheet of hemp paper, moving back one of the tatami to lay it down on the wooden floor below. "Like this?"
"Perfect." He carefully picks out a stub of charcoal rather than one of her brushes; it wouldn't do to damage her sealing tools. "We thought it could look a bit like this…"
Four hours and a meal later the village plan has undergone three separate redesigns to account for Kita's ideas –piped water and sewers are indeed an excellent idea, as are rules to ensure every house has a suitable garden for growing their own vegetables– and her very valid point that to get the daimyo on board, it's probably better to start the village as a trading post with workshop space for craftspeople rather than everybody moving in together right away. That gives both clans time to adjust to the idea and reduces the pressure on those still grieving, and also provides space for any other clans who might want to acquire space in their new trading centre to do so.
With this in mind, Madara has redesigned Konohagakure from the river outwards, including sewer lines and filtering stations so they don't smother all the fish in waste, taking care to leave large areas of forest intact inside the outer boundary so the clan won't have to go beyond the walls to harvest wood for charcoal. Not that he's going to stop them, but it's better to have sources close at hand in the winter months.
He's not sure what the Senju will need, but he's set aside space for their fields and made sure there's room for a shop and restaurant district not too far from the manufacturing district, as well as plenty of acreage for housing and orchards and vegetable gardens. There's also lots of free space, so redesigning things here and there won't be too much trouble so long as he keeps the road grid consistent. Kita's right that a grid is much better than a web reaching out from a single point; it lets people move around without all having to pass through the town centre. Less secure from a military point of view perhaps, but they're not exactly building a military outpost or a clan compound, are they? Konohagakure is supposed to be a centre for peace, so the layout should reflect that too. The outer wall is as much for keeping the wildlife out and making sure children don't get lost as anything else.
He likes this new version even more than the one he came up with alongside Hashirama as a child; Kita's suggestions make the whole project feel so much more achievable than he's ever hoped would be possible.
Maybe by this time next year they'll even have started building it.
"Stop being so pessimistic, Tobirama! This is great news! After Izuna's injury in yesterday's battle Madara must have decided to finally make peace!"
Tobirama is not convinced; he spent yesterday watching Madara's chakra flick jarringly in and out of sight within the Uchiha compound, shifting abruptly from desperate and terrified to grimly determined, then finally to this morning's tightly contained focus. Whatever Madara is planning, it is unlikely to be good for the Senju.
He would have a better idea of what was being planned were it not for those shielding seals scattered across the Uchiha compound; they make tracking anybody moving within their lands intensely challenging. The abruptness of each transition from sealed to unsealed area is disconcerting and means he has to consciously ignore what the Uchiha clan are doing when out on missions or else risk being fatally distracted. It's still fairly distracting at home when he's working on new techniques or fine-tuning older ones, but he's got used to limiting his perspective while experimenting.
Since those seals have been created the Senju have made a point of trying to locate and neutralise any Uchiha who use fūinjutsu, but Tobirama isn't convinced they've caught them all. Not when every single Uchiha carries with them a range of equipment clearly created by a fūinjutsu specialist. Those large, oddly flattened bags with the profoundly alien storage seal inside are evidently standard issue, so there is probably a retired clan member back at their compound making them to somebody's sharingan-precise example, and the set of brightly coloured omamori every single one of them wears hanging from a sash or belt –purpose unknown, as Tobirama has not been able to get hold of even one of them to take apart– also appear standardised.
"The conditions are suspect, Anija," he says instead, sighing. Why would Madara specify armour but no weapons? It's not like lack of edged steel makes that much of a difference among shinobi; they all have chakra at their fingertips.
"Don't be ridiculous, Tobi, it'll be fine! Madara's just finally recognising the importance of our dream for peace!"
Tobirama doesn't answer; he's uncomfortably aware that Madara has at no point stopped wanting peace; he's just going about achieving it from a completely different direction to Hashirama, one his brother doesn't even seem to have noticed. The Uchiha clan might be gradually losing on the battlefield, but on the financial side there is Uchiha-made silk in the capital's markets and Uchiha-made ceramics are increasingly popular prestige pieces, as are Uchiha-made razors; Tobirama's even bought one of those himself, as the craftsmanship is genuinely excellent. They make some of the best ink he's ever used. Their warriors are all well-armoured and properly armed, to better standards than the Senju are even; the Senju's only edge is superior manpower, greater diversity in fighting styles and the advantage his own sensing ability brings, along of course with the fact that his brother is markedly stronger than Madara is.
