Tobirama followed behind his brother. A step behind and to his right, like always. His place. He is his brother’s sword arm. His right hand. His supporter in anything and everything.
He will be in this as well.
“Tobi, why can’t you understand?! Why do you hate the Uchiha so much?! I know they killed Itama, but we killed Madara’s brothers! We need peace! We have to forgive them if we want them to forgive us!”
“Anija, I do not hate the Uchiha. I am worried. We need assurances that they will keep any peace that we make. We cannot go into this blind. Please, let me just- “
“No, Tobi! We have to trust them if they are going to trust us! That means that you need to stop opposing peace. You need to stop being so aggressive against them. So vicious. We need to show them that we acknowledge that they are people, even if they’re our enemies. Next time we battle, I want you to fight like a normal person. Not the way you usually fight.”
“But… Anija… Izuna… If I hold back, he’ll…”
“No buts! We have to show them that we mean peace. All of us. So, you need to start showing it as well.”
“Y-yes, Anija.”
Tobirama knew, he knew that his brother knew, that Izuna was a consummate opponent. That he was only matched by Tobirama, just like Madara was only matched by Hashirama. Tobirama would try, of course, to pull back, to hold back, to be less vicious, and to still keep Izuna occupied, but he already knew that it was a losing battle. He would do his best, and when that failed, Izuna would win.
Tobirama would die.
Maybe…maybe that was the point? Hashirama had been saying that Tobirama was an obstacle to peace, maybe his brother had decided that if Tobirama weren’t there, it would be a lot easier for peace to be made.
That…that hurt. But. It could also be true. After all, even if he did actually support peace, no one believed it. No one even considered that he might. Not even Hashirama. He had made his reputation as the Demon so that he could stand beside his brother and support him with his strength, could be the threatening aura so that Hashirama could be the likeable Clan Head, the one that everyone got along with.
But now, that same reputation of Demon might be scaring people so badly that they don’t think peace is possible. Because of him.
So, if Hashirama decided that he needed Tobirama out of the way to make peace happen, then Tobirama would follow his Anija, the way he always has and always will.
Just.
One last thing.
“I love you, Anija. Be safe.”
Hashirama looks at him strangely, but says, “I love you, too, Tobi.”
And they arrive at the battlefield.
As always, Tobirama heads straight for Izuna. Hashirama and Madara. Tobirama and Izuna. They pair with each other. Keep each other occupied so that the other doesn’t kill off other clanmates.
Well.
That used to be how it was.
Now.
Now Tobirama just had to hope that Hashirama would make peace fast enough after his death that Izuna wouldn’t slaughter most of the clan.
But that wasn’t going to be his concern anymore.
He just had to get through this battle.
And so, he stepped up to Izuna and they started to dance. They started trading blows, one after the other. Izuna let off a Katon jutsu. Tobirama used Suiton in response. The time was coming closer.
Just
A little
Longer
And
There!
Izuna swung. And Tobirama stepped. But instead of stepping away, he stepped closer. And there was a blade in his lung.
It hurt. It hurt so much. So very much. More than anything ever had before. It hurt to breathe and all he could see was the sky above him. He couldn’t really hear anything anymore. Just white noise. And thinking was so hard. It was getting progressively harder to string thoughts together. He was glad, though. Glad that he had done his final duty to his brother. Glad that Hashirama would be able to have his peace now.
His vision was starting to fade around the edges, going along with his hearing. He hadn’t seen Izuna after he had pulled the blade out and Tobirama had hit the ground. He was mildly surprised that he hadn’t even seen him moving on to other opponents. Though it was possible that it was simply out of Tobirama’s eyesight, which was fading ever faster.
Until it finally got to be too hard to keep his eyes open, and they closed.
The first thing he noticed was that he could hear. Nothing distinct, but there were sounds. Was this the Pure Lands?
Before he could figure it out, his hearing left again, and he faded back into the darkness.
Once again, his hearing came in first. This time, even though figuring out words was hard, he could figure out voices. That was Hashirama. Hashirama? Was he not in the Pure Lands? Had Anija died, too?
