Time Heals All Wounds
Summary: The day Tobirama died happens earlier, during Hashirama's time as Hokage when they are at war with almost every new village but years after Madara's death. Only he didn't die. He somehow ended up in a time not his own and met a familiar face he though gone forever. Can he get back? And what of his new friend?
It would seem that the - at last - (re)emergence of Madara's temper definitely put the young man at ease as he had not been since they first met. Tobirama found he did not mind, even though that meant he was now being dragged through a large shop with various items for sale. Madara was determined to get him a few new outfits, though Tobirama still insisted he did not need any. He was used to much worse weather conditions than Tokyo seemed to have - he idly wondered what had happened to the Land of Snow and Land of Iron, infamous for their really cold climates, but the musing did not stay with him for long - but his young companion was not to be deterred. The Senju was sort of glad and relieved both. Madara as he had been so far was familiar and a balm to his homesickness but this new Madara he was seeing in the 'Utaha' was even better.
(Whether he had realized or not, he had been thinking of this Madara as 'fake' or 'faked' right up until the moment Madars snapped and sassed at him. Ever since, the temperament only got more explosive and their bickering started to resemble the 'golden age' of Madara's stay in Konoha before it all went downhill. Tobirama had not realized how much he had missed it until they started up again in this new day and age.)
As soon as the teen finished his last exams, he had grabbed Tobirama by the hand when he exited his school building, looking perhaps far too eager to start their little 'shopping mission'. Now, three hours later, they were still having some difficulty in agreeing what will be bought and what is a 'fashion atrocity', according to Madara, or 'bordering on indecent', as described by Tobirama. Though it really wasn't, he just liked railing up the Uchiha as much as he could just to nurture that temper until it was as explosive as it had been the first time around. Not that Madara hadn't been an all around composed man when he wasn't dealing with people he cared about or was familiar with. There were situations in which he could be downright unflappable but Hashirama always got a reaction out of him. Tobirama usually did, too, but it had rarely been without negative undertones on both of their sides. Something he was extremely careful about this time around with this teen Madara. He had been given an unexpected second chance to make things right with the man he had respected and distrusted in equal measure.
There was no reason for the latter here. He was free to see a whole other side of the Uchiha Clan Head he doubted anyone else not his closest family had ever gotten the chance to see.
They were currently ruffling through coat racks in search for a jacket or a coat for Tobirama for the approaching colder weather that the weather reports predicted to be coming in a matter of days. Tobirama had to agree that the change in clothing might be necessary. He is still unsure if he correctly understood the methods the scientists of this time used to predict the weather but he himself could feel vast amounts of freezing air and cold water drifting towards their area of residence. Tokyo will indeed encounter snow before the week is up. Madara still has seventeen days of school left and if they are to continue their tradition with no fussing or colds, Tobirama will need some boots and a coat. Still, he had never devoted this much time or attention to picking out winter clothes. As a shinobi, for him it was practicality over aesthetics. Madara, though he was now rather picky on the details or the color, had remained shinobi enough at his core that he had yet to suggest something that might in any way restrict or limit Tobirama's movements or speed and had even been choosing pieces with enough space or pockets to hide whatever gear or weaponry Tobirama might wish. He took note that Madara had such a coat himself.
Sometimes it really was hard to remember that no, despite whatever soul this teen carried, he was still not the legendary Uchiha that had controlled the Kyuubi and whose mere name drove fear into the hearts of his enemies. Madara wasn't even aware of how often he acted nothing like a civilian.
A satisfied grunt had him paying attention to Madara's new choice and he had to admit he liked it and understood why Madara had picked it out. It was almost the exact same shade of blue as his armor and had a collar type perfect for him to attach his white fur pelt to it if he wished. It was practical and had more than enough pockets. When he tried it on, it fit like a glove and both of them were finally satisfied. Madara turned their cart around so they can head for the clerk's at the cash register when he started muttering something about how hot it was.
"Honestly, I really should cut my hair soon. It's getting so long and getting in the way." And his hair has gotten slightly longer since Tobirama had arrived here. Before, it had been somewhere about his shoulders but now it was starting to reach his middle back. It was wilder and spikier with each day and it reminded Tobirama more of the man this boy actually was, even if Madara wasn't aware of that.
"I think it would suit you, to let your hair grow out. You have the face structure for it." After all, only Uchiha Madara had ever made that particular hair style look that good.
"Shut up. I thought you of all people, Mr Shinobi-practical, would agree with me," the younger replied in a gruff voice, using his hair as a curtain to hide his blush. Was that why Madara had let his hair grow out in the first place? So he can hide his more embarrassed reactions? It was a too amusing thought to be let go of so he noted it in is mind and decided to ponder on it more later.
