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It had been a joke. Something Izuna had thrown out between the two arguing parties to rile them up even further. A 'suggestion' on the best way to ensure peace long enough to ensure a village. Elders on the Senju side punted out the idea of marriage as an effective method, and Izuna felt his mouth move without thinking.
"Why not the demon? He's important enough."
Everyone stilled and looked at him. Izuna cringed internally. He hated having the full attention of a dozen power-hungry and unhappy elders on him. None of them were happy with being forced into accepting peace, too entrenched in war and death to see a different future. Izuna had been that way as well until Madara beat it out of him recently.
The Uchiha elders scoffed at the idea of an arranged marriage, something anathema to their clan, all of them quickly realizing that it wasn't a serious idea. The Senju were a little slower to discard the absurd notion, not having the experience of dealing with him in-depth, before they restarted the conversation about trade and knowledge transfer. Sharing resources and medical and jutsu knowledge was the best anyone could come up with.
Touka, filling in for Tobirama while the man was away on an unavoidable mission, glared at him.
The group hammered out a rough ceasefire treaty in a couple of days and parted back to their clans. Izuna led the Uchihas to their compound, and Touka escorted the Senju.
Izuna forgot about his joke.
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"Where's your brother, Hashirama?" Madara asked several months later.
The clans were meeting in person for the first time since the ceasefire was approved. Officially, it was to review the terms of the agreement and work towards establishing a truce that would precede their shared village. Unofficially, both heads were looking for an excuse to see each other and reestablish their friendship.
However, most Uchiha quickly noted the absence of the Senju heir after their arrival. The White Ghost still made many of the fire clan wary, so not seeing him set them on edge. Izuna especially. At the back of his mind, Madara couldn't help but notice that many of the Senju were unhappy, angry even. Still, the ceasefire had held perfectly, and the truce was expected to do the same, regardless of some of the clans still holding grudges.
The question startled the Senju, and Hashirama blinked blankly at Madara before he grimaced and looked away. They were a way away from their clans to give them some privacy.
"Ah..." the other man stalled.
Immediately, the Uchiha clan head was on edge. "Hashirama?"
The other man clenched his jaw and shut his eyes. "My brother is no longer a Senju."
"What-"
"He refused to accept the terms of the treaty when the elders presented them to him. Tobirama was so against it, he threatened to restart the war." Hashirama turned his head to meet Madara's gaze. "I had no choice but to strike him from the clan. I couldn't let him drag us back."
It was a vicious punch to the gut. Black eyes widened. "What? What terms were so unacceptable? I know he wasn't present for the negotiations, but-"
"It doesn't matter," the Senju cut in, anger underlying his words. "He proved he wasn't willing to make peace. I love my brother, but I can't let him ruin things because of hurt feelings."
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"Aren't you curious at all?" the kunoichi asked Madara, slinking up to his side as he leaned against the counter in the bar where he was drinking with Izuna.
It was almost two years since they had made peace, a year since the village was built. Several clans now called Konoha home, and Madara was proud of what he and Hashirama had accomplished. Even though, at moments like this, he couldn't help but feel a vague notion of something lacking.
"About what?"
Something ugly glinted in dark eyes before blood-red lips curved into a mean smile. "About what was so unacceptable that my little cousin gladly accepted self-banishment?"
It was a trap, he knew. There was nothing good promised in that hateful gaze. It was also something that was going to be triggered, regardless of whether it was Madara who sprung it or not. Several shinobi were within distance, and they were very badly hiding that they had heard her words.
"Hashirama indicated he was against peace as a whole. That it was the notion of peace itself."
The ugly glint bloomed into what the Uchiha was shocked to realize was hatred. Touka Senju's smile widened, even as her lips thinned, and she leaned closer to him. Immediately, he was on guard, but all she did was take the glass of liquor placed on the bar for her.
"Our esteemed Hokage," she mocked, her voice full of jagged hostility, "is a fucking liar."
Madara's eyes narrowed and straightened to his full height to put as much authority into his tone as possible. "Watch yourself, Senju. Slandering your Hokage is treason."
"So sorry, Lord Uchiha." Touka laughed, uncaring of the danger she was in. "My do-no-wrong former clan head, then. My loving cousin. It's not treason if it's the clan head referring to a lesser member of their family, now is it?"
She was right, regardless of how furious it made Madara. Hashirama was no longer clan head, giving up that authority when he took the hat earlier that very week. Touka, as the next highest-ranking family member, was made the new head the day after the Hokage's coronation. Even though it was murky territory, if speaking strictly towards conduct in a clan capacity, she had every right to talk about a fellow clan member however she wanted. Regardless of the man being Hokage now, he was Senju before, and he would be Senju again if he ever put the hat down. With him voluntarily surrendering his position of power, he'd lost the right to reclaim that seat in the future. Without Touka choosing Hashirama or his future children as heir of her own volition, his line was struck from the inheritance pool. And, based on her current spectacle, he doubted she'd piss on Hashirama if he were on fire.
