A/N: I'm really happy with the comments, thank you very much, I will gradually reply to you guys. The plot will become more complex in the upcoming chapters, and many more "useless" characters besides Shani will make their debut. Some things will be clarified...
That evening, when returning to the Senju residence, Tobirama instructed the servants to take his five-year-old nephew into a secure room, lock the door from the outside, and ensure that not even a breeze could get through. The punishments for burning Madara's workplace were to copy several volumes of apology scriptures, cultivate his character, and correct his unruly behavior. Senju Shani, who had been spoiled since childhood and feared neither heaven nor earth, was in the room smashing things and shouting at the servants guarding outside, always insisting he was right and if he could, he would have set fire to the hedgehog-like hair that Madara took great pride in. Hearing this, the Senju clan leader coldly raised the punishment: Until the Buddhist scriptures were fully copied, that brat would receive no food or water.
The servants in the main house had never seen Tobirama so angry at the young master. It seemed that Shani was aware of this, so he wisely stopped his destructive behavior and switched to crying and pleading for his uncle's forgiveness. The child's choked sobs sounded very pitiful. However, Tobirama was unmoved.
Nurse Ganya stood by, continuously pleading, saying that Shani had always been afraid of being alone, and if he had been rude, it was merely because the young master was frightened by the cramped space and spoke out of turn. She hoped Tobirama would consider a lighter punishment. She added that while Shani might act tough, he was actually very timid, and she would bet that the kid was trembling with fear in the confined room. He had truly learned his lesson, and next time, even if given gold, he wouldn't dare act like that with Madara again. The Senju clan leader ignored Ganya's tearful eyes and remained resolute in upholding the punishment.
"Let him go and he might end up being beaten so badly by his mother that he can't get out of bed later." Tobirama said to the nurse, who was pleading with him. "Consider it as if I acted first. If Mito asks later, just tell my sister that I punished him severely."
Ganya was alarmed upon hearing this. She remembered last year when Shani had stolen money from the house and sneaked into the red-light district, resulting in Lady Mito beating him until his limbs were swollen and bleeding. At that time, she was afraid the young master would no longer be able to walk normally or hold anything.
"I understand." The nurse nodded, preferring Tobirama's punishment of copying scriptures over the prospect of it falling into the hands of that frightening mother.
Lady Mito was dignified and gentle, offering warmth to everyone, but she was very cold towards her children, rarely nurturing and caring for Shani and Mikatsuki (*) like Tobirama did, which surprised all the servants in the household. During his lifetime, the late clan leader Senju Hashirama spoiled Shani excessively, even declaring "This child is my Akimitsu, Kame, and Hoshikawa", and would cling to his son whenever he was home. Akimitsu, Kame, and Hoshikawa were the names of three sacred islands of great significance and extraordinary beauty that belonged to the old Senju capital, where their ancestors once lived. Thus, in Hashirama's heart, Shani's existence was considered sacred and immeasurable.
(*) Mikatsuki: the name of the newly born Senju daughter.
It could be said that the way the couple treated Shani was two opposing extremes: one cherished him like a precious treasure, while the other was extremely strict. After Hashirama's death, Lady Mito became despondent and disheartened, losing interest in life. Her strictness towards Shani only increased, making the young master sometimes feel the desire to avoid his biological mother and prefer the company of his white-haired uncle. Thus, Senju Tobirama acted as both a father and mother to the two children, only recently delegating the role to Ganya, their close nurse, due to his busy work schedule.
Ganya never understood why Mito behaved as a mother in that way. It was something completely wrong in the eyes of someone who was also a mother herself. Until she asked Tobirama, and the white-haired man simply explained: "It's to make them toughen up quickly, so no one will dare to touch them again."
"Lady Mito is..." she blurted out, but was met with a sharp, red-eyed stare.
"Don't make the mistake of judging her nature, Ganya," Tobirama said calmly, looking at her sternly for her hasty judgment.
The nurse suddenly recalled Mito's family background, this red-haired lady had grown up under the harsh education of her clan and the Land of Whirlpools, which had shaped her personality. Ganya had heard countless tragic tales rumored about Mito's confined life in the inner quarters before she was married off to the Senju clan.
