A/N : I swear to God, my muse is evil. This is not an epilogue you guys. I know we all want to see ObiKaka in this AU. They will appear in the actual epilogue. This extra chapter is brought to you by my evil muse who kept whispering that I have some loose ties to cover before ending this one. Un-betaed. I'm sleepy as fuck. It's 4AM on Monday morning where I have work tomorrow. Read at your own risk.
"You live with it, Izuna."
"Live with it and never forget."
The children trampled Izuna flat.
No. That wasn't even an exaggeration. In their frantic run to get their hands on their beloved demon, the children really did trample on few unfortunate adults like Izuna flat onto the ground.
It then took a complete minute for Izuna to scramble out of the dirt. His back was sore, the dark fabric of his Uchiha high-collared robe was decorated with tiny footprints and there was also a mouthful of soil smearing the corners of his lips.
If it was a year ago, he would've flipped out and yelled at the children, reprimanding them for their unruly behaviour trampling over him—he was the Uchiha's Clan Head, mind you, it's not like he was a nobody shinobi—and probably filed an official complaint to their parents too.
All of that, in order to sooth his easily bruised ego.
However, that would only happen if it was a year ago.
Izuna has turned over a new leaf. He was not that egotistical spoiled brat he was a year ago.
If anything, his heart yearned to join the children too. He yearned to touch the frail pale cheeks of his supposedly deceased brother, making sure that yes, Tobirama was here, he was here safe and sound behind the gates of Konoha. He wanted to hold the elder in his arms, to feel the grounding presence of Tobirama's sturdy body in his hold, even though from the jutting bones of his collarbone and the frail-looking arms underneath the dark kimono shirt, anyone with functioning eyes could see that Tobirama has lost a lot of weight in this past year and a half.
Madara has always been broader than the rest of the founders—he was the shortest, but his breadth won over all of them—all strong shoulders and broad back that he unintentionally flaunted during training or on hot summer days. Simultaneously, Tobirama was taller and only just a tiny bit behind Madara in the breadth department, thus seeing the way the Senju's shirt clung so loosely on Tobirama's frame was enough to spark concerns from the crowd, particularly the Clan Heads that have worked together with the Uchiha Demon during the construction of the village.
Tobirama was not in a good shape, and all of them saw it.
Well, everyone saw it, except for the children that were smothering the Uchiha Demon with affection and cuddles.
"Brats!" Madara yelled from his perch on the roof, leaping down near the children pile with visible dark aura leaking out of him. "I did not go on an undercover mission…," he growled, storming towards the pile of children, "…in enemy territory," he huffed, using both hands to pry one of the kids that were clinging on Tobirama bony arm, "…for a whole year and a half," he snarled when his hand was swatted away and the child he was trying to pry away from Tobirama simply slotted herself in the tight space between two other children. "A whole year and a half! I didn't spend those time infiltrating enemy territories just so you can kill him the day he returned home!" he yelled, attempting to pull one of the children out of the pile, only to hiss in disbelief not two seconds after that.
Madara retracted his hand, eyes widened at the little child that was hanging two feet in the air with only the sheer force of his teeth that were clamping the Senju's hand.
"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY BITING ME, KID?"
It was then followed by a loud undignified squawk from the younger Senju as the child bit harder on his hand.
Tobirama's voice was a muffled laughter that came from somewhere underneath the pile of children.
Izuna tuned into that laugh, lips quirking into a tiny smile.
He wanted to join the children.
Sage, he really wanted to.
He wanted to be the cause of the hoarse gentle laughter that was so rarely heard from the Uchiha Demon. He wanted the solid proof that Tobirama's condition would eventually be better, once the man gets proper food, treatment and rest. He yearned for the comfort of having Tobirama in his arms.
But he didn't indulge that yearning.
The happuri he kept inside his sleeves suddenly felt heavy, reminding of all those dried blood he has failed to clean no matter how hard he washed and polished the metal—
How weird was it? The metal was shiny and clean yet Izuna still saw blood all over it.
Not that he could do anything even if he has the courage to include himself in the pile.
Cold, vicious chakra reached out to him and Izuna backed away, understanding the unspoken threat immediately.
He ignored the shocked frown that grew on Madara's face, nor did he showed any signs that he saw the confusion that swam in the younger Senju's dark eyes. He pretended to not hear the exasperated sigh that slipped from Hashirama's lips and averted his gaze from seeing the calculative curl of Mito's lips as all three members of the Senju clan shifted their gaze back and forth between him and Kagami.
Madara cocked his eyebrows in Izuna's direction.
Izuna shook his head and waved the concerned Senju off.
Madara's frown grew deeper—the biting child hanging off his hand was forgotten.
