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Chapter Text

When the assassin sneaks into the main house and Tobirama senses it is one of Madara's closest advisors, Tobirama does nothing. He is tired and this is the chance to finally rest and see his family again. It’s a moment of weakness and it is all the assassin needs. 

Tobirama is bleeding out from a wound in his neck before he thinks to fight back. If he dies Hashirama’s peace will be at risk. Tobirama’s brilliant and kind brother will not take the death of his last brother lying down. Hashirama will not rest until Tobirama is given justice, not until the assassin is caught and all those involved are punished. Tobirama easily breaks one of the bands around his wrist and seizes control of his chakra. The fight is over in a matter of seconds. The assassin is reduced to gore and muck that covers the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room, but Tobirama is still bleeding out. 

He reaches out with his chakra desperately searching for the only person in the Uchiha complex who could help him. It’s dinner time and the vast majority of the clan is in the meal hall, on the other side of the compound. Tobirama brushes past countless Uchiha who jump at the touch of his chakra but he ignores them. 

Finally, finally! He finds Madara sitting beside his brother at the head table and Tobirama’s chakra surrounds Madara trying to express his urgency… Only to be harshly pushed back. Tobirama’s chakra snaps back like broken elastic and hits Tobirama like a solid punch. He cries out in pain and almost immediately choked on blood.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.STUPID.

Madara’s closest advisor comes to kill him. Madara must have known, must have sent him even. Must have a plan to explain his death to Hashirama. Tobirama lets go of the wound on his neck and tightly wraps himself in chakra. It will be the only soothing touch he has as he dies. 

Faintly Tobirama can sense the uproar he’s caused. The Uchiha clan is running around frantically and he can sense Madara and Izuna racing to the main house. Madara’s chakra is reaching out to search for him but Tobirama suppresses his own tightly and prays they don’t find him. He won’t bleed out in time otherwise and he can’t stand the thought of looking Madara in the eyes as he finishes the job.

Tobirama dies a lonely, bloody, and painful death, and in the end, it's little Kagami who finds him and it is his piercing screams that summon the rest of his clan. 

After that Tobirama becomes unmoored from time. How long he spent oblivious and unattached he could not say but the next time he becomes aware it’s distinctly against his own will. He is pulled and dragged from the comfort of oblivion and thrown back into the world of the living. 

When Tobirama opens his eyes to the sound of the reverberating temple bell he moves without thought and is half into his armor before he stops and remembers he should be dead. 

He raises his hands before him and marvels at his strong arms and bare wrists. He throws out his chakra and for the first time in recent memory, he can sense unimpeded. He is faintly aware that he falls to his knees as he stretches his senses out and feels the familiar comforts of the Senju compound and most importantly… Itama. His senses reach further still until he finally senses why the alarm bell is still reverberating throughout Senju lands. The Uchiha were approaching.

The combination of the burning chakra that had surrounded him in his final days, the awareness of Itama, alive and whole again, and the disorienting experience of existing when he should be dead... it breaks something in Tobirama. 

Abandoning all reason and logic, Tobirama screams into his trembling hands and lets go of the tight restraint that had always separated him from Hashirama. In the face of his rage, the temperature plummets, and the warm breath that accompanies his screams is visible in the freezing air. 

Outside his clan witnesses the explosion of every well in the compound and they run for cover when the water begins to rain down on them again.

The Uchiha have stopped their advance as every tree in the forest begins to creak and moan in the icy air and an ominous mist descends on them.

No one is there to witness the Naka River rise out of its long-established river bed and flow like ribbons in the air, all moving towards the Senju territory. 

The Senju barricade themselves in their homes, away from the dark rain clouds that spontaneously formed overhead. The Uchiha retreat when the mist begins to drown them, and the Naka River rises higher and higher into the air. 

All the while, Tobirama continues to scream.

Chapter Text

     When Matsu gives birth to a red-eyed child she knows that his eyes are the first mark against him. The second would be that he was born premature and sickly. The last would have been his status as an omega. So, Tobirama’s mother, in her infinite wisdom and with the help of trusted midwives, hides Tobirama’s true nature from Butsuma. 

     Her Hatake heritage shines brightly in her second son and she clutches him close to her as Butsuma rages and threatens her for giving him a weak red-eyed son. The blanket Tobirama is wrapped in is embroidered with scent-blocking seals that her Hatake midwife had quickly procured. When one of Butsuma’s cousins, the one next in line for leadership should anything happen to her boys, accuses her of consorting with Uchihas she finally snaps back. 

     “Red eyes are not singular to Uchiha!” She snarls with her long Hatake fangs on display.  

     “Is he albino then?” Another one of Butsuma’s cousins asks, more diplomatically. She hesitates only a moment before nodding. Animals with albinism often have red eyes after all.

     “It would appear so.” She stiffly states and takes the blessing for what it is. 

     They do not know that humans with albinism do not have red eyes. 

     So she bites her tongue and says nothing about her red-eyed cousin who remains hidden in the heart of the Hatake Lands. She does not speak of the red-eyed great-grandmother who was stolen away never to be seen again. She does not reveal to them that red eyes are a rare and little-known Hatake trait. 

     Instead, she placates her husband with assurances that they would try for another child again soon and swears on her Hatake Blood that Butsuma would not learn the truth of Tobirama until he was married away to a Hatake who could keep him safe. 

     Two years later the rumors are put to rest when Itama is born and just like his older brothers he is a wonder. Hashirama dangles a soft ribbon above their giggling baby brother and Tobirama smiles contently.

     “Chi..mer..ism.” Tobirama slowly enunciates while looking at his brother who looks half like him and half like Hashi. Like Tobirama, Itama smells like milk and their mother. Hashirama still does not have a unique scent but now he smells more like their father. Tobirama fears the day his Father will decide he too is ready for training and pull him away from the safety of his mother's scent. 

     He is young but he is intelligent far beyond his years, another Hatake trait, his mother assures him. So she does not lie or try to fool him when she slips poison into his meals. 

     “Your father must continue to believe you are sickly.” She explains with tears in her eyes “It is the only way I can convince him to let me take you.” 

     “I forgive you,” Tobirama assures his mother, thinking it was what she needed to hear. 

     “No Tobirama,” His mother whispers “Do not be so quick to forgive.” Tobirama blinks up in surprise. 