Thinking about how Mito was raising her children with the punishments she had endured in the Uzumaki clan...
"Perhaps I made that mistake, Tobirama-sama." She sat beside the cradle of the Senju baby girl, gently touching the forehead of the infant who was sleeping soundly. "But whether it is a mistake or not, what Mito-sama does does not align with my worldview."
"Mito has her own way of loving her children..." The white-haired man gazed at his little niece in the cradle, his red eyes gentler than before.
"So Butsuma-sama used to say it was out of love for your siblings as well?" Ganya asked pointedly, noticing Tobirama's eyes drop.
Senju Butsuma was never a good father. He preferred using physical punishment on his children rather than talking to them.
Ganya was haunted by witnessing Butsuma's abuse of Hashirama when he was young, so now, whenever someone scolded or laid a hand on children excessively, she always associated them with the late Senju clan leader.
"You're right," Tobirama said, frowning as he held a scroll. "Understanding the reason is one thing, but accepting it is another."
"I still admire Lady Mito, she is a good person," Ganya sighed. "But not a good mother."
"She is just going through a crisis. Everything will pass in time..." The young clan leader mused for a moment.
The screams and pleas of Shani stopped behind the locked door.
He had begun to accept the task of copying scriptures.
It turned out that the Eastern Office had a small inner room, used for storing documents and various miscellaneous items. When Madara and Hikaku moved the belongings, Tobirama's desk had been cleared from the main room and neatly placed in the small inner room. The separation between Tobirama's and Madara's workspaces was a gray door with two assistants stationed in front of it, as if they were afraid that the Uchiha clan leader would suddenly confront their white-haired second advisor.
Madara could see the fear in the assistants' eyes, even though they had encountered him before. Despite their apprehension, they still placed a table in front of the small inner room door and watched him with wary eyes.
"There is still space in the main room. Where is that Senju?" Madara frowned.
"The Second Advisor uses the smaller room," Nara Torino explained cautiously. "That's... that's the rule."
"Hokage doesn't care much for rules..." Hikaku said disdainfully. "Wasn't he the one who initially put our First Advisor in the small, hot room in the Western Office? Now he's suddenly invoking rules to avoid facing our lord?"
"Please forgive us, esteemed Uchiha. Hokage meant no offense, it's just that traditionally, the left and right positions are assigned this way, so that's why you were placed here. And the Second Advisor has always been positioned in the East, as you know, that's how our clans arranged things in the past."
The idea was that the left and right positions reflect status, so Tobirama accepted the lesser position in the Eastern room to show the humility of the Second Advisor while giving Madara a room more suited to good feng shui. After all, these excuses were plausible and reasonable. Truly, the tongue has no bone but it breaks bone.
"Lord Tobirama just didn't want to cause any more trouble. We hope you understand." Torino gently said. Madara said nothing and sat down, starting to approve the documents with his pen.
Breathing the same office air as the man who took his younger brother's life was already a torment for Madara, and yet these assistants made it even more uncomfortable for him. Whenever Madara glanced at the locked door of the small room where Tobirama was confined, the assistants would immediately startle and look at him warily. They were like frightened mice, constantly sneaking glances at him while he worked.
Madara sneered disdainfully to himself.
A bunch of cowards.
He could easily take their lives in an instant. But that wouldn't be any fun. Thinking this, he bent down to read the numbers on the documents.
When Madara finished approving the last document, there was only one rather complicated letter left to reply to, and most of the assistants in the office had already gone home. It was around ten o'clock at night, and outside the door, a band of sparkling stars wrapped around the tallest buildings in Konoha. Before leaving, Nara Torino anxiously looked at the gray door and glanced at Madara, as if afraid that once he left, the office would be in chaos.
"Have you looked enough?" Madara's voice rang out menacingly. "Get out as soon as you're done."
Torino trembled slightly, swallowed hard, and, having no other choice, left the room.
In the main office, only Madara remained, along with the four empty desks left by the assistants and a pile of paperwork. He looked at the door to the auxiliary room for the tenth time that day, wondering what kind of creature Tobirama was, sitting there for such a long time without needing to go outside.
