Kintsuji
***
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
Confucious
***
Tobirama classifies -remembers- the time the Uchiha and Senju spend trapped together in twelve conversations he had.
And twelve more he misses the chance to have with Madara.
Hashirama remembers it as the twelve times his brother proved to be the most stubborn person on the face of the planet.
***
Conversation 1 & 2
Participants: Senju Aiko, Senju Hashirama
Subject: Reunions, Love, Uchiha Madara
Conclusion: Relief
Fact: The human body maintains its core temperature within a very narrow range of 36.5-38.5 ℃ [97.7-101.3 °F].
Even starting off with a funeral pyre and the truth about Zetsu doesn't mean things went off smoothly.
Despite the knowledge that neither clan is to blame for their current situation and there is literally nowhere to go, there are still a few scuffles that first day. Most are just shoving matches or loud arguments that die out quickly, thanks to the general exhaustion of the previous day.
The worst of it is when Renji gets into a full-on fight with a Uchiha kunoichi, Kasumi, that nearly turns into a brawl when their friends leap to their defense. Before it can get too bad, or someone can run and get Hashirama and Madara, another Uchiha kunoichi steps in and lays down the law in a way only a mother can.
Uchiha Ren was the only other woman in the clan who'd managed to get pregnant and carry the child to term in the last four years. Her pregnancy has been difficult, and there wasn't much hope it was going to end successfully, though she'd refused to terminate so far. She'd just entered her six-month, her stomach was huge, and she clearly wasn't afraid to use it to shove around her younger peers.
Even Renji looked intimidated at the sight of her stomach, skittering away the way young men with no experience with a woman's body tend to when they're suddenly faced with it.
On the upside, Tobirama was able to maintain his hover at the edges of things and not get involved since Ren had settled the argument.
There is one bright moment, aside from reuniting with Hashirama and Touka.
Aiko survived. Tobirama found her halfway through the day while they were getting everyone settled. There weren't enough buildings for everyone, even when they repurposed every standing structure, but there were enough healthy young adults that could sleep outside that they'd found spots for everyone.
There are almost a thousand people crammed into the two-hundred-year-old compound built to house far less.
In a moment of dark humor, Tobirama noted it was a good thing food and water were going to be rationed so the population wouldn't put too much of a strain on the plumbing system. At the current rate, it would last a month or two.
Which is the best they can hope for…since they can't leave the compound to fix any of it.
Aiko is unharmed, aside from chakra exhaustion and a few small burns. She explains she was part of the shinobi force escorting the main body ahead of Hashirama.
"I got lucky," she admits, gripping his hand so tightly it hurts. She didn't even see the battle with the Kaguya and Hashirama, but she's heard stories already.
Of the wolf Hashirama brought with him and the rumor it's Madara's true form. Even Tobirama telling her that's ridiculous doesn't shake the suspicion.
Madara cannot transform into a wolf.
….
Then again…
The Senju are living with the Uchiha in their compound, and it's been almost a full day, and neither side has killed one of the other, so….
Clearly, the laws of nature and science no longer apply.
Tobirama forces those thoughts aside and invites Aiko to stay in the Main House, but she sends him off with a kiss. She wants to check on her family tonight, and she's too exhausted for the madness that's sure to be in any room that Hashirama and Madara occupy.
Tobirama doesn't blame her.
He almost goes with her, but he misses Hashirama, and he knows his dear older brother will come looking if he doesn't show up. He's been a bit clingier than normal after all that's happened.
He gets lucky. Madara is shut away in Izuna's room, so Tobirama finds the guest room Hashirama has been given without having to run into any Uchiha.
Hashirama himself is clearly upset about something. It's been a while since Tobirama has seen him this openly angry, but he manages a smile when Tobirama enters.
"Tobi. Here, I saved you dinner."
He ushers Tobirama to a tray with a bowl of plain rice, vegetables, a portion of meat, and a cup of dark tea.
Nothing has ever looked better, and Tobirama falls on it like an animal, forgetting all those etiquette lessons their mother briefly beat into them.
The first bite warms him.
With the second, he realizes it's not the temperature of the food, and he spits it right back out when his mouth bursts into flame.
He chugs the tea only to realize it's just as spicy as the food, but before he can spit it out Hashirama's hand clamps over his mouth.
"Swallow it, Tobi. You have to get used to it."
It makes his eyes water and his skin flush, but he does get it down. He glares at his brother as he cleans himself up, fighting off Hashirama's attempts to help.
"What the hell was that? Medication? Poison?"
"Don't be silly. The Uchiha like to spice their food…and tea. And well, everything." Hashirama pushes the rice towards him. "Keep eating. You'll get used to it."
Tobirama eyes the food like those coiled snakes he once ran into in the distant Land of Sand. They looked so harmless, camouflaged as normal rock, but they carried a poison that set off the pain receptors in the human body like a direct lightning strike. It's one of the most painful ways to die that's currently known.
His stomach growls as he turns his glare on Hashirama.
"You could have warned me, Anija." He's starving, but his mouth and throat are still burning.
Hashirama wails, "I'm sorry." And tries to hug him, but the upside of the spice seems to be that it's pushed Tobirama into his fourth or fifth wind, and he manages to fend him off. "What happened when you first ate it?"
One of Hashirama's few redeeming qualities was that he laughed at himself more than he laughed at anyone else, and he burst into a belly-deep laugh that nearly had him on the floor. "I nearly died, Tobi. It was so bad. I spit out my tea all over Madara. You should have seen his face."
Tobirama would have paid to see it. And picturing the scene does lift his mood.
Still, he viciously tweaks Hashirama's ear when it comes within reach and ignores the shriek of pain.
