I'm fairly confident I kept this mini-arc interesting. It's meant to be kind of cute while providing a little more info before the next bigger arc. I was so ready to write some of these scenes ages ago! So many headcanons swirled around in my head… So no negativity or killing my buzz, got it? Complaints will be put into my cat's litterbox where they belong. I mean maybe some of you may not love it, just don't ruin the excitement for me with all the "I don't like how you chose to do..." I. Don't. Care.
Thinking about the different dynamics Sakura will have with each of the four has been fun and I think I've finally gotten how I want to portray everyone at this point in the story (because character development will still happen), down to a science. Next 3-4 chapters are in the mini-arc, which an arc to establish more Sakura/Founder interactions.
And omg, can I just say there's some super cute Hashi/Saku and some sassy Tobi/Saku coming your way starting next chapter? Yep, be excited Senju fans, be excited.
He wasn't sure what compelled him to follow her, but since their initial meeting on the streets of Konoha, he had found the mysterious kunoichi interesting, to say the least.
And after Madara's revelation about how he'd been saved from death, it made Izuna even more curious. Truthfully, he remembered nothing. He was waning in and out of consciousness and his state of mind had been…jumbled, at best.
Had it happened to anyone else, Izuna would have thought it sounded a bit like a legend. A woman like the one Madara had said saved him couldn't be human. She ate a butterfly that she'd pulled from his wound. And the parting words…none of it made much sense. Madara had been brooding about it for a while, but it hadn't particularly crossed Izuna's mind since he'd found out.
Then he had been out relaxing on a day when he wasn't training the children, and there was that distinct shade of hair he remembered from weeks ago. Even more surprising was his brother's weapon on her back. Izuna had vaguely wondered if he'd ever see the kunoichi again; the village was steadily growing and it could be easy to miss someone. He hadn't run into her since that day he'd seen her wearing strange clothes and covered in bruises. But there she was! Or her back, at least.
He wove his way through the streets, following the team until he got close enough to touch her shoulder. Her green eyes were guarded when she spun around, but then something had made her relax slightly. Sakura Haruno, with her mysterious origins and unique features, was intriguing to him.
Maybe that was why his feet led him to go after her when she left the Hokage's office, seeming a little sad. His brother and Hashirama probably found his behavior strange, but he didn't care when he called her name and she turned to him with curious green eyes.
"Um, something wrong?" she asked unsurely.
"No," he sighed. "I just wanted to apologize for my brother…" Sakura blinked. "And, I wanted to ask if…" Suddenly, he felt nervous, and he cursed himself. "Would you mind if I walk with you?"
Sakura cocked her head to the side, rubbing her arm. "I'm going home…" she said. His face must have looked more disappointed than he wanted it to, because she quickly added, "But you know, company might not be bad."
Izuna understood it was likely a pity offer, but he could put the inherent pride of the Uchiha aside and accept. Anything to help sate his curiosity.
"Then please lead the way," he gestured with his arm as they made it to the narrow set of winding stairs that led back down to the bottom of the Hokage Tower. Sakura smiled slightly, walking in front of him and carefully going down the stairs, her hand braced against one wall. The other clutched the bulging pouch of money close to her bosom. He followed, trying to keep a respectable distance while studying her vibrant hair and slightly rumpled kimono.
The minute they were back outside, Sakura took a deep breath of air and sighed contentedly. "I'll never get tired of that smell."
Izuna discreetly smelled the air too. All he got was the scent of sunshine, and from somewhere downwind, roasting meat. "What smell is that?"
"Home," she said absently, walking off in the opposite of the Uchiha compound. He mentally noted that as he easily kept pace at her side. She was a woman of petite stature, but she carried herself like she was much taller.
Home. She called it home. "You've gotten used to the village quickly then." he mused.
