Hey yall! Welcome to my first newly written fic since stopping a couple of years ago. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.
Chapter 1: Body Swap No Jutsu?!
*Knock knock*
"Come in," Tobirama mumbled as he maintained his focus on the countless, scattered opened scrolls in front of him. Sitting cross-legged on the ground in his private room within the Hokage tower, he avidly alternated between writing symbols on the large scroll in front of him and reading old scrolls that surrounded him. Tobirama listened as the wooden door slowly creaked open.
"Tobi-… are you creating new jutsus again?"
Tobirama turned towards the familiar voice and met the gaze of his older brother, Hashirama, who was staring down at him with his arms crossed in front of his chest. In his right hand was a folded letter. Tobirama was uninterested in what his Hashirama could have possibly wanted. He turned back around to focus on his personal project and locked his eyes back on the scroll. Gripping his ink pain, he continued where he left off, writing a couple of symbols on the scroll.
Hashirama sighed and slowly walked towards his brother, being sure to avoid stepping on the many opened and closed scrolls that were spread out across the room.
"I need your input on this," Hashirama said as he unfolded the piece of paper in his hand.
Ignoring his brother, Tobirama completed the last brush stroke of a given symbol and gently placed the ink pen on the floor beside him. Eyes closed, he brought his hands together to form the characteristic Ram hand sign and started molding his chakra in hopes that he would bring his new jutsu to life. For the past couple of days, Tobirama has been trying to create a jutsu that would allow him to hear the minds of anyone within a specific radius. He's been fully invested in this new development and has barely taken any breaks throughout the whole process aside from eating, sleeping, and assisting Hashirama with his Hokage duties.
Hashirama felt slightly hurt at the fact that his younger brother was not acknowledging him. He pouted and made another attempt to get his brother's attention.
"Tobirama-"
"Shut up, Brother. I'm concentrating," Tobirama sternly cut Hashirama's words off.
Hashirama immediately flinched before being overtaken by his habitual depressed demeanor, with his shoulders slouched forward and his head tilted downwards. His aura gave off a brooding sensation. While he patiently waited for Tobirama to finish whatever he was attempting, his face shot back up when he heard a tch escape Tobirama's lips. He watched as Tobirama picked up his ink pen and resumed writing in his scroll.
Hashirama crouched down and held the unfolded paper out in front of Tobirama's face, forcing him to acknowledge the document. Tobirama begrudgingly accepted the letter from Hashirama's grasp and began to read its content. Hashirama watched as Tobirama's red eyes scanned the page up and down.
"Oh? So, the Hidden Grass Village wants to form an alliance," Tobirama remarked in his head once he finished reading the letter. He handed the paper back to Hashirama. "I'll come and address this later. If they want to form an alliance, we need to discuss their true intentions and see what their conditions are, if any. In the meantime, don't make any decisions yet."
Hashirama hummed in response as he grabbed the letter from Tobirama's grasp and stood back up. He took one last glance at the letter and started walking towards the door.
"You know, Tobirama. An alliance would be a good idea, I think we should just-."
"Don't do or say anything until we discuss," Tobirama commanded firmly, prompting Hashirama to respond with a pout.
"Okay, okay," Hashirama admitted defeat. As he walked out the door, he heard a small explosion coming from Tobirama's direction. He quickly turned around to see Tobirama waving away at a cloud of smoke surrounding him before picking up his ink brush and jotting down more symbols on the scroll. Hashirama sighed, ruminating on the countless times he had warned Tobirama about the potential consequences of constantly creating new jutsus. Unfortunately, his stubborn little brother refuses to listen and has created multiple jutsus that have been marked as forbidden. Oh, his obsession knows no bounds.
Hashirama walked back towards Tobirama and crouched down in front of him.
"Tobirama, what did I say about creating new jutsus?" Hashirama nagged, staring into the face of his younger brother, who appeared concentrated with his eyes closed as if attempting to activate his work-in-progress once again. Nevertheless, he continued his speech, "One day some of these jutsus could be used for the wrong reasons…" Hashirama pointed with his index finger and gently pushed against Tobirama's forehead, "…and it'll come back to bite you in the butt, and I'll be here to say I told you so."
"Stop it, Brother! I'm trying to concentr-!"
Tobirama's words were cut off by a reverberating poof sound accompanied by a cloud of smoke that immediately formed between the two siblings. The gaseous irritant caused them to cough as they constantly waved their hands out in front of them to clear the grey smoke.
Once he felt the smoke had cleared, Tobirama slowly opened his eyes and was met with a familiar gaze; it was his own. He raised an eyebrow in confusion and questioned, "A shadow clone?"