Reluctantly, he forces himself to finish the rest of the food as quickly as possible. Trying to swallow fast enough to avoid tasting anything. He does feel better with something in his stomach, even if his mouth is still burning, and then he realizes, "Did you already eat?"
Hashirama waves him off. "Yes, yes. Dara laughed. It was terrible." He inches his way closer under Tobi's narrowed eyes until he's tucked up right against his side. Tobi lets him rest his head on his shoulder as the weight of the last days settles.
Butsuma is dead.
The Senju Compound, home of their family for almost three hundred years, is gone.
Countless clan members are nothing but ash.
There is a new enemy in front of them, with unimaginable resources.
The horizon is unknown. Tobirama can't even begin to imagine the path forward now.
It's too much to think about, even for him. At least right now. He leans against Hashirama, letting his cheek rest on his head, and he nearly dozes off until a ripple of anger in Hashirama's chakra jolts him awake.
"Anija?"
"It's fine, go to sleep." Hashirama pushes him down, resting Tobirama's head in his lap and gently stroking his hair. His chakra ripples again and settles.
"What is it?"
"Just thinking." There's something dark lingering in Hashirama's eyes, but he gives him a smile. "Nothing you need to be concerned about." A thud from somewhere in the house makes his eyes flick towards the door, towards Madara's muted chakra signature and Izuna's, faded almost to nothing.
"How is he?"
Hashirama's smile wanes. "It's too early to tell."
Tobirama swallows a mouthful, "I didn't see him get hit. How bad is it?"
Hashirama blinks, "Ah, no, he wasn't. Midoriko, the kunoichi they burned, she was his wife."
Tobirama had guessed as much, "And she was pregn-"
Wide-eyed Hashirama slaps a hand over his mouth, "Don't- don't say it, Tobi. They don't know."
He doesn't let go until Tobirama nods.
"It won't end well if they find out, Tobi. The Uchiha…love deeply. I don't think Izuna could survive knowing what he lost. He may not survive as it is." Hashirama's entire being seemed to slump.
"That seems a bit extreme," Because Tobirama can't think of a more diplomatic way to put it.
"I told you, the Uchiha only love once, little brother."
"And then they take an oath of chastity for the rest of their lives?"
"It's not a choice. It's the Sharingan."
"Not all Uchiha have the Sharingan."
"Not all of them awaken it, but it is in all their blood. How do you move on when you can't forget?"
"That's…" Unrealistic. Terrifying. Depressing. Cruel. "Stupid."
"Such a romantic, Tobi."
"It's illogical."
"It's not a choice they can make."
"A person can always choose not to be stupid."
They've had this argument so many times in their life that they fall into it without even realizing. There's no heat, no actual anger, just two brothers with very opposing ideas of love and relationships. Despite the fact that they both share an appetite for the physical side of it, Hashirama dreamed of a great romantic love and fell often and hard and ended up with a broken heart more often than not. Only with Madara did he have a long-term relationship outside his family. Tobirama unwillingly stuck to a similar pattern without the depth of love. He got bored quickly and had yet to find someone that could hold his interest for very long, let alone keep up with some of his more passionate interests, and since he wasn't about to give those up, they usually just left him after a while.
"The Sharingan is a curse," Hashirama says quietly. "It does not give them a choice in much."
"They could live without it. A dojutsu is an advantage, not a requirement."
Hashirama is silent.
Tobirama squints up at him. It's been a long time since he and Hashirama have just sat and talked. Differing opinions aside, they've simply been too busy. For all that Hashirama is the people person, he sometimes struggles to start the difficult conversations. He has a tendency to keep the bad things to himself, to try and shoulder all the weight without sharing it. When he was much younger, Tobirama had felt left out when he learned of things after the fact. He hadn't been old enough to realize that Hashirama was desperately trying to protect him.
It's still annoying now that he understands that, but the hurt is less. Hashirama tends to divide the people around him by the degree they need to be protected, and Tobirama and Touka and the others are all firmly in the must protect at all costs category.
Only Madara seems to be in a category where Hashirama has concluded he can protect himself.
"I would like…" Hashirama falters and gathers himself. "I would like for you to learn about the Sharingan from one of the Uchiha. It doesn't have to be Dara…though he would be best."
"I wouldn't mind," he agrees cautiously. He's always been fascinated with the dojutsu the Senju so feared. But the Uchiha control information about it even better than they control their bloodline, and most of the Senju's information is secondhand or assumptions drawn from things witnessed in battle. When Madara's had manifested at age six, it had floored Senju Intelligence, since none of them had thought it could develop that early.
He'd done it again when he awoke the Mangekon, the first any of them had ever seen. And even the first most living Uchiha had ever seen. They had no real knowledge of its limitations and abilities, just guesses and rumors based on nothing substantial. Despite Butsuma's long obsession with getting his hands on the Sharingan, he'd never succeeded.
None of the bloodline thieves had, though Tobirama knew for a fact that at least a dozen Uchiha children under the age of five had been taken and killed in the last hundred years.
"Good." Hashirama looked pleased. "I think sharing knowledge will be a good way to encourage friendship between the clans."
He didn't respond to that one; it was far too idealistic.
***
Day 2
Recording: Outside mean temperature: 105˚ F [40˚C]
Hashirama waited until Tobirama fell asleep and then slipped away, tucking a blanket over his feet because it's always his feet that get cold when he sleeps. His heart is lighter to finally have his baby brother back at his side, where Hashirama can ensure his protection and happiness.
He is safe from Butsuma, who will never be a threat to him again.
He is safe from the war that has plagued their clans for generations.