All day today, that damn Senju hadn't left the room, not even during breaks.
Suddenly, Madara was interrupted by a surge of chakra: the door to the room burst open, and a figure rushed in, looking extremely urgent. He frowned and snapped, his fingers twitching slightly:
"Who!?"
The person who entered was a middle-aged woman wearing thick glasses, her eyes wide with surprise as she looked directly at him. "M-Madara?" She was holding a newborn baby wrapped in a thick blanket embroidered with golden threads.
Seeing the clan symbol on her sleeve, Madara smirked. "A Senju? How rude."
"I apologize, Lord Uchiha. I didn't know you were here. I thought this was the office of..." the woman said in a flustered manner.
"Tobirama? No," Madara said coldly. "He's in the auxiliary room because his own nephew burned down my office. Don't the Senjus have the habit of knocking before entering a room? This is the Konoha office, not your own home where you can act so casually."
"If it weren't for the urgent situation, I wouldn't have been so hasty..." Holding the baby tightly, she bowed her head. "I apologize, Lord Uchiha..."
At that moment, as if hearing a familiar voice, the gray door was pushed open. Tobirama's rigid face appeared, his vacant red eyes staring straight ahead. "Ganya? Is that you? What's going on?"
Oh, look who's making a move, Madara thought sarcastically. I thought he'd be stuck in there forever.
"Lord!" The woman named Ganya hurriedly brought the baby to Tobirama. "The young lady has suffered from hypothermia again. I've tried everything, but her skin remains pale, her body is stiff and cold, and no matter how much I call her, she won't wake up."
"Get her into my room quickly!" Tobirama quickly took the baby into his arms, pushed Ganya inside, ignoring Madara completely, and slammed the door shut.
Earlier, the woman referred to the baby as "the young lady".
A newborn girl at the Senju household, and being personally cared for by Tobirama.
Madara suddenly realized something, his eyes widening.
Was that Hashirama's daughter?
Although he was sitting and responding to letters, Madara's mind was focused on the chaotic auxiliary room. Hashirama left behind two heirs, but unexpectedly, the son was narrow-minded and ignorant, while the daughter was weak and sickly. While it was normal for children to be ill, Hashirama once claimed that the Senju clan members had strong bodies, being descendants of sages, and that he had never been sick since birth. The child's mother was clearly Mito, from the long-lived and resilient Uzumaki clan, so it was inconceivable that the offspring of such formidable parents would be sickly. When the woman named Ganya held the baby, Madara had a chance to see her clearly: in his entire life, he had never seen such a frail child, looking as delicate as a candle flame in the wind, as if a single breath could extinguish her life.
Half an hour later, the gray door opened again. Madara looked up and saw the woman stepping out of the room, sighing in relief as she said, "Luckily, the young lady has stabilized."
He noticed that Tobirama came out as well. The tall, white-haired man was wearing a blue baby sling across his chest, in which the baby lay quietly, facing inward and sleeping peacefully. Madara's eyes widened, the scene before him seemed unreal, as if he were lost in some elaborate genjutsu. The cold-blooded Tobirama... and a baby. This Tobirama... looked no different from a nursing mother.
In his mind, he tried to overwrite the scene before him with an image of the white-haired Senju in proud blue armor, wielding a sword and bow, speaking with venom, always standing by his warm and cheerful older brother Hashirama. Together, they performed a sibling act that left their enemies, including Izuna, unable to keep their composure.
No, he couldn't forget--
"Go back for now," Tobirama said to Ganya. "The baby will stay with me for a while longer. I'll watch over her for the time being."
"Without you, I would have been in a panic." Ganya said, her eyes welling up. "So, you and the young lady stay here... I'll take my leave now..."
She left the room. Madara sat stiffly in place, still holding his pen, glancing at Tobirama and the baby sling. "What a disgrace, Senju."
"What--?" At this moment, the white-haired man finally noticed him in the office, raising an eyebrow and asking in a cold tone.
"I'm saying you're really a disgrace."
"This is my niece; what's disgraceful about it?" Tobirama replied without changing his expression.
"You--look like a woman," Madara mocked. "Are you sure you can make water standing up?"
