Chapter Text
Tobirama paused, his feet perched on the branch, as he cast his gaze across the vast expanse of the forest stretching before him. The soft breeze whispered through the leaves, cooling his slick skin and he took the time to take a drink from his water skein, curious about the flicker of warmth he’d sensed. It was a familiar heat, although smaller than he was used to, that grazed the boundaries of his sensory range before vanishing as swiftly as it had appeared, reminiscent of a spark struggling to ignite dry tinder.
His mind raced, contemplating the possibilities. It had to be an Uchiha, but with such a minimal chakra output it was more than likely a civilian and their presence this far north, unaccompanied no less, seemed strange. Even non-shinobi Uchiha were rarely seen without protection, as even then their bloodline held value for the chance to try and breed a line of sharingan.
He absently wiped lingering sweat from his bared brow, a brief respite from the constant pressure of his happuri on his head. His fingers came away stained with blood, a reminder of the healing laceration on his scalp he’d been unable to avoid. He pondered this situation, the silence of the forest pressing in around him, devoid of its usual sounds of wildlife and his scarlet eyes darted to the side, trying to detect the source of the that surge of chakra.
A heavy thump sounded next to him and his eyes strayed to his closest companion. Nearly glowing, emerald eyes of a large wolf-like creature stared back at him, agitation clear in their depths.
“You’re attitude is scaring off all the prey, Kari. I thought you were hungry?” The shinobi intoned, careful to keep is voice down, still focussed on picking up that spark in the distance that had originally caught his attention.
The large beast huffed before collapsing further on the branch to await their next move, no doubt irritated with the shortening distance between them and the Senju territory.
Tobirama’s gaze softened at the realization.
He couldn’t blame Kari for his upset as he wasn’t ever too pleased to go back to the compound. His father had fostered a healthy distrust and suspicion of him in his youth within the Senju, from his unusual coloring and sharp Hatake fangs he’d been born with and worsened as his unparalleled genius became apparent. As he’d gotten a little older and showed up bonded to a dark, menacing wolf at his side he’d realized that there was no way his clan would ever see him for who he was.
For now, they could stay out a little longer with his focus on the strange blip of chakra he’d briefly picked up.
It was odd, him being so intrigued by this, but he couldn’t help the need he felt to figure this out. The Uchiha were his enemies, of that there was no doubt. Butsuma had never allowed for them to be seen as anything else, perpetually painting them as cold-hearted monsters, a label he himself was all too familiar with being saddled with. He had acted on that, killing them indiscriminately the same way they had done to his clan.
But he knew better now.
The cavernous well of pain he’d felt — concealed from detection on his way back from a mission as his father’s Ghost as he watched a heavily injured Uchiha shinobi desperately protected a trembling child close to his own age as they all witnessed vermillion eyes plucked from the lifeless form of a second Uchiha child — had been…truly jarring.
It had mirrored the pain he carried from the loss of Itama, of Kawarama and the brevity of their young lives.
Since that moment, Tobirama had gained a profound understanding that the Uchiha were as human as anyone else. After emerging from his near catatonic state, he vowed to never allow anyone to suffer the same fate if he was in a position to prevent it.
It was one of his deepest regrets to this day, that he’d just stood there. He disappeared for days after, plunged into a downward spiral and leaving behind a carmine trail so vivid, that even Butsuma had benched him from the battlefield for quite some time, fearing for his own clan’s safety in his savage rage.
No one forgot the state they’d found him in or the condition of the bloodline hunters, flayed open and dismembered, sitting heavy in his satisfied belly all while Tobirama’s familiar guarded his bloodthirsty ward as well as a long dark lock of hair twined in white ninja wrap he wouldn’t let anyone touch.
(A lock of hair he couldn’t quite let go of to this day, tucked away in sealing scroll stored in his nest.)
Deciding to call it, he opened his mouth, ready to tell Kari to get up to keep going before another spark flared, this time it caught. Intense heat lit up his senses, dripping haunting terror and he whipped his head towards the direction the chakra was coming from, body ram-rod straight.
The explosive heat where there was once only a spark made made his hair stand on end. With this kind of sudden, unearthly output of heat could only be a child forced into presenting their bloodline, he was sure of it and he immediately took off, a subvocal growl bubbling in his chest, urging Kari to follow.