     “I failed you as a mother.” she continued “and you will suffer for it.” Tobirama cocks his head to the side and looks up at his mother in confusion. 

     Later when he’s feverish in bed his mother holds him close he will understand. 

     “Remember this feeling.” His mother tells him “So that you will not so easily forgive.” He still forgives her but the memory will forever haunt him. 

     His mother finally succeeds in giving Butsuma the son he wants when Kawarama is born, perfectly in his image. Soon the Hatake fulfill the second part of his mother's dowry by delivering a missive from the Uzumaki, expressing interest in renewing their alliance. 

     Matsu had given the Senju connections to the Hatake and the Uzumaki and she had given Batsuma four heirs. When Hashirama manifests mokuton she is at the height of her favorability so she makes a formal request to Butsuma. 

     “Husband,” she calmly asks, bowing lowly. “My family has made a generous proposal for Tobirama’s hand. It is beneficial to the Senju and for your only sickly son who may never be strong enough to see a battlefield. I implore you to consider.” 

     Butsuma sneers at the mention of his weak child but is quickly soothed by the thought of his other 3 strong and finely formed sons. It would be good to get rid of the taint in his line and the Hatake had made a very generous offer. Quite generous in fact, quite possibly too generous for such a feeble beta such as Tobirama. Butsuma is not a fool and he studies his wife closely before voicing his doubts. 

     “Why Tobirama?” He spits “He is not worth half of what they offer.” 

     Matsu bites her lips and lets tears spring into her eyes and prays her performance fools him.

     “Forgive a mother's weakness.” She begs him, “I who hold my frail child closest worry for his future. He is not fit for fighting and his constant illnesses alongside his status as a beta make him likely barren. So I ask my father to ensure he would have a quiet safe life far from the wars to come and where he would not be a burden to his clan.” 

     Butsuma’s sneer only grew more pronounced as his son’s bleak future was laid out by his wife. Still, Tobirama was of his blood and brother to Hashirama however small the chances were Tobirama may still have children and he’d be damned if he gave Mokuton to another clan. 

     “Enough,” Butsuma waves his wife and her tears away “Tobirama will remain a Senju and we will find a place for him to be useful.” Matsu raises a sleeve to her face and begins to cry in earnest as Batsuma sweeps out of the room. Once again she had failed Tobirama. 

     The plan she had worked towards for the better part of 5 years had failed and now in her desperation, she sends a summon to her sister and makes a decision that will mark Tobirama for life. 

     The Hatake Clan is semi-nomadic. The majority of the clan stays in the fertile valley that separates fire and river country. They farm the rich land and as such, they have grown strong in defense of it and they have grown rich for it. Food from Hatake Land is bartered to just about every clan from wind country to water country. It is why the Hatake Clan is so well connected and why Butsuma was desperate to marry Matsu. Matsu’s bride price filled Hatake homes with exceptional woodwork, rare minerals from Senju mines, and fine silks. To make these sorts of trades several Hatake must take on the role of merchants and travel long and far.  It is this lifestyle that has led the Hatake to develop clever ways to protect themselves. 

     No Hatake caravan is seen without a wolf pack carefully orbiting and protecting it. No one can ever claim to stumble upon a Hatake caravan on the road, they seemed to simply appear out of thin air, and most importantly, Every single Hatake merchant encountered was a beta. Each of them had the mildest, most unobtrusive scent anyone had ever encountered. 

     With all this in mind, Matsu begs her sister Saku to teach Tobirama Hatake's clan secrets and mercifully she does. 

     Tobirama’s aunt shows him which plants to harvest, how to dry them, and how to grind them into powder and use it to make a paste that will stain his skin for weeks. She then applies seals to his skin with the paste, very similar to the seals his mother had painstakingly embroidered and hidden on all his clothes. 

     Tobirama’s health miraculously recovers in leaps and bounds after that and his Aunt Saku visits the compound every two months like clockwork. She secretly helps him apply his seals until he can do them on his own and for the first 10 years of his life Tobirama grows and trains as a beta of the Senju clan. His only duties are to stand as Hashirama’s right-hand man and to one day marry a distant Senju Cousin.

     Tobirama’s mother fights long and hard against that last duty, up until the day she dies.

     Bloodline hunters who had made it into the main house with the intent to take Kawarama were unprepared for the resistance they faced. Matsu lived up to her Hatake Blood when she managed to kill all four before succumbing to her injuries.  

     In the days following her death, the Senju lands suffer through an unusually strong storm. It takes his father a week to realize that it is Tobirama's tears that are causing the torrential downpour that floods the land and he quickly re-evaluates the usefulness of Tobirama. Without Matsu there, all four of Butsumas sons are quickly subjected to rigorous training. 

     That same year Hashirama almost literally blooms when his scent comes in and suddenly Hashirama cannot stop suffocating them with the scent of cherry blossoms. Soon after Itama comes into his scent and not unexpectedly he has two. The apple and cinnamon scent that follows Itama is grudgingly accepted by Butsuma. Tobirama’s scent stays neutral and it is attributed to his sickly childhood. Kawarama dies before he can ever grow into his scent.

     Kawarama’s death is the beginning of the end for Tobirama. At the funeral, Butsuma publicly strikes Hashirama. In an attempt to protect his brother, Tobirama puts himself between them and even distracts his father when Hashirama goes to meet that Uchiha by the river. He doesn’t know what game Hashi is playing but Tobirama has his own secrets so he doesn’t bring it up. Soon all secrets will be revealed. 

     The next pivotal moment in Tobirama’s life is the day he meets Madara. Every Senju learns young how to avoid Uchiha's eyes but when Tobirama first catches the scent of Hashirama’s friend across the river his head snaps up and he finally gets a good first look at Madara Uchiha. Madara spares him a single glance. Just once, their eyes connect.  

     Izuna’s incoming sword forces him to look away but Tobirama takes in another deep breath and the subtle scent of sugarcane fills his lungs. It is at that moment that Tobirama begins to suspect he is doomed. 

     After the retreat, after Tobirama stops Butsuma from beating Hashirama to death after he quietly collects Itama so they can sleep bracketing and protecting Hashirama, his oldest brother will tell them about his and Madara’s dream. Tobirama will then recall Madara’s scent and blush but he will quickly stamp down those emotions before quietly reminding Hashirama that Madara has renounced all friendship with him. 