That voice was Madara. He likely wasn’t in the Pure Lands if they were both here, then. It was highly unlikely that both Madara and Hashirama had died when he did.
He was alive? How? Why? He was supposed to die.
Before he could think too much about it, he dropped back off into unconsciousness again.
The third time he woke, he was more aware. Which was unfortunate, because it meant that he could feel the pain of his wound. While not as painful as it was when he had received it, it was still excruciating, to the point where he groaned with it before he could stop himself.
And as soon as he did, the voices near him went silent.
And since he was more aware this time around, when they spoke again, he could understand what they were saying.
“Otouto?”
Tobirama tried to respond, but all he was able to manage was another groan.
“It’s alright Otouto. I’ll be here. You can rest. I don’t think he’s really awake yet, and he needs to heal more anyway, but it’s a good sign that he is starting to wake up.”
He dropped back into unconsciousness again.
The next time he woke up, the pain was still there, but it was less. And though he couldn’t hear any talking around him, he could hear the breathing of someone next to him.
And he was able to open his eyes.
It was Hashirama next to him.
Tobirama was so confused. The plan had been to die. He was supposed to have died. Why was he here? Why was he alive? And even if he had been saved by some happenstance, why was Hashirama with him? He was supposed to be working on peace with Madara and Izuna. What was going on?
From the other side of him he heard, “He hasn’t left your side since you came out of surgery. We’ve had to bring food here for him to eat.”
Tobirama turned his head to see who was speaking and he saw Madara. That made even less sense than Hashirama. They had to be in the Senju compound, in the infirmary, so why was an Uchiha here?
Tobirama opened his mouth to say some of this, to ask what was going on, but all he managed to get out was a dry wheeze.
Madara stood, walked around the bed, and grabbed the cup of water that was next to Hashirama, and helped Tobirama drink. “Here, you need to drink. I’ll fill you in a little before you go back to sleep. Izuna stabbed you in that last battle. When Hashirama saw you fall, he lost his mind. He was inconsolable. Both sides retreated and Izuna and I headed home, where he told me what had happened. Where he told me that you stepped into his blade instead of away from it. You tried to kill yourself. So, I contacted Hashirama. He needed to know to keep an eye on you and keep you away from the battlefield unless he wanted to lose his last brother. After talking with him back and forth for a bit, we figured out what had happened. What really happened. With what Hashirama had told you. And why you tried to die. I have ripped into him for it, but… we are also trying for peace. There is a lot more to talk about, but you look like you are exhausted again, so we’ll talk more when you wake again. Who knows, maybe your brother will even be awake next time.”
Tobirama laid back on the bed, looked at his brother beside him, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
When Tobirama woke again, he woke slowly, coming up from the depths a little at a time until he opened his eyes to see his brother in the same spot as before, even if he wasn’t sleeping this time.
He watched as his brother filled out paperwork in the seat next to him and he thought about what Madara had said the last time he woke. Hashirama had been upset? Why? Wasn’t the whole point for Tobirama to die? He lay there for a long time trying to sort everything out in his mind, but he wasn’t able to come up with anything.
After a while, Hashirama looked up to check on him and saw Tobirama looking at him. His eyes widened and he threw his papers to the side, grabbing Tobirama’s hand. “Otouto! You’re awake! I-I-How do you feel? No, wait, you’ll need some water. And I’ll need to get one of the healers. Water first, then I’ll get the healer and then we’ll talk some.”
Hashirama turned to the table next to the bed, grabbed the cup of water, put his hand under Tobirama’s head, lifted him up, and helped him drink. “Alright, Tobi, I’m going to go get the healer now. You just stay right here.”
And before Tobirama could say anything, Hashirama was gone. What? Tobirama was so confused. Hashirama was taking care of him? That hadn’t happened in years. Though, to be fair, that’s because he hadn’t known Tobirama was hurt in years, but…this was still very weird.
