Stay Alive
Tobirama Senju wanted to live, and it was that simple mantra that had kept him going for the past several hours. He leapt gracefully through the trees, encrypted scroll from a dead informant hidden in a seal in the back of his helmet and blood seeping through the bandages he had hastily wrapped around his middle.
The mission had gone pear shaped immediately, as contracted ninja that he didn't recognize had been following the Senju's informant (a woman that Tobirama's brother, Hashirama, had healed when the rest of her clan was brutally murdered. She was the only survivor) for the better part of a week. They had communicated through coded hand signs through a whole day, trying to work out the best course of action for passing along the encrypted scroll without jeopardizing her safety. But in the end it hadn't mattered. She had tried for a dead drop near an old abandoned well and had taken a kunai to the neck immediately. Tobirama jumped in before the ninja could get their hands on the scroll, engaging in a fierce battle as the blood of a woman Tobirama never knew the name of cooled in the grass. Now while the result of the mission had not been preferred (he was already dreading telling his brother that the woman was dead......he knew he'd react badly), Tobirama was no slouch and hadn't received a scratch during the entire altercation at the well. Then, like a fool, he had relaxed his guard. He had taken a moment to hide the scroll and gather his chakra properly before starting home, and had gotten absolutely hammered by the secondary ninja force that were none too happy that he had killed their comrades.
So here he was. Chakra spread thin enough that it was barely functional to try and pinpoint the ninja's various pincer-esc movements, energy leaking from a long, thin gash in his side and breath coming shallow with nonstop running. Tobirama had never minded the concept of retreat when he needed it, unlike his brother, who was an honorable idiot. But what he was not appreciative of was the concept of running scared. Which was what he was doing. But he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do, the ninja had strength in numbers and he had been injured. And the ultimate goal of the mission wasn't the preservation of his pride or nonexistent honor, it was delivering the scroll to Hashirama, the current head of the Senju clan. Never mind that Hashirama would lose his absolute mind if he didn't come home. The one rule Hashirama implemented when Tobirama went out was that his little brother came home, the mission didn't matter at all in his eyes.
Because he was a fucking idiot. This information was important, dammit, and Tobirama was *not* giving it up, even if he had to limp into the Senju compound half dead. As he stumbled, missing a branch in a moment of concerning dizziness, he realized grimly that might just happen.
The ninja, eight in total, were switching up their formation again, four of them speeding up to try and overtake him while the other four split into groups of two and maneuvered to try and cut him off. Tobirama grit his teeth and sped up. *Almost there*. If he could just make it onto Senju grounds he could use his dwindling chakra to call for Hashirama.....
A sound from behind him. He risked a glance behind him and found the four ninja, who were somehow going much faster than they had been before. *Great, speed enhancers*. Tobirama scowled. *That changes things*. He did a quick headcount, finding the other four still going the same speed, and veered left, trying to speed up. He didn't have it in him to dodge potential projectiles and run simultaneously, so he was hoping to stay out of range of--
A kunai flew past his head, grazing his cheek, and Tobirama barely had a chance to move before seven more came flying at him. He jumped off the trunk of another tree, movements dazed and instinctual, and kept moving. He checked his chakra sense out of muscle memory and winced. The other two groups had sped up the moment he had veered. A classic trap, one that Tobirama would have been able to see coming if he hadn't been running for several hours, bleeding out, and verging on chakra exhausted. But Senju territory was just a mile away, if he could just get there....
The sound of rushing water came up behind him and it was sheer willpower that let Tobirama lock onto it with his own water chakra and dodge roll just out of the wave's reach. He landed on the ground and collected the residual water left after the attack and turned it to ice with a flick of his wrist. A cheap tactic but he only had a quarter of a mile to go. The sudden obstacle didn't seem to faze the ninja, unfortunately, and they were catching up to Tobirama fast. *Almost there...*
Tobirama crashed through a small thicket and threw out his chakra toward the Senju compound, pushing his pain and dazed terror through it as much as possible. Under normal circumstances he would have been concerned that other members of the Senju clan would sense his outburst and know he was capable of feeling fear, but the only person in the Senju compound who could possibly sense Tobirama this far out was his brother, and Hashirama already knew every dark and traumatized corner of his little brother's mind.
Tobirama was breathing hard, eyesight fuzzy as he jumped back into the trees to at least attempt to continue moving. He could only sense 80 feet in each direction, a diameter that wasn't enough to catch to the two smaller groups of ninja. This came to bite him immediately in the form of a fire jutsu coming from his left and an earth jutsu coming from his right. He probably would have been able to recognize the jutsus on a normal day, but all he could do in the moment was jump to avoid the collision.
And immediately took a throwing knife to the stomach. The practiced arch of Tobirama's jump collapsed and he landed on his side hard, gritting his teeth against a cry of pain. Throwing knives were the worst thing to get stabbed with, they were small and thin but had divots running up their centers that let blood out of wounds, and they had incredibly small handles that were hard to grip and pull out, especially if it was slippery with blood. He could barely feel the knife's handle in his stomach, each heaving breath he took obscuring it completely for a few moments before he exhaled. *That.....isn't good* he thought absently. Well, none of what had happened was "good" but he couldn't run with this, which made it worse.
The ninja gathered around his prone form, standing just out of range of the forming puddle of blood. Tobirama felt a spark of pride at their haggard appearances. At least even while injured he hadn't been easy to take down.
The tallest ninja, their leader, if Tobirama had to guess, sighed loudly. "Well, at least that's over. Now we just have to find where he's hidden that scroll and we'll be rolling in cash."
The other ninja grumbled but agreed, many of them gasping for as much breath as Tobirama was. Which wasn't even fair, *they* didn't have knives in their stomachs. They'd just run for a while.
Tobirama took a deep breath to get his spasming lungs under control. "Why do you wa--" he cut himself off with a wet cough, a bit of blood coming from his lips.
The tall ninja turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "On your deathbed and still asking questions, eh?" He gave an ugly chuckle. "I can respect that. Unfortunately, all you need to know it that we were hired to obtain a scroll that would be given to the White Demon himself and hand it straight to our contractors. If you were wanting to know more, I'm afraid you're going to die unsatisfied."
Tobirama grinned through bloody teeth, a very familiar chakra signature encroaching on the edge of his reduced senses. "Who says I'm going to die?"
The ninja barely had the time to look confused before a truly enormous amount of tree roots burst from the ground, impaling all of them in moments and leaving their wide-eyed corpses hanging in the air. Tobirama coughed out a laugh. Hashirama usually wasn't so brutal, and the poor lug would probably feel bad about it later. Idiot.
Tobirama's adrenaline was fading at the same rate his blood was pouring, and he had to start putting effort into keeping his eyes open as running footsteps were eclipsed by a high-pitched ringing in his ears. A fuzzy but familiar face appeared in his periphery just as Tobirama lost the battle with sleep.