Konoha's Weasel Prince

Summary: Itachi never got to use his Susanoo in his fight with Sasuke. As soon as the Kirin hit, he was sent back through time to the founder's era and it was up to him to ensure a safer and surer future for Konoha and the world at large. KisaIta TobiMada HashiMito others mentioned

It has been a week and Tobirama still did not know what to make of Dare no Ichozoku no Itachi despite how often he trailed after the younger man, studying his behavioral patterns and his habits as the raven got used to living among the Senju. The boy had adapted rather well and he was healing at a far faster rate than Hashirama or any of the other healers had imagined he would, but he was still far from recovery, if Hashirama was to be believed. Tobirama somewhat doubted it, as he knew what Hashirama's motives were.

He wanted to keep Itachi here for as long as he could, so he and the raven haired younger man could convince everyone to stop fighting the stupid war that has been going on for centuries.

Tobirama wondered how well that will go but let himself store away such silly questions for later, as he was now more focused on his current activity. After all, he was currently trailing Itachi around as the younger walked through the market the Senju had set up in their compound for buying groceries, Tobirama hiding in the shadows and carefully keeping his chakra signature on the low while Itachi calmly walked along seemingly without a care in the world. Just by sensing the other's chakra the albino knew that was not the case. Itachi was deep in thought.

Still, that didn't stop his target from interacting with his other clansmen. Itachi was a bit of an exotic animal to their interests from the moment he arrived and they all first saw him, bloodied and coughing up more blood as Tobirama, Toka and a few others from their patrol party carried him on a stretcher through their settlement. They had first assumed, quite logically, that he was an Uchiha the patrol unit had caught by their borders and had just ignored it, but after seeing Hashirama himself walking around with the beautiful fully healed young man, he had become an object of observation, gossip and hidden admiration in the span of a handful of hours. Now Itachi could not leave the little cabin Hashirama had hastily made for him to stay in while he lived with them without at least one Senju trying to start a conversation, only to leave a few minutes later, flustered and ashamed that they could not get out more than a few sentences and that their sudden escapes only made the handsome stranger frown worriedly after them. It would have been funny to watch had it not been his own kin that were literally making fools out of themselves.

Still, Itachi had shown a kind and understanding nature, forever patient with whoever tried to speak with him, never seeming unfriendly and never rushing or snapping at someone because of how slow they were being. Tobirama had watched with that ever growing reluctant respect as Itachi always greeted everyone who approached him with a small smile and how he never was annoyed when it turned out that they had only wasted their time.

What really got him to respect the younger man was how he interacted with children. The patience Itachi had must have rivaled any saint's if he allowed the children to trail after him all day long, whispering to themselves and giggling and arguing about who was going to approach the raven first to talk with him and possibly ask him to play with them. He didn't get angry or annoyed when a child seemingly gathered the courage to approach him,.tugging at the hem of his shirt or on a pant leg and that one brave five year old that had dared tug at his finger, only for that courage to disappear when Itachi started to turn around to face them and they ran off. He only chuckled after them and kept up his friendly and approachable disposition until they were ready to confront him. The fact that it lasted for five days of his stay so far should have annoyed the hell out of him, especially since it occurred at least three times a day, but Itachi never lost patience and the kids never gave up.

It all paid off when one dark brown haired girl of seven finally gathered up the courage to make a pretty flower crown for the handsome stranger and dared approach him, face as red as a ripe tomato but eyes flashing with nervous determination as she boldly tugged on Itachi's hand to get his attention and actually rooted herself to the ground while she waited for him to turn around to face her. She had been near shaking and had closed her eyes when the stranger turned his attention to her but she had bravely thrust up and out the crown of flowers she had made, offering it to Itachi and asking if he would mind if she tagged along after him while he was buying things in the market. Tobirama swore the little girl had nearly fainted when Itachi had graced her with a beautiful little smile, warm and gentle and oh so friendly, taking the crown from her sweaty little hands, ignoring how some of the flowers had been crushed in her nervousness and happily placing it on his head before offering a pale hand to the Senju child. Seeing that her gift was accepted and that she was allowed to tag along, the little girl had beamed and had immediately taken the offered hand. Itachi had to prob her a little when he saw how nervous she still was in her presence, talking of silly things with her like why the sky was blue and whether a single cloud travels around the whole world until she finally calmed down and started talking his ear off.