Madara wasn't there when Kagami truly lost it. He wasn't there when the brat proved how good Tobirama has raised him.
The younger Senju wasn't there when Kagami quite literally held Izuna's life in his hands.
The children have more rights to Tobirama anyway.
After all, it was by the compassion and kindness of the children that Izuna was still able to breathe today.
"What the fuck was that?"
Hashirama bit back another sigh, shifting Tobirama's unconscious form in his arms as he tried to find the best angle to talk to his baby brother.
His baby brother, who for some godforsaken unknown reason refused to take Hashirama's other flank and opted to be an insufferable brat while trailing a good foot behind the Hokage.
Maybe it has something to do with the way Mito kept trying to reach across Hashirama's chest to molest Madara's dyed spiky hair. Yep, maybe that was the reason his baby brother refused to walk at the same pace as the two of them. Mito is a menace.
Speaking of the menace of a woman, she was not helping what so ever with their current situation.
Mito found the sight endearing—to see the God of Shinobi carrying the Uchiha Demon along the streets of Konoha (bridal-style and in normal civilian speed at that; because they did not want to risk injuring the demon anymore than he already was)—when it was not even a few years ago that they were at each other throats attempting to take the other's head.
The Uzumaki princess took her pleasure in observing the scene, gracefully gliding by Hashirama's right flank.
How the hell she was still able to look perfectly poised after the surprise of Tobirama's return was a complete mystery. Hashirama was reasonably ragged after the hectic (now postponed) opening ceremony—his Hokage robe was skewed and crumpled here and there while he has lost his Kage hat to the stampede, and yet here she was, not a hair out of order of her elaborated hairdo.
Tobirama's return caused a hectic reaction, which was followed by a complete chaos.
It was a chaos when Tobirama's laughter was cut short with a horrible cough and blood splatters before the man lost his consciousness, giving up the last of his energy to his injuries.
It promptly threw the children into panicked hysterics when they saw their beloved shishou laid unmoving beneath them.
The sobbing children were too stunned and scared that they ended up on their knees and obediently bowed their heads when Madara launched into a full-blown lecture while Hashirama and Mito proceeded to ensure that the kids really did not just kill the Uchiha Demon by smothering him with affectionate love.
When the Hokage and his almost-wife announced that Tobirama would be fine, the children almost trampled over Madara to crowd around the Hokage, attempting to get their tiny little hands on any piece of their beloved demon.
That was the first time ever Konoha witnessed their Hokage raised his voice.
The children showed no fear, even against the God of Shinobi himself.
Kagami wisely stuck to his supposed role as the Clan Head to calm the children of his clan, although there was nothing he could do with the children that were not of his care. Along with the rest of the Clan Head, they herded their children home, with sweet promises that they would be visiting the Uchiha Demon once the man has received proper treatments from whatever injuries he suffered while being held prisoner behind Kumo's borders.
Hashirama knew it was only the matters of time for Madara to notice the oddness in Kagami's behaviour—his baby brother might not be the sharpest kunai in the set, but Madara could be extremely perceptive when he decided to stay still and pay attention to his surroundings.
And Kagami was not even being subtle about it.
"Tobi's brat," Madara tried again, placing a hand to stop Hashirama's stride. "Kagami. What the hell happened to him?" he asked, the confused frown was back on his face. "The brat used to be adorably annoying, not dangerously hostile."
Hashirama exhaled a deep sigh.
"It is a long story," he said with a dismissive shrug.
Madara stalked around to stand in front of Hashirama, halting the Hokage's in his path. He then crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows while his lips curled to the beginning of the pout that he has learnt to weaponize against Hashirama. Hashirama pointedly avoiding looking at him, averting his gaze to the sky.
"Onii-chan…"
Oh no. Oh, hell NO.
Hashirama was not going to fall for that.
There was a hopeful tug on his sleeves and Hashirama promptly squeezed his eyes shut, his expression was tortured.
Don't look at him. Don't look at him. Don't look at those damned puppy eyes—
Even without shinobi's training of keen perspective, everyone could make out what was in Hashirama's mind as his opened his eyes again upon the incessant tugging on his sleeves, and his gaze immediately wandered everywhere except for his brother's face.
Mito's lips quirked to an amused smirk.
Then, Hashirama yelped when dainty small hands casually wrestled the Uchiha Demon away from him and straight into Mito's embrace. He frowned, angling a betrayed look to his beloved fiancée while the menace of a woman simply adjusted Tobirama in her hold, shifting the man until she had the demon's head comfortably rested against her shoulder.
"You go back home and tell him," she decided with a firm authoritative tone, already straightened up with her head held high. "I'll see Tobirama-san to the hospital."