He is safe from the damage of using the Edo Tensai because Hashirama knows that no matter what Tobirama insists, he would be damaged, not in his body, but in his soul.
There is an army around Tobirama now. An army of shinobi who inspired fear and awe in the great and terrible Senju themselves.
There is an army around Mito and Touka and Renji and Sana and all those other Senju that Hashirama wants to drag into the future alongside Tobirama.
They are safe here despite the flames and the monster circling. Zetsu will not get past Hashirama and Madara together, nor separately when they are ready for him. The element of surprise is the only way Zetsu could take them head-on now, and aside from a bag of dirty tricks they don't fully understand. He has nothing they couldn't learn to defeat.
The fake mokuton Tobi briefed him about will probably burn just like Hashirama's own when faced with Madara's fire, and Zetsu, while manipulative, lacks the creativity that makes Tobirama and Izuna truly dangerous.
Tobirama and Izuna, if they submit to Madara and Hashirama's training, will likely be able to take him without them. A good backup plan for Madara if Hashirama has to die at any point.
Speaking of which, Hashirama carefully closes the door to the guest room and watches the silencing wards slide into place. Once he's sure they're engaged, he stops bothering to plaster the smile on his face and lets it drop in favor of something darker.
He had pushed aside the Rinnegan's words earlier, let it fall aside in the face of more important things, but now he has a moment. And he is unlikely to have a free one again for the foreseeable future.
He will address this now.
Izuna's room has been heavily warded to contain his screams, both to protect him and to protect their clan members within hearing distance. Madara has caught him in a powerful genjutsu designed to give his mind and heart time to heal, a desperate bid to stop him from following Midoriko.
Hashirama slips inside and is relieved to find silence. Madara is dozing off against the wall, and Izuna is still. Hashirama kneels beside him and brushes his hair back. He is Tobi's age, and Tobi is only a few years younger than Hashirama, but it is enough that Hashirama feels a desperate urge to protect. But where that protection also manifests in a desire to see Tobirama soar on his own, to see him achieve a greatness that leaves Hashirama in the dust and a love that makes Hashirama obsolete, with Izuna…With Izuna, it manifests as a slightly darker desire to keep him by Hashirama's side. He still wants him to be great, to achieve his dreams, and whatever makes him happy…there's just a deep, dark part of Hashirama that thinks he can do all of that by Hashirama's side.
It's an awkward feeling. Hashirama doesn't remember feeling this for him in any other life, but Hashirama is starting to see a future where Mito and Izuna are by his side, and he's not sure if either of them would accept that future.
If Izuna even cares enough to try and stay with Midoriko gone. She was their catalyst and their connection, and now there is an empty space where she stood before, and Hashirama can feel the wet heat of tears on his cheeks because Midoriko is gone.
And so is that small spark of life she carried in her womb. Izuna's child. Madara's niece or nephew, who no doubt would have been a great shinobi and a credit to the Senju and the Uchiha.
That spark of hope is gone.
And Hashirama cannot even speak of it because if Izuna ever finds out he will follow his wife and child to the Pure Land before the day ends.
And Madara will be inconsolable with rage.
He pushes his chakra out and scans Izuna. He has no physical injuries except his throat, and Hashirama heals it easily. There are few minor strains, and his feet are bruised from the desperate run. Hashirama heals everything he can and fusses with his clothes. Stripping Izuna down to the bare minimum and wiping him down with a damp cloth and water they can't really afford to waste.
He covers him with a light blanket, amused that it's a match to the one he draped over Tobirama's feet and the fuss both baby brothers would throw if they knew.
Then he turns to Madara. So trusting that he's still asleep. Hashirama tucks his hair behind his ears and gently pries one of Madara's eyes open.
"Come out, now."
Madara snuffles, twitches his nose in his sleep.
It's adorable.
The Rinnegan pulses and appears in his eye.
Hashirama snarls. "You bitch."
***
Conversation 3
Participants: Multiple members of the Uchiha and Senju Clans
Subject: Security, Zetsu, Strategy, Religion, Basic Intelligence, Education…Cultural Differences
Conclusion: Coalescence Unlikely
Fact: For every 0.5°C (1°F) rise in core temperature, a typical person's heartbeat goes up ten beats per minute, resulting in a racing pulse and a sense of light-headedness.
Unsurprisingly, putting two diametrically opposed forces in an enclosed space does not, in fact, go smoothly.
"Look, we need to have patrols."
"For what? We're surrounded by fire. It can't come through the wards, and nothing can come through it!"
"Zetsu could!"
"Then why hasn't he? It's a waste of resources."
"What else are they going to do? It's too hot for anything else!"
"Then wouldn't that mean it's too hot to patrol?!"
"You eye-freaks, why can't you just look out and see where he is?"
"Why don't you, you lackluster hack! How the fuck do you think the Sharingan works?"
"It's an eye, isn't it?"
"You're supposed to be the clan of a Thousand Techniques. You can't even find one guy!"
"We can't waste water on the fire. We're running out."
"What do you mean we're running out of water? Tobi's right here!"
"I can't create water that doesn't exist, Touka."
"What is he, a water sprite?"
"The heat is causing rapid evaporation. Even in the groundwater. You need a stronger sealing method to maintain the stores."
…..
"Why are you staring at me?"
"Well, what is it?"
"What?"
"The better storage method."
"You're assuming I have it?"
"Yes. You're Senju Tobirama, aren't you? Dara and Hashi say you're the smartest man they know. So what is it?"
Thankfully, Mito sweeps in while Tobirama's sputtering, "I believe I can assist with the storage issue."
"You can't just let people run wild."
