Chapter 24
The Leaf Village eventually hailed Minato Namikaze as the Fourh Hokage. This did not surprise Mask that much as his former student Hiruzen was catching up on years. Mask would be worse off than him in aging if not for the experiments he performed on on himself. Minato was likely to have a long career of being Hokage ahead of him, barring the possibility of unforeseen circumstances. The Village would likely continue to prosper under Minato's leadership. His leadership would hopefully be able to uproot some of the more sinister elements lurking in the village but otherwise it would just be more prosperity like most of Hiruzen's term. Konohagakure was in good hands, there was no need for Mask to worry. In fact, it wasn't his place to care anyway so why did he? The former Hokage had his own concerns, it wasn't his place to care about the Hidden Leaf anymore. The Hidden Leaf was no longer his problem.
So why did he continue to care ever so slightly?
There's not an answer for that as Mask isn't sure of the reason. Or perhaps he does know but he refuses to acknowledge it. As long as the masked shinobi didn't let it distract from his work, it didn't matter. Distractions were the last thing that Mask needed anyway, he needed his complete and undivided focus on his research and experiments.
Mistakes could not be afforded.
The attack of the Nine Tails was one such unforeseen circumstance it seems. How unfortunate. The Fourth Hokage was no more. His reign of being Hokage was cut short by his untimely death. It might not have needed to end that way, but the ending cannot be changed now. Time will move on regardless and the consequences of his death will manifest themselves as this occurs.
I hope the Hidden Leaf will be able to press forward and recover from this.
No. I shouldn't care for such things. The Hidden Leaf Village is not my concern. It stopped being my concern years ago. Or perhaps, it is my concern. After all, should an enemy of the Hidden Leaf take this opportunity to strike, it would jeopardize the stability of the Land of Sound due to small size of the nation and the proximity to the Land of Fire. My colleague would likely have to return to the Hidden Leaf Village should war break out... Konohagakure directly or indirectly affects things that are my concern. I suppose it is only natural and logical to show interest in the affairs of the Hidden Leaf.
Why did Mask feel that he needed to explain this to himself all the time?
The reason is simple, he didn't want to slip back into being Tobirama Senju. No, the term is revert back. He didn't want to be Tobirama Senju again. That man is dead. That identity is dead. All of the emotions of that man or anything remotely resembling those feelings needed to be handled carefully and purged when necessary. It wasn't an easy task but it was something that Mask deemed absolutely necessary. It would be easier to stop trying to convince himself that he's dead but this was the option he considered most ideal. Therefore he would continue to prune and explain away emotions with logic and reason. Perhaps this is his way of coping with things. It is not a very good coping method if that is the case.
But then again, Tobirama's father never taught him or his siblings on how to cope with things. It's difficult to teach oneself good and healthy ways to cope.
*A FEW MONTHS EARLIER*
My base here has grown since I first established my residency here. The number of people here has grown from just me to a small community. I would almost call this place a village but it doesn't compare to the villages of the Five Great Nations. But, if I were to call it a village, I would name this community Otogakure.
The Village Hidden by Sound.
It is a suitable name for this little community he made. The Great Shinobi Nations were too busy making their own noise and fighting each other. They do not notice the Land of Sound, and certainly not the tiny village hidden because of their own noisy dramatics. It was perfect.
How ironic. This is the second time he's helped create a Hidden Village. He should feel proud of himself. Maybe Mask does feel proud, but it's not like he'll admit that.
The arrival of Orochimaru brought some unexpected but welcome changes to Otogakure. The strange snake man had the rare kekkai genkai of Stone Release. It had some similarities with Wood Release in how it manifested itself. Mask wanted to test this eventually. The masked shinobi knew he wouldn't be able to flat out experiment on his colleague but he could at least spar with him and observe the kekkai genkai that way perhaps. Between his colleague's stone release and Mask's own wood release, the two of them are capable of renovating the little village. In fact, renovations were already being planned. This was progress in the making.
It is only natural for human beings to strive for improvement. Progress and improvement tend to go hand in hand.
The first building completed was that of Orochimaru's lab, that had been built before renovations were even a thought. Perhaps it was the construction that inspired the idea of renovating other buildings as an afterthought. The inspiration and reasoning behind the renovations didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things though. It was just renovations, nothing special. Yota found it exciting, so perhaps others did as well. But then again, Yota is a child and most children tend to get excited over small things.
Maybe he will ask some of the villagers what they thought of the new ongoing renovations.
....
Since when did he care about what people thought about things like this? It wasn't research or science related so why should he care? It wasn't a matter to be concerned about. If there was a problem, someone would tell him. It was that simple.
The addition of Orochimaru's facility nearby should not impact the unspoken system in this community. After all, no one took an issue to the building of the facility. Despite the change, things were going to remain the same for the villagers, as there wouldn't be any supervision from the Hidden Leaf, so the secrecy of Otogakure is preserved. The only change was that Mask now has a colleague. A colleague that was also located nearby, meaning he wouldn't have to travel from the village to exchange notes and other things.
There was no time to worry about any of that anyway. Mask had a much more pressing matter to deal with.
And that problem was Izuna Uchiha.
Izuna was still alive and that was a problem because Izuna was dangerous. In fact, keeping track of Izuna's movements and interfering with his plans was another thing that Mask did. He did so in secret and with great care, he couldn't afford to reveal himself or make any sort of mistake.
Why did Mask care in the first place?
Because Izuna was still the brother of his friend Madara. Since Madara died, Tobirama felt that it was his responsibility to deal with Izuna. Mask still felt that responsibility, especially now that Izuna's plans went beyond the Hidden Leaf Village and the Land of Fire. This was his burden and he would deal with Izuna even if it kills him, even if it kills Izuna, even if it kills them both.
Hopefully, it doesn't end up killing them both. In the ideal scenario, neither of them die but knowing the situation, Mask might end up having to kill Izuna and he can only hope that Madara can forgive his actions from whatever afterlife or lack of afterlife. Tobirama was never particularly religious to begin with but he does acknowledge that there might be a sort of afterlife.
Hopefully, Hashirama wasn't watching over Mask's actions from the afterlife. That would be awkward, especially considering Mask has enough to answer for already, like the abandonment of his duties as Hokage. That will be something he will eventually have to answer for in this life, he didn't need to worry about answering for it in an afterlife. Hashirama wouldn't understand anyway, and Madara probably wouldn't either.
Not even his beloved would understand.
But that's okay. They're all dead anyway.
And he doesn't plan on joining them anytime soon. He has too much left to do and for that he must continue. Continue with his research. Continue with his experiments. He wouldn't let his work go unfinished. Not now. Not ever.