Gritting his teeth, Tobirama stood, practically marching forward. Following the routes of blood, he made way for the main household. He had to forcibly calm his chakra as to not alert anyone, the silver-haired shinobi torn.

There was no way the Uchiha clan was gone. They had once rivaled the Senju, fighting with determination no matter the circumstances. As untrustworthy as the clan was, Tobirama had never once considered them weak. They wouldn't allow themselves to be knocked out so easily- Tobirama had seen this time and time again as their numbers dwindled side by side with their own, the red-eyed shinobi never giving any indication of letting up. He had watched, over and over, as the Uchiha fought down to their very last capable man with everything they had.

Tobirama knew the Uchiha. They wouldn't die this easily. Even as he walked over splatters upon splatters of what could only be theirs, he found it hard to believe. Hell, even if the Uchiha had been attacked, surely they would have had the common sense to retreat, right?

Pushing the front door of the main house open, he mentally corrected, they probably wouldn't. Damn Uchiha and their pride. Still. The idea of their once mighty rivals falling seemed ludicrous. Surely they hadn't fallen so weak over the course of only a few decades?

It was inarguable, though, as he searched the compound for any chakra. For all his sensory abilities, he didn't feel a single shred of Uchiha chakra. His eyes scanning over the main house, he used his strained voice for the first time in who knows how long, "Hello?" the question rung through the air heavily as he tentatively moved to the doorway. "...Uchiha?"

His red eyes glanced over the opening room, frowning at the lack of response. Surely, if this house was still open, there had to be someone living here? Had it been an outside attack where only the main family had survived? Or was it a power grab, perhaps? The latter seemed unlikely. It must have been an attack from outside. Perhaps the main family had been the only ones able to hide? Or, he bitterly considered, any Uchiha would technically become the leader if the others were dead. It couldn't have been a power grab. If it had been a power grab, the children and civilians wouldn't be missing.

That was the most disturbing thing about this all, really. He could understand why the Uchiha shinobi would be dead- they were shinobi. Death was, unfortunately, part of the job. It would be normal for them to be targeted. The only reason the children and civilians would have been targeted by an enemy nation would be if they had only been a means to an end.

Even still, that was sinking too low by most shinobi standards. The very idea was just...wrong. Shinobi were one thing. He could even understand retired shinobi. They knew how to defend themselves. It was entirely different to point a sword at someone either too old or too young to protect themselves. Even people who had simply decided to take on the role of civilians didn't deserve that. How was someone who baked bread for a living supposed to defend against experienced fighters?

He hadn't seen any other clans with missing guards...was it only the Uchiha clan? On one hand, it was good that the damage had only hit one area of the village. On the other, it was sickening to consider. He could practically envision it- the enemy shinobi slipping past the border and into the Uchiha compound. It would have been easy, with them being on the edge of Konoha. It was quite possible that this had been a personal attack, actually. It would explain why the rest of the village didn't seem to be suffering any losses.

He crossed his arms more on instinct than anything as he considered this, unsure of how to feel about it. Well, there was definitely no threat. Still, it was wrong on so many fundamental levels. He absent-mindedly moved forward, walking past the oddly clean living room, considering how things were outside. None of the windows were broken in this house, nor was there any blood.

The couch looked as high quality as one would expect from a clan head, the bookshelves on either side of it lined with books of all nearly all genres. The weapons lined up neatly on the wall looked a bit dusty, but besides that, everything seemed to be in order.

Tobirama turned into the kitchen, moving past the counter as he checked the pantry and fridge. He was satisfied to see that it was full of surprisingly fresh fruit and vegetables. The kitchen had pretty much everything besides meat and alcohol. Well, at least he knew there was definitely someone living in the house, then. There was no way those fruits were more than a week old tops.

Overall, the house seemed pretty well taken care of. He at first assumed the contents of the kitchen meant that a man or woman had survived the attack, but this idea was questioned as he went to the side of the fridge. His foot kicked against something, which he quickly found to be a step-stool. Leaning down, he carefully picked it up, brow quirking. It was a child's step-stool, little toy kunai decorating the sides. If it was out in the open a month after the attack...

Tobirama let out a light sigh as he sat it back where he had gotten it. Perhaps, if nothing else, the children had been pitied in the attack. He could only hope for that much. Even if he didn't trust the Uchiha, children were just that. Children. They didn't deserve to see so much death, let alone face it themselves. He would know.

Distantly, he felt his own hands reach up to run over his face. He continued on his walk through the house, glancing in the bathroom briefly. His conclusion was backed by the towels hanging on the wall. Their designs matched the step-stool from earlier, and honestly, he didn't see either of those being something an adult would use. He might have been hoping for too much, but he allowed himself to do so against his better judgment.