Madara has made his clan financially prosperous and his warriors are clearly all well-trained and well-equipped; he even has medics lurking behind the front lines to treat the injured as quickly as possible. So where are all those Uchiha going? Tobirama is fairly sure he's not seen enough corpses to account for missing faces and chakra signatures. Has Madara moved them elsewhere, smuggled some of his clansmen out of Uchiha clan grounds hidden by seals so that Tobirama cannot track them?
Whatever is going on, he suspects Kita-san has a hand in Madara's demand for a meeting under truce. Izuna is adamantly opposed to negotiating with the Senju but the polite, contained woman he met at the capital is a force to be reckoned with, all the more so because he knows so little about her. She has never been on the battlefield that he's noticed and spends far more time in the Uchiha compound's concealed areas than in its visible ones.
Tobirama suspects she is his counterpart at Madara's side, not Izuna. Her stratagem with the tea ceremony was impeccable; he's still not sure he caught all the nuances there. But she's made no overt moves since and that worries him, especially since it was the Uchiha who broke the ceasefire after his father's death two years ago.
Whatever the game being played, he really doesn't like the shape it's taking.
Kita successfully argues her way onto the delegation. She is the clan's seal master, so she should be the one applying the seals to Tobirama; they all know he is also a sealing expert so letting one of her apprentices do the work creates the possibility that he might wiggle out of less expertly-made shackles. Hashirama may also argue for additional conditions, which she is best qualified to modify her own work to encompass.
Madara agrees on the condition that she wear Izuna's half-plate armour under her coat and has plenty of time-out seals ready. Well he calls them knockout seals, but they're time-out seals. Because once applied, the victim is in time-out until she releases them.
The seal itself looks like an oval pocket watch face with a knob on the top, a central spot and no hands. She's made timed ones –which do have hands– but the indefinite ones are still her favourites. They're far simpler to work with and she can apply them by touch in a split-second. At a distance with chakra even, although that takes a little more focus.
It's been a while since she wore working clothes and wrapped her legs and arms, but you really don't ever forget how. Once properly dressed Kita lets her husband wrap her in the padded under-armour and fit the armour over the top –it's a bit awkward adjusting it to cover her breasts, but she's slim and barely a hand's-width shorter than her brother-in-law so it could be worse– and then puts on her own coat over the top. The patchwork coat her little sisters made for her with Toyotama-hime in dragon form coiling across all the lining panels and around the sleeves, various layers of jūnihitoe draped across her body at intervals and other feminine accessories floating in the waves around her, a feather-thatched hut on the beach on the lower hem and the sun and moon on her shoulders flanked by storm clouds to mark her as wife to an Amaterasu.
Kita loves her coat. Her sisters really outdid themselves, even though she had to resew all the seals stitched into the canvas core when they gave out after the first year. She does up her hair in a basic utilitarian bun, slides her sealing box –which is differently patterned to her everyday writing box– into the pocket in her sleeve generally reserved for a holdout knife, adds a jar of previously prepared ink to her other sleeve and heads outside to join the rest of the group.
Madara is taking significant representatives from every lineage and four warriors of no lineage; this means that eight-year-old Kagutsuchi has to come along in his tiny patchwork coat –cut down from his late uncle's– which is fairly nerve-racking, but with the way two of the Outguard members are hovering around him, she's sure he'll be fine. Likely whisked off his feet and away from the battlefield the moment things start going downhill. Izuna is being carefully carried by the other two lower-ranking Outguard members –both with medical training– and E, her handless apprentice, is lurking behind him with her brush held lightly between her teeth.
E is an example of what Uchiha determination can achieve in the face of severe difficulty; she relearned all her fire techniques after the Senju deliberately went after her hands to stop her writing seals mid-fight, then learned to write again for good measure. She's not even twenty and determinedly teaching herself to use chakra strings like the wandering bunraku puppeteers of Wind Country do; she's already up to five simultaneous strings and likely to continue improving. Soon she's have her dexterity back, even without physical hands.
Kita's other apprentice with his prosthetic lower leg and sprung foot –another bunraku item, bought with Uchiha ink and steel wire alongside the lessons on chakra strings– will not be coming; he's babysitting the girls for her. Iō's good with children; he lives in one of the orphan houses and helps train the younger ones, so they have something to build on once they're old enough for official training. No chakra manipulation, but dexterity games and stretches and meditation. All important basic skills every Uchiha needs.
