CANNOT EVEN. CANNOT EVEN. I'm at school right now, and just read Naruto chapter 618.
CALLED ITTTTT. In my head, somewhere, I knew that Tobirama and Hashirama HAD to come back, at some point. TOBIRAMAAAAA. HASHIRAMAAAA! MINATOOOOO! HIRUZENNNN!
I wanted to scream my thoughts out on tumblr and deviantART, but they're both blocked at my school, so here I am instead, because I love y'all so much.
Excuse me while I scream inwardly and try not to be suspicious to the study hall advisor.
Ahem. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHHHHHHHHH HOOWHOAAAAAOAAOAAAAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAAAHHHHHHH!
.x
I'm done. (not really)
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Naruto, seeing as I'm inwardly fangirling at Tobirama level, and that the 4 supposedly sealed forever Hokage are standing RIGHT ON THAT PAGE, and I can't even stand it, and must scream at lunch today...and...yeah.
TOBIRAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ! :D
I'm so happy. So happy. I don't care if Orochimaru lost his creeper shoulders (that's a good thing), and I don't care if they said Uzumaki Clan Mask Temple (that's really cool) and I don't care that Sasuke's emo and Obito-like in his reminiscing of Konoha (pshh) and...
Just. Yes.
I don't even care that it's Edo Tensei. I'm so happy right now. SO HAPPY.
KISHI HAS GRANTED MY WISHES. EVEN IF IT'S IN A TWISTED WAY. THANK YOU KISHI. FOR ONCE.
...why you kill one of my favorite characters, then bring all the others back to life?!
But you, YOU THERE, you want to read! I'll let you read...
Chapter 31: Fire
His breath came in ragged gasps, his lungs burning as he sprinted across the rocky landscape. The once plentiful forests were alight with flames, a burning phantom terrorizing the land. Branches cracked and attempted to block his path, but he was small and agile. If needed, his Suiton would protect him, but he was terrified, and could only think of running.
"Run, Tobi!" his older brother had screamed, before the planks supporting the large tent-building hybrid had come crashing down in flames. Tobirama ran, then, a speck of white darting through the darkness, revealed only by the moon's eye. Each footfall was a painful jab, each breath a sharp spear of air in his lungs, but he ran on. He knew not where he was headed, but his instincts led him to the nearest body of water – east to the ocean. The fire had yet to cease chasing him, and he was still running for his life. His elbows and knees were scraped and bleeding from the countless times he'd fallen in the forest, dragging himself away from the approaching flames. A corner of his trousers had ripped, and his oversized shirt was charred at the sleeves. He had no armor, like his father, and no wisdom in urgent times, like his mother. His brother was not there to guide him.
He ran alone.
He ran until the forest was behind him, and the soil turned to rocks, then the rocks turned to sand, and finally, his feet were submerged in the calm, lapping waves of the ocean. The boy sank to his knees, finding comfort in the water, in the rhythmic sway of the sea. He felt the sea creatures, large and small, beneath the shimmering surface. Sand ran between his toes, and for a moment, he felt safe.
"Hands up," said a voice. But it was far from a threatening voice, really. "Don't move, or I'll shoot."
And then there was a dark-haired boy, wielding a bow and arrow far too large for him, its length longer than his height. Nonetheless, he drew the bowstring back as far as he could, arrow notched and aimed.
Tobirama said nothing, but curiously glanced at this boy. The dark-haired child was probably no older than himself, and just as skinny. He wore similarly ripped trousers, his face dark with ash, and an oversized shirt with an easily recognizable crest on his back. Tobirama didn't see the clan symbol, but he inwardly knew this boy to be Uchiha.
"Nii-san!" the boy yelled over his shoulder, towards the copse of beach shrubbery. "I found someone here!"
Tobirama was confused. The last he'd heard, the Uchiha were to the west of the Senju camp, far from the ocean.