"You--" The white-haired man's red eyes flashed. "Just because you can't take care of a child yourself, do you think no other man can, huh?"
After speaking, the Senju clan leader angrily entered the room and slammed the door shut. Madara's face froze as he recalled the little girl he had helped at the gate during a stroll with Hashirama on the village's founding day. The child had been very frightened of Madara, even though he only meant to help.
Hashirama said it was because his face looked too grim.
As if the Senjus, especially Tobirama, were so cheerful?
Besides...
He, Uchiha Madara, couldn't take care of a few children?
That evening, when he returned to the Uchiha compound, Madara entered Hikaku's courtyard and proclaimed loudly:
"Hikaku, today the clan leader wants to hold your child!"
"What do you mean by that?" Uchiha Aoko, Hikaku's wife, immediately became alert as she sat on the tatami mat.
"Since you had your child, I haven't come to see her..." Madara made an excuse. "So today, I want to make up for it..."
"My child is still very young... maybe another day..." Hikaku protested.
"I want it to be today!" Madara said in a threatening tone.
"No, you can't!" The Uchiha clan deputy shouted, quickly hiding the newborn child in his wife's arms.
"I just want to hold her for a bit!" Madara, irritated, tried to move forward. "It's getting late anyway. How about I rock the baby to sleep?"
"No!" Hikaku whimpered helplessly, standing in front of his child.
"Why not?" the Uchiha clan leader glared.
"There!" Hikaku's young wife, holding her child tightly, hissed angrily. "You'll make her scared with that face of yours."
"Aoko, you're quite bold today! Hikaku, you're arguing with the clan leader smoothly!"
"Madara, I love you, but not my child." The distressed clan deputy cried out.
"What have I done that makes you and your wife react so excessively?"
"Please stop glaring!" the young wife said firmly, backing away with the child behind her husband. "You're going to scare my baby."
"Aoko is right. Why do you want my child today?" Hikaku said, alarmed. "If anyone should be kept away from children, it's you!"
"When you were a child, I was the one who took care of you." Madara snorted, leaving the clan deputy speechless. "You are my sworn younger brother, so this child is also like a niece to me... No, I can't let that guy outdo me. If he can manage it, so can I! Hand over the child; I just want to try a little."
"No!" Hikaku and his wife shouted in unison, and the baby in their arms began to tremble and cry.
Oh, he really scared the baby.
Madara rubbed the bridge of his nose, this was truly a disaster.
It wasn't until the morning when Mito returned that little Mikatsuki started to get a little better. By then, she was willing to leave Tobirama's arms, opening her big, innocent eyes to watch the toy in Ganya's hand, babbling with excitement and asking to eat. After giving his niece milk from Ganya, he told the nurse to take her back home while he continued to diligently revise some regulations for people wanting to immigrate. When he stepped out of the office, it was already past noon, and the long hours of work had made him a bit tired. Carrying the scroll and passing through the main room, gliding past the scowling Madara and the sneaky assistants peeking, Tobirama opened the door to his room but immediately sensed a surge of chakra approaching him.
An Anbu wearing a crane mask appeared at the door and knelt down respectfully. "Second Advisor, Lord Hokage has urgently summoned you to the office."
"May I ask what this is about first?" The white-haired young man had things to do and did not want to waste time on the "prank summons" of that mischievous monkey-like person. Just last week it was, "Tobi, this is very serious. Hiruzen is turning six, and next week will be the Sarutobi clan's stick giving ceremony for the heir. We've sent invitations to all of Konoha, and he said that if you don't come, there won't be any ceremony. My son is so cruel to his poor father, sob sob. It seems he only likes you, and it's his stick giving ceremony..."
"And you use an emergency summons to call me for this trivial matter?" Tobirama recalled having to restrain himself from throttling the Hokage at that time.
"Trivial? It's serious!" Sasuke said innocently.
"You're the lost younger brother of Hashirama, aren't you?" Tobirama said, pulling at his hair. "You fools! The emergency summons isn't for some party for your son. Next time, if you're lonely in the office, summon that Enma to keep you company!"
"Children are also the future..."
"There are many more important things!"
"B-but Tobi, if I don't do that, how can you ever leave that room? You just lock yourself in and overwork yourself..." Sasuke then revealed his true intention.
