Chapter 7 (Outake, Aftermath of Ch1, Tobirama POV)
The first feeling that registers is shock…shock and disbelief. He can't accept that that's it..it's over and Hashirama is gone. It just shouldn't be possible. It can't be possible. But it is isn't it? He feels numb like an aftermath of a broken painfully realistic Genjutsu as he approaches Madara with the scroll he and Hashirama had painstakingly worked on only the night before. Once it is delivered, he calls the retreat.
Perhaps it would be prudent to take out Madara when he is so weak. But Tobirama himself is exceedingly chakra exhausted not to mention the insanely massive release of chakra that just occurred is messing with his sensing, it is akin to disoriented eyes after a particularly large blinding flash of light is released before them. There is also Hashirama's last wish, even in death he thinks of his friend first and clan and brother second. And Tobirama can do nothing that will not dishonor his clan with his actions before the entire shinobi world and yet with these same actions he has now placed his clan in unparalleled danger. There is no denying that at this point in time Madara is far more powerful than he is. There is now nothing stopping the man from recovering and then taking his revenge on Tobirama and after that massacring the entire Senju clan should he wish it. But even were he to kill Madara right now on this very battlefield then all progress gained with Hashirama's sacrifice would be lost, and the battle would continue in a brutal end. With both sides likely sustaining even heavier casualties, himself possibly included, before both clans would resume and intensify all hostilities which would once again continue this endless bloodshed. He has no choice but to retreat and hope that Madara will be merciful. All this passes through his mind while they are retreating.
It takes until they reach Senju lands for the shock to sink in. It takes another several hours to suddenly feel like someone had decided to rip his heart out and somehow his body decided to still keep functioning. Once his sensory abilities return and he regains some chakra three days later he reaches out as far as he can for as long as he can…but the familiar signature of his brother is nowhere to be found. He reaches and reaches until he collapses from exhaustion. No one knows because he sealed his rooms and even his cousin Touka can't enter. He wakes several hours later to pounding on his door and her threats of tearing the walls to his room down if he doesn't open it.
Once he lets her in, she shows him the scroll from the Uchiha and their acceptance of peace. He is wary but he has no choice. He had wanted peace for so long but now there is no other option that could protect his clan from Madara should the man wish to take his revenge. He knows the Uchiha are economically and agriculturally desperate, they need this treaty far more than the self-sufficient Senju had. But now with Hashirama out of the picture they have something they hadn't had before, military superiority with Madara. This isn't the way he'd imagined peace but he'll take it. He can only hope that the founding of a village will pull in a good number of other clans with equally powerful shinobi. Which could hopefully politically protect his clan enough that when Madara decides to finally come after him they will be safe. He has no illusions of it being any other way. He'd killed Madara's last brother even if it was in self-defense, he doubt's it matters. He's a dead man walking and he knows it.
The pain of Hashirama's death doesn't go away, but at the very least it doesn't get any worse which is not saying much. He is thankful he drew out the plans for the village a while ago. He doubts he would have the presence of mind to do so now. Making adjustments to his plans is far simpler than when he'd designed them from the ground up. Though most days he is just going through the motions. He gets a calendar and makes sure it's someone else's job to update it, when he realizes he's losing time. He barely eats and barely sleeps. Touka pushes ration bars or bowls of warm food into his hands once in a while. Though she's observant she's too busy with the construction of the village to realize how bad it is. It takes all his willpower to hide the fine tremors that run through his hands from sheer exhaustion, and he's not sure how much longer he can. It hurts, Hashirama is gone and nothing is going to bring him back.
It takes him a good month to realize something. He's angry, scratch that he's furious. Furious that Hashirama took the easy way out. A coward just like mother a voice in his mind whispers. Except with her it was different, in a way that he can't bring himself to blame her. He'd been young back then but he'd understood enough even if he didn't agree with what she did. Hashirama though, Hashirama had no excuses. If it had been just himself Hashirama had left to Madara's mercy, Tobirama could have probably forgiven him. But Hashirama hadn't just left him. He'd left and abandoned the entirety of his clan in the hopes that maybe just maybe their enemy would be merciful and not take his revenge now that he finally had the upper hand on the field of battle. There are days when the looks Madara gives him leave little doubts to this theory.
But as it stands work on the village progresses. It's a small mercy once the other clans send their shinobi to finish building Konoha. At the very least he doubts Madara will be bold enough to kill off his clan in the presence of so many others without the fear of making an enemy of them.
It takes some time to cool of the raging fire that is his anger at Hashirama. But soon it simmers down into a tired acceptance that Hashirama is gone and his anger won't change that. He's doesn't forgive Hashirama but he tries not to focus on it too much either. As it stands the village is almost finished building and his clan is now safe. He starts remembering to eat, and sleep though the latter proves more elusive. There are many things he still needs to accomplish, particularly in the planning and infrastructure of the village. He isn't sure when Madara will make his move but he knows he is living on borrowed time. He could always run but that could just have Madara vent his anger on his clan. It's not something he is willing to risk so his hands are fate are tied and it was Hashirama's foolish actions that did so. Even with his training and jutsu development the past three months have sapped a lot of strength out of him. He has no illusions of who would win in an all-out fight. Sleep is difficult anyways so he works late into the night to try to get through as much as he can before it's his time to go.
If the village can be established if Hashirama's dream, no if his own dream can materialize. Then…it is more than enough. More than he could ever ask for. He writes late into the night, plans late into the night, hoping that at the very least the future for Konoha and his clan will be a better one, even if he might not be there to see it.
For those of you wondering what Tobirama was thinking this is it. I also needed a very good reason of why Tobirama wouldn't take out Madara when he had the perfect chance. So it's a mix of it being Hashirama's last will and also the fact that he wasn't sure that taking out Madara would work in that point in time. At the same time Tobirama has no way of knowing if Madara would be honorable back or care about Hashirama's will.
As for why Madara is stronger. Tobirama is very strong but at this point in time he isn't strong enough to face Madara and win. That's not to say he can't catch up but it's a bit hard to fight someone who can make a chakra construct of Susanoo with just their eyes.