"Where is it you think they're going to go?"
"Order must be maintained!"
"Everyone's miserable, why make it worse?"
"We won't always be in this situation. We cannot let training and discipline fall by the wayside."
"You can't train when it's this hot. You're just going to kill everyone!"
"You're a one-trick horse, Uchiha!"
"You're just a bunch of spare parts, Senju!"
"I forgot the world revolves around the Uchiha!"
"Damn right, it does! You Senju are just the living embodiment of a participation trophy."
"You're a lighthouse in a desert!"
"You're a bag of flour!"
"Well, you're proof Kami has a sense of humor!"
"You are sharp as a rock!"
"There are sharp rocks, asshole! I cut myself on them all the time."
"You'd be more useful if you were one!"
"I've stepped in puddles deeper than you!"
"Bastard!"
"Asshole!"
"Jerk!"
"Bitch!"
"This is a waste of time."
"Feel free to walk right out the gates, Senju."
"How about I throw you through them, Uchiha!"
"Ha, the wards won't let you!… Right, Madara-shishou?"
Madara's explosion of frustrated outrage knocked them all out of the Hantahoru in one fell sweep.
Instead of continuing the argument in the street with the rest of them, Tobirama wandered off when he spotted Touka ducking around the side of the main house.
He followed her all the way around to the gardens that filled the center yard and the small building tucked among the flowers.
Madara's aviary. The only building the Uchiha had refused to open up for housing. Not that it would have fit more than a couple of adults. Hawks were too peculiar and, in a way, too fragile; disturbing them too much at a time like this would have cost Madara his entire host.
Touka waited for him by the door. "Did they send you to stop me?"
"Who? And why? What are you planning to do?" He stiffened, worried. Touka wasn't over-emotional, but she had a temper and tended to be impulsive. It had gotten her into trouble often when they were younger.
In fact, it still got her in trouble now that they were adults.
She scoffed at him. "Relax, it's nothing bad. Come on."
She led him inside and her familiarity gave away that it clearly wasn't her first visit.
Madara's hawks were perched as low to the ground as they could be, attempting to stay cool, and Touka led him straight to a female who clearly wasn't taking the heat well. She'd started to molt, her feathers dull and listless. Touka poured fresh water into the bowl on the perch and pulled out a small cloth bundle from her pocket.
Her share of meat for the week.
"Touka…"
"Can you heal her?" She didn't look at him, pounding out the meat into thin strips using a small wooden table.
Tobirama carefully moved closer and studied the hawk. Her eyes were red, her beak cracked. This close, he could hear the wheeze when she breathed.
Smoke inhalation.
Birds were extremely sensitive to smoke and wild ones went out of their way to avoid any whiff of it. For Madara's hawk to be in this bad of shape, she must have…
"She led us through the fire," Touka said quietly, patiently holding out a piece of meat as the hawk slowly pecked at it.
Even its appetite seemed lackluster.
Healing severe smoke inhalation in humans lucky enough to survive was impossible; some of the damage could be undone, and they could even return to service in the best cases, but damage from even minor inhalation would never go away completely. Hot smoke was too deadly, too fast acting -it only took a couple of breaths- and the throat and lungs too fragile.
He'd never tried to heal a system as small and delicate as a hawk's, either.
He looked at the hawk again, summoned his chakra, and swept a hand across her. The smoke had damaged her body's ability to absorb oxygen from her blood, killing her slowly the same way it did people.
This was the shadow Tobirama had seen above the battle with Zetsu. Madara's whistle had sent her to Touka and the others and she'd brought hundreds of his classmen to safety at the cost of herself.
Even now, dull and molted and dying, he could see hints of the magnificence that had been there before. She must have been the pride of Madara's cast, with a wingspan that looked as long as Tobirama's arms and feathers that looked like old cedar wood inlaid with burnished gold and turned snow white at her tail.
Something tickled the back of his mind…his moths…was this the hawk Madara had sent after them?
She peered back at him, eyes steely with a hint of the intelligence that lay underneath the underneath.
She may not have been a summons, but she'd proven herself tough enough to hunt one.
Carefully, he pushed healing chakra into his index finger and gently stroked her chest, letting the chakra infuse her body to try and generate cellular regrowth.
"I can try, but don't get your hopes up."
Touka's face fell, but she rallied; she'd always been a bit of a pessimist, anyway.
Conversation 4
Participant: Senju Touka
Subject: Biology, Healing, Hawks, Uchiha Madara
Conclusion: Little hope of survival
***
Conversation 6
Participant: Uchiha Kagami
Subject: Uchiha sensibilities
Conclusion: They have none
Recording: Outside mean temperature: 109˚ F [43˚C]
An odd positive of being stuck here with the Uchiha is that it's lessened Tobirama's responsibilities of leadership since everything belongs to the Uchiha, and Madara is the one who has to make every decision. Even more so, since Hashirama is the only Senju he's likely to listen to.
Between helping Touka with the hawk and keeping an eye on Hashirama, he has plenty of time to study their longtime enemies in a much more intimate setting than he'd ever thought possible, and he's discovered some interesting things.
The Uchiha are….
The Uchiha seem….
The Uchiha…make no fucking sense! And he nearly tears the paper with the force of his brushstrokes.
Through their own demonstration, they are passionate beyond reason. Their tempers burn bright and hot but out quickly. So, what's the point of even getting angry in the first place? They are the epitome of shinobi but they are not quiet; they are not secretive or detached. They have no concept of personal space with strangers but are overly respectful about maintaining individual privacy among the clan members.