Tobirama remembered staying silent because he was at a loss for words with this crazy person.
Setting aside the absurd memories, after hearing the brief report whispered in his ear by the Crane Anbu, Tobirama furrowed his brows and slowly nodded. "I'll come right away."
After he finished speaking, Madara and the entire office saw the white-haired man's body disappear.
"That was the Flying Thunder God..." Cane was astonished, and the assistants stared wide-eyed. While they were marveling, Madara was lost in his own thoughts.
"That bastard clearly had exhausted his chakra but still used the Flying Thunder God. It seems that the situation is both urgent and serious."
A thought briefly crossed the Uchiha clan head's mind: Why didn't those maggots call the First Advisor, him?
"Was it Suna?" Tobirama asked as soon as he sat down on the stool in the Hokage's office, looking up at Sasuke's eyes that could not hide his fury.
"According to the investigation, there were ten Shinobi, seven from Suna. The remaining two were from the Missing-Nin, with one having escaped and whose identity is unknown." Toka held the paper with a frown. "They sneaked across the border and attacked Mito while she was being carried back to Konoha in a litter... Fortunately, the First Lady was unharmed. Five of them were defeated by her, and the rest committed suicide when our defensive team arrived..."
"Why didn't the sensors detect the intruders this time?" Sasuke crossed his arms and scrutinized Akimichi Ikigai, the captain of the border defense team, a thirty-year-old ninja full of talent and experience, who was at the peak of his career.
"I really don't know, Hokage-sama!" Ikigai exclaimed. "When I was at the station, I asked them repeatedly. The sensing ninjas all said there was nothing unusual. It was only when I suddenly saw an explosion in the area that I realized there had been a battle there..."
"Did you find out anything about the area afterward?" Tobirama asked.
"I... I haven't investigated yet..." Ikigai said hesitantly. "I only managed to confirm the identity of the attacking shinobi, send a subordinate ninja to inform you first, then escort Lady Mito back, and now I've come here to report the details..."
"Strange..." Toka exclaimed. "Could it be that they used some kind of trick or jutsu to deceive the sensing ninjas...?"
"What did Reto (*) say?" Tobirama turned his head and asked the Hokage indifferently. Sasuke replied:
"Of course, he denied everything and said they stole fake forehead protectors from Sunagakure to incite conflict between the two villages."
(*) Reto: the name of the First Kazekage.
"Absurd! Even though it's so obvious, they still try to twist the truth. Among them was one person using a puppet whose face I recognized... he's from the security detail that accompanied that bastard Reto to the first summit meeting!" Akimichi Ikigai said angrily.
"Although Reto is arrogant and domineering, such blatant actions are not his style. It seems this matter is not as simple as it appears. Furthermore, targeting someone like Mito..." Tobirama sighed, leaving the sentence unfinished, and turned to look at Sasuke.
The Hokage, of course, understood.
Regardless of their origins, they were all trying to remind Konoha that they no longer had Hashirama.
Although Sarutobi Sasuke's strength had long been renowned worldwide, it could not match the impact of the three words "God of Shinobi." The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had become unparalleled in the world; no one had the confidence to battle him except...
Uchiha Madara.
"Then let's remind them that Konoha still has an Uchiha Madara, who can shake the world, are burying himself in paperwork." Tobirama stood up with an expressionless face. "The upcoming summit meeting; it seems you have a new companion, Hokage-sama."
"What? Aren't you going with me, Tobi?"
"No." Tobirama said as he walked out the door, leaving only that word behind.
Sasuke glanced at the messy white hair, unable to ignore the scheming tone in his friend's voice. It was similar to the tone the Hokage used back then when saying that Uchiha and Senju would become very close working together in the same office.
"Wait, Tobi! What do you mean? Tobiiii!" the Hokage called out desperately.
"He means, accompanying you to the upcoming summit will be Uchiha Madara, Hokage-sama." Toka smirked, and Akimichi also looked at the unfortunate Sarutobi leader with amusement.
