Tobirama hops across the Fire Country border, this time into the small country of Wave. He makes sure not to attract too much attention- it's impossible to go entirely unnoticed with looks like his but he tries -settling himself down to stay in their one inn. He's built up enough money to stay for a few weeks straight and still have a decent amount left over. Not that he plans on staying that long. He has things to do and besides, he's garnered enough attention recently that staying in one spot won't be advisable for awhile. He's thinking of spending a week or so here, then going the long way around to meet back up with Shukaku.

He manages to follow his carefully thought out plan for one day before he ends up with a gaggle of children just outside his room begging to be taught the basics of shinobi-hood. He stares down blankly at the ringleader for several seconds, hoping to scare the brats away without actually doing anything. Alas, it doesn't work.

"Please," she adds and all of them give him their very best puppy eyes. Tobirama hates his life. He sighs, pinching his nose and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment to collect himself. What is it about him that just seems to scream 'teacher'?

"Do you have your parents' permissions?" He asks in one last desperate move. None of them hesitate, nodding as fast as they can manage. He, unfortunately, can't sense any dishonesty in their chakra. He holds out for a moment longer before caving with another sigh. He opens his door wider and steps out of the way. The children flood into his room with excited chatter. He closes the door after them before following the gaggle further into his room, where they've already made themselves comfortable. He sits in the only vacant chair- how nice of them to leave him somewhere to sit -and eyes the group.

"Your names?" He asks.

"I'm Atsuko," the ringleader chirps, "an' this is my twin, Atsushi!"

"Sora!"

"Toshiaki."

"Miku..."

"Ayame."

"Haruka!"

"Alright. I'm Tobirama," he introduces. He gets a chorus of 'hello, Tobirama-sensei's in return. "I'm not staying for long," he warns to crowd of pouts.

"Tha's ok, Sensei," Miku says quietly. "I jus wanna protect my momma." All of the children look at the shy girl for a moment before turning back to Tobirama with determined little faces and nods. He huffs but gets to his feet.

"Come on. I've got to test you," he says.

"On what?" Toshiaki asks as the group follows him obediently.

"Different things. Your chakra natures, for one, and your types," he explains as he leads the group from the inn, heading towards the cost opposite the one facing the mainland. Their teamwork, he doesn't say. That's always best left unsaid.

"Our types?" Sora asks, just as curious. He hums, tilting his head. Describing it in a manner a young civilian child might understand is a bit more difficult than just saying it outright.

"What you would be good at doing," he says slowly. "Like how I'm good at speed-based things. There are also frontliners, who are often the stronger ones, and those that have really good control. There are many different types and knowing your type is important because it'll make you stronger in the end." He pauses for a moment before deciding to nip a common problem in the bud, before it can really come up, "each type is important and strong in its own way. None are better than the others. Understand?" He gets a chorus of 'yes's. He pretends that this doesn't remind him bittersweetly of his own team, now all capable shinobi. Saru will be a fine Hokage and he can only continue to hope the team will balance each other out in the same manner they had when he was still their sensei.

The first lesson isn't overly exciting, for Tobirama or for the children. That's a good thing, considering 'exciting' generally means 'highly destructive' when talking about shinobi-in-training. They get various curious onlookers throughout the day, including various parents of the attending students. The children themselves do fine, considering this is their very first lesson on the subject. Even without the test, Atsuko and Atsushi showed remarkable teamwork. Not very surprising, since their twins, but nice regardless. Atsuko's main chakra type is fire but her brother leans more towards water. They'd balance each other out very nicely, on a team, especially since Atsuko is clearly a frontliner while Atsushi shows signs of growing to have excellent chakra control, his particular brand labeling him as a sensor.

Sora is a lightning type, compounded by his seemingly endless energy. His reserves are larger than the others', as well. Likely another frontliner though he could also choose to follow in Tobirama's footsteps and focus on speed. Toshiaki, on the other hand, is an earth type. He's also infamous among the group for his pranks. A sign of a trap master, if Tobirama's ever seen one. Miku has water chakra and, like Atsushi, will grow to have excellent chakra control, if cultivated properly. Unlike Atsushi, she's not a natural sensor. She would do well as either support or a poisons mistress, though, with the eye she has for herbs.