She hopes Hashirama really is as blindly devoted to his dream of peace in real life as he was in the Naruto story. If he is even slightly pragmatic he's not going to go along with their idea at all.
The Uchiha party does at least suggest they're not acting entirely in bad faith; there's a grey-haired woman with a limp and an eight-year-old boy in their group along with the expected warriors and two shinobi are even carrying Izuna, who looks incredibly unwell. His skin is yellowed, clammy with sweat, and his eyes are sunken into their sockets; Tobirama's impressed he's upright, actually. Still, that Madara has carried his brother all the way here does imply this is both serious and official, as there is no way the Uchiha Head would drag his obviously injured younger brother onto a battlefield, especially not when he's snugly wrapped up in a quilted blanket inside his coat rather than wearing armour; the lower edge of the blanket is clearly visible above Izuna's ankles.
The familiar woman hovering behind Izuna glares at him, twirling the brush in her mouth with her tongue. Clearly cutting her hands off hasn't been enough to keep her from pursuing fūinjutsu, although it has at least removed her from the battlefield. Still, Tobirama's surprised the Uchiha aren't using exploding notes yet; they're one of the easiest fūinjutsu applications there is. The Uchiha clan uses all kinds of other pyrotechnics, but he's yet to see a single exploding note.
Then again, Tobirama doesn't exactly use them himself.
Madara steps up, Kita at his left with several familiar warriors flanking them both along with the older woman and the boy, evidently in some kind of official order of precedence going by how some of them quickly change places and two warriors hastily step backwards out of formation, shadowing the youngest clansman like a personal guard. "Senju Hashirama, you have called for peace," the Uchiha Head says loudly, "but the Uchiha have seen little evidence of your sincerity. We have had nothing but war from you since your ascension, and many civilian members of our clan have died at the hands and blades of your warriors."
What civilians?! The Uchiha clan has civilian members? Every last Senju is a fully trained shinobi no matter what else they do in their free time; the idea of anybody not being trained when they are all at war is unconscionable. Never mind that Tobirama has never seen or sensed a single adult Uchiha without refined chakra reserves and elemental training. What new trick is this?
"Therefore we wish to test your sincerity," Madara concludes.
"Of course!" Hashirama agrees immediately. "What did you have in mind, Madara?"
"I will entrust my injured brother to your hands for three weeks," Madara says evenly, "and you will allow my wife to bind your brother's chakra before he is given into my hands. In three weeks time, if both still live, we will each return our hostages and set a date for writing a formal treaty."
So this is the shape of things; Izuna is dying and the Uchiha wish to kill him in return.
"I have no objections," his older brother says without hesitation; Tobirama flinches. It is one thing to know in his heart that there is nothing his brother values more than his idea of peace, not even his own kin, but to hear it said so clearly before enemies…
"Anija!"
Hashirama glares at him, chakra flexing threateningly; Tobirama ducks his head and quickly starts stripping out of his armour. If he is going to die, the Uchiha will at least not get to keep any trophies.
"Izuna's pancreas is ruptured," Madara continues, chakra unbearably hot but tightly contained, "so he will require considerable medical attention, which he has agreed your clan may provide. Seals have been placed over his eyes so they cannot be touched, and over his heart so that should he die I will know immediately. The seal tag on his collarbone is to reduce pain, so that he can be moved without vomiting or passing out. It is reusable, and will be left with him for ease of travel."
A highly complicated injury to be sure, especially if proper treatment has not yet even begun so many days after it was inflicted, but one that is not beyond the Senju's capabilities even though it may be on the limits of what the Uchiha can reliably accomplish. They may even be able to analyse the seal tag for the clan's own use. Tobirama hands over the last of his under-armour to Tōka, removes his happuri and shakes his hair out of his eyes as Kita takes a single step forward, removing a brush from one sleeve and a jar of ink from the other.
So she is the Uchiha's seal master; he should have guessed. The others the Senju have met on battlefields and running missions were evidently apprentices.
"Please remove your shirt and turn to face your brother, Tobirama-san," she tells him politely. Tobirama hesitates for a split-second then does exactly as she requests, fur collar clenched in his hands as he shrugs the thin fabric over his head and lets it hang around his elbows. Having his brother chivvy him onwards to his entirely avoidable death is a humiliation he wishes to avoid.
The light, deft touch of chakra-infused ink against his skin is almost gentle, the fire of Kita's chakra nature warm and soothing rather than the fierce, biting heat he is more used to from those Uchiha he meets in battle. Not that Tobirama expects her to kill him any less effectively; fire is fire, be it in the hearth or running wild in the forest.