Tobirama's feet were touching the ground, but his head was not focused on his steps or the surroundings. His mind was floating on the border of Konoha. Just now in the office, he had intended to tell the Hokage this, but seeing Akimichi Ikigai's devoted face, he decided to hold off and address it later. Letting ten shinobi sneak across the border and attack Mito, the defense team both failed to gather information and responded too slowly. Today it was ten enemies; tomorrow it could be twenty, thirty... a hundred, a thousand enemies sneaking in without their knowledge.
What worried him was Akimichi Ikigai. This person was a talented shinobi, but it seems he did not have the ability to be the captain of the border defense team. Tobirama asked the Akimichi shinobi if he had investigated, but the answer he received was extremely disappointing. He did not need a more detailed report on what happened, which would be extremely redundant, because they had already known the main details of the events. He needed a captain who was more agile, someone who would immediately start tracking every trace of the enemy (whether dead or alive) at the border if he suspected that the enemy might have used a jutsu or some trick to prevent shinobi from detecting their patrols.
It's time to replace Ikigai with someone else. One reason was that although the entire border team was not strong enough to protect Konoha, Tobirama must admit that replacing the whole team was too difficult. If they were all dismissed, where would they go upon returning to the village? Other positions in the village were already filled and appropriate, and selecting a new defense team would be very time-consuming. Secondly, if replacing the entire team wasn't possible, then replacing the commander—meaning removing the unsuitable leader, Captain Akimichi Ikigai, and selecting a new commander—would change everything in the team, even if only slightly.
Find someone who can transform the defense team.
Tobirama needed to tell Sasuke about his idea. But that could be dealt with tomorrow. Now that he was home, he needed some sleep. Removing his sandals on the step, Tobirama bent down and stepped onto the engawa, only to notice a familiar chakra behind the shoji door of his house.
"Big Sister-in-law!" His heart lightened as he quickly pushed the door open, seeing his sister-in-law sitting gracefully on the raised tatami mat in the center of the spacious, luxurious room. Her elegant cream-colored kimono and red hair seemed to brighten the entire space.
"Have you managed to get away from the office?" Mito smiled happily upon seeing her brother-in-law after many days.
"Big Sister-in-law, about the situation at the border…" Tobirama gently sat down on the cushion below, adopting the seiza posture.
"There's nothing to worry about; I'm just a bit scratched." The red-haired woman reassured the clan leader.
"It's good that you're okay."
"I heard that Shani burned down Madara's room."
Knowing this moment would come, Tobirama said immediately, "I have already punished him very severely."
"Severe?"
"Yes."
"In what way was it severe?"
"Locked in a room, made to copy scriptures, and not allowed to eat until he finished copying them," the white-haired Senju said calmly to his sister-in-law.
Mito smiled coldly. "He could drive Madara to kill everyone in the village, including himself, and break the peace. And you consider that a severe punishment?"
"Big Sister-in-law, the child is still young and doesn't understand things. I hope you…" Before Tobirama could finish his sentence, Mito threw the fan she was holding down, and the atmosphere in the room immediately became suffocating.
The white-haired young man went silent, making no sound, his red eyes fixed on the wooden floor.
Mito's gaze was sharp as she stood up gracefully, the hem of her kimono brushing past Tobirama, and positioned herself in front of the shoji door he had just entered. "The way I discipline my child is best left to me."
"Big Sister-in-law..."
"What's wrong with you, Tobirama?" Mito frowned. "Or is it because it's Madara's office, Uchiha's, so you think the wrongdoing for your nephew is not that severe, and that burning it down is acceptable? Hashirama's honor might be compromised because of that kid…"
"I have never considered it acceptable; I have already punished him," Tobirama said quietly. "If even you think I treat the Uchiha differently from the other clans in Konoha, then I don't know what to say. And Shani… no matter what, he is the child you carried for nine long months. Having too many expectations and being stubborn with children doesn't encourage them; instead, it can lead to burning down the entire family."
"If you indulge your nephew and condone your relatives, sooner or later, you'll be caught up in it and burn down with them." Mito coldly turned her head to give a warning, then calmly walked out onto the engawa, leaving a fleeting sadness in her brother-in-law's eyes. The sadness was like a shooting star, fleeting quickly, leaving behind a pair of red eyes submerged in darkness.