Tobirama sucked his teeth in frustration, concluding his attempt was another failure. He quickly grabbed the ink pen and tilted his head downwards towards the scroll. As he jotted down more symbols, he noticed something was different about his hand: his skin was a darker shade than normal. While Tobirama reveled in confusion, he caught a glimpse of long dark brown locs falling to the side of his face.
"Huh?" Tobirama thought. He looked back up to see his familiar appearance once again, however, this time his eyes were widened, and his hands were placed on his cheek and in his hair white, shaggy hair.
Tobirama brought his hands up and made a hand sign in an attempt to release the shadow clone jutsu, but the presumed shadow clone would not disappear.
Finally, the figure in front of Tobirama spoke, "Tobirama… why am I looking at myself…?"
Then it clicked. Tobirama quickly looked at his hand, and then his clothes. They were not his own. He grabbed at the brown locs dangling down his cheeks and brought them into his field of vision. These were all features of… Hashirama.
"Hashirama…?" Tobirama said, now with a slightly more concerned tone in his voice.
The two men both quickly scrambled off the ground and ran to a nearby mirror. Panting, they struggled for dominance in front of the mirror as they tried to get a good look at their reflection. Hashirama and Tobirama frantically touched their hair, their faces, and their bodies then turned to physically analyze each other. They finally accepted the conclusion that they were, somehow, in each other's bodies.
"Tobirama, what did you do?!" Hashirama asked frantically as he looked at himself in the mirror, meeting the red eyes of his brother's instead of his own.
Tobirama rested his fingers on his chin and mumbled while deep in thought, "So this jutsu causes the user to swap souls with someone else's… it definitely has its flaws since I wouldn't want someone else's soul in my body, but I can potentially fine-tune this jutsu… It's not what I was originally going for but this can be something-."
"Tobirama!"
Tobirama quickly checked back into reality and looked at his older brother, who interrupted his train of thought.
"What?" Tobirama asked, surprisingly seeming unphased.
Hashirama sighed and tried to collect himself. "Undo this jutsu, please," he calmly pleaded.
Tobirama hummed in response and brought his hands out in front of him to perform a hand sign that he believed would release the jutsu.
"Release," Tobirama said in his head.
Nothing. He closed his eyes to better enhance his concentration. Nothing. He performed a different hand sign to see if it would work. Nothing. Tobirama's soul was still in Hashirama's body and Hashirama's soul was still in his.
"Tobi-"
"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate," Tobirama demanded as he internally worked his way through different ways the jutsu could be released.
"Release."
Nothing.
"Release."
Nothing.
"Release."
Nothing.
Hashirama grew impatient, anxious about being in an unfamiliar body with, from what it looks like, no means of escaping.
"Tobirama, you don't know how to release your own jutsu?" Hashirama asked in a light yet almost judgmental tone.
"Maybe I'll be able to release it if you stop distracting me."
"No, you just don't know how to release it, Tobirama."
"Yes, I do, now if you could just-"
"NO, you don't! Otherwise, you would've done it by now. Why can't you just admit-"
Before Hashirama could finish his sentence, Tobirama stormed off back to his private room. He carefully maneuvered his way around the dozens of scrolls laid out on the wooden floors and approached the scroll he had been working with earlier. Tobirama picked the scroll up off the ground and started analyzing his work, searching for a way to release the jutsu based on the specific formula he managed to create.
Tobirama folded his fingers into a hand sign and closed his eyes. "Release." Nothing.
Tobirama was at a loss. Frozen in place, he let the scroll slowly slide out of his hand and hit the ground. He couldn't think of any other ways to undo the jutsu, which is unprecedented. Currently, he's stuck in his older brother's body and isn't sure how or when he'd be able to switch back. Was there a time limit to this jutsu? Is there no way to undo it? Is there a complicated method that's beyond Tobirama's expertise? Tobirama's mind raced with all these potential possibilities. Although he remained stoic and calm on the outside, he could feel a sense of panic slowly creep up inside of him.
While Tobirama jumped hurdles in his head, Hashirama walked up to the door frame and leaned his body against it. He crossed his arms and shook his head. Hashirama knew his younger well enough to see that he was starting to panic. He clicked his tongue while deeply fighting the urge to say, 'I told you so.'
Tobirama looked up at his older brother and frowned. "What?"
"You screwed up, didn't you?" Hashirama responded.
Tobirama's eye slightly twitched, but his pride was too strong for him to admit his fault. "I didn't screw up. I'll undo the jutsu."
Hashirama rolled his eyes. "When?"
Without a second thought, Tobirama started to walk out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Hashirama called out.
"To your office, where the Hokage is supposed to be."