Hashirama came back with the healer and stood anxiously to the side as the healer looked Tobirama over. “Well, Tobirama-sama. You’re going to have difficulty breathing and speaking for a while, but you should fully recover. For now, you are on bed rest and your food intake is limited. You’re going to be having broth for a while before you upgrade to soft foods. And you know about your chronic health issues, but we’re going to have to monitor them ourselves for a while to make sure that they don’t interfere with your healing.”
Hashirama interrupted, startled, “Chronic health issues? What chronic health issues?”
The healer looked at him sideways, then looked at Tobirama and said, “He has intense chronic pain. In numerous parts of his body, from wounds that healed, but didn’t heal all the way. He likely has insomnia, and he is slightly malnourished. Not starving, but it looks like he forgets to eat meals sometimes. And he has been consistently draining his chakra down to almost nothing. He likely hasn’t had full chakra coils in a long time, which is another strain on his body.”
Tobirama hasn’t been hiding any of this, exactly, but…he hasn’t been telling anyone, and no one noticed either. He definitely didn’t want to have a conversation about this with Hashirama. He knows his brother is going to want to fix all of it. And…that’s not really an option. While it is possible to fix some of it, these are all side effects of his duties to his brother, and he isn’t willing to stop doing any of the things he needs to for him. Mostly he’s been handling all of it just fine on his own. And he knows his brother. Hashirama is going to want to fix the issue.
“T-Tobi?”
“Hashirama-sama, as I said a minute ago, he will likely have some trouble talking for a while. He is able to, but he will run out of breath quickly. You will need to be patient, if you want to have a conversation with him. And if it is possible, it would be best to avoid him talking as much as possible. We want there to be less strain on him if we can manage it. I know you have things you need to talk to him about, but please keep it as short as possible. He also still needs his rest.”
Not looking away from Tobirama, Hashirama nodded his understanding at the healer, and she left, leaving the brothers alone.
Hashirama sat back down next to Tobirama and couldn’t seem to pull his gaze from Tobirama’s face, even though Tobirama was refusing to look him in the face. “Tobi, I-I’m so so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. Actually, I wasn’t thinking at all. You are so important to me. I didn’t and don’t want you to die. I don’t know what I would do without you. I’m so sorry.”
Tobirama had trouble talking with his lung injured and his voice was airy and breathy, but he said, “It’s ok, anija. I would do anything for you, and if I am in the way of your peace, then I need to get out of the way somehow.”
Hashirama was shocked and looked at his brother with dismay. “Tobi… I should not have said that, you are not in the way of peace. In actuality, your actions of almost sacrificing yourself has proved to the Uchiha that you support peace. You were no more in the way of peace than the rest of our clansmen, you just had a bigger reputation. Everyone is guilty of fighting on the battlefield and killing Uchiha, not just you. And if we can forgive them and move past it with them, then we can do the same thing for you.”
Tobirama couldn’t let his brother take all of the blame for this. It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t do anything wrong, and he was right that Tobirama was in the way. So, he told his brother so.
Hashirama looked devastated at what Tobirama said. “Tobi… you aren’t in the way. You don’t deserve to die. I should not have told you to do anything that would cause your death and I should have been more careful and thought things through more like you’re always telling me to do. You are important and invaluable and precious, and I never should have forgotten that. You are my little brother. I love you.”
Tobirama looked away from his brother, unable to face Hashirama’s conviction and care. It had been so long since Hashirama had looked at him that way and he didn’t know how to handle it. He loved his brother more than anything in the world. He was going to give up every single thing for his brother. He just didn’t expect it to be returned.
Hashirama sighed, sad that his brother either didn’t believe him or was completely overwhelmed. “I’m going to go get you some broth. You need to get some food in you. It will help you recover. I’ll be right back.”
Tobirama just stared after his brother, bemused. It’s been a very long time since his brother has cared for him while he was injured. He just didn’t understand what was going on. It was while Tobirama was considering the change in his circumstances that his brother returned with his broth. “Ok, I’m going to help you eat this, and then you should get more sleep. When you wake again, Madara and I will tell you what’s been going on.”