If the children were indeed alive, where were they? The ninja academy, perhaps? That was the most likely option. This lead him to wonder, though, had they all been school-aged? Were those the only ones allowed to live?

He passed the dining room and back porch, not noticing anything out of the ordinary in either of the areas. He didn't have to look over to know that his knuckle was turning white as he gripped onto the staircase, his legs heavy as he forced them upstairs. When he did make it up to the second floor, he felt his shoulders sag at the effort it took to look up. There was a hallway with a distinct lack of photos lining the wall. Another bathroom with similar towels. Only three bedrooms. He didn't have to look into the master bedroom to tell it hadn't been touched in weeks. The door handle had dust on it, which Tobirama held off on opening. He would try to avoid being caught in the house, for now. That just left the two other bedrooms. Were all the children squeezing into these rooms...? He hadn't seen any pallets set up in the living room...

Tobirama felt heat rising in his chest, both out of sorrow and rage. Even if they were Uchiha, they were still children. How could they be expected to live like this? He stared wearily at the first room he entered, which had probably belonged to a teenager at some point, based on the size of the bed. The room was so bare-- the only form of entertainment seemed to be the abundance of books and perhaps the miscellaneous jars of sweets on the desk. Tobirama's blank eyes landed on neither of these, however. Instead, he found his red eyes locking onto a shelf.

It was filled with awards. Some were miniature statues while others were simply pieces of paper. Tobirama felt his hand move up to grip the bridge of his nose as he read a few of the awards.

'Top of the class for graduation year...'

'Second highest score in the history of the ninja academy as of...'

'A genin of Konoha as of...'

'A chuunin of Konoha as of...'

Well, this kid just did it all, didn't he? Based on the names and ages on each of the awards, this 'Itachi Uchiha' was doing pretty good for himself. Though, Tobirama narrowed his eyes, so much for Hashirama and his whole 'Children should not participate in deadly activities' idea. Unable to resist the agitation building in his gut, Tobirama settled on lightly throwing his hands into the air. "At least the village was getting along with the Uchiha!" voice filled to the brim with sarcasm as he headed out of the room, closing the door maybe a little harder than necessary.

Part of what pissed him off the most was the chakra signature at the bottom and top of multiple of the awards. They were mostly of people he didn't know, but he could recognize Hiruzen and Danzo's signatures anywhere. They had both signed at the bottle along with a mix of unfamiliar others. At the top of each, he could sense to chakra engraved into the signature of 'Itachi'. That chakra was far too light to have been an adults'. Brows furrowed together, Tobirama moved onto the next room, setting his urge to find his students and scold them to the side. He had taught them better than to let a seven or eight-year-old qualify for war!

His hand opened the final room of the second floor, his mood shifting back from bitter to disheartened. He stepped into the room, the last bit of composure going out the window as his fingers curled into a tight fist. The room was clean, but it clearly belonged to a child. He leaned on the doorframe, staring with a bluntly troubled look.

The bed was a soft pastel blue, the curtains behind it a similar color. The room had an end table with childrens' books lingering atop it, a few dull practice kunai resting in miscellaneous areas around the room. The green carpet was surprisingly clean, given the fact it probably belonged to a child. Based on the books, Tobirama was pretty sure they'd be ten at most, five at minimum.

It took a moment, but Tobirama willed himself forward, noticing that the toys were all placed inside a closed toy box at the moment. He shook his head lightly at this-- the room was too clean to be housing multiple children. The only sight of any grime was on one of the toys. A green dinosaur plushy, from the looks of it. It had a few food stains, but besides that, it seemed like everything was in order.

Which was odd for numerous reasons.

To start with, the dust on the master bedroom's handle had been too heavy. No one had entered that room for a while. Which wouldn't make sense, unless there simply hadn't been any adults alive to take the room.

This only raised further questions, unfortunately. If there were no adults, who was taking care of this child? Even if the teen had stepped in, would that really be a good idea? Based on the dates from the awards and how unaged they seemed, this 'Itachi' couldn't be more than thirteen or fifteen. It was possible, but...if he was an active shinobi, the boy would probably be busy a lot. It wasn't realistic to have him watch over the kid. There had been plenty of villagers on the way to the compound, couldn't one of them kept an eye on the kid until he got older?

Tobirama brought his hand back up to his temples, rubbing away the oncoming headache. He could speculate as much as he wanted, but he wouldn't know unless he went out and found a reliable source of information to give him clues as to what exactly happened.

With no better option, Tobirama decided it was for the best. He'd go into the village and subtly ask around. After all, it seemed to be a recent incident.

Just as he turned to leave the room, a voice echoed through the empty house. It was tired and strained, Tobirama pausing briefly at the sound of the child calling out, "I'm home..."