Though it took him longer than he would like, he finally settled himself. As much as he would prefer to bask in the glory of his achievement, he still had much to do. With this in mind, he pulled himself up into a standing position, stretching his arms and back until they gave a satisfying crackle.
First, he easily decided, he needed to clean himself up and figure out when he was. It wouldn't due for him to walk around covered from head to toe in filth and age-old armor. The last thing he needed was to draw attention to himself, lest the Uchiha realize they had been caught doing...whatever it was they had done this time.
Peeling his old armor off his body, he settled on dumping it in the hole he had just crawled out of. He leaned over, effectively pulling on his sore muscles as he used the nearby dirt to pat the armor into the ground. It'd surely lead to suspicion that something was off if he just left it out for anyone to see.
Tobirama hoped he would be able to sneak in, deal with the problem, then return to the Earth once he was sure the problem was taken care of. He could always reset the seal in case further problems developed in the future.
As such, he would need to be precise with how he handled whatever the situation was. If things went accordingly and he was able to return to the Earth, he made a mental note to not have his casket buried so far underground next time.
Giving the ground one final pat, he stood back up, rubbing his shoulder idly. Now that his armor was gone, he wore a solid black outfit. His turtleneck and leggings still reeked of muddy death, even if he had escaped that hellish hole.
Yeah, he couldn't walk into town wearing this. Shinobi village or not, he'd cause high alert right away. Luckily, if nothing else, he was sure he could find a pond around. He knew the land of fire, but first, he needed to figure out where he was.
It didn't take long to figure it out. Based on the giant stone faces he found the moment he stepped out of the half-caved area he had been in before, he realized he must have been buried below the Hokage monument. The same area as Hashirama, then. The silver-haired shinobi made a point of not glancing around the cave too much, not wanting to be distracted by the renewed grief of his elder brother. There would be time for that later- right now, he kept the pain in his chest tucked down. Acknowledged, but not acted upon.
Tobirama ran a hand through his crusted silver hair, looking up at the Hokage monument. Four faces. So there had only been one new Hokage. He didn't count Hiruzen in this counting since, well, the boy had become Hokage right before Tobirama had died. The Senju felt another swell of grief in his chest as the idea resonated with him. His precious students were probably dead by now.
He forced his gaze over to the area below. His village. It was bigger than he remembered. His eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the main roads, which he could just barely see from his spot upon the cliff. The village didn't look anything like he had left it. The roads all twisted in different directions.
Why on Earth would they redesign the entire village? Perhaps it just came with time, or Hiruzen had found a more efficient way of routing it. He shook his head back and forth lightly at the idea, carefully leaping down from the cliff.
He made way for one of the nearby rivers, doubting it would be gone even if it had been a while. It had always been one of his favorites due to its hidden nature. He would have never found it had he not actively gone out in search of nearly every possible fishing spot.
When Tobirama finally arrived, he was satisfied to see that it remained undisturbed, even years later. The resurrected shinobi stripped, getting into the water once he was sure he was alone. It was cold, but he ignored it in favor of scrubbing his clothes into the water beside him. The dirt that had been mucked onto him and his clothes finally seemed to rinse into the water as the man considered what to do next.
He idly scrubbed at his clothes as he pondered. There had been four Hokage's total, unless one was newly appointed and was yet to have his face carved into the wall. The carvings had been crafted within a few months of his and Hashirama taking the role of Hokage. He wasn't sure how long it would have taken for Hiruzen's statue to be built. Regardless, it must have been finished after the war, or at the very least at a leisurely pace. Hiruzen looked like he was quite old during the time of the craving. There was also the issue of how long Hiruzen's successor had lived.
Hiruzen was probably seventy or eighty when the statue was built. So that would mean he'd been dead for at least fifty or so years. As for his successor, shinobi usually lived to around thirty years old, so he would assume it had been anywhere from fifty to eighty years, depending on how long he had survived. There was always the factor of whether or not living in a village allowed for a longer life, but Tobirama couldn't be sure of that. Hokage's had to be on the front lines, so he doubted it would affect them much, but it was possible. So, eighty or ninety years, give or take?
That sounded about right, he mused, ringing his clothes and pulling the water from them with ease. He could always gather info from the village if the time period became increasingly important. Until then, he should focus on getting to the root of the problem.
Tobirama was still a bit tired from reawakening, so he decided against a hinge as he got back to land, redressing. He had lessened his chakra flow so that he wouldn't draw attention to himself. Unfortunately, this also made it more difficult to use his normal sensory abilities. He had restricted the flow so that he could only sense those within twenty or so yards of him. As uncomfortable as this made him, at least he wouldn't attract too much attention this way.
His chakra signature was perfectly hidden. As for his physical appearance, he was sure it wouldn't be too hard. With a mere glance around the edge of the water, he found his disguise.