They are also much, much more militant than Tobirama ever thought was possible. Now that he can look around their compound freely, he realizes that everything they have serves a main purpose for war and only a secondary as a household item. They drilled constantly and seemed to enjoy fighting for fighting's sake. Taking to it with a glee they normally hid on the battlefield, and pain didn't seem to slow them down unless the wound was significant. They wasted chakra that was taking three times as long to recover in the heat on minor pulled muscles and cuts. They persisted in training despite the heat and the half-rations Madara put every uninjured adult on. Some of the Senju shinobi determined not to fall behind, had tried training as well, and ended up in the healing beds.
Madara had ordered all training to cease that afternoon, and Tobirama had never seen any group of people rise so quickly and so loudly against a decree. The Senju had just watched in disbelief as Madara screamed at his clansmen, and the Uchiha screamed at their clan leader, and Hashirama tried and failed to calm everyone down for hours.
Never mind that no one in the Senju would ever speak to Hashirama so disrespectfully, the Uchiha acted as if Madara was taking away one of their rights of life, like air, instead of just trying to preserve their energy and rations. Madara ended up having to spend the rest of the day and that night stalking the compound to yell at anyone going against his order in secret.
"We have to train," Little Kagami had explained, perched next to Tobirama on the roof of the main house. "We're Uchiha. We fight, so we train." And no matter how much Tobirama argued about the heat, almost a full five degrees hotter than the first day already and still climbing, Kagami refused to be moved.
He's the youngest in the clan. He explained when Tobirama first caught him following him on his rounds the night before. He'd been utterly adorable as he'd insisted Tobirama hadn't caught him, that at four and a half because the half counts, I'm the sneakiest in the clan, and does your hair mean you're old? My Ojisan has hair that color, but not as much! Do I make your hair fall out, too? Did you have hair like Mada-Shishou before? I want hair like his when I get big so I can hide weapons in it! Do you know the Great Fireball Technique? Can you teach me?
Tobirama, who didn't have too much exposure to children this small, usually trains the older children and does have the peace of mind to ask, "Why don't you know it already?"
Kagami's face screws up in the most adorable pout he's ever seen, lips pushed out, arms crossed, cheeks puffed out like a squirrel. "Because I'm only four…and a half."
"You should be able to learn the basic form at four…and a half."
A maniacal gleam of hope entered the boy's eyes.
"Is that really why you don't know it?"
"Yes, I swear!" Kagami even puts a small hand over his heart, wide eyes projecting as much innocence as he can muster.
Tobirama wavers, at least until "He burned a house down."
The frisson of terror that shoots down his spine when he hears Madara's voice behind him and realizes that he didn't sense him doesn't go unnoticed by the older man, but thankfully, it skips Kagami's notice entirely as the boy turns on his clan head with the most outraged expression Tobirama had ever seen on a child. "That house was shoddily built, Shishou!"
Madara gives Tobirama a wide birth as he joins them, and it's fascinating to watch Kagami climb the man to hang off his arm.
"Itachi begs to differ, especially since he built it himself." Madara just looks amused, and Tobirama realizes there must be some kind of relation between them, for Kagami to take so many liberties of Madara's person without fear. "Perhaps you should learn how to put out a fire before you learn how to start one."
"You don't know how, so why should I!"
Madara winces slightly at that. Despite attempting everything anyone could think of, no one in either clan has come up with a way to stop the fire. Even Tobirama tried and failed, can't even summon a decent amount of water due to the size and heat of the unnatural wildfire.
They did realize that chakra only feeds it, though. So there's that.
The failure to deal with the fire weighs on Hashirama, and going by Hashirama's opinion of Madara, Tobirama shouldn't be surprised that it weighs on him as well.
"We'll figure it out, little spark, don't you worry." Madara pats him on the head, which Kagami ignores to gnaw on the man's arm in an effort to free himself when Madara sweeps him up, "For now, say goodnight. It's past your bedtime."
"You don't know that; it's still light out!"
"It is," Madara allows, "But unluckily for you, all the clocks still work."
Kagami seems to realize he's lost this battle, collapsing dramatically against Madara's chest, and turns big eyes on Tobirama, "Goodnight, Old Man."
"Kagami!"
"Goodnight, Senju."
Madara clears his throat.
"Goodnight, Senju-san."
Tobirama has definitely just met the most interesting member of the Uchiha Clan. It's enough to make him smile despite the fear and alarm running through him at Madara's presence. "Goodnight, Uchiha-chan."
Madara hesitates, just for a heartbeat, but then he just nods and walks away.
Leaving Tobirama to realize he's shaking in fear alone.
Conversation 5
Participants: Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Madara
Subject: Education, Training, Bedtime
Conclusion: Amusing
***
Conversation 7
Participants: Uchiha Ren, Uchiha Madara
Subject: Childbirth
Conclusion: NEVER!!!
Fact: With each 0.5°C (1°F) rise in core temperature, the brain tells the muscles to slow down, causing fatigue.
The ease with which people simply accept new circumstances is baffling sometimes. Watching the Uchiha and the Senju now, it's nearly impossible to see the generations of hatred that had parents telling their children red eyes belonged to demons and that differing blood and allegiances meant their neighbors were inhuman and didn't require basic decency. There are some still holding out because there are always people capable of hatred in the most dire of circumstances, but for most, the mob mentality, he assumes, those old hatreds have softened around the edges to make room for survival.
That doesn't mean existence is peaceful by any means. There is an enemy at their door. Their supplies are dwindling to dangerous levels, and they are all terribly uncomfortable. But those voices that rise in malicious complaints are quickly silenced by their own blood. There are shinobi clans. After all, even the youngest civilian understands that their survival hangs by a thread now. That between one breath and the next, they could perish if the Uchiha wards fail. That Madara could decide to sacrifice the Senju to save the Uchiha.
