Kaito's day has been rather boring all around. There weren't any interesting missions in the morning when he checked so he spent the first part of his day wandering around Uzushio, picking up groceries and hanging out with the few off-duty and civilian friends he has. Then he had gone back and found a guard mission first to Wave and then to Konoha. Their relationship with Konoha has always been strained, in a way, though he doesn't know why. He does know that Mito-hime is insistent in playing nice with what is practically their sister village and that she is very terrifying when she wants to be. More so than even his mother, which he had thought impossible before he became a shinobi and was introduced more fully to the Uzumaki's brand of insanity. Despite being born and raised on Uzushio, he himself isn't an Uzumaki- not even part, as far as he know. As such, he spent the first few years of his life blissfully ignorant of the Uzumaki's natural crazy before being 'slowly' introduced to it in the academy (then being thrown to the wolves once he graduated, having been placed on a team with only Uzumaki. He's surprised he made it out alive and managed to keep his teammates whole beside him) (Uzumaki have an obsession with large, flashy jutsu on par with the Uchiha and it terrifies him).
He expects this mission to be just as boring as the rest of the day has been and took it only to get off the island for a bit. Not that Wave is much better but those that live here are significantly more sane, in the very least. Beside him, Satomi hums, pausing in their patrol of the small island for a moment. Kaito glances around, casting out with his chakra. He might not be the best sensor but it's enough to tell him there's no one close to the part of the forest they've paused in. He turns to his partner curiously. She holds up a hand, pulling out a seal that Kaito recognizes as some sort of alert system. It's glowing soft blue: suspicion, proceed with caution. They exchange a wary glance before continuing on. They only make it a couple more steps before Satomi yelps, flipping to hang midair by her ankle. Kaito has her down in an instant, just as the bushes rustle and a young boy stumbles out.
"'M so sorry, miss!" The boy frets as Kaito gets assurances from his partner that she's fine. "I didn' mean to catch a person, I want'd rabbi' or somethin'!" The boy is directly in front of them now, brown eyes blown wide with worry. Kaito exchanges another glance with Satomi, this one far more amused than the last. Of course, Kaito's never going to let the girl live down the fact that a civilian boy's trap managed to catch her.
"It's fine," she says, patting the boy on the head. He brightens in an instant.
"I'm Toshiaki!" He chirps.
"I'm Satomi and this is my partner..."
"Kaito," he offers up, stepping into the conversation smoothly. "What are you doing out here alone?" Toshiaki smiles but there's a mischievous glint in it that he knows well from his own teammate. Planning a prank, then, and he and Satomi just stumbled across it on accident.
"Well, you see mister," the boy's grin widens dramatically. "I'm not alone~" As if that was a keyword, which it likely was, Kaito realizes with growing horror, three other kids dart, completely silent, from the underbrush. One slams into his legs, into the backs of his knees, and he hits the ground with a curse.
"Miku!" A kid not-Toshiaki cries. It's the bugger that took him down and is currently keeping him down with a frustrating amount of ease. He twists, finally throwing the brat off him and scrambles to his feet just in time for another kid, girl this time, to jab a senbon coated in something unknown into his arm with a self-satisfied smile. The mystery substance become clear a moment later when he loses all feeling in his limbs, crashing uncontrolled onto the ground. There's a part of him slightly mollified by the frankly embarrassing take-down when he catches a glimpse of Satomi tied up well and good between the two kids that hadn't been after him.
"Miku, can you get her too- thanks!" One of them says and Kaito can only assume the girl- Miku -has stabbed Satomi with whatever fast-acting paralytic was used on him.
"Sensei'd probably be proud," another- Toshiaki -muses. Kaito wonders who the hell in Wave of all places might have known enough about the shinobi arts to teach these kids.
"We should go help the others," Miku says in a soft manner completely at odds with the unflinching way she plunged a senbon into his arm. He despairs silently at the thought that there might be more gremlins running around with informal shinobi training on this godforsaken island. The kids are apparently in agreement because they start leaving.
"I'm pretty sure we were only supposed to distract," the fourth and final kid says dryly.
"Distract, incapacitate- whatever works, right?" Toshiaki argues. That's the last he manages to catch before the group is gone completely and he and Satomi are left to lay on the forest floor.
At least the event wasn't boring, a traitorous part of his mind whispers.
Shut up, he thinks back scathingly.