With that, Mito walked ahead, completely ignoring the gawking civilians who have poked their heads out of the shops to stare at the scene. The gawking was expected. It wasn't every day one would see the previously deceased Uchiha Demon being tucked in the arms of a woman who was a good foot shorter than him—all the while, the man was completely unconscious and dead to the world.
Hashirama stared at the back of his fiancée with a helpless gaze, shoulders slouched in defeat. He really didn't want to be the one telling Madara about Kagami's almost slip into insanity. The brat almost started a civil war and who knew how Madara's dramatic streak would react to it. Konoha was their collaborative effort, and to know that Kagami almost destroyed it was not something that Madara would typically accept with mature calmness.
"Onii-chan?"
Oh sage. Hashirama hated the beloved manipulative people in his life.
"I hate it when you do that," Hashirama grumbled, but there was a tiny quirk of a fond smile on his lips as he reached an arm to wrestle Madara into his hold, keeping the younger's head in a loose headlock. "I hate you and your stupid otoutou charms."
Madara gave him a devious triumphal grin.
"You fall for my adorable charms anyway, Aniki."
Hashirama scowled and smacked the back of Madara's head.
"Brat."
Tobirama was back.
The whole clan knew it—even those who were out of the village when the man returned—but not one soul dared to comment or act on it. The surprise of Tobirama's return was still there in their mind, proven by the unease beating of their hearts and the heavy tensed atmosphere of the compound.
They were terrified of a potential retribution.
When Kagami snapped, it was the children who reigned the grieving teen calm. Innocent as they were, the children believed that destroying the Uchiha was not something that Tobirama would ever want and used that belief to calm Kagami down.
Now that Tobirama was back, the Uchiha feared that the belief would change.
Konoha assumed that Kagami was the strongest in the new clan—being the only adult of the clan and all—but the Uchiha clan knew that the truth was not the same. Sure, technically Kagami was the strongest, having the ability to take out a whole enemy troop on his own (even without his sharingan), but it was the children who made the new clan so terrifying.
The children have abandoned their own roots and took the demon's name as their own, and their growing power stirred pure fear in their former clans.
The elders of the Uchiha tried to stop the threat of the children.
Well, they tried.
Oh, the elders did try to stop the growth of the new clan, even going so far to act behind Izuna and Hikaku to negotiate with the original families of the growing clan, wanting to stop the power Kagami was accumulating under his care.
The result wasn't in their favour.
The civilian families didn't give a damn—in fact, they were happy to be rid of their extra baggage to the care of the new clan. The smaller clans, on the other hand, feared the idea of pissing off Kagami as they yelled at the envoys that Uchiha elders have sent, asking them if they have lost their mind to even consider taking what the Reaper has claimed as his own. The bigger clans, despite agreeing with the Uchiha elders to preserve their clan's techniques from being shared within the new Tobirama clan, were shamefully outsmarted by the children.
The elders swore at Tobirama's and Ayame's names, cursing the deceased half-bred demon for manipulating the devious child to turn her brilliance against them.
Their only excuse to stop the rising power of the new clan has backfired.
When told that the children are not allowed to share their original clan's secrets with each other, the thirteen-years-old Clan Heir of Tobirama Clan has giggled and beamed at them, all sunshiny and mockingly happy.
"Then, we're going to create our own techniques~!"
Tobirama Ayame has declared that to the group of stunned elders, standing her ground in all of her four-feet-and-a-half-tall defiances.
It backfired. The Uchiha children who were once raised by the deceased demon has taken the declaration in a stride, remembering the sight of their beloved shishou hunched over his table with scrolls of unfinished jutsu scattered around him.
They grew up to that sight.
They first learnt to crawl surrounded by Tobirama's notes. They learnt to walk around the time Kage Bunshin was created. They practised their penmanship by doodling lines on the discarded papers of the demon's notes. Their first bed-time story was a research journal the sleepy and exhausted demon mistakenly read to them (and soon regretted when the children got addicted to it). They slept curled up against Tobirama's warmth as the demon fell asleep on his table, notes and research journals served as his pillow.
They grew up watching inventions being birthed into the world by the mind of their dearest patriarch.
The previously Uchiha children took Ayame's declaration with an excited gleam in their eyes, bouncing straight to the communal library in the Tobirama compound to start researching. They embraced his spirit, seeking and devouring the knowledge at the mad pace that was a reminisce of their deceased patriarch.
If there was any doubt that the Uchiha Demon truly raised these kids with his own hands, the doubt was vanquished by the children's abnormal thirst for knowledge.
These were Tobirama's kids, and no one could deny it.