The newly appointed Senju head obviously picked up on his thoughts because her smile shifted into a cruel smirk. "My dearest cousin likes to think he can do no wrong, but he's always had a selfish side to him. Makes it hard to put up with his shit. In a clan capacity, of course."
"Of course," Madara said with a sneer.
The woman continued to stare at him for a few more moments before she tipped her head. "So? Do you want to know why my baby cousin would rather shuck his family name than accept his older brother's so wonderfully beautiful peace?"
He felt the pricks of the trap as they closed around his throat, but Madara couldn't afford to allow someone else to ask the Senju woman, blood-thirsty as she was right then. "Why was Tobirama against peace?"
Victory, hideous satisfaction, flashed across her face, and her smile transformed into a snarl. She leaned into his space, pushing her face close to his and meeting his eyes daringly. "He didn't want a lifetime of imprisonment and rape."
Even though she had closed the distance between them, she hadn't spoken quietly. On the contrary, her voice carried easily, and many of the other patrons near them heard. Conversations screeched to a halt, and no less than a dozen men and women whipped their attention to the Senju head.
"What?" Madara was shocked into stupification. "What are you talking about?"
"You heard me," she said.
Fury roared to life in the Uchiha's gut, and he snarled and shoved her back without touching her. "How dare you! How dare you insinuate the Uchina would do such a thing!"
Chakra, heavy and hot, started to rise around them, heating the air and threatening to turn everything it touched to ash. Izuna was suddenly beside him, a hand resting on his arm in both support and a request for calm.
Touka chuckled, ignoring the threat. "I never said you would."
That startled Madara, and his angry chakra receded enough for him to reign it in. His glare deepened. "Explain," he ordered.
Red lips twisted, and the woman looked away for a second before inhaling and turning her gaze back to him. "Your brother suggested something that the Senju elders jumped at. Without consulting Tobirama, they accepted on his behalf and planned to build it into the treaty. When he refused to bow and obey quietly, to suffer silently, they went crying to Hashirama, who immediately took their side since it got him what he wanted."
"What are you talking about?" Izuna asked, confusion evident. "I didn't suggest anything that would hurt the White Ghost!"
Touka's gaze slid to the younger Uchiha, the ugliness that had slightly abated as she spoke returning full force as she stared him down. "Marriage."
There was a beat of silence before Izuna scoffed. "I was joking! Uchihas don't do arranged marriages. Everyone knows that!"
"We didn't," she hissed. "Our elders fucking didn't! They thought it was a wonderful idea."
Madara's stomach flipped unpleasantly. "Touka," he interjected, pulling her attention back to him. "Please explain."
His tone must have conveyed something she was looking for, because Touka pulled back and exhaled harshly before answering. "The elders hate Tobi. He's always gotten in their way when they tried to manage Hashirama. Two-thirds of their schemes were meant to undermine his authority, and he was too niave to realize. As the heir, it was Tobirama's duty to protect his clan head from threats. So they jumped at the first chance they got to get rid of him."
"Even if -" Madara stressed, still angry but growing upset at what he was hearing as well, "an arranged marriage was an option, we would never treat our spouses with disrespect."
Touka scoffed. "You wouldn't have a choice in the matter."
The air thickened, and heat rapidly grew again. Izuna winced but forced himself to remain where he was. When Madara remained silent, the younger man spoke. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
The woman kept her gaze locked with Madara. "Do you know that Tobirama's mother was Butsuma's second wife?"
It seemed like a non-sequitur, but Madara knew there was a method to the Senju head's madness. There must be a reason to bring it up that tied into the vile accusation she threw at him. "No, it was never brought up in conversation."
"I'm not surprised," Touka said, not unkindly. "Her family was a minor clan, wealthy, and she was the only daughter of her generation. They sold her off to Butsama for Senju backing in court proceedings. She was a strong sensor, a strong shinobi."
Her eyelids drooped, her gaze becoming lazy even though she was anything but calm. "Part of the marriage contract was sealing her abilities and binding her to the compound."
Izuna sucked in a harsh breath at that, horror beginning to grow in his expression. Madara sympathized with his little brother. He felt the same but pushed it back. It was difficult to force his face to remain as neutral as possible, but he somehow managed. The Uchiha leader knew Touka wasn't done. She hadn't seen the blood that she was so desperate to draw from someone, anyone.
"Another part," she drawled, "covered her specific wifely duties, from absolute obedience and the punishments for defiance all the way down to the number of times a week Butsuma got to fuck her, regardless of her feelings on the matter. And Butsuma was never one to not make full use of what he owned.
"Tobi was five when she died in childbirth. A babe that she didn't want, but that as an obedient wife she bore on her husband's orders. Butsuma didn't care that she bled out. He had her and the baby buried with as little respect as possible because the child was a girl. He married his third wife two months later and only treated that one better because she bore him an undamaged son right away. That's the only experience Tobirama had with what a marriage was meant to be like.
"And the elders were going to make sure his marriage contract was the same as his mother's. They were going to ensure he was married to someone that he wouldn't be able to defend himself against."
Fuck... Madara thought desperately. Fuck fuck fuck.