Though, for a man who holds his enemies' survival in his hands, he seems loath to acknowledge it in any way.
Tobirama has only run into him a couple of times, and aside from that night he met Kagami, it has been solely in meetings concerning the current situation and limited ways forward. Madara seems to spend most of his time in his office or with Izuna. The few times he's been outside the main house, he's always been beside Hashirama or flanked by some of the other Sharingan users. The Uchiha are loathed to leave him alone, it seems, though whether that's because they don't trust the Senju around him or him around the Senju remains to be seen.
Hashirama insists they're just overprotective, that Madara is simply well-loved, but Tobirama is one of those few that can't shake the past off so easily. Can't bring himself to turn his back on any of them just yet, but he will admit, grudgingly, that they've been beyond kind five days into their shared imprisonment.
The Senju leadership…or rather, the Senju leadership that supports Hashirama, Tobirama, Touka, Aunt Emi, and a handful of others, attend almost all of the strategy meetings held by the Uchiha. The Senju leadership from Butsuma's era has been neatly frozen out, and the Uchiha either silenced theirs before the Senju arrived or in one of those few closed-door meetings the Senju weren't involved in because there's never a suggestion of kicking them out or enslaving them.
There's no talk of debts at all, which Tobirama finds suspicious, and if he finds out later that Hashirama bargained or made any deals without telling him first, he's going to beat his beloved older brother across the Uchiha's largest training field.
He files it away for attention later and turns his attention to yet another meeting that has devolved into a comparison of dick sizes -excuse him, conversations concerning cultural changes- and feels the intense urge to bash his own head against a wall when he realizes they're talking about babies.
Again.
No one in the Senju can seem to comprehend the Uchiha's low birth numbers. Tobirama doesn't either; he refuses to believe Hashirama's romantic nonsense about one love, but it's far from the top of his list of priorities, and this is the fourth meeting that's gone off the rails because of discussions about the Uchiha's breeding practices.
"We adapted birthing practices from the Capitol," A Senju midwife is saying, "The Damiyo himself had the Royal Midwife teach us, and the survival rate of the children and the mothers has improved. Every three out of five live to adulthood now."
"It's not our birthing practices, Senju. We've only had one babe born in the last five years."
"But how is that possible? You must be doing something wrong."
"It may be a dietary issue," Sana offered. "What plants do you eat regularly? There are some that can cause miscarriages."
"We eat the same way you do," Kasumi insisted.
"The hell you do," Tobirama muttered, "I was breathing fire after eating your food."
"You think spices cause miscarriages?" Bai looked doubtful.
"How many miscarriages do you think we have?" Madara sputtered.
"It is not possible that you've only had one pregnancy in the last five years!" The lead Senju healer exploded. "Do you practice abstinence even after marriage?"
"We don't practice it before marriage, old woman," Madara snapped, "But the only Uchiha that have managed to carry pregnancies past the first term in the last five years were Kagami's mother four years ago and Ren now."
Tobirama's eyes slide to Hashirama and found his already on him.
They both remained silent.
Old Keade had been the head midwife for the Senju when all four of Butsuma's children were born. It was unlikely there was anyone more knowledgeable about pregnancy or childbirth in the entire Land of Fire, but even she seemed utterly stumped by the issue. "May I examine Uchiha Ren?"
The woman herself answered before Madara could, waving Keade over. "Come look all you like, Senju. We haven't been holding much hope I'll keep this one much longer."
"Have you lost a babe before?"
"No. This is our first."
"Hmm. It is common to suffer a miscarriage with the first pregnancy, but it is usually during the first term, rarely late in the pregnancy."
"Our healers say the same," Ren offered, watching as Keade's hands glowed green above her stomach.
"Are the two of you one of these love matches Lord Hashirama speaks of?"
"We are. Those are all you will find here."
"One would think that would increase the number of pregnancies," Mito murmured, "Given the honest affection between the parties."
Keade nodded and hummed as she prodded Ren's belly.
"Is there really a baby in there?" Renji muttered. And he wasn't the only one. A handful of his close-year mates were gathered around him, all of them watching Ren's stomach with disturbing curiosity.
"What else do you think it could be?" Ren laughed, then winced.
Renji and his peers blushed and stuttered, and Tobirama knew immediately that whatever came out of their mouths wasn't going to be good.
"My mom always said the Uchiha are hatched, not born!"
"Mine said they made from mud and blood and body parts from dead shinobi."
"My dad said that demons crawl out of holes in the ground."
"Old man Yoshi used to tell stories about them being forged in the pits of hell.
The entire room stared at them. Even Keade shook her head.
Hashirama put his head in his hands.
"Please stop talking," Tobirama pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to fight off the headache he felt coming on.
"Well, tell you what, boys," they bristled at Ren's mocking tone, "You can see exactly where they come from today."
"What?" Renji, confused.
"What?" Hashirama and Tobirama, confused.
"What?" Madara, confused.
Ren grunted as a gush of clear fluid soaked her pants.
"Get my birthing equipment immediately," Keade roared. "Where is the Uchiha midwife?"
Kasumi ran for the door, "I'll get her!"
"Nadeshinko, Behito, boil water and find towels," Mito ordered and started clearing space around Ren as the kunoichi lost her color and started to list.
"It's too early," Ren moaned as her civilian husband ran in, looking more panicked than anyone else.
"It's too early," Madara insisted, hovering protectively at Ren's shoulder. The kunoichi grabbed her clan leader's hand and squeezed until it turned white.