There is no sound save distant birdsong, a stream running over rocks a way west, the variously regular breathing of those present and the small sounds of brush on skin and the clink of the ink bottle. Time stretches as Tobirama allows an enemy to do to him what he has never allowed any ally to even attempt, because his brother demands it.
He finally hears the light chink of an ink bottle being capped and a rustle of sleeves. "Hiei-san, Yajuro-san."
There is a creak of fabric and armour as the two men carrying Izuna appear in Tobirama's peripheral vision, the woman with the brush in her teeth hovering protectively behind them.
"If two Senju would step forwards to accept my brother-in-law into their care, I would be most grateful," Kita says politely, moving up beside Tobirama and briefly tugging his shirt back up towards his shoulders. Tobirama pulls it over his head as calmly as he can; he has a seal painted on his back. A seal he has not seen with a purpose he cannot guess at. It spans his entire spine from nape to waist and curls around his sides and shoulders as well as down his upper arms. The moment Kita activates it –which requires a simple flex of her chakra, not even a touch– he will be wholly in her power. No; he is there already. All that is left is for the axe to fall.
He refuses to let his fear show. He will die with dignity.
"Chigi, Shurō," Tōka says sharply, carefully handing his armour off to Ryūsha so as to have her hands free. The two named shinobi step forwards, hands raised and fingers splayed, until they are just a few paces from the defensive clump of Uchiha.
"This seal will severely limit Tobirama-san's access to his chakra," Kita says evenly into the hush. "When I tested it on Madara-san he fell to his knees and struggled to breathe for the first few seconds. Once I am certain Tobirama-san is sufficiently recovered to travel, Hiei-san and Yajuro-san will hand off Izuna-san to Chigi-san and Shurō-san and the hostage exchange will be completed."
Tobirama knows he is far too late to back out of this –not that he would ever go against his brother– but he is uneasily aware that Kita is going to great lengths to act in visible good faith. More, Madara is letting her. The Uchiha Head is allowing his wife to command his shinobi in his presence and address his enemies on his behalf, which most would take as a sign of weakness. It cannot be weakness; Madara is not weak and neither is he politically inept. This is deliberate. Why?
"Fūin."
Even with the warning, Tobirama is still driven to his hands and knees, shaking and gasping. His chakra… what is this seal that he can barely even feel it?! His sensing range has collapsed almost to nothing –maybe a hundred metres at best– and he is suddenly cold.
Nobody moves, although Tōka's chakra spikes in agitation as he shudders and tries to breathe evenly. Tobirama carefully wraps his collar around his throat without rising from his knees, attaching it to his shirt with shaking hands, then, once his stomach has finally settled, tries to stand.
His knees wobble alarmingly; Kita grabs his upper arm and steadies him as the chakra of every Senju present tenses at her abrupt movement.
"I am… not harmed, Anija," he manages, leaning into his captor. He feels hollowed out and terribly weak, but it is not the all-encompassing fatigue of chakra exhaustion. His chakra is still there, he just can't touch it. It is firmly locked behind his chakra gates. The loss is a shock, but he is already beginning to adjust.
Chigi and Shurō clasp hands so the two Uchiha facing them can turn around and gently back Izuna into their arms; the way the man sways, face grey and a moan slipping between his teeth at the transfer, indicates that even with the seal fluttering at his throat he is still in terrible pain. The woman hangs back, teeth digging dents in her brush handle and sleeve-ends hanging empty.
Tobirama lets himself be turned around and led back to where Madara is waiting, arms folded tightly across his armoured chest.
"The exchange of hostages has been made," the Uchiha Head announces, chakra all grim satisfaction. "We shall meet again in three weeks time." His eyes slide over to his younger brother, whose face is shiny with sweat as he leans into Chigi, eyes glassy and chakra wavering with every spasm of pain.
"Until then, Madara!" Hashirama agrees brightly, beaming at his counterpart and ignoring Tobirama entirely. "I promise to take good care of your little brother!"
"And I shall do likewise," Madara counters coolly as the entire Uchiha party moves backwards into the trees. Tobirama struggles to keep up with the pace being set as his clan fades out of range behind him, despite Madara's hand clamped around his upper arm dragging him onwards. The Uchiha Clan Head growls, then lifts him off his feet entirely and tosses him over his shoulder before running even faster.
Tobirama does not protest the indignity of being treated like a sack of rice. He knows it wouldn't do him any good.
He is still alive. That will have to be enough.