The rest of the children followed their path at a much slower rate, but they embraced the new family culture with an open heart.
Not even one soul who has known the brilliance of the deceased Uchiha Demon was remotely surprised when the new clan started to gain popularity as a clan of inventors instead of a mere clan of unwanted children.
The elders' attempt to stop the rising power of Tobirama clan backfired spectacularly.
Even with only one legitimate adult in the clan, the new clan was gaining power at a horrifying rate. The young brilliant minds of the abandoned children have sworn over the empty grave of their patriarch to embrace his spirit—and they did, spending more time in the library and research labs more often than normal children, only having the supervision of the demon's former students to keep them out of trouble.
The new clan gained more and more power as the mini-inventors worked under the guidance of Team Demon to develop their own clan techniques. They aided Kagami to resume Tobirama's incomplete research. They collaborate to create traps and weaponry only the imagination of young children could think of. They toyed with recipes, going through trials and errors to improve existing poisons and serums. They studied Tobirama's jutsu, training hard to master each of them even with the continuous failures, and spent the time they were supposed to lick their wounds to discuss improvements for the jutsu instead.
The power of a curious mind was terrifying. Add that to children's imagination, and the Uchiha knew that they were in trouble if they allow these kids to grow while nursing vengeful spite against them.
It was not helping the Uchiha to calm down when some of the adults who were fond of Tobirama has taken Hashirama's speech of "unity beyond the boundaries of the clans" to their heart and occasionally dropped by the Tobirama compound to help the children developing their clan's specialties.
The Akimichi matriarch dropped by for her weekly visit with an abundance of food she has taken the liberty to shove down the Tobirama Clan Head's throat and would only leave when her cheeks were warm with kisses from the children as they promised to improve the recipe of the Akimichi food pill that she has graciously shared.
The Nara matriarch's occasional escapades from her duties would typically end up with her people discovering their Clan Head snoring in the circle of scheming children—the woman would wake up with a grumbling smile when they asked her for another shogi match, wanting to test out the strategies they have planned while she was asleep.
The Yamanaka patriarch introduced the children to the beauty and horror of flowers, teaching them about the flowers his clan has grown in their forbidden gardens—the flowers that could kill, torture and heal, depending on how they were used—and patiently answering any of the curious questions the children had for him.
The result came in surprisingly fast for a bunch of children being supervised by teens.
Hashirama almost cried in joy when the children make a breakthrough for nutritional ration bars that could sustain even the most chakra-depraved Akimichi but did not taste like soaked cardboard with three-days-old gravy that was rolled around in the ash of your dead best friend.
Touka had a satisfying month having her revenge for her (begrudgingly) favourite Uchiha during her patrols as she tested out the compilation of strategies and traps that the children have graciously shared with her, taking pleasure on the horror of the Kumo scouts with pure gleeful thrill.
Mito almost lost her perfect poise and was so close to trip on her own feet when the Yamanaka Clan Head casually dropped a bunch of serum on her table—the man was smirking and claiming something about a variance of truth and torture serums that the children have contributed to the T&I department.
The Uchiha has to wonder if this was karma punishing them for all the abuse they put their former Clan Head through because the children were growing as strong inventors and they were filled with so much spite against the Uchiha clan that it was straight up horrifying.
Then, there was Kagami.
Kagami, who not a few months ago, held Izuna's throat in a deadly grip, chakra shifting to the start of a raging fire hungry for the soul of the Uchiha. He was just one boy—a blind teenage boy—and yet the brat rendered the whole clan helpless as all of them knelt by his path, choking out fumes that immobilised them to Kagami's mercy.
It was by a sheer luck that the Uchiha was not obliterated by one of their own.
Well, sheer luck and the collaboration perceptiveness of Tobirama Ayame and Hatake Sakuno.
The Uchiha clan was shamefully spared from Kagami's insanity-driven wrath by two little girls.
Karma is a bitch.
(And the Uchiha was convinced that Karma is Tobirama's bitch.)
Ever since he became the Clan Heir, Hikaku always wondered if his life would be easier if he was a tiny bit nicer to Tobirama before these whole things started.
Kagami. Ayame. The children. Tobirama Clan in general.
Those felt like punishments to their abusive nature to the half-blooded Uchiha.
Then, Izuna's sudden change.
Hikaku has no idea what the fuck has happened that caused Izuna to do a complete hundred-eighty-degree change in a measly 24 hours, but it was both a relief and depressing. He was relieved that Izuna was calmer and mature ever since the change happened—the man was more contemplative and patient, unlike his hot-headed impulsiveness prior to his change—but it was depressing too when Izuna picked up a new habit into his daily routine.