Sakura looked up at him and blinked slowly. "Oh, yeah," she trailed off. "And I guess spending so much time with a clan like the Kaguya makes it even easier to appreciate something like this. There's no tension in the air. Everyone looks happy to be here,"
Everywhere around them, ninja streaked across rooftops, and children played in the streets. Merchants sold their goods at the markets and housewives gossiped together as they ran their errands.
Izuna had to agree that compared to a clan as unbalanced as the Kaguya, Konoha was an oasis of safety and stability. "I was young when my father made his alliance with Yoshiro Kaguya. He brought some of them to the Uchiha compound. I don't remember very much about them, except that Yoshiro was a man with chilling eyes."
Sakura nodded. "Don't forget the cunning streak a mile long," she said under her breath.
Izuna didn't seem to hear her. "His son was only a little younger than me. We played, but whenever he could, he'd be at his mother's side. She was heavily pregnant and he was protective of her."
"Jun'ichi. I met him; Yoshiro actually planned to make me marry him," Sakura said wryly. "He helped us escape though. I can't imagine that going over well with his father."
Izuna puzzled over her words. "That's interesting. I remember a quiet boy more interested in books than people who loved his mother deeply. I can't imagine him growing up to defy his father and betray his clan. Something about you must be special to spurn even a Kaguya's heart to action."
Sakura blushed, surprised by his comment. "Not…really. I'm not sure why he helped us, but I doubt it had anything to do with me." She sincerely believed that too. Izuna wasn't so sure.
"Were the Kaguya as fierce as I remember?" he asked.
"Fierce is one word, but I think I'd use cruel." She muttered angrily. "They had so many people they'd taken away from their homes and they treated them like animals! I saw them break a little boy's arm just so I could heal it. There were women there who were forced to have their captors' children. And even though we didn't take much, the weapons' storage was full of weapons they claimed from battles. A lot of them looked pretty valuable." She'd said it all in one breath, and when she was done, her chest heaved slightly. "Sorry, I get angry just remembering."
"I understand. The Kaguya have built a legacy through brutality. I'm not naïve enough to think the Uchiha don't have the blood of innocents on our hands, though I'd like to think it was more for necessity at the time, and not intentional cruelty."
Sakura looked up at him, her green eyes seemingly searching, "We're all shinobi, and we're all killers…I trained hard so I could have the power to protect what was important to me with my own two hands. I don't think I can say I take pride killing though; it's just a part of the life that I had to accept. Maybe there's even a little part of me that likes being a medic because I can tell myself it balances out. For every life I take, I can save another one." There was a wry tilt to her lips and she wrung her hands together before dropping them.
Izuna's interest was further piqued. Her honesty was refreshing, but so was the fact that she knew healing. "You know medical ninjutsu?"
Sakura, who had been looking ahead, turned to him again. She looked surprised he'd been listening. "I started training to learn it when I was almost fourteen."
"The Uchiha clan doesn't have many who know healing ninjutsu. Most of the practices used are more traditional. I don't like admitting it, but when it comes to medical prowess, the Senju clan is far and away superior in that regard."
He noticed that she started smiling and her eyes got brighter. "Oh yeah? I bet training under a Senju medic would be hell, though. Come to think of it, I noticed the Senju seem to have a lot of general skills. The Hokage has Wood Release, but I've heard Tobirama Senju primarily uses Suiton. And from fighting on the mission with her, I know Toka has a lot of versatile abilities." Sakura tilted her head back and stroked her chin in thought. "It's pretty impressive."
"That's because they pride themselves on being the 'clan of a thousand skills'. They think it brings more balance to their fighting." Izuna explained. His father had taught them that in order to best their enemies, they had to study them.
By the time Tajima had died, Izuna and Madara, his only remaining sons, knew the Senju's battle techniques inside and out. But Butsuma Senju apparently shared a similar mindset as his rival, because the Senju had become just as wise to Uchiha battle tactics.
"But the Uchiha have their fire jutsu and their weapon techniques."
"That's right," Izuna agreed. "I have my sword, and Madara has his fan. Speaking of the gunbai, it didn't seem like you wanted to part with it."
