Tobirama crouched on a sturdy branch, halfway up the mountain, watching the road leading to the village.
It was the second half of the Hour of the Dog, the dusk hour, the time where lines blurred together and outcomes could change in a blink of an eye.
He lay in wait. From the valley the faint smell of cooking fires rose up to him, making his stomach rumble in response. Sweat trickled on his back, and he swatted the flies trying to find purchase on his face.
There was no breeze. He watched the terraced rice paddies, waiting for any sign of life, but only the light of the moon and stars shone over its murky surface.
Close to his shoulder, a spiderweb shook violently as a dragonfly got entangled into its sticky wires. A red backed spider scurried forward, waiting for its meal to tire. Tobirama took it as a good omen and turned his gaze back towards the road.
The cicadas' song was lulling him to sleep. Tobirama blinked forcefully, willing himself to stay awake. He had to find someone, a last straggler going back to the village, someone with bad thoughts on his mind, for nobody honest would be out at this time.
There! A small dark figure was walking on the path, coming from the forest which covered the upper slopes of the mountain. Coming from the Ghost Waterfall.
He held his breath, waiting. As it approached, he started hearing snatches of song.
"Hime, hime, weaver princess,
Weave your cloth and cry a river
See your love from far away
For if you meet and love,
our land will burn and drown."
Finally, he managed to see the vague features of a girl of around fifteen, dressed in a working yukata, its patterns and colours leached by the night, a small bamboo flask in her right hand, a sack slung over her right shoulder. A single orange oniyuri adorned her simple bun, its colour fiery even in the poor light.
Tobirama waited until the girl passed him by then jumped down. "Neesan," he called her.
The girl's song stopped abruptly, and she started walking faster, her naked feet making puffs of dust rise from the force of her stomps. Tobirama followed her. "Neesan!" He shouted after her again.
The girl's steps slowed and she turned around carefully. Seeing him, her eyes widened in shock. "Yaksha!" She cried, immediately making the warding sign. Tobirama watched the practised ease with which she made the five horizontal slashes, followed by the four vertical ones while shouting rin, toh, kai, retsu, zen, pyo, sha, jin, zai . The pulse of yin-yang release that followed it was more unusual, but did not have any intent beyond a vague sense of "keep away."
He took a step forward. "Neesan," he repeated. He was stalling, he knew he was, but he had to find the location of the temple and he needed a guardian. He was just loath to do the second part.
The girl's eyes widened once more, and then she bowed. "I 'pologise, Byakko-sama," she said, voice shaking.
A white fox? Well, Tobirama could work with that.
The girl looked at him again, waiting. Tobirama looked back, stalling. His stomach took the cue to rumble.
"Oh!" The girl exclaimed and started rummaging in her sack. Tobirama tensed, but she took out three chimaki , unwrapped one and presented it to him.
He took it and from the first bite the sweet sauce was offset by the savoury bits of fish and the overall smoky flavour. He ate all three then stopped at the last bite, embarrassed. The girl smiled at him.
"Byakko-sama, beggin' of ya, do not make me wander the fields a-splashing this night. The young'uns are a'waiting for me to bring the yūreisui," she finished, showing him the bamboo flask.
"Yūreisui ?" Tobirama repeated after her.
"Water from the Ghost Waterfall," the girl explained.
"Are you not afraid?" Tobirama asked her.
"'M not a prigger!" the girl exclaimed. "M not snatchin' from the offerings box." She touched the oniyuri self consciously.
"What about Asura's Temple?" Tobirama asked her. "Do you also go there?"
The girl took a step back, making the signs of the outer and inner lion, muttering their mantra. When she finished, she scowled at him, scrutinising him with jaded eyes. "D'know whether ya being human or fox, but I rather wager ya being the same flesh as me," she started. "Why go there? The yingbi is not even tatters, 's gone. No whipster shoulda go there. Not in day not in night. Come," she said as she started back to the village. "M Ojou," she offered.
"Tobirama," he replied.