Inhaling a deep breath (and resisting the urge to wince at the heavy atmosphere of the compound), Hikaku knocked on the door of Izuna's room.
It was a complete minute of silence before Izuna's soft voice called out;
"Come in."
Hikaku slid the door open and walked in. He grimaced, grateful for his well-honed shinobi's skills that he was able to stop himself from visibly wincing at the sight. He could never get used to this new habit Izuna has picked up, no matter how hard he tried to comprehend the reasoning behind it.
"Hikaku," Izuna greeted in a soft hum, shifting his gaze back to the happuri in his hands. "What brings you to my chamber?"
Hikaku swallowed, eyes fixed on the way Izuna carefully dipped the cloth in his hand into the warm bowl of water, the urge to wince spiked again when the Clan Head obsessively scrub the shiny metal as if he was attempting to clean an unseen stubborn stain.
Izuna has been doing this every day ever since his change, and to be honest, this obsessive habit worried Hikaku.
"Are you okay?"
Izuna stopped scrubbing. Ruby eyes lowered onto the happuri and Hikaku watched the way Izuna's thumb traced over the edges with hitched breath. The younger Uchiha waited patiently until Izuna was snapped out of his trance, not wanting to disturb his cousin's inner turmoil. It was a full three minutes later when the older man sighed and proceeded to dry the happuri with a soft towel.
"Do you have any news about Tobirama's condition?" instead of answering the question, Izuna asked, his voice was soft and hopeful.
Izuna wasn't even looking at Hikaku as he asked that. Instead, his gaze seemed oddly dazed and far-fetched as he reached for the polishing oil he has placed next to the bowl. Hikaku dared himself to come closer, folding his knees next to Izuna and watched with mournful worries when Izuna methodically polished the happuri. The elder's movements were mechanical, almost emotionless yet the obsession to scrub the metal clean was still there.
Hikaku didn't know what Izuna saw when he looked at the happuri, but he knew that this behaviour was not healthy.
"Mito-sama said that he would be fine after a few days of good rest and sufficient food," Hikaku reported, hoping that Izuna's ruby eyes will reclaim its lively shine with that piece of news. "He has to be put under sedatives and close monitoring for a few days, but he should be able to recover smoothly after that. The Akimichi clan offered to take responsibilities of helping him to regain his weight back."
Izuna made a humming noise in his throat, hands still polishing the metal.
"Any idea of what happened to him for this past year?"
"Apart from being a prisoner in Kumo?" Hikaku blurted out before he could even think, one hand promptly came up to slap over his mouth once he realised what he just said.
Izuna's hands stopped, his eyes lowered when he gingerly nodded. "Did Madara let anything slip?"
"Standard procedure, I think," Hikaku fumbled with his answers, not wanting to elaborate.
They were shinobi. They all knew what the standard procedure was when they managed to capture the leader of an enemy shinobi. Moreover, if the prisoner was a stubborn defiant man like Tobirama. 'Standard procedure' was the official sugar-coated name for torture for information.
Izuna's grip on the happuri tightened.
"I overheard Hiruko-sama and Kōjin-sama told the Hokage that Kumo wished for the knowledge of Tobirama-sama's fuuinjutsu," Hikaku reported, remembering the gentle soft voice of the white leopard and the deep husky voice of the black panther. "That's why they kept him alive for such a long time."
It was jarring, to hear the leopard spoke. It was also a bit weird to hear the deep affectionate tone of the gentle voice whenever the leopard referred to Tobirama as her precious cub.
"Fuuinjutsu?" Izuna pressed, grip loosening as he returned to his obsessive polishing. "Why would they want that knowledge?"
"They wanted the knowledge to imprison a bijuu, if I'm not mistaken," Hikaku mumbled, hesitant a bit. "It was the Niibi, I think," he added, mind reeling back to the conversation between the Hokage and the two summons that he has overheard. "But, Hiruko-sama said to not worry. Tobirama-sama has taken care of it before they escaped Kumo."
Izuna stopped his obsessive polishing.
Hikaku didn't need the ability to mind-read to know what his older cousin was thinking of.
How the hell Tobirama stopped Kumo from having Niibi with the condition he was in? The man couldn't even walk on his own—having to rely on the summons to keep him upright—let alone to go one-on-one against a tailed beast.
Though, neither of them were able to comment on it when their privacy was intruded—Uchiha Ayaka almost broke Izuna's door when she frantically busted into their conversation, panic and fear smeared all over her face.
"Izuna-sama! Izuna-sama!" she yelled, almost tripping on her own feet as she leant on the frame of the door to support her shaking body. "Kagami! Kagami is heading for your house, Izuna-sama! Senju Madara is right on his heels, and he is armed!"