Soon, other children saw that Itachi was indeed as nice as he appeared to be and gladly joined them on their walk through the market, a few of them even insisting on carrying Itachi's groceries despite the man saying how unnecessary it was. Since they were insistent, he instead took to carrying one or two of the smaller children on his back and shoulders, letting them all talk one over the other,.somehow always knowing what who was saying and always answering when it was expected of him. Seeing so many children hanging all over him should have been comical but none of the Senju could laugh, as this was the most peaceful sight they had seen in years, the most happy any of those children had been almost their entire lives after losing relative after relative to this accursed war.

It also made Itachi a lot less intimidating to talk to and it was now almost impossible to get the younger man alone, as Hashirama had learned when he went out to search for Itachi to give him a checkup.

Still, despite Itachi obviously being a genuinely good person - or seeming like it - Tobirama could still not let go of his suspicions. He knew that no one would support him in them now other than his father, but Tobirama would rather not have his father's support in this. As stated before, Butsuma would have killed Itachi on sight if he had not been registered as Hashirama's patient and had Butsuma not known that there were three things you do not mess with when dealing with his older son: the heir of their enemy (and their shared dream), his dearest people (Tobirama - his last remaining younger brother - and Mito - his soon to be wife) and his patients.

One time, some four or so years ago, in the winter, Tobirama and Hashirama were leading a hunting party through the woods when they stumbled upon an injured ninja who had just barely survived an encounter with a pack of wolves. They had easily identified his as an Uchiha but Hashirama had insisted on healing him, managing to save the man's life, only for another man from their hunting party to spear him through when Hashirama turned around to grow him a small shelter until he wakes up. Horrified and enraged, Hashirama had demanded why he had killed the man in cold blood and even Tobirama had expressed his disgust at the Uchiha's demise in such a way. The man had replied that it was an Uchiha and they deserved death. The albino had chided him about showing some respect to the enemy while his brother had suddenly developed a very dark aura around himself and Hashirama had snapped that it had been considered as showing respect since the 'Uchiha scum' had died by a 'Senju weapon' instead of like 'some poor animal's meal' like he 'deserved'.

That man had never dared pick up a spear ever again and when Butsuma tried to reprimand Hashirama, Tobirama's older brother had simply glared death at their father and stated, in a voice colder than the weather outside, that he was a healer and that a healer's job and sworn duty was to protect their patients. That the next time, the offender will not even be left alive to feel fear, be they Senju or anyone else.

No one ever dared piss off Hashirama regarding his patients ever again and Itachi was now enjoying the luxury such a position provided him.

However, there was nothing that Tobirama could find to even really be annoyed or suspicious about, since Itachi didn't ask for anything outrageous - the only thing he had actually asked so far was for directions back to his house the first day he had wandered about with Hashirama - or break any of the rules they had set for him. He didn't complain and he never tried to manipulate anyone into doing something for him. Heck, he's been more open with them than he had been asking questions! He didn't take off the stronger seal Mito had written on a cloth that Itachi wore underneath that strange headband of his. There was nothing to garner suspicion except that Itachi liked occasionally to take a lone walk in the woods. Tobirama followed him there, too, and yet the younger man never ventured further than a mile from the Senju encampment.

If Butsuma decided to kill Itachi when he officially stopped being Hashirama's patient, there might actually be a riot from the clan.

Which was exactly why Tobirama still didn't trust the boy. Yes, it was probably very wrong of him to refer to a twenty one year old man as a boy, but Itachi was a couple of years younger than Tobirama and the albino hated to think of Itachi by his name or by stranger. He didn't want to get attached to him by calling him by his name while the title stranger could not be said about someone who's clothing size you knew.