Tobirama decided to just go along with things for now and let his brother help him sit up so that he could eat the broth. It took him a bit to finish since his brother was feeding him one spoonful at a time. Between that and the conversation he had with his brother, he was exhausted again and once he was done eating, he drifted off to sleep quickly, with his brother whispering, “Get well, Tobi.”
He woke again to Madara and Hashirama both, one on either side of him, and this time it was Hashirama who noticed that he was awake. “Tobi! You’re awake again! How do you feel?”
Quietly, in deference to the damage to his lung, Tobirama said, “It hurts and I’m exhausted, but I will deal with it.”
Hashirama nodded and then addressed what Tobirama really wanted to know. “So, a lot has gone on since you were injured. To start with, we brought you home to heal you and retreated from the battle immediately. That same day, only hours later, I received a letter from Madara telling me that you had purposely made Izuna injure you and that I needed to watch you since you were suicidal. It… I didn’t know how to handle that. My little brother was so miserable that he wanted to kill himself, that he didn’t see a way out except death. He didn’t feel like he could talk to me or to Touka, the people he was closest to out of the whole clan.”
Madara interrupted to say, “I knew that if Hashirama lost his last brother, especially to Izuna, he would lose his mind. You were important to him, and you were the reason that he wanted to found a village and have peace to begin with. We… we never wanted to harm each other’s brothers. And… while you and Izuna had injured each other before, nothing had been as serious as this. And I knew that you were good enough of a shinobi to not be injured while fighting Izuna. You always had a new jutsu to fight him with and the two of you were always evenly matched the way that Hashirama and I were. So I let him know and I asked him why his brother would do this.”
Hashirama looked at his hands and picked back up, “I felt so ashamed. You were suffering and you didn’t trust me with it. I started wondering when you had stopped talking to me and confiding in me and I realized that it had been years since you had come to me with what troubles you. I asked Touka and some of the other clan members to find out what had gone on recently for you to be so depressed. And no one could come up with anything, so I thought about what I knew had gone on recently. And the only thing I could think up was the conversation – not that it was much of a conversation – that you and I had just after the last battle. I tried to remember what I had said to you, since you didn’t say much and mostly just stood there and took my reprimand. And I had told you to go easier on Izuna. I had told you hold back. I didn’t think about how you almost always battled Izuna and only Izuna. I was thinking about if you went against other clan members, I wanted you to not kill any of them. But you didn’t take it that way. You took it to mean Izuna, since that was who you usually faced. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to sacrifice yourself to him. I know that usually it takes everything you have to fight him to a stalemate. And so, since Madara had asked, I told him all of this. I told him what I told you and how I had put it as wanting peace and not wanting you to oppose it. Madara ripped into me.”
Madara glared at him, “You’re absolutely right that I did. I know that Tobirama opposes peace and you wanted there to be less to antagonize my clan, but that doesn’t excuse you mistreating your brother, the reason that you want peace and a village, so you don’t lose him. It doesn’t excuse you sending him to die, even if you didn’t realize that’s what you were doing. Izuna opposes peace just as much, if not more, than Tobirama, but I would never pull him into my office just to yell at him. I try to convince him and the Elders, but I don’t berate him.”
Hashirama nodded, acknowledging his mistakes. “Yes, I messed up big time. Even before that, with pushing Tobi away enough that he couldn’t talk to me and he didn’t tell me what was going on in his life. I had failed as a brother. And I want you to know that I want to fix this. I want to be there for you and help you. I want you to be comfortable talking to me. I know that this is going to take a lot of work on my part and is going to rely on you being willing, which you have every right to not be, but I would like to try.”
Tobirama looked at his brother and considered the request. He had always wanted to protect and support Hashirama. He had stopped talking to him not because he didn’t trust him, but because he didn’t think that Hashirama needed to worry about Tobirama’s problems. Hashirama needed to focus on peace and the clan, he didn’t need more work and worries. Which he told Hashirama. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t think you need to worry about me. My problems and the things that happen in my life aren’t important. Your peace, supporting the clan, those are much more important than me. That is what you need to focus on. I just want to help and support you in those endeavors.”