Tobirama held back the howl rising in his throat, knowing he could very well be too late with the distance separating him and the distressed pup.
How had they gotten this far out with an Uchiha child?
The Uchiha clan hid well the deep familial ties he could sense between them whenever the Senju encountered them on the battlefield and it must have been a blow to lose another. They were possessive of their young, instincts to protect made more intense by the prominent threat of those who coveted their eyes, as well as something that was uniquely Uchiha in nature.
Tobirama pushed himself harder as the fiery chakra began to wane and the the surrounding signatures he was committing to memory made their escape, no doubt in possession of a set of sharingan now.
Twenty long minutes later, and ten minutes after the last traces of active chakra were detectable, they both burst into a small clearing.
Blazing scarlet eyes zeroed in on a tiny curled form as Kari circled their surrounding area, allowing Tobirama the security to drop heavily to his knees next the the small body. He ran steady hands over the eerily still child as healing chakra helped him determined the damage wrought.
He nearly lost his composure at what he found.
As clinically as he could manage, he took note of the every injury on the still pup; several damaged vertebrae in the lower back, compound fracture on left arm, deep bruising on throat—
He faltered.
He had known that this was likely the outcome for this child but to see the tiny face, covered in coagulating blood still seeping from closed eyelids, wasn’t something he could get used to in the slightest, no matter his gruesome life as a shinobi.
Tobirama ran a forcefully steady hand through sweaty, matted curls, checking for any bumps or wounds, both internal and external and felt his heart nearly stop as a weak whine passed through pale lips. He felt the barest pressure of that small head trying to press into the touch and it was all he could do to keep it together.
He let out a shuddering breath, vaguely aware of something seeming to click into place deep within him. All that mattered after that small sign of hope was protecting this incredible child’s right to a life he might still be robbed of. He took a precious second to steel himself before his hands took on the green glow of healing chakra and set to work.
“Darling boy, please hold on,” the shinobi whispered wetly, distressed by steadily slowing breaths despite the ligaments and bones being carefully knitted back together in the child’s small back.
The pup was going to die at this rate and Tobirama, for all that he would try to protect any child he’d come across, couldn’t bare the thought of losing this one the longer his chakra was funneling into immature coils.
The white haired man’s heart raced, anxiety he was normally able to disassociate from, tearing through him in violent waves. If he hadn’t been one of the best in the game, his hands would have trembled as they tried to snag onto even a small strand that would turn the boy’s condition around.
“Kari…” he croaked, eyes burning and he realized tears were dripping down his face. He felt a sudden, cool displacement of space next to him and a large muzzle butted his shoulder a second later.
“Speak,” a gravely voice sounded but no less tender for it.
“…I-I don’t…he’s-,” he cut himself off abruptly, unable to explain the desperation he felt to save this boy he didn’t know at all; the product of an enemy clan — the enemy clan according to his horrid father — who’s kin had robbed him of Itama and Kawarama.
But still…this boy had nothing to do with that and Tobirama could hardly fault crimes his own clan had committed against the Uchiha.
“Be calm, Tobira. There is only so much you can do for injuries like these. There are very few options at this point,” Kari stated, warm tongue laving at his nape in a few soft, affectionate swipes.
Tobirama jerked his head in a facsimile of a nod and poured all of his focus on the task at hand. Ideas flowed through his mind rapidly, getting tossed aside one by one as he realized that his bonded might be right. The child was nearly too far gone and at this point and there was only one real option.
Kari could…
He shook his head, forcing the thought away. There was no way he could ask that of the dark creature.
It was wrong to even think to ask it of him, to ask that he swallow his pride and pray to the Uchiha pup’s patron Goddess and beg for her favor. The Goddess that had reigned him in when he’d once been nothing but a nebulous, chaotic force wreaking havoc wherever he pleased. Who had then cast him from the heavens and stars of which he’d presided over before even the Kotoamatsukami had formed. Who then imprisoned him on earth where he’d been frozen in time with only his thoughts until he’d been released and imprisoned again as a weapon after the Akane Clan had found him.
