Between one breath and the next he'd gone from having chakra rods rammed through his body by Madara, shielding one of the living shinobi with his Endo Tensei body, to stepping out of Hiraishin sword driving forward. And he would swear to the Shinigami themself that it was Izuna's chakra in front of him. Izuna who Madara would never allow to be desecrated by Endo Tensei.

Not only that, but he could sense Hashirama and Madara's monster chakras clashing nearby, nearly drowning out the chakra signatures of their surrounding clan members, clan members that had no right being here.

Where was here?

There were leaves rustling nearby, nearly drowned out by the sounds of battle, but that wasn't right. There shouldn't be leaves anymore. The Juubi had left nothing in its wake beyond scorched, cracked earth.

All these realizations passed in nanoseconds, and he desperately shifted his weight to try and change the sword's trajectory. Izuna can't die today. He was successful, at least mostly as the sword scored Izuna's side instead of running him through. It wasn't a fatal wound, nor was it bad enough to take him out of the battle unfortunately.

He jumped back to avoid Izuna's sword, he gave himself distance, trying to focus solely on Izuna and this fight. Trying to ignore how all of this should be impossible, there would be time to go over everything later right now he had to not die. And it was annoyingly difficult considering it had been over thirty years since he'd last fought the Uchiha.

But he fell into the familiar rhythm fairly quickly, the most notable difference is avoiding killing blows. It wouldn't do to kill Izuna now, especially if he truly was in the past, if he could prevent Madara's spiral into madness…

Well maybe the village and the world wouldn't fall apart.

Unfortunately, after so long fighting on the battlefield of the Fourth War, he was highly tuned in to sudden shifts in chakra, particularly voids in his sensing field. It was the only way he was able to detect Zetsu, as their entire being seemed to be a dark, cold, void. Tobirama couldn't be sure if they're presence was consuming the surrounding chakra or not, but it always left him feeling a little sick.

As it was, the moment that void appeared at the edge of the battlefield everything else ceased to exist. Tobirama stilled and turned to face what he subconsciously perceived to be the bigger threat, that proved to be a mistake.

Something else he'd have to reacquaint himself with is feeling pain again.

His breath stuttered as Izuna's sword pierced his side, through the weak portion of his armor. It wasn't fatal but that didn't make the feeling of warm blood staining his side feel any less strange, the pain dim any more.

He grit his teeth and grabbed Izuna's arm, hand slipping beneath his sleeve to touch bare skin. Thankfully, the Uchiha seemed to be in shock over having his blow land, to the point that he was glancing in the same direction Tobirama had turned. That gave Tobirama the time he needed to place a Hiraishin marker on his arm.

"The hell?!" Izuna yelped, "Get off!"

The Uchiha kicked him away, pulling his sword back with him, and yeah that one hurt.

He stumbled back, throwing a barrage of kunai in the general direction of Izuna, the sound of metal meeting metal irritated his ears. But it gave him enough room.

Swiping his thumb through the blood running down his side he quickly flashed through the required seals. A grim satisfaction coursed through him as the Uchiha's chakra spiked in surprise and he drew back.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A plume of smoke exploded under his palm as he stepped back to give them room. Soft fur brushed against his legs as a tail swayed in irritation, a low growl rumbled in front of him as the cat turned and pressed against him, softly nosing his injures and chuffing in displeasure. The second leopard was snarling in front of them, daring Izuna to make a move.

"You never summon us to fight, Tobria," Asahi huffed softly, rough tongue swiping at the injury.

"Since when do you have a summoning contract!" Izuna was screeching, retreating further as Akari took a swipe at him.

Tobirama ignored him, focusing on Asahi.

"Keep him occupied, please."

The snow leopard's chakra swelled in irritation, ears flicked back.

"You're injured, so why do you have the look of doing something Mother would cuff you around the ears for?"

Tobirama ignored the light scolding and focused on the Hiraishin kunai he'd thrown earlier, it was a little further from Zetsu than he would've liked. But he couldn't throw it accurately without them getting suspicious or anymore suspicious than they already were. Zetsu was definitely focused on their fight and he needed a distraction.

He tuned back towards Izuna who was currently running around like a fool to avoid Akari's claws. He didn't know why the Uchiha wasn't fighting back against them but he was grateful, he didn't like calling upon his summons to fight for him and would feel guilty if they got injured.

He quickly started flashing though hand signs, thankfully drawing the Uchiha's attention as he leapt into the air and started forming his own signs to counter Tobirama's jutsu.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Their jutsu clashed and the resulting steam was exactly what Tobirama needed, he flashed to the kunai, throwing himself forward towards the void. He really disliked how he couldn't gauge Zetsu's reaction due to not being able to feel their chakra if they had any. But he could feel them step back and start sinking back into the ground.