     “He didn’t mean it,” Hashirama says with quiet confidence as Tobirama and Itama trade quick uncertain looks over Hashirama’s head.

     The next day Butsuma decides his remaining sons are ready to take part in larger battles. Hashirama is 14, Tobirama is 12 and Itama only 10.

     The next few years are a blur of battles and bloodshed, where Hashirama loudly and proudly displays his growing skills by besting Madara in all of their battles. Meanwhile, Tobirama will trade blows with Izuna, careful to never best or mortally wound his opponent, at the request of Hashirama. He also sneaks glances at Madara when he thinks he can get away with it but Madara never looks back. He knows it’s stupid but he resigns himself to ruthlessly suppressing his impossible crush while he quietly hones his skills and does everything in his power to keep Itama alive. 

     It is not enough. 

     On the morning of his 18th birthday, Tobirama wakes up to the sound of the alarm bell warning of an imminent attack and the feeling of his younger brother frantically running through Uchiha infested forest. Tobirama fails to protect his brother that day and Itama dies a lonely, bloody, and painful death. Soon Tobirama will face the same fate.

     But that is another lifetime. One that will not repeat itself because the second time Tobirama wakes up on the morning of his 18th birthday he wakes up with knowledge of the future and the rage of a past life's injustices. 

     Tobirama is disoriented and lost in his senses as he wildly tracks the Uchiha that had been circling his brother. The billowing mist follows them with unnatural speed and Tobirama can feel their terror as he follows them back into Uchiha territory. If he catches them, the mist will invade their lungs and drown them on dry land. The imminent slaughter is only stopped by the sudden appearance of Itama who slams into him and drags his senses back into awareness.

     He is still screaming when Hashirama bursts into the room but he is quickly reduced to choked sobs as he clutches a shaken and battle-fresh Itama to his chest while Hashirama has his long arms wrapped around the both of them. They are both dripping wet because Tobirama cannot gain control of the errant weather.

     Tobirama grows silent in his brother's arms before Butsuma finds them, storming into the house shouting and cursing while rainwater weighs him down. He throws open the screen separating him from his children. Itama burrows closer into Tobirama’s chest and Hashirama's arms tighten around them. 

     “What is the meaning of this!” He demands to know, throwing back a hand to the sudden rainstorm that was threatening to flood the compound. When no one responds quick enough for his liking he prowls forward, reaching out to pull Hashirama away from his brother. 

     “GET AWAY.” Tobirama’s scream is the only warning Butsuma gets before the water inundating his clothes pulls him back with enough force to throw him through the shoji doors and off of the engawa. He lands on his back hard and the air is knocked out of him. He lays in the rain stunned for only a moment before jumping up and flying toward them at frightening speeds.

     Three things happen at once. Hashirama raises a hand and the wood floors of their house warp and grow, reaching out to stop Butsuma’s advance, Itama draws his blade across them to counter the incoming blow, and Tobirama stops his father's movements dead.

     Butsuma is frozen midstep with his outreaching hand caught by Hashirama’s wood release. His wide eyes are the only thing moving and he is breathing hard through clenched teeth as beholds his second son. 

     Tobirama gently pushes aside Itama’s blade and the arm that Hashirama still has wrapped around them. He stands and slowly approaches Butsuma and suppresses a thrilled tremor when he realizes he is tall enough to look down clan head. Butsuma visibly struggles and his breathing grows harsher as Tobirama walks closer and closer. 

     Hashirama’s mokuton retreats but Butsumas's hand remains frozen in the air. Finally, Tobirama stands before Butsuma and stares down the man who should have been a father. 

     In another life, Tobirama never got the chance to stand up to Butsuma. In this one, he delights in the open terror in Butsuma's trembling eyes. Tobirama leans down and smiles ferally in Butsuma’s face, making sure to display the sharp Hatake fangs his mother had given him. 

     “You will never touch us again,” Tobirama promises, and then Butsuma is flying backward again, further this time. When Butsuma lands on his back meters away Tobirama hears something break and Butsuma loses consciousness.  

     “Shit,” Itama murmurs beside him “Did you kill him?” Tobirama briefly reaches out with his senses to check. 

     “No.” He responds “Just broke a few ribs.” Tobirama looks down at his brother and is worried he will see the fear in Itama’s eyes. Instead, Itama grimly nods and then smiles just as Tobirama had, just as their mother used to. 

     “Good.” Itama spits “He deserved it.” Tobirama draws him back into a hug breathes in the familiar scent of apples and cinnamon and begins to quietly cry again. 

     He is overwhelmed with emotions and memories and he’s still trying to make sense of what is happening to him. Eventually, his brothers herd him into Hashirama’s room where they take turns removing their armor and cleaning up so that Tobirama is not left alone. 

     They are gentle with him and ask no questions but when Itama drifts off beside him Hashirama takes the opportunity to gently cup Tobirama's face in his hands and lightly kiss his forehead.

     “I’m sorry” Hashirama whispers and Tobirama wonders what he could be apologizing for. He hadn’t yet helped push Tobirama into a loveless marriage that ended in his death after all.  

     “For what?” Tobirama asks quietly and startles when he feels Hashirama’s warm tears on his face. 

     “For not being strong enough,” Hashirama says nonsensically. Hashirama is the strongest shinobi in all five countries. Except he’s not, Tobirama remembers, not yet at least. 

     “Thank you,” Hashirama continues with a trembling voice “ For doing what I could not.” 

     The day is still young. Tobirama has only been revived for a few hours and already he has made enormous changes to the life he once lived. Itama is alive, Butsama holds no power over them anymore, and he has the chance to change so much more. 

     Eventually, Hashirama falls asleep too and Tobirama is left alone with his thoughts. He could do anything, anything at all, with the knowledge and abilities he has and he dwells on the events that had previously led to his violent death. 

     In his previous life, he had entered his marriage filled with hope, with Hashirama’s reassurances that his old friend would be good for him. Quickly that hope had been stamped out of him with the cold welcome that greeted him. 

