Author's note: Dropping a trigger warning here! Some abuse-adjacent stuff (or maybe just straight up abuse depending on reader interpretation) .

Chapter 4: Lightning Rod

The village streets bustled with the excitement of midday. The sunbeaten locals scampered about their errands, oblivious to Tobirama's watchful eye from high upon the rooftops. He had been searching tirelessly for the fugitive girl with little fruit to show for his efforts. She was smoke in the wind. There wasn't even a hint of her chakra for him to begin drawing a trail.

He maneuvered from roof to roof until he landed at a more strategic position in the dead center of the village. He closed his eyes and sent out a powerful pulse of chakra. As the field radiated away from him, he began cataloguing the chakra signatures of the individuals it passed through. None of them were Umika. He tried a few more times, stopping when he noticed Madara's signature move with purpose. It left Hashirama's office and headed directly past the village gates.

"Where is he going?" the Senju whispered to himself, lagging behind the trail. He must know where she is. Tobirama suppressed his chakra as he closed in on the Uchiha. Madara's specialty may not have been in sensory capabilities, but he did not become Hashirama's equal by being unaware of his surroundings. Tobirama stopped when he noticed Madara pause by the riverbank.

"I know you're here." Madara snapped. Tobirama flinched, surprised at the man's acuity. He had been underestimating him. "Don't play games with me! Come out!" His thunderous voice drowned out the sound of the water, sending a flock of birds scurrying from their nests in fear. The white-haired Senju almost stepped out of the shadows. He could only describe the momentary hesitation as divine intervention. Because it was in that moment that he noticed a head poke out from beneath the glassy surface of the river. It was only her eyes at first. Her mannerisms resembled a puppy that had been caught mid-mischief and had run to hide in the hopes that it would spare her from punishment. Pensive bubbles of air came up from her nose as she tried to determine just how angry her master was. It was strange, Tobirama could see the girl, but he could not feel her chakra. She had suppressed it so completely that she had become invisible to even his god-like sight. Perhaps it was this skill that had allowed her to survive for so long in war. "Why did you attack him?" Tobirama may have only been able to see Madara's back, but his rage was clear as day. Umika lifted her nose and mouth from the water, stopping just before her chin emerged.

"He grabbed me first!" She lifted her forearm next, offering the red and pink bruising around her swollen wrist as evidence.

"He grabbed you?"

"It really hurt. He—" She stopped speaking when Madara's long strides across the water closed the space between them. He reached down and seized her injured wrist, forcibly yanking her up. She struggled to correct her footing on the fluid surface, failing several times to align the chakra in her feet before she was able to stay upright. Umika had cried out in pain, but strangely clung for comfort to the man responsible for her agony. Tobirama's eyes scanned her body, observing the bruises and cuts that covered it. They were in varied stages of healing, as if her skin never had a moment free of them.

"I've never known you to object to rough treatment." Madara hissed in her ear.

"I'm—I'm sorry, Madara." The girl held him tighter, sobbing into his chest.

"Do you have any idea what I had to endure for that meeting?!" he screamed at her. "How humiliating it was to ask Hashirama for such a favor?!"

"I'm sorry!"

"For what?!"

"I-I want to stay with you." she cheeped like a wounded bird. His hand, having never released her swollen wrist, tightened. She bawled as he dragged her onto the bank, throwing her down at his feet. Her back curled away from the sharp stones beneath her. She pulled to her side momentarily before Madara took hold of her neck and forced her onto her back again. Tobirama could not make out the next words she struggled to form.

"This is the only way we will ever be together! Is this what you want for yourself?!" She nodded. "Stupid girl." Madara bit her shoulder hard, instantly drawing blood. She suppressed her voice, or perhaps her throat was too worse for wear to muster another cry. The way he treated her, Tobirama would have assumed Umika was captured from an enemy clan at the height of war. Even then, the conduct would have been seen as overly cruel to most. He bit her again near her hip, tearing the soft flesh of her side as he positioned himself between her legs. He slowly moved his tongue up her cleavage, waiting for her tensed muscles to relax. When they did, his lips brushed over her breast, closing around the areola. He sunk his teeth deep into the delicate skin, leaving fresh marks that matched the slowly healing ones on her opposite nipple. A terrifying shriek left her. And for the first time, Tobirama felt her chakra remerge. It was her most visceral instinct, clawing out in every direction like barbed spikes, searching for help. But she continued to try and suppress it. Each time the rhizoids of energy stretched too far from her body, she pruned them back.

Why is she letting him hurt her?

Why isn't she trying to escape?