Then Tobirama had been sent to scout out the destructive weapon the Akane clan allegedly had and steal it for Butsuma no matter the cost. He had indeed been able to steal the drugged and shackled wolf from right under their arrogant noses. But the soft heart that still lingered despite his father’s efforts in crafting the perfect weapon, had ached for this strange creature, weak and thin from starvation and stumbling pitifully as he tried to get away from yet another captor.
And…the small shinobi was unable to fulfill his duty for the first time in his short career.
He had found an abandoned shack and laid down his strongest containment seals in the only separate room before diligently working through the foreign chakra suppressing shackles in order to remove them. In their few days together, after the drugs had been flushed from Kari’s system, after he’d ceased his furious ranting of his utter distain form humanity, after he’d sank his venomous fangs into porcelain flesh that had dared come that close to him, the wolf had realized what exactly was going on when his enslavement bindings clattered to the floor.
The noise had felt deafening in the silence of the shack, and Kari had stood there, insensate with shock before he tore his head away, ignoring the pained yelp, and bolted out the door to freedom.
The wolf had raged for days afterwards, laying waste to Akane land — devouring the clan who’d tortured him and treated him as nothing more than a tool — until he was fit to burst.
Kari had eventually wondered back to the hut, the alien feeling of guilt simmering within to see that Tobirama had collapsed from the venom, barely holding on as it slowing ate away at him. The wolf laid with him there, soothing the oozing bight with saliva as he ran his rough tongue over it, chuffing in amusement when the white-haired child had groggily slurred his theories on how it was counteracting the pain.
But the venom had taken its toll, and his injury was too severe, already festering with infection, skin a sickly red about to turn black from necrosis, for any kind of conventional healing and Kari had offered Tobirama a lifeline — a chance to save his soul by bonding theirs together.
Tobirama refused at first, adamant that Kari didn't owe him anything, that he was also going to enslave the wolf for his own clan but couldn’t bare the thought of being apart of it after seeing what had become of the wolf.
But he had pleaded with Tobirama, voice tinged with a mix of gratitude and grief, expressing how honored he would be to bind his soul to the white-haired shinobi. That for Kari, who had known nothing but loneliness and pain, Tobirama had become a shining beacon of true kindness, dispelling the darkness of his entire existence.
The thought of Tobirama facing his own demise by his own doing, was truly unbearable for Kari. He couldn't let his savior perish when he finally knew what the warmth of safety and home could be. And so, Tobirama had relented, accepting the bond even though he had been one of the very people who sought to continue Kari's suffering for his clan’s gain. If his presence could provide solace to the demon, how could he do anything but.
No. Tobirama…couldn’t.
Kari had been through enough and what this required, it was too high a price for his bonded to pay.
He squeezed his eyes shut, funneling more and more of his frantic chakra into the Uchiha pup, angry at himself for even thinking of making that kind of request to his most precious companion.
His chest heaved and sweat beaded down his forehead with the effort to keep the boy alive.
Tobirama’s eyes snapped open at the feeling of rough hands suddenly cradling his own. He turned and saw Kari’s now human eyes looking at him worriedly and Tobirama realized he’d been lost in thought as his breath came in rapid intervals. He drew air into his lungs, long and slow to combat his oncoming panic and his eyes turned back to the boy below him.
The Senju couldn’t look at the wolf any longer even as his palms were slowly guided together by the larger pair, far deeper in color than his own.
And his breath hitched at the implication.
This was was…
“Kari…?”
The wolf snorted softly and pressed closer to Tobirama’s trembling form, dark hair tickling at a pale cheek.
“You will never need ask this of me. My power, my life, is yours to command as you please. You think yourself to have my favor because of your guilt, because I was once a Kami, but it is your favor I have and hold dear.”
Tobirama let out a choked sob.
“..but this…this is more than power…he’s barely holding on. You’re just going to invoke her name, after—!”
“Relax, Tobira. I have told you, already. This is nothing to me simply because it is what you desire. If I must prostrate myself to…Amaterasu-omikami,” Kari barely twitched at the utterance of a name he hadn’t acknowledged in decades, “I will do so gladly. Besides, I have a feeling she will have mercy on you,” he muttered the last part petulantly, a small smile denoting his true feelings as he pulled away from their half embrace.
Tobirama’s eyes overflowed with more crystalline tears, crying openly as Kari folded over himself and pressed his forehead to the ground to pray.