     He tried to change, tried to be softer and prettier. Convinced no one would want a battle-scarred wife who never learned the most basic beauty routines of omegas. He bit his tongue, closed his mouth more, grew silent, and slowly did not speak. All the while he suffered from unrequited affection. Madara never once touched him and he faced torment and venomous words from the rest of the clan because of it. Worse were the opportunists who saw a chance to sneak an omega into Madara's bed.

     Omega’s would flock to Madara's side and even when he tried to keep it secret Tobirama could always smell the scent of yet another Omega trying to take what was his. It was unbecoming for a clan head’s wife to look jealous or crazy so he could not retaliate or even acknowledge what was happening. He had tolerated it all because in the end, and much to his regret, he loved Madara and all that love had gone to waste.

     The confrontation with Butsuma and the continuous sound of the steady rain reminded Tobirama of what he had once forgotten.  Tobirama was a powerful shinobi and he had been walked all over and disrespected enough. 

     The next time the Senju battled the Uchiha he would make sure they knew exactly who he really was.

Chapter Text

In another life, Tobirama’s second greatest secret is discovered on the day he first tests his Hiraishin in battle. When he is successful Izuna lies mortally wounded and Madara finally turns his gaze to look at Tobirama. 

Tobirama is on one knee and breathing hard when Madara races to his brother's side. When he sees the damage done to Izuna he turns to Tobirama and finally, Madara’s eyes gaze upon Tobirama’s again, they are filled with hate and rage and they immediately bloom into a dark blood red. 

Tobirama feels like he can’t breathe and he drops his gaze immediately as he braces for an attack. Suddenly Hashirama is by his side and then in front of him. Blocking him from Madara’s view. Tobirama takes deep breaths but no matter how hard he tries he can’t seem to get enough air. He glances up again and Madara’s spinning Sharingan is still gazing at him. He drops his gaze again as a breeze passes him and suddenly all Tobirama can smell is the gentle sweetness that emanates from Madara. 

A shooting pain radiates up Tobirama’s abdomen and all at once, he feels dizzy and overheated. Tobirama tries to stay upright but he quickly curls onto himself. 

“Anija!” Tobirama cries in confusion as he tries to shake off whatever is affecting him.

Suddenly there is a roar and when he looks up Hashirama is holding back Madara, preventing him from attacking Tobirama. 

“TOUKA!” Hashirama shouts “TAKE TOBIRAMA AND RUN!” 

Tobirama is too disoriented to push Touka off and suddenly he’s thrown over her shoulders as she races through the forest back to the Senju compound. 

Tobirama had gone into heat mid-battle and now there was no hiding who he was. 

Tobirama spends the next 24 hours locked in a heat room with other single omegas who care for him by placing cool cloths over his forehead and wiping away his tears. At first, they are surprised and wary to see him amongst them but after Tobirama makes a biting comment regarding his good fortune and Butsuma’s timely death they happily welcome him. No Senju omega held any high regard for his father. 

When he begins to fever they carefully help him into a large copper tub filled with cool water and he cries as an older widowed omega, slowly and methodically pours cool water from the tub over his head. Careful to not let any water run down his face or into his eyes. Tobirama cries silently the entire time and tries to recall if his own mother ever handled him so gently. 

Eventually, they help him out of the tub and wrap him in soft fabrics and the same widowed omega begins to carefully run a brush through his short hair. Another brings him a cup of tea and quietly explains it is made with medicinal herbs meant to shorten his heat. He thanks her and carefully sips the strangely sweet tea. 

They place him in the middle of their combined nests and they are mindful not to touch him too much. For Tobirama who had spent his whole life afraid of touch, the act of sharing a nest with other omega’s is a revelation. 

Growing up he’d often sleep in puppy piles with his brothers in his mother's nest. After she died and her nest was dismantled they were forced to stop. Only when Kawarama died did Tobi make a pitiful attempt at recreating a nest in the safest part of his house. Hashirama’s room. He dragged Hashirama and Itama into it and eventually, it became routine, after a battle the brothers piled into Tobirama’s clumsy nest. After Itama died Tobirama tore the nest apart, falling into despair, blaming himself. 

Laying in his first proper omega nest since his mother's death makes something in Tobirama click, and he scrambles up and begins to throw pillows and kakebuton around the room. He arranges and rearranges the soft bedding but nothing feels right. After several attempts, he growls and throws the bedding aside before glaring petulantly at the omega around him. 

When he’d first started tearing apart the nest they were surprised but when they realized what he was trying to do they all cooed at him and smiled indulgently. 

“Why doesn’t it feel right?” Tobirama finally asks, glaring at the bedding as if it had offended him. For a second everyone hesitates to answer until the youngest of them speaks up. 

“It doesn’t smell like you.” He says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. Tobirama can feel himself blush in embarrassment. 

Of course, the most basic knowledge of nest construction had evaded him. For a moment Tobirama is frustrated and angry at his mother for intentionally neglecting his social education as an omega. Tobirama quickly smothers that anger though. She didn’t want him to accidentally display omega behaviors and give himself away. She did it to keep him safe. 

“But I don’t smell like anything,” Tobirama finally responds with misery written all over his face. It’s not exactly true, he still sweats and clearly, his heat pheromones were active, but the scent glands on either side of his neck have long been dormant. 

One of the older omegas snorts loudly and Tobirama’s head snaps in their direction. It had been the same omega who had so patiently washed the battle grim out of his hair. 

“Of course, you have a scent, child.” He says with clear distaste on his face. “Your mother was wrong to hide it from you.”

Tobirama bristled at the mention of his mother and he growled at the nameless omega. 

“She did it to protect me.” He snarled, “My father would never have allowed her to keep me otherwise.” 

“Calm down, pup,” The omega said with a tired sigh “Your mother was right to hide you, but she should have at least given you the opportunity to know yourself.” 

Privately Tobirama agrees but he stays silent and slowly slumps onto himself. It was too late now. 

“Just take off the seals blocking your scent,” The young omega tells him reassuringly “You don’t need them anymore, everyone already knows you’re an omega.”

“I can’t,” Tobirama murmured. Suddenly the sounds of raindrops can be heard on the roof over their heads. Tobirama holds out his hands and looks down at his chest, showing the others the careful red line work of his tattoos.  

“I made sure they could never come off.” The horrified silence is only broken by the raging storm outside. 