Sakura whirled around, walking backwards, her eyes wide as pink dusted her cheeks. "Er…I…I've never seen anything like it, so I may have been a little curious, but—"
"It's alright," Izuna chuckled. "An interesting weapon would be a commodity and something worth studying. The fan has special properties, like you might have guessed. It's not meant for just anyone to wield."
They had entered the neighborhood where Sakura was living, all the wooden homes more or less identical. Izuna watched as Sakura stopped in front of the third house in the row, glancing up at it absently. "Well, this is me. Home sweet home," she rubbed her arm, glancing between the front door and him. It could have been his own wishful thinking, but she looked a little reluctant to part.
"Uh," she stared at her feet contemplatively. "It's not really much inside. I didn't do too much to it before I left…but I've got a box of tea leaves and some honey. If…if you want to come in, making tea wouldn't take long."
Izuna blinked in surprise. He truly wasn't expecting an invitation. Maybe Sakura was more forward than he'd thought.
Her voice brought him back to reality before he could get too deep into his head, "I mean, you were talking about the fan, and I really was curious," she continued.
And instantly, he tossed the absurd thought that her request had anything to do with liking his company. She was intrigued by the gunbai and wanted to know more. From their exchange in the Hokage's office, he highly doubted she and Madara would be sitting down for civil talks soon.
'So that's it then. I'm a source of otherwise unattainable information.' Attempting a polite smile, Izuna nodded. "Tea sounds nice,"
Sakura beamed eagerly, hitching her pack higher on her shoulders. "Alright!" she exclaimed. Then, realizing her excitement, she cleared her throat sheepishly and tried for a cooler approach. "Alright, just give me a minute." She put her mission pay in her backpack and worked through several hand signs to release the protection seals she'd apparently put around her house.
Izuna followed her into the neat little house, closing the door behind him. Glancing around, he could see the personal touches she had tried to add to her space, scrolls on the walls, and a small desk with an ink well and brushes.
Sakura bent down and took off her zori, and he did the same. "Like I said, not much…" she shrugged out of the backpack and laid it down by the door, fishing the sack of coins Madara had given her out and setting it on her table. Izuna studied it discreetly. He hadn't noticed until then that it looked hefty. He didn't think the others his brother had handed out were as plump. Madara must have prepared the pay well in advance. Curious that he'd purposely give Sakura more…
"Is green tea okay?" she asked, brushing a hand through her hair as she went into the small attached kitchen on one side of the room. "To be honest…it's all I've got right now…" He watched Sakura stand on her bare toes, her hand reaching into the cabinet above her head. The kunoichi really wasn't very tall. A head shorter than him at least, maybe even more.
"Green tea is fine," Izuna walked over and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs at her table.
"So you were saying the fan has special qualities," Sakura urged. "Maybe that's why the Kaguya had to put it away? Besides the fact that, you know, they rely a little too much on their Shikotsumyaku for everything. I don't think I saw any of them use anything but taijutsu the whole time I was there."
Sakura made a triumphant noise as she got the canister of tea leaves down, glancing over her shoulder at him as she shook them with a smile.
"It's likely that they couldn't have controlled it even if they wanted to. Hiding it away and settling for just having such a rare weapon as a prize was the best thing they could have done," Izuna shrugged. "It's semi-sentient after all."
"So it has its own will?" Sakura asked attentively. The pink-haired woman padded over and took a kettle off a hook on the wall. "I'll be right back!" Izuna watched her nimbly dash down a hall and heard a door opening. It only took her a few minutes to come back. "I get my water from a well outside. It's not the most convenient thing in the world, but it works," she explained when she came back. She used some flint to start up a fire in a small pit before he could offer to do it for her, and set the kettle of water over the flame.