Tobirama was perfectly aware that Itachi could be acting the way he was just to earn their trust, a suicide mission to tear the Senju apart from the inside because the Uchiha were well aware of Butsuma's ways regarding all those that resembled them or might work for them. He could have been sent in to make friends with as many Senju as he could so that when he was eventually killed, they would be angry and displeased with Butsuma and start a civil war within their own settlement, giving the Uchiha a perfect opening to attack. After all, the Senju weren't nearly as tight-knit a clan like the Uchiha, as much as they liked to claim otherwise. All the Uchiha out on the battlefield shouted out orders and warnings by name and familiarity, never second-guessing each other's ability to keep one another's backs safe, never questioning how much chakra they each had left. The Senju could work like a well oiled machine on the battlefield, but they could also have horrendous arguments off of it. And while it would be impossible for the Uchiha never to fight amongst each other due to their fiery tempers, Tobirama had realized that it was exactly because of their explosive natures that their arguments never reached the scale that the Senju's could. They got it all out without letting it build up and then explode ten times worse. The Uchiha openly dealt with everything and so there were never any greater disputes. If Itachi had been sent to divide them, it would have failed because all of their issues would already have been out in the open and Itachi might not even had ended up executed but rather just imprisoned with visiting rights by his new friends. The Senju never settled their disputes when they are just created and instead let it build up until the fallout was too much to handle.

If the Uchiha have really realized this and if Itachi had been sent here for that very reason, Tobirama feared what would become of their clan.

But even that theory was improbable, even impossible. Tobirama was the best sensor of his generation and all the generations past. If Itachi was lying all of this time, no matter how good he was at keeping his facial expression passive or how good of an actor he was that his body language couldn't give him away to a blind eye, no one can continuously keep their chakra so serene and calm when telling lie after lie. Itachi would have slipped up and Tobirama would have sensed it in an instant. Heck, Itachi wasn't even aware that Tobirama had been following him around like some deranged stalker this whole week! He didn't have anyone to act for! All he'd been doing was exchanging small talk with a dozen or so adults and the little hoard of children that had followed him around that first day they had dared confront him. He had been open enough with Hashirama to tell him a little about his past and what a surprising past it was! Tobirama, after hearing what he had, had prayed his target's chakra would flow differently, that it would reveal what Itachi said to be a lie.

Because, at four!? No one sent their child out into the battlefield before they turned seven at the very least. And that was only one child, as far as Tobirama knew. Hashirama had entered the battlefield at nine and Tobirama had followed that same age example. But the one that had entered the battlefield at seven? He had been the terror of the Senju for ten years now, rumors stating that he could set ablaze half of the battlefield by himself with a single katon jutsu since he first made an appearance. He was Hashirama's rival, that one Uchiha Hashirama lets no one else fight. Tobirama had only been brought out on the battlefield when he had because he was the only suiton user strong enough to put out most of the fire on his own but that wasn't of much help since he, too, soon got himself an Uchiha rival that was second only to the first, his older brother. Those two fire-spitting hellions were the terror of the Senju.

Still, not even they had seen war at four. What Itachi was saying shouldn't, couldn't be true. And yet it was. His reaction to bringing up such memories was genuine. He had not been lying. Itachi, at four, had seen war and instead of going crazy later on in life due to the trauma that must have caused, he had come to hate conflict and had tried to become stronger in order to try and minimize it since he had realized he could not fully stop it. Be had lived a hard life yet he was not consumed by his pain or the bitterness he should have been feeling. How he had not gone mad, the younger Senju brother could not understand.

(It also proved as more proof against his Itachi-being-an-Uchiha theory, as no Uchiha can handle that sort of pain without their Sharingan manifesting.)

Yet he guessed Itachi's current personality made sense. The loneliest people are the kindest, the saddest people smile the brightest and the most damaged people are the wisest. Itachi was most definitely all three, judging by his story, unfinished as it was. Oh, yes. Tobirama was not as naive as his brother. He had noticed the gaps in the story, the rushed seeming parts and the things left unsaid. It is not what was said that made Itachi who he is today, but rather what was left in the subtext. Itachi was no fool. He may have shared the gist of the story but there was so much more that he had kept hidden, a deeper meaning behind the wisdom Tobirama glimpsed in his eyes the few times he had managed to meet Itachi in person since the younger man had arrived. There was a very good reason behind all of Itachi's pain and suffering and Tobirama planned on discovering it, on finding out all of Itachi's secrets, planned on bringing them to light and seeing Itachi's reaction when he was left bared for all the world to see. It was not going to be easy, Tobirama knew. He may be a genius but he suspected his opponent was someone just as clever, which only made him even more determined to succeed. He always liked a challenge. He always liked a mystery.

And Dare no Ichozoku no Itachi was a mystery, one Senju Tobirama would rather like to crack.