Tobirama’s heat ends quickly as the first always does and with much trepidation, he sneaks out in the dead of night back to his room. He thought he’d finally have a moment of solitude to process his situation but when he slides into his room he’s greeted by the sight of Hashirama in his room, sitting in the nest Tobirama had tried to hide in his closet. 

“Tobi!” Hashirama nearly tackles Tobirama and proceeds to smother him in the reassuring scent of sakura blossoms. 

“Are you alright?” Hashirama asks and Tobirama nods as he clings to his brother, doing his best to suppress his tears. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispers “For not telling you.” Hashirama stills in his arms and suddenly laughs lightly. Tobirama pulls back to look him in the face. 

“Tobi…” Hashirama says softly “You took over after Okaasan's death and raised Itama. Then you built us a nest… it was kind of obvious after that.”

Tobirama glances at his nesting attempt and then back to his brother. This time he does begin to cry and his brother immediately panics. Despite his missing scent and lack of knowledge his instincts still tried to care for his brothers as an omega would. The part of Tobirama that he long thought dead was still fighting inside him but what good would that do him without a scent? Tobirama weeps for what he thinks he’s lost. 

Hashirama pushes him into his mockery of a nest and tries to soothe him. Hashirama says nothing then but when the sun rises he will hesitantly tell Tobirama about the formal proposal Tajima Uchiha had sent on behalf of his son and heir. 

“He tried to attack me.” Tobirama reminds him.

“He was reacting strongly to the heat pheromones” Hashirama excuses his friend's behavior. 

Tobirama will see the hopeful look on Hashirama’s face and he will read the surprisingly fair marriage contract and will still protest. Surely the next Uchiha Clan Mother should be someone more refined, someone who actually knew what they were doing as an Omega, someone beautiful and sweet, someone who could properly scent their nest and their mate. That would never be Tobirama.  

When a letter listing all of Tobirama’s deficiencies is sent to the Uchiha he will mourn what could have been as he watches the Hawk carrying the letter fly further and further away. Tobirama continues to stare in the direction of the Uchiha compound long after the bird is gone from sight and the night sets in. He is staring at a fixed point in the darkness with unfocused eyes when suddenly he reaches out, his hand gently flowing through the air, to touch something no one can see. 

“Please,” Tobirama whispers desperately into the cold night air. “Please break.” Whatever he’s speaking to does not obey him and in the morning there is another message from the Uchiha.

 They are insistent that they will accept no other. They will only agree to peace for the price of Tobirama. Hashirama does not ask it of him but he does reassure him that it is a good match, that Tobirama will be cared for and held in high regard as the Uchiha clan mother but ultimately it is Tobirama's choice to make. 

It doesn’t feel like much of a choice and in the end, Tobirama agrees. He will marry Madara Uchiha for peace. 

The morning after Tobirama breaks four of Butsuma’s ribs Tobirama wakes because Itama knees him in the stomach. 

“You brat,” Tobirama hisses and blindly snags a pillow, the one Hashirama is using, and pulls it out from under his brother before swinging it straight into Itama’s face. When both of his brothers yelp with indignation Tobirama is satisfied and he burrows back into his own pillow. It doesn’t hit him for a moment but suddenly Tobirama sits up to stare at Itama with wide eyes. 

“Itama…” He mumbles “You’re alive…” 

Itama is rubbing the side of his face the pillow had hit and he gives Tobirama a dirty look. 

“No thanks to you.” Itama jokes and Tobirama feels like he’s been kneed in the stomach again. 

“Don’t say that,” Tobirama whispers as his eyes fill with tears again.

“Sorry,” Itama whispers and tucks himself back into his brother's side. Tobirama nuzzles Itama’s hair and inhales the mixed scent of apples and cinnamon. 

Hashirama and Itama still don’t push him and when he leaves to get fresh clothes from his room he closes the door behind him and once again he raises his shaking hands.

When he first woke up he had marveled at his arms. Once again they are strong and with muscles like whipcords and there are no shackles on him. Most importantly though, where there were once thin red intersecting lines there is nothing. 

Tobirama hadn’t inked himself with those seals until after Itama’s death. When his last hope of ever living openly had died. Instead, there are faint brown lines that will only further fade in the coming days. Tobirama wraps his arms around himself and once again he’s crying but this time they are tears of joy. In a few days, Tobirama will come into his scent. He’ll finally know what his scent was meant to be. He’ll be able to scent a nest, a mate!...maybe even kits one day. Smiling Tobirama wipes his tears away and quickly dresses.

When he sits at the table Hashirama lifts his hand to wipe away a stray tear and Tobirama can see in his eyes how worried he is. 

“It’s okay Anija.” Tobirama says and more tears fall but he’s still smiling “I’m okay” Hashirama gives him a small smile and finally asks. 

“What’s going on Tobirama?” Hashirama quietly asks “You haven’t lost control like this in years.” Not since their mother's death, he doesn’t say. Itama joins them then and Tobirama smiles reassuringly at him. 

“I have something to tell you,” Tobirama finally decides “but I suspect you may already know.”

Itama gives him a quizzical look but Hashirama understands. Tobirama stares down at his hands as he begins to tell them everything. He tells them about the lie of his birth, about the poison he drank, and about the seals on his skin. They don’t ask any questions but the more he talks the more distressed Hashirama looks and Itama won’t even look up from the table. 

“I’m sorry I kept it from you.” Tobirama finally ends and waits for his brother's reaction. 

“This changes nothing, Tobi,” Hashirama assures him but Tobirama is waiting for Itama’s reaction. Tobirama watches as Itama slowly lifts his hand to rub the left side of his neck. The room is filled with the scent of apples. Itama finally looks up and smiles sadly, tears falling down his face. 

“Okaasan told me to keep it a secret too,” he confesses and the revelation makes Tobirama inhale sharply. 

“What are you saying, Itama?” Hashirama asks, eyes dark with anguish. “You’re an alpha. You went into a rut only last month.”  Itama wrinkles his nose as he’s reminded of that embarrassing experience before shrugging wryly. 

“I’m a chimera,” Itama explains as he reddens with embarrassment. ”So I'm…kind of both?”  

“Both how??!” Hashirama asks, clearly confused as Tobirama rolls his eyes. Itama’s blush grows as he gestures to either side of his neck and then down. 

“I have two different scent glands and I have both….sets?... down there?” 