Izuna thought about it, "The fan doesn't quite have its own will. But I suppose you could say the spirit tree it was made from makes it sensitive. It feels out the chakra of its wielder, and if it finds it suitable, you'll be able to use the gunbai's ability to the fullest. If it doesn't take to the chakra though…" he crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Well, you could say it doesn't cooperate."
"It could backfire on you," Sakura guessed.
"Yes,"
Sakura walked over and sat across from him. "I swung it…" she said quietly. "It was just reflex. But there was so much power in one swing."
"Hmm," Izuna imagined the small, fiery kunoichi wielding his brother's fan. "That doesn't sound like the fan rejected you. You would have been thrown back with the recoil if it had." Madara wouldn't be pleased, knowing Sakura could use his fan. Or worse, Izuna thought, he would be pleased.
"Wow," Sakura said to herself. "I'm…I'm shocked. I've never really trained in bukijutsu beyond the standard handling of kunai and shuriken. Oh, and I learned to use senbon around the same time I started medical training. That's about it, though."
Izuna smiled a little. "Do you know why it's a fan that's passed down, and not some other weapon?"
Sakura shook her head. "No. Why?" she asked inquisitively.
"Fans have always been important to our clan." Izuna explained.
Sakura laughed. "That's for sure! It's your clan symbol."
"It is." Izuna said, motioning to his back. The Uchiha fan was proudly stitched onto almost every shirt or yukata he owned. "When my father handed the fan down to Madara, he told him it would create the wind that fans the flames. Our flames. You see my father partnered with Yoshiro for a reason. They were equally ambitious men. His hope was that we could burn out every rival clan that opposed us."
The kunoichi quirked a brow. "Sounds like a standup guy,"
Izuna found himself pleased with her forwardness, baring a grin that showed teeth. "He wasn't known for his charm, our father. He took great pride in his reputation on the battlefield though, and passed everything he knew along to my brothers and I. Madara especially."
Sakura scowled, something that didn't go unnoticed by Izuna. She truly despised Madara, yet she didn't seem to have any issues interacting with him, so her problem couldn't be that she hated Uchiha as a whole. It was just Madara.
The kettle started whistling and she got up, rushing over to take it off the flame and flitting around to finish the tea. Soon the aromatic scent of hot tea filled the air, and she carefully brought him a clay cup of it. "Thank you,"
She nodded, taking some sugar and honey and adding them into her own cup. Sakura blew at it, her cheeks puffing out endearingly as she huffed.
Izuna watched her take a sip and did the same. When he brought the cup from his lips, he looked at Sakura earnestly. "It's apparent to me the way you feel about Madara."
Her pink lips parted.
"I won't ask why or try to defend whatever action that might have led to your feelings. But I think you seem like a good person, Sakura-san, and I know you're bright." Izuna wouldn't deny the masculine pride he felt when she blushed at his compliments. "Madara is…at times a hard person to understand. I know that better than most. He's not without his flaws…but he's not without his good traits, either. I suppose all I'm asking is that you keep that in mind. No more."
Sakura took a deep drink from her cup, and when she set it down, she stared into it pensively. "I see…" That was all she said for a while. "I'll try to remember."
Izuna believed her. He didn't fool himself into trusting that meant his brother and the pinkette wouldn't clash anymore. But it was a start.
Tobirama had made himself busy reworking the formula to his jutsu, kage bunshin—more stable and effective than the normal bunshin jutsu by far. Whispers had begun to travel, whispers that other shinobi were thinking of following their village model. Tobirama decided he needed something that could help with intelligence gathering. After all, he couldn't go off to get intel for long periods at a time when the village still needed so much work.
The idea of being in two places at once had seemed far-fetched at first, but the more he thought it over, the more it had merits. That was when he'd first set to work modifying the existing jutsu that allowed a ninja to make temporary dopplegangers.
Sometimes Hashirama or village affairs managed to side-track him, but he had been making fairly steady progress. Well, with the exception of one small part of the formula he couldn't seem to get worked out.
He was hunched over his desk wondering what was causing the snag in the jutsu's completion. The clones still weren't lasting as long as he wanted them to, and information from them only came back to him about half the time.