He could see on Hashirama’s face that he didn’t agree. But it was Madara who spoke up, “You are important, Tobirama. You are Hashirama’s brother and heir. You support him completely and all the time. He needs to acknowledge that and support you in turn. It isn’t a one-way thing. Not to mention that your life has import to those around you. He wants to support you and be there for you, which, as the older brother, he should be.”
Tobirama knew that both Hashirama and Madara believed this completely, but he also knew that if they wanted him to think that way, it would take a long time. He had spent so much time knowing that his brother’s dreams were more important than almost anything that Tobirama encountered or did. For now, though, he wanted to change the subject. “What happened after those letters? Why is Madara here instead of in the Uchiha compound?”
Madara sighed and said, “We are talking peace. Your willingness to sacrifice yourself to take out an obstacle to peace convinced a bunch of my Elders that the Senju were serious about peace, that you desperately wanted it and would work for it and maintain it. We could have sent letters back and forth for a ceasefire and then a peace treaty, but I knew that if I came here I could negotiate faster. Not to mention that if I was here and there were no attacks on me, it would prove even more that the Senju wanted this. The whole clan, not just Hashirama who has been yelling at me across a battlefield forever for us to negotiate.”
Tobirama couldn’t believe it. He was the reason that there was going to be peace? Not only was it coming, but he wasn’t in the way of it anymore? This was such a shock. He needed to process this. He wasn’t sure there would ever be peace, what with Madara denying it for the entire time he had been Clan Head. But even if he hadn’t been sure that there would be peace, he had been preparing for it for years, to help fulfill his brother’s dream, even if it couldn’t happen in his lifetime. “You know, in my room I have drafts of a ceasefire for different clans, including the Uchiha. We can consult those and the two of you can look at them and see if they will be good templates.”
Hashirama and Madara looked at him in shock. Multiple templates for ceasefires? That would take a long time to complete. How long had Tobirama been working on those? It had to have been several years. They couldn’t believe that he was that dedicated to peace. So many people, including Hashirama, had believed that Tobirama was so against peace that he would do much to sabotage it. This was completely against his reputation and what everyone believed. They would have to reconsider their opinion of him.
Tobirama spoke up, “So, we are going to have peace. And Hashirama and I will possibly be trying to repair our relationship. Which, Hashirama, I will need to consider everything. I know that if we do try to do this, it will take a lot of work and it will take a long time. You would have to be willing to be patient with me. It will take a lot for me to change the way that I think. I don’t really believe the two of you about my worth. And I still think that I might be in the way of peace. I know that you two don’t believe that, but you two are not the only people we have to convince. What about Izuna? And the Elders of both clans? They have a very large say about what happens. So we will need to make sure that they are on board.”
Hashirama nodded, determined, “Yes, we need to make sure that they are willing to at least stand aside and let us do this, even if they don’t support it. But you should know that, while Madara is here, Izuna is running the Uchiha. He is doing all the work of a Clan Head in Madara’s absence. And since you have been asleep for several days, I have spoken to the Elders a few times. They are not all supportive, but some of them are. We will be taking a vote soon. And even if they shoot it down, we can go to the clan about it. I believe that the all the civilians will want peace. They don’t go to the battlefield and don’t fight and lose as many people. And I know that, while the shinobi have lost so many people, a lot of them want all of the deaths to stop. They would be willing to support us. I don’t know about the Uchiha Elders, though. With Madara here, he hasn’t been able to talk to them. He will need Izuna to do that, if he wants peace. Otherwise, Madara will have to go back to his compound to talk to them. But I believe he will be able to convince them.”
Madara nodded, knowing that this could and probably would, come about and knowing that if the ceasefire and peace treaty last for long enough, they could likely build a village where everyone would be welcome, including other clans. They just had to get through this and keep going, not stopping. They could do this. With the support of the Clan Heads and the Clan Heirs, it would be possible. Tobirama had shown everyone that he – and the Senju – were willing to sacrifice so much for it.