Ayame and Haruka both have chakra leaning more towards wind than anything else. Ayame is a clear speed type fighter but Haruka could end up as a jack-of-all-trades. He's come up with teams but those could easily change, since this was only his first day with them. For now, though, he's thinking of putting Ayame on a team with Atsuko and Sora. She would balance out the two frontliners without holding them back. The other four, put together, would do well as an infiltration team or as a stealth team. All seven together would lead to a well rounded team able to take on near anything that could threaten a small island like Wave, which already has the protection of Uzushio.

...He's already proud of the brats.

When they drag him from his room at the inn at the crack of dawn the next day, he's significantly less proud and more irritated at life. Sure, it's his fault he didn't sleep last night but who in the world let's their kids go annoy a nuke-nin at the crack of dawn anyway? In retribution, he puts the seven through their paces as he glares at them over the rim of his third cup of coffee. By the time he's worn the kids out a decent amount, it's time for lunch. They go to Toshiaki's house as a crowd which would have been fine, if they hadn't decided dragging him along was a good idea. Toshiaki's parents are sympathetic to his plight and feed him well but that doesn't stop them from kicking the entire group, including himself, out as soon as they're done with food to 'resume training'. The parents, he's now realized, just want to get free daycare out of it all. He's annoyed he's can't even blame them.

He starts them on basic chakra exercises in the afternoon, settling down with a notebook, content with leaving them to their devices. They're doing the leaf exercise and are helping each other liberally but he figures that's fine, since it'll build and strengthen any pre-existing teamwork between them. The bell test, he realizes at some point, is also out because one, there's no academy to send them back to, two, dropping them as students won't actually stop them from showing up to lessons, and three, he has no bells. Not that he couldn't make do with something else but it's the bell test, not the stick test or something else equally stupid.

It goes on like that for several days until it's two weeks later and his students are actually fairly decent, at roughly the level of chuunin. It's impressive, for sure, but they had worked incredibly hard to get where they are and they bounced off each other, teaching each other just as much as Tobirama taught them. Sora had settle somewhere between frontliner and speed demon, making his faster than everyone but Ayame and himself and stronger than everyone but Atsuko. Rather ingenious, for a kid. Tobirama didn't even have to nudge him in that direction beyond offering him the choice to choose between the two types. Toshiaki did end up becoming a trap master and accentuated it with fuuinjutsu, which he took a surprising interest in. Few people seen fuuinjutsu as the extremely useful art it is. Miku became a poisons mistress and took to it like a fish to water. It's actually a bit concerning.

See, the problem is the contingent of Uzumaki that have arrived to trade and check the island over to make sure that no one unsavory is sticking around. Unsavory like a known and feared nuke-nin from Konoha. Not that Tobirama would know anything about someone like that.

"But why d'ya have to go?" Haruka complains, eyes wide and watering with faux tears. If this small island had need for it, Tobirama would suggest they look into a career of infiltration and interrogation. The brat could probably do it and thrive.

"Because the Uzumaki are here," he informs, sticking his remaining belongings into his back. His students exchange glances, surrounding him in a manner that clearly says they won't let him go until they've been satisfied.

"Aren't you a shinobi, like them?" Atsuko grills.

"They're Uzushio shinobi, I'm not," he explains shortly. "They won't take kindly to me hanging out with their allies." He gets several pouts, Haruko's being the most heart-wrenching, of course.

"But you're our sensei," Atsushi complains. He pats the boy on the head as a consolation.

"I have to go," he insists.

"You'll come back, right?" Miku says softly, drawing everyone's attention. She's peering up at him with an almost out of character amount of stubbornness and determination. "To visit?" He hesitates but... but he's already promised to visit the Ichibi, what harm could it do to promise his company to these children, as well?

"Fine," he gives in. "But I have to go, now."

"We'll help you get out." Ayame says with a grin. A grin that Toshiaki matches, though his is significantly more on the mischievous end of the spectrum.

"They won't even know you were here," the prankster-slash-trap-master promises. Tobirama finds he can't doubt his (sort of scary) students. He smiles at them all, fond though he tries not to be. With a nod, permission, they disappear from his room, signatures scattering to prepare. He feels only a little bad for sticking his hellions on the Uzushio shinobi and merchants. All's well that ends well, right?