His concentration was pulled away by the familiar signatures he sensed entering the village. He knew the exact minute the fan retrieval team came back, even before he heard Reira screaming down the hall outside his door to welcome Toka home. He sensed them all, but it was the signature of Sakura Haruno he honed in on. Hashirama's advice about shadowing her came back to mind, and he thought when she had her guard down would be a good time.
When she left the Hokage's office, he noticed right away that she wasn't alone like he'd been expecting. The presence of a man that revolted him only slightly less than Madara's trailed beside her. A man who should have been dead months before. Izuna.
Tobirama remembered dealing would should have been a death blow. He couldn't imagine how Izuna had survived it when it was common knowledge that Uchiha healers did not possess the medical jutsu that the Senju did. When Madara agreed to sign the peace treaty several weeks after the encounter, it was with a healed Izuna at his side.
Since then, he had been even more wary of the Uchiha's second-in-command. He didn't trust a man who had not only formerly been his enemy but had somehow escaped almost certain death with little explanation.
The fact that Sakura Haruno, who he still wasn't sure what to make of, was associating with Izuna, further raised his suspicion. She'd appeared so mysteriously. And though she held a clear dislike for Madara she got along with his brother well enough. Was it possible he had missed something? Did Sakura have something to do with Izuna?
Hashirama seemed to trust her. It didn't mean he wouldn't err on the side of caution. He easily stayed well out of sight and suppressed his chakra signature to a level that wouldn't be associated with a shinobi of his caliber. He found himself a comfortable and well concealed spot on a neighboring rooftop, in perfect placement so that he could see through one of her windows.
Although the Uchiha entered her house, after nearly a half hour of waiting Tobirama began to suspect nothing truly nefarious was happening—at the moment. He used his chakra to enhance his hearing and listen in. They talked over tea like old friends inside, about the gunbai Madara favored in battle, of all things.
Then she was reenacting the escape from the Kaguya stronghold with animated gesticulating and occasionally noises. Izuna Uchiha seemed enraptured by her tale. 'Fool,' Tobirama thought. To be so easily impressed because a woman with a pretty face could spin an interesting yarn.
After some time, the Uchiha took his leave. Sakura saw him out with a wave. Tobirama thought he had seen enough, until he watched Sakura make her way over to the coin purse and take out a handful of money to count. It was her mission pay, most likely, and it looked like Madara had been surprisingly generous.
The bag hardly seemed to empty even as she took more out. Sakura muttered something to herself, looking at the money on her table in clear shock. There were even some paper notes.
'Is he trying to bribe the girl somehow?' That didn't make sense though. Madara wouldn't have known her skillset or if she'd be an invaluable ally to the Uchiha prior to the mission. It was all even more suspicious that both the leader and the second-in-command of the Uchiha clan seemed to have some sort of vested interest in Sakura.
Tobirama watched her put all but a few pieces of money back into the bag, and then rush over to seal up the purse in a scroll, hiding that scroll in her futon. She was surprisingly fast exiting her house, replacing the seals that he recognized acted as wards against intruders.
Since Sakura was now on the move, he followed, albeit idly. He doubted that she was so brazen as to act out in broad daylight. Her footsteps seemed sure as she roamed the village, like she knew exactly where she was going. She had to possess a decent memory considering she hadn't been in Konoha very long before the mission. 'The market.' he realized.
She was headed straight for the market. Well, it made sense. Being going for over a week, she had to be low on food stuffs and maybe with money in hand, she wanted to get things she couldn't afford before. Tobirama wondered if tracking her during such a mundane activity was even worth his time. Time could be better spent working on his jutsu at home, or even making sure Hashirama wasn't slacking off.
The Senju turned to leave, until he spotted the unmistakable pink-haired head going in the same direction that Reira, and surprisingly Toka were walking.