"The temple might suit you then," Ojou replied with a small smile as she continued the meandering footpath with Tobirama following at her side, still thinking. Stalling. Not quite bringing himself to do anything. Finally, they were too close and he had to act. He stopped.
"Do you have anybody you wish dead?" he blurted, fingering his kunai. "Please," he begged. Ojou's eyes widened in fear as she paled.
"Wish dead?" she repeated. "No," she replied, shaking her head.
"Is there nobody who has done something really bad but nobody could punish them? There must be," he continued desperately, grasping at straws.
Ojou shook her head again, fear gripping her limbs as she understood. "There might be someone like that, two villages over," she whispered.
"It has to be from your village," Tobirama mumbled.
"Nobody," the girl repeated once more in resignation, bowing her head.
Tobirama clenched his hand so hard around the hilt, he felt his bones creak.
Tobirama went to the Ghost Waterfall himself, throwing one shu silver coin into the offering box as he passed by. The air was cooler there, with the water sparkling in the moonlight as it fell into a small pool surrounded by moss covered rocks. It was beautiful and eerie at the same time.
There, according to Ojou's instructions, Tobirama lit the dilapidated stone lantern that was a hundred paces away from the waterfall. It had fallen on its side and its roof was cracked as if by lighting. Tobirama hit the flint with the edge of his kunai, causing sparks to float inside the dark lantern. Somehow, something lit up from within and it started glowing with orange light. Before him, a path of orange lights hit up like so many baleful eyes.
Tobirama made the thunderbolt seal, summoning Bishamon's power, as he recited the protection mantra he had heard Ojou use, then started following the lights.
Soon he felt broken stone steps under his feet which led him on a steep path inside the mountain when suddenly the lights winked out and Tobirama saw his destination.
The temple was small and unassuming, its walls long since tumbled down, its gate only partially clinging to its hinges in a last attempt at keeping things together.
It looked as if a huge giant creature had ripped the main building and exposed its innards to the world.
Tobirama took a deep breath and entered the courtyard, senses alert. He stepped on years of fallen twigs and leaves, going on a straight path towards the broken steps of the entrance.
Just before going between the Nio guardians, Tobirama hesitated. The two stone statues had all details of their features long since erased by the elements, but he could still see their snarls. He squared his shoulders and passed through, shivering as he passed under their shadows. He could almost imagine them smiting him down for trying to steal the knowledge hidden inside the temple.
But nothing happened, and he hurried inside. The interior was empty, with only the original wall carvings still in place. The pressure around him seemed to increase. It was getting difficult to concentrate when using his sensor ability, so he reluctantly turned it off and started rifling through the miscellaneous rubble that was inside. He cursed his stupidity, his earlier hesitation. He should have cut Ojou's head and taken it with him as guard against evil spirits or angry local guardians. But he had not been able to, in the end. He had let her go.
He searched methodically for the mask and scroll he knew he would find, but turned up empty.
Tobirama briefly got out to check the stars. The Summer Triangle was visible over his head, but he paid it no heed, searching for the Hokuto and Hokushin stars position, then made a swift calculation. The Hour of the Rat was at its end.
He took out his experimental soul summoning seal, biting his finger to make it bleed, then pressed it on the paper, watching as it slowly disappeared into the writing.
He started searching the courtyard, brushing away the debris accumulated over the countless years.
Finally, his fingers brushed against a cracked turtle shell, full of inscriptions. He started deciphering the old bone script, trying to make sense of the words. It seemed to be an address to the God of Carnage, asking him about the outcome of a long forgotten battle.
It was not quite what he was looking for, but he put it into his backpack nevertheless.
He took out his grandfather's hair and tied the seal around it. He was so close to being able to summon him. He wanted to ask so many questions, wanted to feel his arms around him again, wanted the assurance that if it came to the worst, he could help his brothers at least, keep them with the rest of the family for a little while.
He then started making a new seal, when he felt the ground open up and crush his ankles. He screamed in pain as he took out his sword by reflex. His hand was caught in an iron vice. His sword fell, clattering on the stones. Tobirama felt his wrist bones grind together and the cold touch of steel at his throat.