“Oh,” Hashirama says in surprise before opening his mouth to clearly ask another invasive question, 

“Hashi,” Tobirama warns and Hashirama quickly shuts his mouth. Itama is still blushing uncomfortably and Tobirama gives him a reassuring smile. 

“Thank you for telling us Itama.”  Tobirama “It makes my decision to live openly as an omega easier to make.” 

“Tobi…” Hashirama hesitantly speaks up but Tobirama stops him. 

“I’ve decided, Anija.”Tobirama will not change his mind. “In a few days my seals will wear off and I will not reapply them.

Hasirama’s eyes search his before he nods in acceptance. Itama looks excited. 

“I wonder what your scent will be, Aniki.” Tobirama wonders too.

 Hashirama and Itama spend the morning making guesses and gently teasing Tobirama with their speculations. Tobirama doesn’t tell them about the future. He still doesn’t understand how this is happening but Tobirama plans to find out. 

After they finish eating Hashirama informs them he will be attending today's clan meeting as acting clan head and that’s how Tobirama spends the afternoon silently at Butsuma’s left, quietly listening to the latest scout reports.

Butsuma had broken more than a few ribs and the pain made it hard for him to effectively lead. So it was natural and expected of Hashirama to act in his father's stead. Something that he had been born and trained to do. Then Butsuma drags his barely healed body to the meeting that day, undermining what should have been Hashirama’s first steps towards taking his father's title.  

Tobirama could of course not let that stand and when he stalked into the meeting hall he made sure to sit beside Butsuma. If Butsuma came to the meeting to intimidate Hashirama, then Tobirama would return the favor. 

One of the scouts reports that something has spooked the Uchiha clan. That the majority retreated deeper into their territory and their patrol teams had doubled in size. 

“There are whispers of an enenra or some other yōkai prowling the forest.” Tobirama blinks slowly before letting a small serene smile grace his lips. Butsuma stiffens beside him and Tobirama bows his head to hide the vicious smile that grows. The scout ends his report and the entire hall breaks out into low murmurs and discussions. The scout still stands at attention and when no one moves to speak Hashirama, sitting at Butsuma’s right, thanks the scouts and excuses them.

“Your duty is done.” Butsuma tells Hashirama when the room empties “I will resume my responsibilities as clan head.” He does not acknowledge his second son at all. Hashirama nods and stands to leave but hesitates at the door, waiting for Tobirama. 

“It’s not customary for second sons to attend clan meetings.” Butsuma carefully states.

“No,” Tobirama agrees blandly, “but I’ve decided to never again let you know a day of peace.” 

Butsuma scowls before he finally looks at his son and his haunting red eyes. 

“Do you truly hate your father so much?” and that makes Tobirama scoff.  

“You were never a father.” He declares solemnly. Butsuma and Tobirama stare each other down and Hashirama prepares to jump between them. Finally, Butsuma looks away. 

“No,” He concedes, surprising both of his sons. Suddenly Butsuma seems to sink into himself and Tobirama realizes just how tired and broken he is. Most shinobi die well before their 30th birthday, Butsuma is pushing 40. 

“You both have grown in the privilege of a strong Senju Clan,” Butsuma tells them with a faraway look in his eyes. “You hate me because I could not love you as your mother did but you do not understand that in my youth raising a child to be the best shinobi they could be was the greatest love that a father could give.” Butsuma looks back at Tobirama with tired eyes. 

“You have survived this long, to glare at me with disrespect, because I made you strong.”

Tobirama shoots up and slams his hand on the table beside them. 

“You give yourself too much credit!” Tobirama shouts and immediately Hashirama is by his side. Butsuma does not move. 

“Do you deny my training never saved your life or won you a battle?” Butsuma challenges and Tobirama clenches his teeth but does not deny it. 

“Soon my sons will become the strongest shinobi in all five nations,” Butsuma declares “and it will be in part because I trained you to survive.” 

“We would have been strong regardless of you,” Tobirama tells him “ We are strong in spite of you!” Butsuma studies his second son long and hard before he finally speaks. 

“Without me,” He firmly tells him “ You would have been sold to the first Alpha the second you presented.” Tobirama feels the blood drain out of his face. 

“Your mother thought she was so clever,” Butsuma mutters “I indulged her defense of you and Itama and it is fortunate I did.” 

Tobirama is shaking his head in denial. The anger has long abandoned him. He feels like everything he previously knew in his life was a lie. What more revelations were left for him to discover? He doesn’t know how many more revelations he can stomach. 

“When I see Matsu in the pure lands,” Butsuma continues “I will thank her for ensuring the Senju Clan produced gods among shinobi.” 

It is the last thing he says before he heaves himself out of his seat and walks away from his sons.  

Five days later Butsuma will hand-pick a team of his strongest supporters, who also coincidentally have the most obsolete views about omegas, and he will lead a mission to Hagoromo lands. Two days after that Hashirama will walk into Tobirama’s lab and tell him their father is dead. 

Tobirama tries to make sense of his father's final actions and ultimately decides that Butsuma’s final battle was yet another convoluted way to show his sons he cared. It doesn’t fix anything, Butsuma never apologized and Tobirama would never forgive but he understands.

With Butsuma dead, other clans would look to exploit the assumed weakness. It takes a few days but first the Kurama clan attacks, then the Kaguya clan, then the Hyūga. The Senju are attacked from all sides but notably, the Uchiha are absent. 

“They are waiting until we are weakened.” One of the elders tells Hashirama “They will let the other clans dwindle our numbers before they try to deliver the final blow.” Several of the other elders nod in agreement. Hashirama listens to all this grimly and prepares for the day that will come to pass. 

‘Hashi,” Tobirama speaks up “Leave Madara to me.” The room grows silent and Hashirama studies him carefully before nodding. Tobirama isn’t sure if Hashirama trusts his skill or if it's just blind faith in his old friend but Tobirama is glad for this opportunity. 

Hashirama will replace his father as Tajima Uchiha’s counterpart while Touka claims Izuna as her opponent. With that decided they conclude the war council. 

The very next day, an hour before dawn Tobirama woke to the ringing war bell and he sensed the Uchiha were on their way. 