Sakura sighed to herself. She was tired after traveling all day, and all she wanted was a meal, a bath and a nap. But, she realized after Izuna left that her house was bare and if she wanted any kind of decent meal, she'd need to buy it.
Luckily, with the money she'd gotten from the mission that was hardly a problem. 'Hell, I could splurge and go to a restaurant for dinner tonight and it wouldn't make a dent!' Sakura's mouth started watering when she thought of treating herself to a meal at a barbeque house she'd spotted on the way to the Hokage Tower.
Grudgingly, she had to admit that retrieving the fan had been worth it. After letting her temper out in the Hokage's office, she wasn't exactly sure what kind of impression she'd left on Madara, but she had money to live on for a while and she'd gained the respect of Toka and the others, and that was all that mattered.
Sakura admitted that she felt proud of herself. Covert missions where she was required to conceal her identity weren't her specialty by any stretch. She'd only been on one other mission falling under that category in her entire life. All things considered, she'd done well.
Her stomach growled long and low. Sakura blushed, glancing around nervously. No one in the market seemed to hear it. 'I need to decide on what I'm having for dinner. Or is it early enough to be considered lunch? Doesn't really matter, I could eat almost anything.' Sakura started wandering from stall to stall, inspecting fresh fruit and eying spices, trying to decide if she felt inspired enough to cook her own meal.
Cooking wasn't as fast without the kitchen appliances she was used to. She had to do it all the old-fashioned way. Sakura briefly thought that if she knew Fire Release techniques, the process could go a lot faster. 'Learning some more ninjutsu might be a good idea, actually…I mean, who knows what I'll be up against in the future. I need as many extra skills as I can get.' Without noticing, her hand trailed to the concealed mark on the inside of her wrist.
"Sakura!" The familiar feminine voice brought her back to herself. She looked up, seeing Toka approaching her with a young girl in an eye-catchingly bright yellow gi with a plain green cloth tied around her forehead bouncing at her side.
"Toka," she smiled as the dark-haired woman approach. "Long time no see," she joked.
"Wow," the young girl, who was studying her with curious golden eyes, hopped forward. "Your hair is so pretty!"
Sakura looked down at her, smiling slightly. "Uh, thanks." she replied. "I like your braid."
The girl touched a hand to her brown head, smiling a little bashfully. "It's the only hairstyle I really know how to do," she admitted.
Toka sighed. "I just got back to the compound from showing the Yuhi's to their homes when she insisted we should go to the market." She nodded at the girl who stood with her hands behind her back. "This is Reira, my niece. Reira, meet Sakura. She's one of the kunoichi I went on the mission with."
Reira's eyes lit up and she was immediately leaning into Sakura's face. "No way! You were on the mission with Tobaa? That must mean you're super strong!" she clenched her fists in excitement. "What was it like out there? Was Tobaa mean to you? She fusses at me all the time."
Toka jerked her back by the collar, one hand on her hip. "Reira, that's very rude. I'm sure Sakura is exhausted and wants to finish her shopping in peace,"
"Aw," Reira pouted, although she didn't struggle against Toka's grip. "I just want to talk to your friend…"
"It's alright Toka," Sakura waved a hand in front of her face. "Honestly, I'm just trying to decide what I should get to eat. But now that I've walked all this way, I think I might just turn around and go to that barbeque house."
"Ooh," Reira hummed in approval. "That place has great yakiniku!"
Sakura's stomach growled again at the mention of food, and she clutched it, embarrassed. It didn't help that Reira laughed and poked her above the belly button.
"Whoa, your belly's really talking, huh?" An idea suddenly came over the girl. Sakura could see it in her eyes. "Hey, can we go eat barbeque with Sakura?!" Reira turned to Toka pleadingly. "You're tired from the mission too, right? It's perfect this way. We can eat with Sakura and she can tell me all about the cool moves she knows."
Sakura waved her hands around. "No, no…my move-set isn't anything that special…" she began humbly.