"It's early, but not too early," Keade insisted, though whether she was lying to keep everyone calm or telling the truth, Tobirama didn't know.
Hashirama moved to her side, easily slipping into the role of healer and giving Ren and her husband a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. It may be difficult, but it will be worthwhile."
Tobirama, Renji, and the rest of the room tried to leave, but they didn't even make it to the door before Ren saw and snapped at them to stay put.
"But I didn't say anything!" Tobirama sputtered as he got dragged back with the rest of them by Ren's fellow Uchiha. "I know where babies come from! I don't want to see this!" He hissed.
"I don't want to see it either," Renji wailed. "I'm sorry!"
Kasumi looked a little too pleased as she dragged them back to their seats.
Having a child was a beautiful journey overall but a horrifying one for significant portions of that journey.
Especially the birth.
Keade and the Uchiha midwife had already situated Ren. All the tables had been stacked off to the side to give them room while Ren's adoring husband and Madara took the brunt of her pain-induced rage.
"I have a numbing needle that will help the pain," Keade offered.
"It won't work," the Uchiha midwife dismissed it with a careless wave, "Pain medication does not work on us. The dose required would kill the child."
"What?" Keade, confused.
"What?" Tobirama, confused.
"What?" Touka, confused.
"Holy shit, that sucks," Renji.
Ren snarled, and he hid behind Tobirama.
"It's all right, just breathe," Hashirama cooed.
"Nothing's all right, you overgrown ragweed!" Ren howled, "You try pushing a baby out your tiny dick and see how it feels!"
Somebody that wasn't Ren whimpered off to the side as the midwives spread her legs to check dilation.
"Not quite there yet," the Uchiha midwife announced. "Don't push yet."
"What are they looking at?" One of the younger Senju shinobi, still a teenager and too curious for his own good. He and his sister peered over the midwife's shoulders before anyone could stop them and instantly turned green.
"Oh my god, what's happening to her?" His sister wailed.
"It's a natural process," Keade assured them. "The female body is made for this."
The teenager refused to be moved, cowering behind her mother while her brother dry-heaved in a corner. "I'm never having children."
"I've never been happier," her father, one of the Senju's best spies, assured her while her mother rolled her eyes.
Ren's husband was trying to coach her breathing, but every other breath was interrupted by a cry of pain.
"There's nothing you can give her?" Touka demanded, two steps from fleeing herself.
"The baby's in a good position," Keade ignored her. "And still small. This won't be too bad at all. Just a few more hours."
Ren snarled.
"A few more hours?!" Renji paled even further.
"Did you think they just popped out and everything was good to go?" A Senju kunoichi, barely showing with her own pregnancy, asked.
It didn't take long before most of both clans were gathered inside or right outside, waiting mostly patiently for news. Ren refused to let anyone leave and had even demanded that any Senju that didn't have children be inside to watch.
Aunt Emi and another Senju woman found the coldest water they could and began wiping Ren's forehead, taking her temperature every few minutes at the instruction of the midwives. When they seemed concerned that the room was getting too hot, Madara ordered portions of the walls removed since Ren refused to let anyone leave, and Nadeshinko and Behito took turns fanning Ren constantly to try and keep her comfortable.
Eventually, Hashirama just ordered them to take off the last of her clothes, which wasn't much to begin with since they'd all been down to the bare minimum in the heat, and Ren actually seemed to relax a bit.
"I think you broke my hand, Fireheart." Madara muttered.
"Suck it up, Shishou." Ren returned, but there was an immense fondness in both their tones, and Madara didn't move from her side.
"The Senju run cold," Kasumi suddenly offered, then grabbed Renji by the collar, "Go lie with her and keep her cool."
"What?!" It was hard to imagine anyone looking more horrified than Renji at that moment.
"That's not a bad idea." Hashirama looked thoughtful. "Tobi, come here."
"What?! What about Renji?"
"Tobi-sama!"
"You run cooler than he does because of your water release."
"I have all five releases," Tobirama hissed at Hashirama and then at Touka when she snickered.
Hashirama's eyes narrowed.
There was only one time and place that Hashirama wouldn't accept backtalk or arguments. He didn't even have a problem with outright refusals to his orders on the battlefield. Anything as long as it wasn't during a medical emergency.
Cursing the Uchiha's ancestors and his own, Tobirama shuffled over. Hashirama made him strip down and fussed until they found a comfortable position for Ren to lie back against his chest.
As soon as their skin touched, Ren moaned and shivered, and in any other circumstance, they'd never have heard the end of it, but all Ren's husband seemed concerned with was her comfort, and he even gave Tobirama a grateful smile and pat on the shoulder.
It seemed the Uchiha did run hot.
Very hot based on the temperature of Ren's skin.
No wonder they were so adept at winter fighting. Most of the clans bedded down in the coldest months, but the Uchiha shinobi were always busy as ever across the Land of Fire. Even when their civilian tradespeople were closed away for the season.
Ren was fit, appropriate for a kunoichi from such an illustrious clan, but the toll from the heat and half-rations were already obvious. Tobirama could feel her ribs and the jut of her shoulder blades pressing into his chest each time she tensed with a contraction.
It took another six hours before the midwives were ready for her to push. Once or twice, she'd almost slipped into heat delirium, eyes unfocused and her mind confused. The midwives had snapped at them to pull her out of it because she couldn't deliver the baby if she was. Tobirama and Hashirama had taken to circulating cooling healing chakra in their hands and pressing it against Ren's main arteries to further keep her temperature down.
She was clammy and slippery by the time the midwife announced it was time to push, and Tobirama lost his grip a few times.