He scrambles into his armor with Hashirama and Itama before all able-bodied shinobi converge on their locations, ready to receive orders from Hashirama. His brother had proved himself a capable leader in the days after Butsuma’s death. It did not take long for the clan to put their trust and faith in Hashirama who’d been relentless on the battlefield. 

Determined to prove himself and determined to deter any further attacks Hashirama obliterates their enemies in a way he never had under Butsuma’s command. The shinobi of the Senju clan stare at Hashirama with awe in their eyes and Butsuma’s final words haunt Tobirama. 

Tobirama is running through the woods when he spots the first Uchiha he recognizes. The woman who had once put shackles on him. In a sudden blind rage, he rushes the woman. He’s too fast for it to be a fair fight, he easily grabs onto her wrist and does not hesitate to viciously break it. 

Her pained screams summon another Uchiha who attacks him and instinctively Tobirama lashes out with his sword. Only to deflect his own strike at the last minute. 

Kei Uchiha is shocked at his speed and stares at him in disbelief when Tobirama intentionally redirects his blow. Tobirama jumps back and glares as Kei places the injured Uchiha behind her. Tobirama regrets his impulsive rage. There wasn’t much honor in punishing someone who hadn’t yet committed a crime. Then again Tobirama was a shinobi and they were at war and what is honor in the face of justice. 

Tobirama does not like feeling so conflicted and he does not want to harm Kagami’s father. Instead, Tobirama carefully forms the mist that had frightened the Uchiha so much and in the pale dawn light when the mist rolls in as a looming cloud Kei takes her injured comrade and runs. Tobirama lets them go. 

Tobirama runs toward where the main fighting is taking place and he brings his rolling mist with him. He almost makes it when suddenly a raging fireball nearly hits him. Tobirama jumps from tree to tree avoiding consecutive Katon and painfully familiar chakra. Madara had found him 

Tobirama feels the fire burn away his mist and he quickly swings back around, circling Madara until all the trees surrounding them are on fire and Tobirama is forced to land on the ground. He launches kunai in a precise ark and Forces Madara to jump back, just as a burning tree crashes into the ground where he jumps. Madara just barely manages to avoid it with only his burning sleeve a casualty. 

“Don’t hurt yourself” Tobirama says dryly as Madara quickly pats himself down to smother the flames. 

“You must be Tobirama Senju.” Madara greets him and Tobirama hates how amused he sounds. 

“You must be stupid.” Tobirama snaps, is there another white-haired, red-eyed, suiton user running around the forest that Tobirama doesn’t know about? Idiot. 

Madara laughs and Tobirama almost looks up. He reminds himself that this is not his Madara, despite having the same exact scent and chakra, Madara never laughed around him. Tobirama hates himself a little when he realizes he’s missed Madara’s scent. Here, mid-battle and surrounded by burning trees, Madara smells like warm sugar. 

“If you are not Tobirama Senju you must be the yōkai haunting this forest,” Madara says and he sounds surprisingly playful. 

“That’s me.” Tobirama deadpans and Madara laughs again. 

“No yōkai could be so lovely,” Madara states with an amused tone. “Who are you really?” 

Tobirama's brain had stopped dead at the word lovely. It almost sounded as if Madara was flirting. When Tobirama does not continue their banter Madara speaks again. 

“Lovely?” The word makes Tobirama look up in disbelief. Just as before, when their eyes meet for the first time Madara’s eyes immediately bloom into a dark blood red and Tobirama is shocked to witness the birth of Madara’s mangekyō sharingan for a second time. 

“How,” Tobirama whispers, “I didn’t do anything this time I d‒” Tobirama gasps for air as he backs away from Madara. He can’t breathe and Madara is still staring at him through spinning eyes. A sharp pain goes up Tobirama’s spine and suddenly the air around him is filled with the same familiar heat scent and then an entirely new one. 

Tobirama’s scent had finally come in and at the worst time. Tobirama watches in disbelief as Madara inhales deeply and moans.  

“You smell like lemons,” Madara says with wonder written on his face and Tobirama is pretty sure he’s under a genjutsu at that point. He’s been staring openly at Madara’s sharingan for far too long.

“Marry Me.” Madara suddenly asks breathlessly and Tobirama’s anger comes roaring back. 

“I’d rather die again.” Tobirama snaps. Tobirama watches as the wonderstruck expression falls and is replaced by distress.

“You remember,” Madara whispers in disbelief confirming what Tobirama already suspected. Madara stumbles forward before dropping his gunbai and falling to his knees at Tobirama’s feet. 

“Wife.” Madara whispers, and Tobirama shivers. They stare at one another in astonishment, ignoring the battle around them. 

This was his husband. The Madara of his future. The man who ignored and neglected him. The Alpha that would never touch him. His beloved faithless lying backstabbing sack-of-shit husband. 

“Yome,” Madara continues, he sounds almost reverent and that’s what finally snaps the control Tobirama had over his rage. With all his speed Tobirama snatches the discarded war fan at his feet. 

"Who the fuck do you think I am? ” Tobirama growls before he backhands Madara with his own gunbai, clear across the battlefield. 

Chapter Text

Tobirama’s wedding takes place on the outskirts of a neutral village in a small temple where the signed marriage contract and ceasefire agreements are exchanged. There were only a handful of representatives from each clan and afterward, there would be no reception, no celebration. All that awaited Tobirama was a wedding night in a nearby Onsen. The Uchiha had rushed the process and Tobirama felt woefully unprepared for what was about to happen. 

Tobirama quickly risks a peek at his new husband who only stares straight ahead. Tobirama retains some hope. Madara is handsome and strong and Tobirama has long been attracted to him and mesmerized by his scent. Maybe it would be alright. 

After the ceremony, Tobirama pulls away from Madara to say goodbye to Touka one last time as Madara is pulled away from the gathering by Hashirama. Tobirama watches as Hashirama bends his head closer to Madara’s to speak lowly. Madara is stone-faced before he nods and pulls away from Hashirama. 

“Don’t worry,” Touka whispers beside him “I’m sure Hashi is just threatening him if he hurts you.” That’s what Tobirama is worried about. 

Eventually, they run out of excuses to delay the inevitable and Tobirama has to say his last farewells. Hashirama hugs him tightly one last time and when he pulls back he kisses Tobirama gently on the forehead. 