She was surprised when Toka gave an indignant scoff. "I would hardly say punching down an entire wall wasn't anything special."
"You did whaaat?" Reira's eyes got comically wide. "Y-You have to tell me how!" she insisted.
"Reira." Toka said sternly. The little girl groaned.
Sakura felt a little bad. "You know, company during dinner for a change might not be so bad."
Toka looked slightly surprised while Reira grinned from ear to ear. "You mean it?"
"Sure," Sakura shrugged. "I—"
"Yosh!" Reira jumped, running around the two kunoichi with her arms in the air. "I get to hear about the mission!" She ran over to a man selling fresh eggs, peering at the hen sitting in a bamboo cage. "I get to hear about the mission!" she told it.
The bird tilted its head at her. "Cluck?"
Toka covered her face with a long-suffering sigh. "The future of the Senju is bright indeed," she grumbled flatly.
Sakura giggled. "I think it's kind of cute."
"Don't encourage it," Toka replied. "Let's go, Reira," she called as she and Sakura started walking. Reira stopped running around, quickly sprinting back to them.
Sakura enjoyed the slow breeze that ruffled the hairs at the back of her neck. Walking with the two Senju, Toka's composure balanced by Reira's energy, she thought she could almost come to like this Konoha a little. At least while she was here. Because one way or another, she'd get the Dragon Goddess to tell her how to go home…
"Hey, what's goin' on over there?" Reira ran a little bit ahead of them. "All those ladies are blocking the way…is there a sale or something?"
Curious, Sakura stood on her toes and peered up ahead. Sure enough, there was a crowd of women giggling and swooning over something.
"Weird…" Sakura whispered. "It wasn't like that when I came into the market."
"Let's investigate," Toka decided, already pushing her way through the crowd. Sakura looked down at Reira and the two shared a shrug before following her lead. Sakura glanced around.
"Oh, I already told you, he was looking my way!"
"No, get lost; those bedroom eyes were clearly directed at me!"
"Say what?" Sakura blanched. Were they…fighting over someone?
That was when she noticed that standing in the middle of the commotion was none other than Tobirama, his red eyes full of frustration and annoyance and his mouth pulled into a severe frown. It almost reminded her of a cat that had been given a bath against its will. The women didn't seem to notice or care that he was aggravated. They yelled at each other as they yanked at his shirt sleeves.
"What's the meaning of this?" Toka demanded loudly.
"What does it look like?" one of the women with her face caked in powder snapped. "The Hokage's brother doesn't come here often, and this is our only chance to," she paused to elbow a woman who tried to jump at her back in the face. She fell back into the crowd with a cry of pain. "Get him to choose one of us!"
"Choose one of you?" Sakura gaped. Some of these women looked old enough to be her mother and they were fighting over a man in his twenties like a prime cut of meat.
"Yeah, so you'd better not get any bright ideas, Pinky!" someone shouted.
"Are you threatening me over him?" Sakura guffawed. It was like fighting the other girls in the academy for the right to sit next to Sasuke all over again. The only difference this time was it was a competition she hadn't even been aware she;d entered. Her kunoichi pride didn't allow her to back down though. She cracked her knuckles threateningly and many of the women flinched at the sound.
"All of you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves!" Toka growled. "What makes any of you think fighting with each other guarantees you the chance to marry him at all?"
The women slowly looked around, considering her words. "Wow," Sakura shook her head.
"I suggest you all step away from him and go back to your business now. Or will I need to be more persuasive?" There was a hard look in Toka's eyes. She reached threateningly into her leg pouch and pulled out several senbon that gleamed from between her knuckles.
Looking mortified, the women slowly began giving Tobirama a wider berth. Grumbling, they obviously decided to count their losses and slowly dissipated through the market, shooting Toka and Sakura, as well as each other, hard stares. Tobirama jumped as one brushed by him. She giggled behind her hand and wiggled her fingers.
"Are you okay?" Reira asked worriedly.