Ren was sobbing with pain and squeezing Madara and her husband's hands so tightly Tobirama was sure both were broken. Her chakra splintered and lashed out wildly as Hashirama settled between her legs to deliver the baby, and she started crying out, "It's too early, Shishou. It's too early."
The intent to comfort was there—even Tobirama could see it in Madara—but it didn't mean much when the man was just as scared as she was and could only whisper back, "I know, I know."
Hashirama smiled brightly from between her legs, "Okay, whenever I say push, you push. Ready, Ren-chan?"
"Fuck you and all your ancestors, Senju!"
And Tobirama was right there with her as Hashirama said, "Push."
Ren screamed with effort each time as blood and other bodily fluids barely seemed to help the passage of the baby.
When Hashirama told her to stop halfway through the whole process so they could check the position of the baby's shoulders, Ren called him a- "Goat fucking son of a whore!"
Kaede chuckled, "That's a new one."
"It hurts, Hashi," Ren whimpered, "It hurts so much."
Hashirama murmured, "I know, sweetheart, I know. Two more, and it'll be done. Ready?"
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK!?" Ren screeched.
"Push!"
The fire outside the walls flared in response to her scream and stayed that way in the silence that followed. The shinobi outside the building froze, waiting. A few crossed their fingers or prayed to their gods.
After an agonizing few seconds, a baby's cries broke the silence, and a wave of cheering followed, and a bunch of people congratulated themselves despite not having anything to do with the process.
Hashirama handed the baby off to the Uchiha midwife and told Tobi to hold Ren still when the kunoichi tried to sit up and follow her baby. "Ren, you need to push again. Once more. Ren!"
Tobirama knew the instant Ren collapsed back against him after that push that something was wrong. Hashirama's face set in that terrible way it did when things were about to get very, very bad and he didn't want to let on.
"Give her the baby," Hashirama snapped, and the Uchiha midwife took one look between Ren's legs and did as he said.
"Oh, look, look at her!" Ren, despite being exhausted and growing paler by the second, smiled at the tiny bundle in her arms. "She's so small."
The Senju midwife wiped Hashirama's arm down with a towel soaked in alcohol as Tobirama, Madara, and Ren's husband peered down at the baby.
"She's beautiful, my love." Her husband's eyes were wide with wonder.
Unintentionally, Tobirama's gaze flitted aside and met Madara's. The baby was covered in blood, mucus, and other body fluids that didn't bear thinking about. It was a tiny wrinkled thing that didn't resemble anything or anyone specific at the moment, but clearly, neither of them was stupid enough to say that out loud.
A flicker of amusement flashed in Madara's eyes, and without thinking, Tobirama smiled in response.
Then Hashirama ruined it all by saving Ren's life.
"Ren, look at your baby."
Even after all the effort, Ren must have realized from his tone that something was wrong, "Hashi?"
"Don't look away from her, Ren."
Fear overtook the room as Ren determinedly stared down at her baby.
Her fretting husband looked at Hashirama. "What's wrong?"
"Part of the placenta is stuck inside. It will kill her if I don't get it out."
"How-"
This time, there was nothing but pain in Ren's scream as Hashirama stuck his hand and then part of his arm inside to scrap the rest of the placenta out.
"Hold her still!" Hashirama snapped, and it took Tobi, Madara, and her husband to do so.
"It hurts! Stop! Please stop!"
"Look at your baby."
"Look at her, Fireheart." Madara leaned over, trying to block Ren's view of Hashirama. "What's her name?"
"Please stop!" Tears streamed down Ren's cheeks as she begged, but she didn't look away from her baby.
The little girl's eyes blinked open as Tobirama held her mother still as she screamed.
"What's her name, Ren?"
"Please, god, stop! I can't-"
"Almost done, I promise," Hashirama swore, and even Mito had to turn away as Hashirama's forearm went a little deeper.
Someone in the crowd fainted and hit the floor with a thud.
"Ren, name your child!" Madara roared.
Ren screamed again, a hoarse, painful thing, and then -"Kiko!"
"Done!" Hashirama announced, withdrawing his blood-covered forearm and hand, the rest of the placenta clutched between his fingers.
Ren collapsed against Tobirama's chest, heaving for breath. Her husband started crying, clutching Ren and the baby.
Tobirama and Madara stared at Hashirama in horror.
"Well, there. Done already," the Senju midwife announced. "I told you it'd be a fast one.
They turned their expressions of horror on her, but none of the birthing team or the mothers in the room looked concerned.
Later, they'd even insist it was a quicker one than normal.
Kiko started crying.
"Let me take her and clean her off," The Uchiha midwife said.
"No." Ren refused, a stubborn pout on her face.
Apparently, this was normal, more so than what Hashirama had just done because both midwives just looked amused. It took a few minutes of cajoling for Ren to surrender the baby, and she made Tobirama help her sit up so she could still see the little form while they wiped her off a few feet away.
Hashirama wiped his hands and arm clean and ducked back down to heal the tears. "There we go. You'll be up and around in a few days."
But when he reached out to pat her head, she glared at him. "Petal, while I do like you and am very fond of you, don't fucking touch me right now," Ren hissed, eyes glassy.
"Me either," Tobirama, full of wounded indignity on Ren's behalf, hissed when it looked like Hashirama was going to pat him on the shoulder.
Hashirama just laughed and dropped a kiss on Ren's glistening forehead before ceding the space to a Uchiha woman with a bowl of clear broth.
Ren took a sip and glanced around. "Well, any more doubts about where we come from?"
Wisely, everyone kept their mouths shut.
***
Without labor, nothing prospers.
Sophocles
***
~tbc~