True to her words, it wasn't long before Kagami's hostile cold chakra entered their sensory range.
Hikaku paled.
Izuna exhaled a deep resigned breath, carefully putting the happuri away.
Their retribution has come.
"I fucked up."
Mito rolled her eyes, keeping her glowing palms over Tobirama's forehead and completely ignoring the trembling mass (who she had the amusing misfortune to call husband in a few weeks) that was clinging to her robes.
"I shouldn't tell him everything."
Mito huffed, carefully pushing Tobirama's hospital shirt up to the man's pronounced ribcages, exposing the pale skinny stomach. The summons are right, she thought, as she hovered her fingers just millimetres above the skin, eyes widened in awe when the thrumming seals she had detected responded to her chakra and showed her the intricate seal her fellow fuuinjutsu master has whipped out in the middle of the chaos of his escape from Kumo.
Something else—a powerful inhuman chakra—rippled from the seals, but Mito felt no threat from it. The chakra thrummed in a way that only felt like how a contented pleased cat would feel like. It was so bizarrely adorable that Mito immediately huffed a small laugh.
She should tell the medic to take Tobirama off the sedatives. The Uchiha Demon had no need of the sedatives. He would definitely heal in no time if the rippling purring chakra under her palms were any indicator.
"Madara and Kagami are going to start a civil war."
Mito rolled her eyes again. She ought to find the medics, yes.
But after she dealt with her traumatised and dramatic fiancé.
Kagami really hated being young.
"I'm sorry for almost destroying the clan," he grumbled, no longer resisting the persisting hand that was pushing his head down to a polite bow. "Izuna-sama," he added when Madara's fingers tightened in his hair.
"Brat," the younger Senju huffed. "Your glowing sincerity is dripping."
Kagami snorted. Sarcasm was not a Senju trait. Madara was not good at it.
"Madara," to his surprise, Izuna's voice was that of an exasperated sigh laced with the faintest hint of relief. "You don't have to force him to do anything that he did not want to."
If Kagami has eyes, his eyes would have widened at that.
"He….," Madara growled, tightening his grip in Kagami's hair and pushed the boy's head down to an acute 90-degree bow like all annoyed dramatic fathers Kagami saw some of the peers his age have, "…..almost started an Uchiha civil war."
"We reaped what we sow," Izuna's voice was a soft chuckle, and for the first time, Kagami sensed past his hatred to his clan and tried to pay more attention to the man. "We had it coming," Izuna hummed, voice soft.
Izuna's chakra was softer than he last remembered it. Not as raging violence brimming with hatred and anger, but a softer, muted version of his once hot-tempered will. It was the chakra of a resigned man, weighed down with so many things Kagami never took time to notice and it was both bizarre and uncomfortable to feel. Kagami reached out his chakra towards Izuna, wanting to see more of the man, and after a brief hesitance, Izuna allowed Kagami's chakra to touch his own, connecting their energy closer than they have ever attempted.
Kagami gasped, head jerking as he straightened up, startling the grumbling Madara.
"Brat…," Madara growled threateningly.
Kagami ignored him and reached a hand forward, capturing Izuna's forearm in his grip.
"Meet him," those two words sounded more like a command, but Kagami cared not to control his tone around a fellow Clan Head. "Go and meet him."
Regret and guilt.
Izuna suffered those emotions so deeply it has changed his spiritual energy and caused such a jarring change in his own chakra.
Kagami felt the hesitance emitting from the older man—a man he would've called uncle if they weren't in this family feud—and he tightened his grip on Izuna's forearm, not allowing the guilt-stricken Uchiha to push him away.
True, a few months ago Kagami was itching to kill this man—and he was so close to succeeding that need too—but Ayame and Sakuno have pulled him out of his hatred, prying his trembling fingers from Izuna's throat and gently tugged his rageful body into their embrace.
The children didn't leave him alone that night—and now when he thought about it, they were oddly prepared to welcome him into their soothing embrace. Sakuno and Ayame have held his trembling hands in their own, stopping him from wielding his anger to the bloody path he intended to take, as they guided him away from the Uchiha compound the moment Hashirama and Mito arrived to settle the matters with the Uchiha. He didn't remember much of what happened after that. One second he had his hands around Izuna's throat and was about to burn the man right on the spot, and the next second he was surrounded by children, safe in the common room in the main house of his own compound.
The children piled on him, keeping their tiny hands on his limbs and quite literally pinned him in a nest of blankets and pillows with their bodies as if it was enough to stop him from succumbing to his hatred.
Surprisingly, it did.
The children saved him.
And now that shishou was back, Kagami was more than grateful for it.