Gritting his teeth he dove at them scoring his sword through Zetsu's chest and grabbing their shoulder as they tumbled into the ground. Zetsu shrieked in rage, and Tobirama wasn't sure if it was a kunai or if Zetsu had claws but something sharp scored across his face digging deeply into his eyes.

Pain outweighed his mind and he stumbled back wrenching his sword free as he went, he breathed through the pain noting how Zetsu had disappeared quickly moving away. Thankfully the Hiraishin marker was in place, so when he was ready he'd be able to find Zetsu quickly and keep track of his movements.

His teeth clacked together as he fell to a knee, the pain from his face and eyes had almost completely overwhelmed the deep ache of a headache. It was getting harder to stay focused, between the pain of his many injures and the lightheadedness from blood loss and lack of chakra. Another thing he was going to have to adjust to, being a living corpse really did make things easier.

He knew it wouldn't be long before he succumbed to the haziness that was starting to creep into his mind. He needed to get out of here preferably without an Uchiha getting a lucky shot, the Hiraishin seal in his lab was too far away and would drain him completely of chakra .

But he had placed a seal on Hashirama's armor, that was doable, however he was currently fighting Madara. At this point it was unlikely that the Uchiha would kill him, Izuna was still alive, and he was still something like friends with Hashirama. Plus his brother would protect him, if he were to see Tobirama in this state he'd immediately call a retreat, not ideal for the clan as a whole and he'd get a lot of flak from the elders but…

If he stayed hidden and waited until the battle was over he'd likely bleed to death or pass out before he was found. And that's assuming he'd be found by the Senju depending on how the battle went. He needed to swallow his pride, saving the world took priority to everything else.

Calling the last dregs of his chakra he flashed to Hashirama.

The ground was unstable when he stepped out, cracking and shaking as the two monsters of shinobi clashed. The fact that this was just sparring between the two of them right now was insane, along with the fact that neither of the two had reached their full potential yet.

Between the shaking ground, blood loss, chakra exhaustion, and the fact that his pain tolerance levels were near nonexistent now, he stumbled falling back to his knees in Hashirama's direction.

He couldn't help the small smile that worked its way onto his lips when Hashirama noticed him, the spike of fear and panic through his chakra, he didn't realize how much he'd missed the close relationship he'd had with his older brother before he killed Izuna. Madara froze as well, suspicion and surprise rippled through his chakra signature, shifting back to allow Hashirama room to reach him while also casting a glance toward where he'd been fighting Izuna.

Izuna who currently was spitting fire balls at his leopards, he didn't seem to be trying to hit them just to keep them away from him. Akari seemed to be shredding a piece of cloth that Tobirama could only begin to guess the origin of, and Asahi was stalking around Izuna trying to push him back towards his sister.

"Tobirama!"

Tobirama winced, he'd forgotten just how loud his brother could be at this age. Large hands grabbed his shoulders trying to force him to the ground, and while that sounded like a really good idea he refused to show anymore weakness in front of the enemy.

"I'm alright, Anija," he muttered, stubbornly ignoring the taste of blood dripping into his mouth.

He could only imagine what he looked like, the gore that was his face, blood dripping onto his armor, coupled with the wound Izuna inflicted on his side. He must be a sight as his brother ignored his words and started shoving healing chakra into his system. He shakily placed his hands on his brothers arms, forcing them away, ignoring Hashirama's protests.

"Anija, not here," he pressed.

The elder Senju jolted seeming to realize where they were and how they were starting to draw attention from the other shinobi on the battlefield. Izuna had clearly noticed them and was storming towards them, chakra burning like a wildfire. His leopards bounded through the active battlefield with ease and settled on either side of the Senju brothers, baring their fangs at the Uchiha brothers. Madara seemed shocked, while Izuna was thoroughly annoyed.

"The fuck, Senju!" Izuna was screeching.

Tobirama froze as heavy dark chakra settled over the battlefield, it was suffocating. Madara and Izuna stilled, before Madara yanked his younger brother behind him and readied his gunbai. Hashirama stood, hauling Tobirama up with him, and cast a dark look towards the two Uchiha before calling a retreat.

Tobirama couldn't see his brother's face but the obsessive chakra spoke for itself, he couldn't remember his brother ever being this angry. Even when their younger brothers had been killed, even when Madara had betrayed the village and waged war on the Elemental Nations.

And he hoped to never feel it again.


I know what I said (and I honestly regret this decision) that I wouldn't be posting anything new here anymore and would be sticking to Ao3, but after a lot of deliberation (this was posted on Ao3 in December) here we are. I hope you all enjoy!