It wouldn't be too hard to disguise himself-- the Hokage monument didn't have color and he doubted anyone would take the consideration of a dead Hokage walking down the street seriously. He used a bit of vegetation to tie his hair back, a short ponytail doing wonders to his appearance as he inspected it in the now murky water.
His tattoos would be harder to hide. He mentally cursed himself for making such distinguishable markings, but didn't waste too much time on it. Tobirama brought his fingers to the ruffles of his turtleneck, lifting it up and over his nose. He normally only used the face-covering folds for stealth missions, but he didn't have any qualms about using it as a daily mask. If anyone asked, he could simply claim he had a cold.
Taking one last look at his reflection, Tobirama stood. Now. It was time to go check out the situation with the Uchiha. Whether they had the plan of a silent strike or had already begun starting issues, he'd take care of it.
He made way for the village once he was presentable enough, having used his water manipulating abilities to force the clothes dry. He passed through the streets of Konoha, ignoring the glances he got. A pit of unease settled in his stomach as he walked through the town, eyeing the surrounding villagers with a calm but analytical expression. He would sneak, but he wasn't sure if the overall abilities of shinobi had increased or decreased. It'd be troublesome to get caught sneaking and have to use some idiotic excuse as to not get caught.
As such, Tobirama endured the stares, keeping his gaze just sharp enough to encourage the villagers to keep their distance. He was too busy for idle conversation. With any luck, they'd assume he was simply a moody traveling salesman or something of the sort.
He moved through the busy streets, noticing the many shops and houses despite his attempts to focus. He needed to look for the Uchiha compound. It wasn't where he last remembered it being, which was odd, but not overly so. He supposed it must have been relocated around the same time the rest of the village had been redesigned. It had taken him a moment, but he had eventually seen the Uchiha crest off in the distance. Ah, there it was. He went directly for the compound, which he noticed, was rather close to the Hyuuga's now.
He mildly wondered if they were on better terms now, to be able to be only a few blocks away. He doubted it, really. The Hyuuga had always been a respectable clan-- their Byakugan had always been far less deceiving than the Uchiha's Sharingan. They had never once caused trouble for the Senju. In fact, their leader had sided with both the Senju and their Uzumaki allies before. A thin smirk of approval lined Tobirama's lips as he passed by the clan gates, nodding in passing to the guards. There was a clan you could trust- reliable, intelligent, and above all else, honorable.
His good mood didn't last. Once he made it to the Uchiha compound and saw the empty guarding stations, his annoyance surfaced. Those idiot Uchiha shinobi and their pride. He knew how they were; they thought they were so untouchable. That was fine by him, even if it was aggravating. Let them be idiots if they wanted. Still, to leave the gate so open was a foolish move. Anyone could walk right in and bring harm to the children or civilians living within. Said person would be met with death the moment their prey cried out, sure, but it was a reckless move none the less.
Tobirama shook his head back and forth lightly as he set this thought to the side, even if it was an infuriating one. He moved towards the gates, finally moving into a more stealthy position. It was one thing to walk through the village as a possible tourist- it was another to walk straight into one of the compounds.
So he found himself crouched beside the wall, his eyes narrowing as he placed a hand to it. The Senju's brows furrowed as he silently checked over for the chakra signatures, expecting to find them spread out. His face fell from irritated to blank as he felt the absence of chakra.
Well...that was odd, to say the least. He stared forward for a brief moment, trying to wrap his mind around the absence. Had they migrated? Were they no longer part of the village? Or perhaps they had simply chosen to hide their chakra signature. No, that didn't seem likely. That wasn't something civilians or children would normally be able to do. It wouldn't make sense.
It was then that he caught the subtle reek. His eyes turned downcast towards his own clothes, wondering if he had carried the smell of death with him. He hadn't thought so, but perhaps he had missed it. He moved to scale the wall carefully, squatting as he entered the Uchiha compound. No, it definitely wasn't coming from him.
He took a steady step forward as his eyes narrowed, looking over the sight of the compound. It was an absolute mess. Windows were busted open in nearly every house, shards of glass yet to be picked up. Large pools of blood seemed to of crusted onto the empty sidewalk, police tape wrapping around each house and shop.
Tobirama knelt down to look at the blood, frowning as he reached a hesitant hand below. He touched the dried blood wearily, easily able to understand once he saw just how crusted it was. This blood was old- it had been there a minimum of three weeks, a maximum of two months. It was beginning to dull, but he could still see the stains against the concrete.
The stains and crust took on many different appearances- some large, some small. Some puddled, others splattered. All of them had one thing in common, however.
They had drag marks, leading up to the main house. The only house to remain without police tape, Tobirama noted with a sinking feeling. Just what exactly happened here?