But, Izuna…There was no one to save Izuna from this darkness. If Kagami didn't reach out now, he feared that Tobirama would mourn and forever be broken when his last brother fell to the hatred.
Self-hate was even more dangerous than hatred directed to another person.
"Let's visit him," Kagami pressed, toning down the natural hostility of his own chakra. He swallowed, acting purely on impulse now as he remembered what Ayame had said when she pulled him out of his own darkness.
"Please stop, Otou-sama."
And as weird as it was to have a girl only five years younger than him to call him that, Kagami has calmed down instantly, being grounded to the reality that he has children to care for and this hatred would hurt them all. Teenager as he was, these children were his. He was the patriarch of Tobirama Clan, and technically their guardian and father-figure, despite being only a few years older than them.
He swallowed, squirming away from Madara's slackened grip to reach both of his hands towards Izuna, gently holding the man's shoulders in his grip.
Ayame has shown him kindness and love when he was almost lost in the darkness.
It's time to pass the kindness forward.
"Izuna…ojii-san," Kagami started, a bit hesitant and awkward but by the hitched breath that slipped past Izuna's throat told him that his words have an effect. "Let's visit him," he insisted. "Let's visit shishou…," he gulped, knowing that this was the first time he would say this out loud. "Let's visit him. My father, your Aniki."
Kagami felt it first before he heard it.
Izuna's chakra shifted, and there were droplets of wetness dripped on his own wrists before Izuna collapsed against the teenage boy, wetting Kagami's shirt with tears.
And like a dam being broken, Izuna broke.
"Tobi~"
Tobirama groaned, honestly thought that it was still too early for Tabi to wake him up with that lecherous purr, but there was nothing he could do to stop the fiery cat from disturbing his well-deserved sleep when she was literally resting in his stomach.
"Too early, Tabi," he grunted back, rolling onto his side on the rippling water of the bijuu plane, refusing to meet her amused gaze. "I need sleep. It has been a long time since I had a proper one."
"Your boyfriend, son and brother come to visit."
"Madara knows that I need rest…," Tobirama huffed, swatting the playful gigantic paw that was poking on his back, "…unlike you."
She unsheathed her claw and tugged the back of his collar with all the playfulness of a housecat despite her gigantic size. The amused purr rumbled again as the tugging stopped and Tobirama would've thought that the Niibi has given up on teasing him and would allow him to compensate a year-worth of sleep when his groggy, sedated mind backtracked and registered what the cat has told him.
Tobirama's eyes snapped open, only to cause him a disoriented wave of nausea when instead of darkness that greeted him whenever he opened his eyes, his gaze met Madara's shocked eyes—and by god, the Senju wasn't joking when he said that his brunette new haircut made him look far younger than he should—before he had to close his eyes for a moment, attempting to adjust to his new sight. When Tobirama opened his eyes again, he had to blink a few times, wondering what had happened during his temporary unconsciousness that he now found looking at his peripherals to be oddly less clear than looking head on.
It has been twenty-eight years of attempting to heal his broken sight—so long of a time that he ended up used to looking at his peripherals—and now he opened his eyes and his sight was crystal clear even when he looked at Madara's wide eyes head on.
"What…," he muttered, confused as he brought his hands up to his eyes.
"Eternal Mangekyou," Madara hummed, handing him a hand mirror. "Or so I was told."
Tobirama looked at his reflection in the mirror, holding back a wince at how gaunt his face looked like, and he seriously questioned Madara's taste now that he was reminded of the younger man's words on how he still find Tobirama attractive after they were safe from Kumo's tracker team, because honest to Rikudou-Sennin, Tobirama thought that he looked like the personification of a corpse—heck, even Jiro looked healthier than he was. However, before he could ponder even more on the matter, he blinked and finally noticed the dark eyes of his reflection.
It was such a bizarre colour to see on his own face.
Bizarre, yet not unwelcome.
It reminded him of his mother's eyes. It reminded him of Tajima's eyes. His little brothers too since both Kakashi and Izuna have dark eyes.
His clans—the Uchiha and Hatake.
They all have pure black eyes like the most precious obsidian.
Somehow, Tobirama suddenly felt belonged into the image of his family that he still had in his mind.
"They decided to share you know?" Madara has opted to sit by his side, the bed dipped under his weight as he leant close to run those strong fingers through Tobirama's silver hair, untangling knots here and there. "I don't know what kind of Uchiha thing it was, but they said that by sharing, it will connect the three of you."
Tobirama blinked, still confused and dazed from everything, and after sending a reprimanding telepathic feeling to the purring amused cat in his body, he looked up to meet Madara's eyes, feeling self-conscious under that warm gaze.