Hashirama frowned. "And I wonder why he isn't," he said in a sarcastic tone, annoyed that Tobirama wouldn't admit he messed up. Hashirama followed Tobirama until they got to his office. Tobirama sat down in the navy blue chair behind the large mahogany desk and rested his elbows on the table. He intertwined his fingers together and rested his chin on top, escaping back into his thoughts. Hashirama came to a halt in front of his desk and slammed his palms against it while leaning toward Tobirama.
"Since you can't undo the jutsu, now what?" Hashirama asked.
"Now we wait."
"We… Wait?" Hashirama scurred to Tobirama's side and began an argument with his younger brother. In the middle of their bickering, they heard soft footsteps approaching, causing them to stop.
"Hashi?" A red-haired woman with black eyes slowly walked into the office. The two brothers immediately straightened up on their feet to acknowledge the woman's entry.
Hashirama, who was speaking from Tobirama's body, opened his mouth, "Mito! You're not going to believe what happened. It's me! I'm Hash-!" Hashirama words were abruptly cut off as he felt an intense pressure against his toes. He groaned and doubled over in pain, seeing that Tobirama had stepped on his foot.
"Mito, hello," Tobirama added before Hashirama could say anything else.
Mito furrowed her eyebrows in concern for her brother-in-law. "Tobirama, are you okay?"
"Mhmm," Hashirama groaned.
Mito walked towards the front of the desk and held out a bento box. She looked who she thought was Hashirama in the eyes and said, "Hashi, you forgot your lunch this morning, so I brought it for you. You're so forgetful."
"Thank you," Tobirama responded in a stoic manner as he accepted the bento box from Mito's hands.
Mito raised an eyebrow, sensing that something seemed off about her husband. Usually in this situation he would praise her, and express great gratitude. However, this time he was calm, collected, neutral. She looked over at Tobirama's body, which was still hunched over in pain. What's wrong with him?
Mito softly exhaled and turned back to 'Hashirama.' "Try not to stay out too late, okay?" Mito said as she shyly twirled a short strand of her red hair around her finger.
Tobirama nodded and watched as Mito left the room and closed the door behind her. Hashirama shot up and turned to Tobirama.
"What was that for?! Why didn't you tell her what happened?" Hashirama asked.
Tobirama calmly sat back down and started looking through the piles of paper on the Hokage's desk. He responded, "We must not let anyone know about this. It'll cause confusion and can throw the village into chaos."
A look of bewilderment spread across Hashirama's face. "But it's Mito. My wife."
"She must not know either," Tobirama dismissed. He didn't want to admit it, but the main reason he didn't want people to know about their situation was because he was too prideful. He couldn't imagine what other people would think if they heard about his blunder. Tobirama would rather keep this a secret until he finds a way to undo this jutsu. Though his ego is the main driver for his reasoning, Tobirama thought there were justifiable benefits as well. He was certain other village leaders wouldn't take them seriously during meetings and negotiations if they realized the two brothers accidentally swapped bodies indefinitely.
Hashirama grew frustrated at his stubborn younger brother. He crossed his arms and pouted.
"So-. "
"So, in the meantime, don't do anything stupid with my body until I can switch us back," Tobirama interrupted as he started shuffling through paperwork. Being in Hashirama's body was the perfect opportunity to start catching up on work that Hashirama has piled up over time.
"What makes you think-?"
"Because you tend to act recklessly. Now sit down and catch up on paperwork with me. We also need to discuss this potential alliance with the Hidden Grass Village," Tobirama sternly interrupted, not giving Hashirama the opportunity to protest.
Hashirama flinched before being overtaken by his habitual depressed demeanor: his shoulders slouched forward, his head tilted downward, and his bottom lip pushed forward in a pout.
"Okay…" Hashirama responded in a dejected tone. He shuffled his feet towards the corner of the room to pick up a chair, and slowly brought it to the side of his desk. He sat down and grabbed a stack of papers to start working on while in his sulking state.
Tobirama looked over at Hashirama and narrowed his eyes in repulsion. He surely didn't like seeing himself in such a vulnerable and uncharacteristic state.
"Brother, stop that!"
Hashirama immediately straightened up and forced his lips back into a neutral position, mimicking Tobirama's usual stoic expression. "Understood."
Tobirama sighed and averted his attention back to the stack of papers in front of him. He brought his fingers to his nasal bridge and pinched it as he thought about how he was going to get them out of this situation.
"I'll just keep looking over what went wrong and how I can undo it. In the meantime, I'll just take Hashirama's place and alternate between busy work and working on undoing this jutsu. Everything will be fine. Everything will be just fine."
At least, that's what Tobirama wanted to believe.
Thanks for reading! Tune in for the next chapter! ^_^