Izuna has never been more confused than now, with the reports of Tobirama's movements in current months. The first was unsurprising, even if it was unexpected and ever-so-slightly out of character. The albino, he knows, loves children, and that he managed to put his hatred of Uchiha aside long enough to work with one to save a civilian boy was something Izuna knew to expect, back before Tobirama's mind cracked from hatred and guilt. It may mean the Senju is healing, which could either mean very good things for Konoha or very bad things. Still, it wasn't concerning enough send any shinobi out to investigate, not when they're already have their hands full with trying to quell the rising tension between them and the other new villages.
The second report consisted of rumors. They had been brought to Madara and together, he and his brother wondered over them. When he first left the village, information on Tobirama was scarce and often bad. Now, Tobirama has apparently made a name for himself among civilians too poor or wary to contact Konoha for missions. There are still the usual nicknames: ghosts and demon, unflattering things whispered scathingly by disgusted politicians and shinobi. Now, however, there are also other things. Snow cat, mountain spirit, moon rabbit- the list goes on. Saint, some mothers had been heard saying, casting exasperatedly fond looks towards their offspring.
Bijuu tamer, Bijuu whisperer, chosen one, and variants of angel start circling two weeks later, reaching them from the deserts of Suna. Those were significantly more concerning but there was little either Madara or Izuna could do about it since Tobirama hadn't been spotted in Fire Country afterwards and crossing country boundaries at a time like this would only invite the war building on the horizon.
Not long after, they found themselves flummoxed when one of their chuunin teams return, both looking highly confused, a bit scared, and quite clearly awed, no matter how hard they try to hide it. Madara and Izuna end up pouring over an entire scroll that basically yells at them for being idiots and gives them suggestion for how to better keep their younger shinobi alive. Admittedly, keeping teams throughout a shinobi's entire career and building off of teamwork rather than strength sounds like a much better plan. They start implementing it in pieces, carefully keeping from mentioning Tobirama's name whenever they offer another of the suggestion to their council to look over. The change is slow going, but they've made decent headway for the time they've had.
Now they have Uzu shinobi standing in his and Madara's shared office, reporting to them that Tobirama had been spotted in Wave. Also that he apparently decided that training up seven children to be shinobi was a good idea and that he did it well enough that the kids managed to distract the shinobi, two of which were jounin, long enough for Tobirama to escape the island.
"Someone has to go after him," Izuna says once their guest shinobi have filed out. "Either to figure out what he's planning or to stop him from spreading so much chaos." He and Madara exchange a long, tired glance. They're the only ones able to stand up to the albino, after all. That was several years ago, though. Years Izuna has spent in an office while Tobirama undoubtedly grew more skilled. They were even when they fought each other on opposite sides of a battlefield. Logic would dictate, then, that Izuna would struggle to keep up, at this point.
"Will the village burn down if I go?" Madara asks tiredly. "Can I go without tempting Kumo and Iwa-" not Suna, Izuna notices, and he finds that that's likely because they've drawn away a bit, ever since Tobirama decided that the Ichibi was good friend material, "-into attacking?" Izuna's mouth tightens as he forces himself not to frown.
"We have to do something. We can't let this go on, not when he has a Bijuu under his control and a team of skilled children loyal to him," he says.
"I know," Madara agrees, grip tightening on brush. Izuna might not be able to read his brother's mind but he knows Madara better than he knows himself. The man blames himself for Tobirama's abandonment of the village, for the albino's hatred of anything Uchiha. Blames himself for Hashirama's death in the same manner that Tobirama does. Madara is worried for the village, yes, and that's not surprising. It's his dream, the last thing he has left of the man he thought of as his best friend and closest confidant. At one time, that had burned something fierce in his chest, something that had tasted a tad too close to betrayal and anger. Now, he understand more, understands that brothers can't be everything to a person, no matter how much they try. More than worry for the village, Izuna knows Madara feels responsible for dragging Tobirama back kicking and screaming, if he has to. Feels responsible for Hashirama's little brother in not quite the same way he's responsible for Izuna.
"Go," he decides finally. "Konoha will be fine without you for a little while. Just come running if you see smoke, right?" Madara gives him an amused look edged with too much relief and desperation. Izuna offers an encouraging smile in return, and his brother is gone from one moment to the next, open window and half-finished paperwork the only sign he was there at all. Izuna lets the smile drop, sighing heavily. The council will be a bitch and a half to deal with about this.