"Anija has long hair. His best friend had long hair and they were the two strongest shinobi of our generation. In the shinobi world, long hair is a taunt that one is so skilled, their opponents won't even be able to take advantage of such an obvious vulnerability. You could say it was a privilege for the powerful." He kept quiet while they passed a group of giggling girls that seemed to be from a different school than Madara's judging from their uniforms but about his age and apparently enthralled by the two men. Madara shuddered for some reason and dragged him along faster when the girls started pointing and squealing. He may have been confused but he trusted Madara to know his own generation better than Tobirama did, so he just followed his lead. "Since you don't live in a shinobi era and there is no war, why not indulge?"
"Sounds like too much work, keeping it long," the student replied as he bypassed an old granny that smiled at them warmly when Tobirama handed her down a box she couldn't reach.
"If you're so lazy then I'll comb it for you. You'd probably just make it into a rat's nest, anyway."
"Fuck you!" Tobirama just laughed as they reached the register, finally, and the clerk, a bored twenty something year old young woman, started ringing up the items and his companion went to reach for his wallet. Tobirama, though, the sneaky ninja that he is, had grabbed it from his pocket earlier and waved it at him when the teen looked around in a panic, thinking he had lost it. Black eyes narrowed and the Uchiha reached for the wallet, only for the Senju to use his superior height to move it out of his reach, laughing again at the outraged, offended noise Madara released. "Oh, real mature, Senju, now give it back."
"Why don't you try jumping?" He teased, wiggling the wallet over Madara's head and avoiding the knee to the gut that the teen attempted as a retaliation. It was a near miss but he had seen it coming. A glance at the clerk told him the woman was at least enjoying the little show they were presenting her with and at least there were no more customers behind them waiting for their turn. One of the aisle attendants even chuckled when he caught sight of the spectacle they were making.
Tobirama knew he was enjoying this a bit too much, knew Madara might retaliate later, knew this was way out of character for him but he was having fun for the first time in who knows how long and when else will he get a chance to tease and mess around with Uchiha Madara like this? And Madara didn't seem all that annoyed, just huffing and puffing for the sake of it, a smile splitting his face.
It was a peaceful, fun, enjoyable moment between two friends that had ever happened often in his life.
Tobirama should have known it would be the prelude to a disaster.
He sensed it just seconds before he had to react, freezing mid wave with the wallet when the far too familiar chakra assaulted his senses hard enough that he didn't even feel Madara finally managing to snatch the wallet out of his hand with a triumphant "HA!". He barely had enough time to shove the teen to the ground and cry out a warning before the front of the store and a good part of the roof was blown out with a loud bang and the sound of sizzling, gurgling chakra before two big men of dark skin and fair hair, too familiar for Tobirama's tastes, stepped through the smoke, coated in red, bubbling chakra.
"Found you, little bug," Kinkaku, carrying the large red and white fan that appeared to produce all types of nature release chakra at the wielder's will, all but singsonged when they caught sight of him crouching over a dazed Madara and Tobirama cursed under his breath. He didn't even have his sword on him, only a few kunai, only two of which were marked with the Hiraishin seal, a handful of senbon and five paper bombs. Not nearly enough to take on these two, especially not when they were skipping right to their pseudo-jinchuriki state. "You gave us quite the chase. Didn't he, brother?"
"Indeed, brother," Ginkaku agreed, holding that strange weapon, that flat sword his instincts were screaming at, at the ready and Tobirama cursed. There were screams of panic and pain filling the wreckage of the store and he was sure the clerk that had been ringing them up was dead. He knew he couldn't care for all of these civilians and fight these brothers and he knew he couldn't protect Madara while he fights them, either, so getting the teen to a safe place and retrieving his weapons was top priority, or else all of them will be dead. "But we're here now. It is time to end this."
"Run," he said in Madara's ear before he shot out of the store, the brothers immediately following after him, pulling out one of the paper bombs he had with him and preparing to set a trap. He created a Kage Bunshin and let it deal with that while he made the appropriate hand seals for a large water dragon to attack the brothers in an attempt to slow them down. The two Kumo ninja wasted only a few seconds to deal with it but it was enough for Tobirama to switch places with his clone so when they slashed through 'him', the clone just popped out of existence and Tobirama continued on his way. He had to get to his weapons stash at Madara's house and while he would usually Hiraishin right there, he needed to get the brutes away from Madara himself. He didn't know whether they would recognize the teen for who he was and he didn't want to test out if Madada had any of his old skills that way. He knew the teen could defend himself against regular muggers of this day and age with no chakra or ninjutsu but he stood no chance against these two without something more.
