He knew he should have prepared for things to turn. For once, he woke up well rested. It was his week off of rotation of high risk missions so he was able to relax at home. If he really wanted he could see what in-village C-ranks were available. With the offered time he was able to work on some of his pushed aside projects that hadn't been riffled through in weeks. Yet before him stood a three year old menace named Tsubaki, that he just couldn't seem to shake off since her birth.
Dark eyes stared up into his own rudy ones. At only 78cm she was a tiny thing for her age, yet everyone knew the toddler could out eat some grown adults Tobirama knew. He didn't show it but that feat impressed him a little. Another note he took of the toddler was her mother was nowhere near this area but still showed within the Uchiha district a good twenty minute walk. Daisuke wasn't even in the village as his genin team and Jonin-sensei were out doing their first C-rank so that ruled the young teen out of watching the child.
"Why are you here spawn?" Tobirama finally asked, also trying to think how she even appeared within his home when windows and the door were trapped. He held up a hand to stop her from answering. "How did you get in here?"
"The front door." she answered with a smile as if that was the stupidest question to be asked.
A quick scan showed his door was indeed slightly open, which should have set the trap off. Looking over the door he found several spots loose of tension. "How did you get past the trap?" He asked in a tone of already being done with this day after refocusing on her brightening dark eyes. Her hands went to clasp behind her as she rocked a little on her bare feet, a happy smile still plastered on her face. Her high collared dark blue dress swayed with the motion. "Hashi-oji-chan showed me how to trip them without the dying part."
Oh Great Sage. Palm meets forehead. He was going to throttle his aniki the next he saw him. What in Hashirama's right mind did he think of teaching a three year old how to correctly set off traps? It didn't help that this three year old was already reading and writing. If her pudgy fingers didn't hinder her as much she might have been at a higher level in writing. Though, that could be attributed back to him with how much he spent with the girl in her first two years of life while she was taught to regulate her sensing ability. Thinking back on it, he was the main cause of her being so literate as he did set aside papers for her to study during the times he was pressed to complete paperwork.
"Did he teach you other things?" Tobirama asked just to make sure that was the only thing.
"He showed us how to tree walk." Tsubaki answered.
He felt like groaning. "Us?"
"Tsuna-nee and I."
"Anything else?"
"We're also being shown what gambling is." She gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Tsuna-nee likes it more than me. I lost a lot of sweets to her last night."
Great Sage, give him the patience regarding his aniki. Silence filled the area between them. That would explain so much of this one's pouty mood and Tsunade's happy glee at the gathering last night.
"Don't be mad tou-chan, Eizan-nii and Sakumo lost their sweets to her too." She informed like it would ease him. Just knowing that a group of teens and toddlers got away with gambling surrounded by adults made an eye begin to twitch.
"I am not your tou-chan, Tsubaki." He automatically replied ignoring the pout that appeared in her puffed up cheeks. "Why are you here?" Asking once more, finding they had veered off the main topic.
The pout disappeared as she smiled up at him. "Hashi-oji-chan said I could learn fuinjutsu from you."
"No." He was quick to chide.
That did nothing to deter her from continuing. "He also said you could teach me more chakra-control."
"No."
"And that you can teach me better ways of i-den-tee-fy-ing with my sensor ability." Her being forced to slow her speech as she scrunched her face a little to sound out the word had an emotion of amusing pride flush through that Tobirama shouldn't have.
"I've shown you all you need to function until your academy years." He once again shot down but, again, that didn't seem to deter this child one bit.
"He also told me that if I bug you long enough that you would cave and he would win his bet with Mito." This time Tobirama groaned out loud. "Hahsi-oji-chan told me to let you know, tou-chan, that he has put in the paperwork for permission to allow the training. Saying this will be perfect op-per-tun-i-tee to bond more with me." Once again the amusing pride hit him that it annoyed him. This was not his child and he should not take pride in anything she did.
He dead eyed the girl. "No. Now leave, I have things to finish."
Head tilted to the side by a few inches that her mane of black hair cascaded along with the movement. Smaller thin braids were weaved in that helped to tame the unruly strands so it wasn't as poofy. A goofy smile was sent his way. "Okay tou-chan." Suddenly, she shot forward to trap his legs in a hug then dashed to gather her sandals, and left with a speed not many of her peers held.
That should have been his warning.
For the next several weeks Tsubaki would appear in his home. Didn't matter if he had just come back from a mission or had been there for the day, Tsubaki appeared later. Asked the same line of question each time. "Can you teach me fuinjutsu, chakra control, and/or train me?" Which was always answered. "No. You can wait until your Academy years."
Eighteen times did she do this. Four of those times happened in the middle of his training, each time having been to a different training ground. Never before did he have to think so quickly in his actions to miss or stop his attacks towards the area she popped up in. The last time ended up with her in a sphere of water, for only a few seconds at most, as he had sent a large fireball in that direction before she showed up. Being soaked and looking like a disgruntled puppy didn't stop the question from leaving her lips.
Wanting to be angry at the times she was just suddenly there, Tobirama found he just couldn't. It was a sign at how well she had taken to his teachings during her first years of life. He had taught her how to minimize her field and expand it. Taught her the difference between human and animal. What hadn't been taught to the girl was how to negate her signature so well that even he couldn't feel her until she was within yards of him. For her to use his teaching enough to restrict herself from being found told him just how clever and capable she was to work it out.
