Chapter Text
Tōka was restless, stalking back and forth in front of Mito, who was calmly sipping tea.
She was agitated truly, because Tobirama had to entrust her with the safety of their clan in his absence – and it was only now that she could see how much effort the younger man put into cleaning up after Hashirama’s ideas and putting them into actionable plans, managing what missions they needed to take and who should take them, taking on the most dangerous ones himself, then making sure to go into every battle to make sure that as many clansmen made it back as possible. She couldn’t quite bring herself to be happy that Tobirama trusted her so much as to fill in for him, not when his brother had had no idea Tobirama had taken on so much until she’d shoved it in his face and proceeded to be absolutely no help with it other than to call a halt to Uchiha-Senju warfare, and for the simple fact it meant she couldn’t chase the little weasel down.
Not to mention that he’d entrusted his job to her through Mito, because the bastard knew that she would have pinned him to the floor like a bug before she would have let him run off like he had.
She wasn’t touching the fact that he seemed to have taken Izuna with him with a ten-meter pole right now, not when she felt like she was one more small thing away from breathing literal fire like an Uchiha with the force of her agitation.
Mito spoke up then, “I believe Tobirama’s absence is because a future self of him from a future so terrible he is willing to do anything to prevent it, used a time-space jutsu or seal of some sort to send himself back to a moment that he considered a catalyst, and now he is doing just that.”
Tōka turned so fast that she lost her balance, just staring at the other woman for a moment, trying to process that idea.
She wanted to dismiss the idea as lunacy – and she would have, if it had come from Hashirama – but Mito had been the one to voice it. If anyone was to know – other than Tobirama – if such a thing was possible, then it would be her, and if she voicing it, then she thought it was more than possible, but probable.
She couldn’t dismiss it, but she needed reasoning behind what the younger woman was saying if she was to believe it.
“How do you know that?”
Mito’s hands were steady as she put her cup down, but her eyes were dangerous, her painted red lips looking more like blood than she’d ever thought before, “The things he said, how he said them. He directly said I changed things, I’m tired of war – I’ve been fighting for longer than you know. He pointed out the catalyst he came to prevent, directly said that the death of Izuna would drive Madara mad, make him ‘our greatest enemy in time’. Then he asked how to kill a goddess. He said it would be the last thing he would do if necessary, and that he’d led too many to their deaths already. Then he said the moon was home to monsters worse than any shinobi.” – before baring a mouth full of sharp teeth that she hardly ever let anyone see – “My foolish brother-in-law intends to take on monsters alone, and die in the process, without anyone ever knowing or stopping him, only saying as much as he did so I could be on my guard if he failed.”
Then she stood, and shed the outer layer of her kimono to reveal a more battle-worthy outfit, seals sprawling across her skin from collarbone to wrist to beneath her clothes down to her toes.
“He refused to lead anyone else to their deaths, but he forgets that I am not his to order. If he wishes to take out the Goddess that I think he intends to, then he is poorly equipped.”
Tōka showed all of her teeth as she grabbed her naginata, following her to where Hashirama was going to be told that they were going to assist his brother, and there was nothing he could do to stop them.