"Oh? And who might you be, boy?" said the boy's older brother, revealing himself from the darkness. The moonlight ran along his pale skin and dark hair, a massive mane of midnight, untamed and hanging over his face. Tobirama didn't move, but his hands fisted around a ball of wet sand, tense.
"He came from the west, nii-san," said the boy around Tobirama's age, always keeping the massive arrow taught on the string. Tobirama's red eyes flickered between the siblings, wondering whether he should dive into the water or run away. The former idea seemed more plausible, and much quicker, for if he chose to run, he would have to slog through the wet sand and pull his feet out awkwardly. They'd shoot him in no time at all.
"The west?" The older boy glanced at the horizon, where a line of orange showed that the fire still raged on. "You mean, he ran all the way from the fire? I thought we had everyone cornered."
"Well, I dunno, nii-san, I wasn't part of it, and you left early."
"That's true, but still, I'm sure the clan leader had secured them in one spot, and they had a tight guard. At least, that's what Cousin told me."
Tobirama's eyes widened. He might have only been six years old, almost seven, but he understood full well what the boys before him were talking about. The Uchiha had laid an attack on the them, setting fire to all that was named Senju.
"Then he's Senju?" asked the little boy, gesturing at Tobirama. His grip on the bow had loosened, for the weapon was heavy and awkward in his hands. Tobirama dove into the water, sparing not a chance for an arrow to impale him.
"Izuna, stupid, get him!"
Izuna, the younger boy, leapt after Tobirama, but the white-haired Senju was a fish returned to its home, slicking through the waves with a powerful stroke that came naturally to him. Tobirama pressed his little palms together and desperately hoped that it would work this time. He'd worked for months on this, and he finally had a big enough water source to really try it out.
A raging water dragon arose from the sea, its maw a gaping hurricane.
"Madara nii-san!" was screamed, just as the little boy was swept away by an initial wave. The older brother dove for his sibling, snatching him out of the raging waves by a stroke of luck, and propelling himself away from the dragon. Izuna was screaming, but he was choking on seawater, unsuccessfully crying into his brother's shoulder. Madara carried his brother away, but was hit by the waves. They held their breaths until the water swept them far away.
Tobirama lay in the sand, spent, washed ashore by his own jutsu. The corner of his vision revealed a fading light in the distance; perhaps the fire was finally dying out.
And then he was at the ends of four swords, all Uchiha forged, with four pairs of deadly Sharingan eyes laid on him.
"What is this, a Senju brat?" spat the tallest one. He struck Tobirama as overly lanky, with a funny accent. But nothing was funny about the way he shoved the blade at the boy's throat, nothing at all. Tobirama didn't move, didn't fight back, didn't cower. He lay in the sand, letting dry grains pass through his fingers while the wet beach hardened beneath him. A gentle lap of water pushed at him, at his already soaked clothing. He shivered.
"I thought no one escaped," said a second. "Who found him?"
"Madara's little brother, Izuna," the first one replied. He knelt and growled. "Just a kid. We can kill him, right?"
"We killed his clan, so there's no point in leaving him," said the third. Tobirama's throat caught, then, in the midst of a terrified cry. Dead? They were all dead? It couldn't be.
"All right, then," said the first one, his weird accent a knife to Tobirama's ears. He curled up in a ball, eyes squeezed shut.
A moment before the blade pierced him, a hair from throat, a hair from slashing his throat apart, the man froze. The other three stared incredulously at him, for a wooden splinter had pierced their captain's heart. When the wood retreated and coiled up into the form of a vicious snake, alive, the men staggered backwards.
With a gleam in his eyes and his heart in his hands, Hashirama led the entirety of the Senju clan to the beach. His gaze met Tobirama's, and Tobirama felt relief and warmth run over him like the waves.
His family was here.
Short and interesting?
Well, study hall's over ~ Gotta go! :)
Comments, questions, concerns, BURNING SPRINGTIMES OF YOUTH?!