"You have... quite the entourage," Mito says, sharp brown eyes roving from person to person in their little group. To be fair, Tobirama supposes they must look fairly strange to outsiders. The Mito of his own universe had come to know and appreciate many of Tobirama's snow leopards, often looking on with exasperated fondness whenever she finds them all piled up in the dead of winter. This Mito, however, has clearly had no, or at least very few, interactions with the leopards. She eyes them with trepidation and a peculiar sort of thoughtfulness that he attributes to his predecessor's refusal to summon the leopards.
Next is the sandy child in his arms and honestly, monstrous and monstrously powerful bijuu or not, Tobirama has no idea how Shukaku keeps on getting himself coated in sand. Where is it coming from. Matatabi is no help and just laughs at him whenever she's in a slightly less I'm-better-than-you mood. Speaking of Matatabi- the girl is riding Ayame and the two still snipe more than they have pleasant conversation. He thinks they might be at it now but he tuned them completely out after the first hour of nonstop sarcasm and insults. It's their own special brand of friendship and he's fine keeping such craziness far, far away from him.
(He ignores the irony in that, as his own friendship with Toka in his former universe had consisted mostly of sniping, spite, familial obligation, and a shared brand of crazy.)
He blinks slowly at Mito, realizing his reply might be overdo. In the most tired, ignorant tone he's ever heard come out of himself, he says, "I have no idea what you're talking about." The unimpressed look he's leveled is met with the same blankness in his body language. Maybe, just to irritate the woman, he should show up next time with more of his children. Students! His students. The ones over in Wave would love to tag along and get some experience and Wave would still have Uzushio as their first line of defense. Of course, their parents are civilian and might not permit him an adventure with their demonic spawn. Finally, Mito decides it's not worth it to try and out stubborn him, a fact that makes Tobirama irrationally proud.
"I suppose we'll need to adjust your quarters. Will the leopards be staying with you or returning to their realm?" Tobirama hums, eyeing his summons. Yukiko blinks innocently up at him. Ayame offers a flat look.
"They'll be staying," he informs. Mito is too dignified to snort but her eyes flick up to the sky for a moment, lips twitching. He wonders for a moment if she's religious beyond the general Uzushio beliefs in spirits.
(Maybe one of these days he'll be able to show up with the Kyuubi. The reactions he'd see would be... amusing.)
He disregards the idea of her being religious, remembering living with her, standing by her side as the only two left, in his former universe. Wonders, for a moment, how she is without Hashirama or Touka or him to talk to. Of course, this is a different universe with different-but-the-same people. This Mito isn't necessarily the same as the last- can't be, without Hashirama to wear down her sharp lines and edges.
Yukiko twitches beside him, raising her head to stare out at the horizon. Both Mito and Tobirama pause to look as her, concerned. He dearly hopes this isn't a sign of- wait a moment.
He frowns and tries to reach his senses through Matatabi's and Shukaku's chakra again. He had caught a spark of something familiar but only for a second before the bijuus' chakra covered it.
"Yukiko?" He asks tightly.
"I'll be back soon," she promises and takes off at a full out run, straight over the water. Tobirama turns, suspiciously, back to Mito. Her expression doesn't twitch and his suspicions settle. This is definitely a trap. He's so proud of the Uzukage. Maybe at this rate he'll actually be able to teach them underhanded tactics! The current Uzukage is so strangely fair and moral.
"So Mito," he says pleasantly. "Do you know anything about chakra leeches?"
