Free and Young (Can you feel it?)
Tobirama is ripped out of unconsciousness by the sound of someone trying to break down his door. This is, unfortunately, not uncommon after a long mission so he hauls himself unsteadily to his feet and stumbles to the door. It takes him three attempts to get his seals unlocked-which, weird-and he watches Hashirama burst through, trip immediately, and end up sprawled out on the floor.
“Brother, what are you doing” Tobirama asks, physically shaking the sleep from his body. Touka-who had been standing in the doorway-steps around Hashirama and into the room, her naginata in hand. “Touka? What’s going on? Is everything alright?”
Tobi! You’re okay!” Hashirama bolts to his feet and lunges at him. Tobirama, much to his displeasure, isn’t able to avoid the full body tackle his brother calls a hug.
“Of course I’m alright, now put me down” he shouts, trying to peel his limpet of a brother off of him. “Touka! Touka help me!” A foggy memory surfaces and Tobirama frowns. “Wait a minute, I checked in yesterday. What the hell are you two breaking my door down for?” Touka snorts and leans her weapon against the wall, finally helping to remove Hashirama from his person.
“That was two days ago Little Cousin,” Touka informs him-tone amused now that she knows everything is fine and this is just a regular Tobi-incident.
. . . . . .
What?
“Um, no it wasn’t.” Tobirama states, brain stalling. Because no. There’s no way he just slept for some 50 hours. Absolutely not. “No, I even remember to eat something and-” he cuts himself off. Squinting at the wall, Tobirama slowly works through the last thing he remembers. Did-did his cub knock him out? That’s . . . . . hrm. Shifting, he turns his senses inwards. His chakra levels are much higher than he expected-and he cycles it through his system to help clean out any potential foreign influence. Nothing registers but his chakra also doesn’t feel quite as cold as it normally does. His Little One’s spark in slightly brighter than before where its nested up against his core, pulsing in time with his heartbeat. Hm. That’s probably fine. “Well,” he shifts again, blinking back to awareness, “It doesn’t matter now I suppose.” Touka stares at him suspiciously, but before she can say anything he responds by physically shoving her and Hashirama out of his room. “Get out so I can get changed.” Shutting the door in their faces, Tobirama takes a second to breathe before getting ready to face the day.
So, Good News is that no one seems to have noticed his indiscretion with his daughter. This could be because he generally terrifies the rest of his clan, and so most people don’t actually look too closely as him in a bid to avoid catching his attention. It is also possible that their unique situation means that no one else can see her at all. Hard to say without more information. Also his armor is finished, so he went ahead and picked that up. Bad News is that Hashirama and Touka now know that he’s been working with the civilian children. The older ones try to corral the littles, but there’s really only so many ways to handle a sobbing 4-year-old orphan. Tobirama doesn’t hesitate to scoop up his youngest ‘student’, simultaneously guiding the others into a more private location and soothing little Shu. He kicks up an audible purr, allowing the distressed cub to cling to him as tightly as he wishes. Tobirama firmly rubs a hand up and down the child’s back. When he senses several other little signatures lingering just out of sight he sighs, gesturing sharply for the other children to join them. Immediately half of his clandestine class surrounds him; every one of them reaching out to touch him. It takes nearly an hour to reassure all of them-and he doesn’t doubt that he’ll have to do it all over again for the missing half. Tobirama does his best not to react to the looks his brother and cousin (sister) are giving him. He resolutely does not blush as he carefully hands over the new sleeping toddler over to Kimiko, who is shaping up to be a fantastic future squad second. He isn’t ashamed of his care for the clan’s children. He isn’t, and he refuses to be embarrassed about being caught.
So, anyway, that‘s a thing now. On the bright side, it is a lot easier to get some actual training done with more adults to run interference. Not that the kids weren’t doing a phenomenal job-which, Tobirama has some deep concerns about the state of the clan’s in-compound security. A group of barely-trained children should not be able to create, schedule, and then operate a secret organization within the clan without literally anyone being any the wiser. He’s incredibly proud of them of course, but the oldest is nine. That the worse thing happening is secret training with the clan’s semi-disgraced spare-heir doesn’t matter. He could be an infiltrator! Or a spy! Or a child-thief! It makes him mentally plan out a crash course to encourage being underestimated for the next lesson. No need for any of them to end up on the battlefield. Sure he was on the frontlines at five, but that doesn’t mean it was a good thing. Butsuma is just a terrible general, and an even worse father. If Tobirama has to assassinate every single Elder to ensure that such things stop once Hashirama finally takes over, then by the Ocean he will. He doubts it would be very difficult.
Tobirama spends the next several weeks in-compound; training the children, re-organizing the entirety of their security patrols (because apparently he’s the only one doing do), doing some much needed gear maintenance, and dealing with the mess of unfiled paperwork that’s been left just lying around. (Apparently no one else is doing that either. Joy.) At least a solid third of it is his brother’s clan heir work. Storms, but Hashirama is lucky that Tobirama chose to specialize in the softer aspects of shinobi work. He could have been a combat-specialist. He certainly has the aptitude for it. But no, he had to be an inquisitive little beast of a cub. He can still remember the viscously pleased twist to Mother’s chakra when he told her; and the knife-sharp grin on her face. Court-kin, she had explained, are the single most terrifying specialists among the Hatake. A group of carefully selected and intensively trained elites that are welcomed more readily than anyone else in the highest Courts, and yet just as skilled on the battlefield as any warrior. To house a Hatake-at-Court is the biggest statement of power possible in the political minefield. It’s an incredible honor to be chosen, and though he can’t actually join their ranks as he refuses to take the Hatake name Tobirama has none-the-less modeled his entire shinobi career on matching the concept. His favorite great-aunt is court-trained, and the looks of jealousy and shock on everyone’s face when she decided to pass her summoning contract down to him had been priceless. It was an acknowledgment of all his efforts, and a tactic approval. She had all but named him her chosen heir. Hmm, it’s been a while since he’s had the chance to summon his pack. He should do so the next time his cub visits. He’s sure they will adore each other.