It made little sense to Tobirama. She was in so much pain. Madara undid his trousers just enough to thrust into the girl. Umika crossed her arms over her chest, shuddering from the onslaught. The two most sensitive areas of her body had been stretched and torn into so brutally that she had all but forgotten the rocks cutting into her back with every motion. He grabbed her legs next, wrapping them around his waist. But when that position failed to deliver the depth he desired, he scooped his fingers under one of her ankles and pulled it straight up, until it was by her face. The top of her foot caught on a jagged rock during the motion, splitting the skin open. Madara either didn't notice or didn't care. He ignored her wails, focusing only on his building pleasure.

"Umika." He grunted out her name from behind gritted teeth, squeezing her injured breast and finishing with a final thrust that forced her further down onto the rocks. Madara hovered for a moment, catching his breath. He pulled out of her and fixed his clothes. Umika whimpered, still lying on the rocks, bloodied and battered. There was something of a guilty look on Madara's face. He placed his hand on her thigh so gently that if Tobirama had not seen his previous actions, he would have sworn some brigand had left the girl in her current condition, and Madara simply had the misfortune of finding her. Umika pulled herself onto her knees. Tobirama nearly gasped at the sight of so many rocks embedded into her tiny back. Blood trailed down her body as she wobbled closer to Madara. He could barely look at her now. She offered him no words, but rather, just gently wrapped her arms across his shoulders. He buried his face in her neck, and she stroked his hair. Tobirama turned away from the sight, returning to the village. He had seen enough to make up his mind.

"Did you find her?" Hashirama asked as soon as Tobirama stepped into his office. The younger brother glanced around, making sure no one else was present. He wanted to speak candidly.

"I did."

"Well, what's the punishment?" Hashirama sighed, running his hands through his long black hair. "Try not to make it too harsh. I have to explain it to Madara, you know."

"No punishment." Tobirama mumbled, taking his seat.

"Really?" his elder brother asked, amazed that the strict disciplinarian of their family was willing to show so much leniency. "From your tone earlier—"

"Just make sure the courtship goes through. Get her away from Madara." A pregnant pause filled the room.

"Why do you say that?" Hashirama pried, trying to get Tobirama to meet his gaze. But the younger Senju was looking through him, still reliving the horrors he had witnessed moments before.

"I followed Madara after he left your office. Kotaro was right. I saw what he does to her. I've seen wolves tear into prey with more mercy." Disgust passed over his face as he recalled her screams.

"Tobirama, I—"

"I will keep it to myself." he preemptively agreed to his brother's unspoken request. "But…."

"What is it?" the older Senju coaxed the hesitant confession from his brother.

"It was strange. Madara bloodied that girl's body beyond recognition…and when he finally stopped…she reached to him for comfort." A sardonic laugh snaked past Tobirama's teeth. "As if he hadn't just brutalized her. What do you make of that?" A hearty laugh exploded from Hashirama. "What the hell is so funny?!"

"Don't tell me God-Eye Tobirama is blind to such an obvious truth."

"What? Just spit it out. You know I hate your guessing games." Tobirama sneered.

"Remember when you first began fighting on the frontlines with us? You would berate us endlessly for our form."

"Because you were too careless!"

"Hardly! And how would I respond?" Hashirama pressed with a smug smile.

"How should I know? It was so long ago." Tobirama thought for a moment, tapping his finger against the wooden desk. "From what I remember you just sat there slack-jawed while I lectured you." He snickered at his past behavior. "I didn't realize how much more experience you had. It was not my place. Why didn't you ever correct me?"

"What good would that have done?" Hashirama smiled warmly at his little brother. "We had just lost Kawarama. You were terrified of circumstances beyond your control. If lecturing me about my form could grant you some comfort—just enough to sleep at night—what kind of a brother would I have been to tear it away from you?" Suddenly, it made sense to Tobirama. Umika had not clung to Madara for comfort. She had offered it to him.

It was no secret that Madara had been engrossed in turmoil and conflict his whole life. He was previously able to unleash it on the battlefield. But now, in times of peace, he was forced to bite his tongue or risk further alienating himself from the village he had sacrificed everything to build. Madara was unpredictable, dangerous even, and Tobirama often worried that the village might become a casualty in his path. But now, he saw it more clearly. Whether she knew it or not, Umika acted as the lightning rod that drew Madara's ire. She spared everyone else from him, taking on the full brunt of his wrath. It was a heavy burden to carry for such a fragile thing. He thought about her marred body again. Then he thought about her wrist. As much as he wanted to facilitate her escape, he did not want to send her into the arms of yet another Madara.

"You may want to interrogate Kaito."

"Interrogate?"

"I overheard Umika say that the only reason she burned him was because he grabbed her first."

"And you believe her?" Hashirama questioned sincerely.

"She had bruising and swelling all along forearm. It was consistent with what I would expect if a man twice her size injured her wrist." Tobirama shrugged. "The girl is strange, but I have not heard that she is a liar."

"I will look into it."