He had been careless, he thought wildly as he raised his gaze to meet his opponent. The red gaze of the sharingan met his own. "Tajima," he whispered in shock. What was the Uchiha Clan Head doing here?
The pressure on his wrist tightened until his bones snapped. "Senju brat," Tajima hissed, "don't you dare be so familiar with me. I do not recognise you as my opponent'."
Tobirama writhed in pain, and kicked the bloodied sealed hair into Tajima. It stuck there, on his hakama for one moment before Tajima took the blade away from his throat and ripped the seal from his clothes, flinging it away. It hit the angyo nio statue just as Tobirama brought his free hand next to the one still caught in Tajima's grip and made the summoning seals.
Tajima backhanded him so hard, he threw Tobirama into the Nio statue as well. Dizzy from the impact, Tobirama looked around, trying to prepare from the next attack when the statue turned to look at him.
Tobirama stood transfixed, watching the snarling face, with its features now in sharp relief, so similar to those of his grandfather. The Nio guardian turned its head to look behind him, and there it was, Tajima Uchiha, poised for a Katon. The resulting ball of flame would have burned anything in its path, were it made from flesh or wood, Tobirama thought in a haze, but the Nio guardian was still made of stone, and did not burn. Instead, an even bigger katon went out of its mouth, straight for the Uchiha. It engulfed the temple, whose old wood lit up like a torch. In its light, Tobirama saw the guardian turn to him once more, saw him raise its hand to strike him down and stood frozen, watching his beloved ojiisan look at him with wrath.
His body felt sluggish from the loss of chakra needed for the summoning, but even if he were brimming with energy, he would have not been able to move. He felt tears prick at the corner of his eyes. He had failed.
Just before the club would have blown him to smithereens, something grabbed him by the waist and ran with him. "What did you do?" He heard Tajima shout.
"Ojiisan," Tobirama replied dumbly.
The Nio guardian started running after them. Tajima swore as his legs buckled. "You linked me to it," he snarled.
"It uses your chakra to move and fight," Tobirama agreed as his eyes darted to and fro, looking for escape.
The blade was at his throat again. "What if I kill you?" Tajima asked.
"It won't stop until both of us are dead," Tobirama replied, voice shaking. He had failed, and now he wondered if he had managed to summon even a sliver of his grandfather's soul. And if not, what exactly had he managed to call upon.
"Deactivate it," Tajima shouted as he grabbed Tobirama again and started running around the flaming temple, trying to put distance between them and the guardian. Eyes watering, Tobirama started coughing from the smoke. Sparks and burning debris flew around as the temple started to collapse, beam by beam. Even with his blurry sight he saw the dark form of the Nio go straight through the burning building, laying a path of destruction in its wake.
"We have to take out the seal," Tobirama yelled above the din. "I think it got wedged in a crack."
Tajima hissed. "I will kill you after this," he promised darkly. "I'll be the decoy. You take it off."
Tobirama nodded. The Nio used Tajima's chakra to animate itself, and as a construct, it sapped the Uchiha very quickly, judging by the pallor in his face. Tajima turned towards the rampaging Nio, eyes narrowed.
Tobirama readied himself as well. They had exactly one chance. If any of them failed, both would die, and the Nio…he had no idea what would happen. Would it stop? Or would it go on rampaging, trampling everything on its path?
Tajima seemed to have similar thoughts, for he looked down briefly from where Tobirama crouched, waiting for Tajima's signal to engage. "Bandage your wrist," he snapped at the boy.
Tobirama obeyed quickly, berating himself for forgetting something so simple, and yet crucial.
"May the flames of Amaterasu burn for you," Tajima bit out grudgingly.
Tobirama looked up, startled. Red eyes met red, and he felt calmness wash over him, all the smoke, the fear and the pain soothed away.
The Nio was getting closer. Tobirama faced him, no longer afraid. Tajima brandished his sword, shouted in defiance, fire in his eyes, and as the Nio turned to face him, he threw exploding seals into its face.
Stone chipped and flew away as Tobirama rushed forward, into the heart of the fire.