Madara braved the danger of infiltrating enemy line to seek any rumours of the whereabouts of his corpse—just rumours, mind you, since the Senju didn't even know if there was even a corpse for him to bring back—and it would be a lie if Tobirama didn't admit that it made him felt warm inside, to know that someone considered him precious enough to take such a bold risk.
It felt nice to be important and loved like that.
His gaze flickered to the pendant that was resting at the crook of Madara's collarbone—the pattern of his own Mangekyou embossed at the back of the pendant while the front bore the Uchiha crest—knowing that sooner or later he has to explain to the younger man what it meant when Tobirama offered the necklace to him.
Uchiha Tajima has drilled the tradition into his head the day he caught a very embarrassed teenage Tobirama washing his sheets on his own, and he didn't need the memories of his sharingan to remember it.
"Oh, look at that. Butterflies everywhere in my prison. How nice of you Tobi. I love these fluttering sparkly creatures."
"Tabi," Tobirama internally sighed, fondly exasperated at the playful sarcastic nature of his new roommate. "You're not funny."
The Matatabi snorted. "Excuse you. I'm hilarious."
"Matatabi,"
"Tobirama," the cat retorted in a playful purr. "I suggest you to stop making cow eyes to your boy before your son choked on his own embarrassment."
Oh. That's right. Madara was not alone. Son. Kagami. Right, Kagami came with Madara—
Tobirama froze the moment he shifted his head to look at the other side of his bed.
Two pairs of wide ruby and onyx eyes stared at him with boggled surprise, a matching flush was on both Izuna's and Kagami's cheeks, obviously having witnessed his more-than-friendly interaction with Madara. However, before any of them could blurt out awkward comment, Madara has risen from his seat and reached out a hand to tug Izuna closer.
Tobirama braced himself for the hurl of hurtful words.
He knew that Izuna was not happy to know that he has survived. Izuna always told him how well-off he would be if Tobirama would just drop dead and disappear from his life. It has been years since Izuna openly hurled those words at him, yet Tobirama still remembered the sharp tone that Izuna has used and it immediately sparked a pain in his chest. He instinctively curled on himself, having no mental strength to put up a strong front like he usually did.
The imprisonment took a toll on his mental strength, and he thought with Madara here, he was safe to be weak.
His heart almost stopped when he was pulled into a hesitant embrace, his nose was buried into the warmth of Izuna's chest and instead of hurtful words, it was pleas for forgiveness that were chanted against his hair.
Tobirama was stunned, gaping in hopeful shock.
It took an assuring squeeze of Madara's hand over his own to snap him out of it.
He theb wriggled out from the embrace so that he could meet his brother's mismatched gaze—seeing the tears that glazed the ruby and onyx eyes—and it was so confusing yet giving him hope all the same as he squeaked out with a tiny voice that would make Jiro yelled at him for being such a meek brat;
"Izuna?"
"Aniki," Izuna breathed out, holding Tobirama's close and completely burying his face into the mop of silver hair. "Aniki," Izuna whimpered, planting a kiss on the elder's forehead. "Aniki."
One word.
It just took one word to take his pain away.
It just took that one word to put joy on his face.
Tobirama buried his face to Izuna's embrace and laughed.
OMAKE!
"I'm not imagining it, right?" Hikaku heard Ayaka whispered to Masami as he walked past the compound's bar.
"If you're talking about Tobirama-sama's return, you're way too late."
"Not that!"
"Then?"
"Madara-sama!"
"Oh."
"He had his necklace!"
Masami shrugged and downed her sake.
"Well, since he is the second-born, it won't be too troublesome for him to marry into another clan…," she hiccupped, giggling a bit. "He is already acting like the fussy father for my nephew anyway."
"He tamed that monster…," Ayaka hissed. "Did you know what that would mean?"
"That monster is my nephew. Kagami may have left the clan, but he is still my sister's son," Masami snapped, pointing a finger at Ayaka's face. "Watch your mouth."
Ayaka threw her arms in the air.
"Haven't you realised that their union would create disastrous children?"
A beat of silence. Then, a hiccup.
"Aya, both of them are males. Procreation is impossible."
Ayaka didn't look convinced by one bit.
And to be honest, neither did the eavesdropping Hikaku.
A/N : If it's not clear with Madara's comment of them sharing...IzuKagami decided to share their sharingan. So, Izuna has one of Tobirama's and Kagami's eyes. Kagami has Izuna's and Tobirama's. Tobi has Kagami's and Izuna's. I don't know how sharingan worked in canon apart from being the dojutsu-ex-machina. It feels like sharingan can do everything, so I decided to make it like this.
I'll update the epilogue some time this week, or Monday next week.