That was how he found himself two months later in a training field with the stubborn child. Both were in lotus position. "How far can you expand?"
"I can get nearly two and half to three kilometers. Four if I really push past the limit but that leaves me with an awful headache."
His only answer to her was a grunt already pinging all that he wanted targeted in that zone. "How many are wind users? Only go up to three kilometers."
It was quiet as she filtered through the chakras. "I count sixteen, but I can't get a good read on the far outer sector."
"There are twenty-seven total. You missed several that are closer to us." He informed Tsubaki. "How many of those targets do you feel are males?"
This took longer for her to answer as she had to push to tag the twenty-seven before working on what gender was what. "Fourteen." Eight minutes later.
"Good." Elation rose in Tsubaki at the praise having read the signatures right but never letting her focus dribble off knowing how strict he was in their training.
The training he allowed for Tsubaki to do was strengthening her area of sensing and what she could gather in a signature. Another part of training he deemed suitable for her young body was stretches to keep the natural limberness all babies held at birth. Tobirama even allowed for strengthening her stance with a series of katas as a basis that would later help her easily learn other forms of taijutsu, including her clan style that her brother would be starting her on. Fuinjutsu was the one thing Tobirama stood strongly against her learning until she entered the academy as he wanted to pound an understanding of how dangerous it could be if a seal was done incorrectly. What he did was for Tsubabki's mother to work with her skill in calligraphy that was a must for knowing fuinjutsu and entertaining her need for promise that he would.
In the last two years of her set goals, he could tell the growth of the hard work and the determination she gave that led to such results. She had become fluid in moving from kata to kata he had her train in, while still working on perfecting the Uchiha style katas from her brother. Chakra control was above average that could be seen in those attending the last few years of the Academy. The area she could scan when not actively searching was now the three to four kilometers to the active sphere of nearly twelve to thirteen kilometers.
Her skills in calligraphy grew enough that Tobirama had to stop himself from entertaining thoughts of possibly starting her fuinjutsu lessons. One more year to go just like he promised her. Not that she made sure to remind him every few months. Just last week, Tobirama found the girl waiting for him at his door with her calligraphy set in hand.
She held up a finger to point at him trying to look as menacing as her 86cm tall frame could be. "Kaa-chan said it was okay for me to do my work in your office, tou-chan." A passing kunoichi heard Tsubaki that resulted in cooing whispers as they went.
Rebellious thoughts of how cute she looked, was slammed to the back of his mind. Yet he couldn't stop the slight upcurl of his lip in a small smirk. That was quickly turned into a scowl. Tobirama should know by now that controlling his facial features did nothing to stop her being able to read his chakra to know how amused he was by her show. Tsubaki has learned how to read him just as he has done to many others with their ability, even if hers wasn't as powerful as his, she was still decent that Jonin level shinobi were slowly being picked up by her. Even those negating much of their chakra were being found by her.
With a pinch to the bridge of his nose Tobirama found himself with a tiny Uchiha as he worked the paperwork. He would never admit it but the little spirefire spawn of Madara was a bright light to his daily life. With the Shinobi War ramping up more and more in the last weeks he was finding himself fighting out of the village longer each time he went out. Already, Hashirama had declared that he would be the next Hokage if he were to die in battle.
That day had left Tobirama sour at the thought of his aniki parishing that it took a surprised hug attack by Tsubaki, who had literally made a forward momentum jump into his back to cling there like a monkey shouting out 'Tou-chan' full of smiles. He didn't have the heart to force her off and just let her cling to him for as long as she wanted while she talked about her day. It may have started dark and full of ugly clouds, but the moment a little bit of sun could peek through, those clouds dispersed the longer that sun held steady
Now, as he sat at his desk leafing through the stack of paperwork, he glanced at the child. The soft swipes of her brush on paper was a soothing sound. The focused look she had involuntarily made Tobirama soften the tension in his shoulders. "Why are you adamant in learning all of this?" Tobirama asked Tsubaki. She looked up at him in surprise to his question having already read the genuine curiosity in his chakra.
This led to a big smile taking over as she popped up from her seat in a fierce stance. "I want to be just like you, tou-chan!" He refused to acknowledge the way his heart squeezed in that moment. "I want to be strong enough in my element to make firestorms appear like you do with water barely needing a hand sign. I want to be someone that anyone could come to for help no matter what it was. I want to be the one that has a moniker and title that would make Konoha's enemies think twice before attacking." Here she turned her dark eyes to him with such a ferocious fire that only Uchiha could reach towards the things they loved deeply. "While the Senju hold the title of Hokage, the Uchiha will be there beside them, for our two clans are the foundation that started Konoha's roots!"
Moving to stand, Tobirama felt his body take steps to the girl. As he stopped before her, his hand came up then down upon thick and fluffy hair. Shock colored both her chakra and face as he ruffled her hair. Never before did he initiate contact as it was always Tsubaki doing the hugging, or at times ramming into his back like a chakra powered kick. She was the one to show affection to him and any others that let her not Tobirama, as he was a hard and jaded man from the Warring States era.
A crushing hug was returned and sensing her chakra he found it in a flurry of emotions. The one more prevalent in the chaos, was one that reminded Tobirama, Tsubaki was still Uchiha, and Uchiha loved so deeply that it led to Hatred. He should never have allowed the girl to bond with him so deeply. Tobirama was now a piece in this child's bright flame that could, and would, make it crumble in the Hatred that would consume her in the coming years. Just as it did to many of her clansmen and women.