So he made sure to lead them away and hoped he won't make too much of a mess of Madara's neighborhood.
He only used Hiraishin when they were close enough to the house that the two brothers could sense him and follow him further but still be far enough away for him to quickly prepare for battle, strapping his armor on and grabbing as many of his weapons as he could before the brothers landed on Madara's roof. Sending Kurama a single shooing gesture so the fox would go a save itself he locked in on the marker on the room and appeared right between the brothers, taking his chance to stab his sword right through Kinkoku's spleen and cut a deep gash on Gikoku's thigh. On anyone else, that would be a killing blow, even if a slow one, but these two had the Kyuubi's chakra and almost immediately started healing. Retrieving his set trap from earlier in the form of a kunai with an explosive tag, he buried it deep in the silver haired brother's gut before getting out of the way.
'Damn, I'll have to fix Madara's roof if I get out of this alive.'
Since he was more the sufficiently rested and his chakra at its fullest, he wasn't nearly as easy a target as he had been the first time around that they had faced each other. Still, these two were still too strong for him and he was too busy saving Madara's neighbors who came out to gawk at the fight going on when a stray attack would come too close to them.
The brothers were as ruthless as they had been the last time and Tobirama had to grit his teeth through various stages of frustration and pain as the fight continued. It was mostly Hiraishin that kept Tobirama alive for so long, as his normal speed didn't matter much when his two opponents were powered by the Kyuubi's chakra, thus increasing their natural speed. The biggest problem he had were the strange weapons they kept using, especially that glowing rope thing. Each and every one set off alarm bells in the Senju's head and he knew well enough not to ignore those warning. They had saved his life more times than he cared to count.
The brothers were a bit surprised by how much more effort they had to put into pinning him down this time around, much to his satisfaction even if the result was the same as the first time around. After all, the last time they fought, he had been near exhausted already before the battle could even commence and this time he had had more than a month to recover. His wounds had all healed and his chakra stores had replenished themselves, not to mention that this was quite possibly the first vacation he had ever had in his life. Spending time with Madara had been a balm to his battered, wary soul that only spending time with his students had accomplished before. He had not relaxed like this since Itama's death, all those years ago. As a result, Tobirama had been more ready for a fight than he had in years and he wasn't even ashamed to admit it.
'I hope Madara does not mourn me too much,' he thought idly as he repressed a reaction to the pain shooting through his hands as Kinkaku stabbed his own sword through them in front of his head as he lay on his stomach, stretched out and thoroughly pinned. The Uchiha didn't deserve that kind of pain when he had finally found himself some peace. Tobirama was just grateful to him for sharing some of it with him despite how rocky their first meeting had went. He only regretted that he'd be leaving Madara alone to deal with his assholish family and the idiotic bullies at his school. 'Ah, yet another thing to add to my list of regrets, it seems.' He'd place it right next to never having given Madara the second chance he should have and driving the man from Konoha with his suspicions and mistrust. 'At least we managed to become friends in the end, even if it took reincarnation and time travel to reach it.'
"Time to die, little bug," Ginkaku taunted with a smug smile. The flat, square sword was once again tauntingly raised over his head, probably aiming to severe it from his shoulders, and Tobirama braced himself for the final instance of pain about to descend on him. He hoped they took his body. Madara should not see his first friend die like that.
"And this time, there is no escape," the other man said, sounding equally smug.
The silver sword raised higher, glinting in the winter sun, ready to drop and be the demise of Senju Tobirama, brother of the God of Shinobi Senju Hashirama the Shodaime Hokage, Uchiha Izuna's rival and killer and the first teacher of a group of genin when the man in question felt something that he had thought would be impossible and a sense of deja vu washed over him for the train of thought he had had when he had woken in this world a month ago. Kinkaku and Ginkaku staggered under the feel of it as well, overwhelmed as a heatwave descended upon them second before something collided with them, sending them sprawling several meters away from the pinned albino shinobi. Looking up as far as his position would allow him, Tobirama nearly swallowed his own tongue when he saw the ends of long, spiky black hair and much lower a familiar pair of well worn shoes.
The chakra signature alone would have been unmistakable even if he were blind to the rest of the world. It was raging, roaring, swirling and trashing in confines of flesh too small to hold the inferno.
Uchiha Madara stood between his enemies and Tobirama and he was pissed.