"She…she squeezed my…" he looked like he might be sick. Sakura had to hold in a laugh.
"What happened? Those women were civilians. Even Reira could have successfully evaded them." Toka tutted.
"Don't remind me," he grunted. He couldn't tell Toka that he'd been tailing Sakura when suddenly a housewife had spotted him and he'd been ambushed by women all professing their love to him and telling him to choose one of them on the spot.
When he bluntly rejected their attention, they turned on each other, and he was forced to watch. Pissed off he couldn't do anything but stand there as women he'd never even met argued over him. He'd escaped them several times, determined to keep track of Sakura, but they seemed to find him around every corner.
For women who weren't shinobi, they had surprising tenacity. Tobirama had to eventually give up on Sakura's whereabouts to focus on the problem at hand—getting rid of his own pursuers. But even that had erupted into a fight. It wasn't the highlight of his day, but it was only made tolerable by the fact that his brother hadn't been around to see it—and laugh.
"They were right about you not coming to the market a lot," Reira mused. "What were you up to?" Tobirama yanked her headband down over her eyes. "Hey!" she protested.
"I'm not you, therefore, I don't always have to be up to something." he rolled his eyes.
"I trust you would rather Lord Hashirama not hear about this," Toka had a small amount of mirth flickering in her eyes as her lips curled in a smirk.
Sakura was smiling far from innocently. "I see you've made it back from the mission in one piece." he growled. Her amusement at his expense got under his skin. The least he could do was get under hers in return.
She raised a brow challengingly at him, placing a hand on her hip. "I'm more capable than you realize,"
"I agree," Toka seconded.
Now that Tobirama was slightly surprised to hear her agree to so readily. Very soon, he'd need to see Sakura in action for himself.
"We're going to go have yakiniku now, Tobi-nii~" Reira announced. "Yakiniku!" she repeated it just for emphasis.
"Reira, what have I told you?" Toka chided. "It's Lord Tobirama to you."
"But," Reira's face scrunched in a frown. "I've been around Tobi-nii since I was a baby. That just sounds wrong." An impressive rumble came from Reira's stomach, but she only laughed. "Sorry, but we gotta go!" she grabbed Toka and Sakura both by the wrist and started to run.
"Don't pull us!" Toka was saying, but Reira didn't pay her any attention. He stood there watching them, wondering how Sakura had been clever enough to get even Toka to lower her guard. Somehow he was now alone on this front, that Sakura Haruno couldn't be trusted.
As soon as the thought flitted through his head, the selfsame woman turned and stared at him with quizzical jade eyes. Oddly, she looked like she was trying to parse him out too.
Tobirama smirked at her. They could make it a competition then, seeing who could unravel whose secrets first.
A part of me keeps thinking, "I hope I'm writing Izuna alright". And then I remember that he has almost zero canon personality to go off of to begin with. XD He could be absolutely anyone. So, my take on him is a more openly sensitive, insightful individual. He's no Shisui, but not a Madara clone either. Also, I can't say for sure if Izuna's interest could be called a crush just yet, because I promised myself I wouldn't rush anything…but still, he definitely finds Sakura interesting for his own reasons, and I think it's natural to want a person you find interesting to have an interest in you back. Sakura may or may not be oblivious to this, but she's a dork who feeds off learning things so Izuna and Sakura can have fun being dorks together.
missawesomesauce, your comment about Madara being a sugar daddy now makes me want to draw that as an AU. XD
The idea to have Tobirama's attempts to track Sakura through the market thrwarted by grabby groupies came out of nowhere. Like...I guess somewhere in my subconscious I thought "You know what this chapter really needs? Tobirama being held hostage by rabid fans and then pinched on the ass." *face palms*
As for the conversation Izuna and Sakura had about the fan, a lot of it is my own speculation, just so we're clear. It's said on the wikia it was made from a special spirit tree, and in my mind, you don't make weapons from a weird ass tree and not expect some of those properties to carry over to the weapon.