If that was true, if Touka was telling the truth, of course Tobirama would rebel. Who wouldn't in the face of such anticipated and heinous cruelty?
"We'd never agree to that," Izuna hissed, disgust dripping from every syllable. "We'd never treat someone so inhumanely! Never."
"But Tobi didn't know that," Touka pointed out. "All he knew was that the Elders had agreed to the marriage to Lord Uchiha on his behalf and the terms were to match his mother's."
She knocked back the drink she had forgotten about until then and grimaced at the burn. "When he went to Hashirama for help, for him to override the elders, Hashirama listened to them over him. They had already coached Hashirama about the benefits of the marriage, all the while not mentioning the conditions of it. He'd forgotten all about the cruelty inflicted on his stepmother, you see, and those cunts knew not to bring it up."
The hatred was back, an absolute loathing that surpassed anything from the earlier conversation and that had been shielded until that point. Madara swallowed roughly and closed his eyes briefly before regarding the woman in front of him.
"Surely Hashirama did something?"
"Of course he did something," Touka laughed meanly. "He agreed with them. He brushed Tobi's fear aside before Tobirama could explain what the elders intended and said that 'it was a good thing.'"
"No," Izuna argued, paling a little.
"Yes," she hissed. "My darling shit-stain of a clan member was so focused on finally getting what he wanted that he completely bull-dozed over anything that would hinder it. He was so caught up with the notion of having Madara Uchiha - kind-hearted, like-minded, peace-loving Madara - as his real brother that he forgot about protecting the one he already had!"
The bar was deathly silent, no one making a noise in the face of such a horrid revelation. The Senju woman's anguish became clearer and clearer the longer she spoke. It was a full-on rant at the end, but no one begrudged her lack of decorum with how obviously distressed she was.
"The elders primed Hashirama, and Hashirama ignored his little brother's desperation because it was inconvenient. He wouldn't listen to Tobi when he tried to plead with him for help, so Tobi did what he always does when he's backed into a corner. He bit back.
"He outright refused to agree. And Hashirama automatically took that to mean he refused the ceasefire entirely. Hashirama was such a fool. He told Tobi, point-blank, that if he didn't agree to the terms, he wouldn't be allowed the freedom to interfere. If he didn't agree, he'd be stripped of his status in the clan and kept under probation.
"For the first time in his life, Tobi put himself first. He refused to give up his freedom, and he refused to accept a lesser place in the clan. So he left. He told Hashirama he would rethink things, and Hashirama thought he'd won and let him go. Tobirama took the time to pack his belongings and get as far away as fucking possible before anyone realized and sent a retrieval squad. I haven't seen or heard from him since."
"Lady Senju," came a quiet voice from behind her.
Together, Touka and both Uchiha men turned to look at Imichi Yamanaka, daughter of the current clan head. Imichi was staring at Touka with a severe expression, concern and underlying anger visible to see.
"Lady Senju," she started again. "You know speaking in such a manner is tantamount to treason, both to the village and your clan. Why would you risk it?"
Touka scoffed again, a sneer twisting her face. "This village thinks my cousin, my little brother, is a monster. A man who would fight peace till his dying breath, and his brother, the one person who knows better, is doing nothing to correct that.
"What," she jeered, "do you really think it's Hashirama or Princess Mito that pulled the village's infrastructure out of thin air? The plumbing or electricity? The tax system or the orphanage or the academy?"
Madara swallowed at her accusations, remembering the numerous detailed blueprints and processes neatly organized and ready for implementation. Too many to have been created as quickly as everyone had all thought, and too well-thought-out to be the work of Hashirama and too knowledgeable of fire's clans to be from Mito. He'd read each one and had wondered at the intelligence and thoroughness of the mind behind them. He'd even asked Hashirama about meeting the person responsible, but the other man had said the person had wished to remain anonymous.
"It's not treason, Ms. Yamanaka," Touka argued sweetly, doing nothing to hide the venom behind the words. "I've not spoken a single critical word against our Hokage. Our Hokage is wise and kind and shelters us under his shade. Never would I speak an ill word against Lord Hokage."
She smiled. "I am finally clan head, and no other Senju is above me. I have every right to air my clan's dirty laundry to whomever I wish. Hashirama Senju, my clansman, was a shit brother and a shit clan head. He betrayed the one person in the world who would rather run a sword through themselves than betray him. As clan head, I have every right to pass judgment on my predecessors. I have every right because fixing their mistakes fall to me."
With that, she swiveled to face Madara again and jabbed him in the chest with a sharp nail. "You deserved to know why this village will never, never be the true success it could be. Tobirama spent years planning out his brother's dream, but he's not here to build it and keep it running. You and Hashirama may have dreamed it up, but it would have been Tobirama who made it the best reality you could have ever hoped it to be. And for that, you have my sympathies."
Dark eyes filled with tears as she spoke, and Madara's throat ached, and his heart pounded in his chest like a drum. "But while you lost something you won't ever be able to comprehend, I lost my little brother. And I'll never forget that. I'll never forgive it."
With that, Touka Senju, Leader of the Senju Clan, turned and quietly left the bar.