“It will all be alright,” Hashirama whispers before shooting a glance at Madara and then a nod. Then Madara offers his arm and Tobirama is led to his onsen where the marriage would be consummated. 

Except when they get there Madara hovers awkwardly near the door while Tobirama begins to remove his heavy and intricate wedding attire. While others bemoaned his short hair and the fact nothing could be done about it Tobirama is secretly pleased he won’t be spending any time pulling apart an intricate hairdo. He simply pulls off his hood and slowly but methodically pulls his clothes away, letting them fall to his feet until there is only a single layer left. 

Tobirama shivers as he wraps his arms around himself and looks expectantly at his husband. Madara's eyes are slowly roaming down his body and Tobirama can feel himself begin to blush. While he’s nervous Tobirama cannot deny the spark of delight he feels when he sees the blush on Madara’s own face. Tobirama finds his husband incredibly attractive and if Madara feels some desire towards him then there is still hope they could fumble through a wedding night that ended in mutual satisfaction. That hope comes crashing down when Madara suddenly turns away from him.

“Do not be concerned,” Madara spoke his words to the door he faced. “I do not believe in forcing marriage rights,” Tobirama feels his heart plummet when Madara reaches for the door to leave. Without thinking Tobirama is across the room and slamming the door closed before Madara can slip away. Madara looks up at him in surprise. 

“You can’t leave.” Tobirama almost shouts in distress. 

“We do not have to force ourselves—” Madara rumbles and Tobirama cuts him off. 

“If we do not consummate this marriage it will be considered invalid.” Madara frowns in confusion and Tobirama has the sinking realization that no one has told him about Senju marriage traditions. 

“The sheets.” Tobirama mumbles and feels himself blush in embarrassment. “They will come to collect the sheets in the morning.”  Madara glances back at their marriage bed still confused before Tobirama elaborates. 

“There… needs to be proof of consummation on the sheets.” Tobirama hates the growing comprehension and disgust on Madara’s face. “Seed, slick, and blood are expected—”

“Blood?!” Madara finally speaks up in horror “Why would they expect blood?!”

“It’s considered a sign of purity,” Tobirama trails off in discomfort.

“That is barbaric!” Madara hisses, stepping closer to Tobirama who backs away. 

“It’s what is expected!” Tobirama hisses back, glancing up at Madara’s outraged face. They stare at each other silently for several moments before Madara stomps back to the marriage bed. Before Tobirama can react Madara rips out an inner sheet from their bed roughly rubs it against his neck and pulls out a kunai before walking back to a bewildered Tobirama. 

“Make a small cut for blood and rub this between your legs,” Madara mutters as he hands Tobirama the balled-up fabric and kunai. “I’ll add the rest later.” Then without looking back he pulls the door open and leaves Tobirama alone. 

Tobirama is too shocked to move and he looks down at the kunai and fabric. He tries to smother the utter humiliation he feels. Tobirama stiffly walks back to their bed and after several mortifying false starts, he manages to follow Madara’s orders before balling the fabric back up and placing it on a corner of their bed. Tobirama hugs his knees to his chest and stares at the insulting fabric with apprehension. 

He tries to convince himself Madara's actions are out of kindness. That him fleeting their marriage bed at first opportunity wasn’t the bad omen it seemed. Tobirama reaches out with his senses and finally locates his husband on the other side of the village in a bar and he’s not alone. Any hope Tobirama has left begins to die when he recognizes the person sitting beside Madara. 

Tobirama spends his wedding night alone. Madara spends his wedding night in a bar with Hashirama. In the morning while Tobirama is bathing Madara will sneak in to put the finishing touches on their contrived proof of consummation.

Then the sheet is paraded to the Senju representatives before being returned to Madara who holds the folded fabric gingerly as they finally depart. Halfway to the Uchiha compound, Tobirama will watch from a distance as Madara violently burns the fabric until there is nothing left but ashes. 

Madara hits the ground once and then twice before he can get his feet under him to stop his catapult across the battlefield. He blinks several times while rubbing his jawline where he hits the ground before he can catch himself and looks back across the field at Tobirama who is already rushing him, gunbai nowhere in sight. 

Tobirama gets a few punches in while Madara recovers from the sudden hit but he quickly begins matching Tobirama and blocking his every move. 

“Tobirama” Madara tries again, only to jump back as Tobirama draws his sword to swing it at his face. Tobirama growls while swinging widely. Madara blocks his every strike while not attempting to land any of his own hits. 

“I would appreciate it if we could stop this and have a civil discussion.” Madara hisses when Tobirama lands a blow and draws first blood. 

“Shut up!” Tobirama snaps before Madara stops him mid-blow by grabbing his wrist. Tobirama swings with his free hand and Madara catches that as well, trapping Tobirama. Madara’s hold on him is reminiscent of shackles and Tobirama involuntarily freezes momentarily. 

They stare at one another again. Madara still has his Sharingan on and Tobirama is still breathing heavily. They have only a few minutes before Tobirama can no longer ignore his heat pain and Madara is pulled into a rut by Tobirama’s heat pheromones. 

“Yome,” Madara is pleading gently and his eyes search Tobirama’s for any sign of recognition. Tobirama responds by pulling his arms and Madara towards him while simultaneously throwing his head downwards. Madara’s grip on his wrists is weakened when Tobirama’s happuri connects with his face. Madara curses and stumbles back while Tobirama breaks free. 

“You’ve clearly lost your mind, Uchiha.” Tobirama hisses scornfully “I am not your wife.”

Madara is bleeding from his broken nose and while Tobirama expects him to be furious instead Madara looks dazed and despondent as he wipes the blood from his face.

“Playing dumb doesn’t suit you.” Madara finally responds, resignation clear on his face," but I seem to have gotten ahead of myself.” Tobirama raises his sword between them again. 

“You seem delusional,” Tobirama retorts and bites back a groan when he’s hit by a sudden cramp. In front of him, Madara takes in another deep breath and moans again. 

“You’re in heat and I don’t want to hurt you,” Madara says and Tobirama gives him an unimpressed glare.

“You’re not going to,” Tobirama promises with a feral grin as he begins to sidestep around Madara, sword still raised.

“I ran across Kei evacuating the field,” Madara tells him, and Tobirama pauses, internally cursing his soft heart. “She told me something interesting.” 

Madara’s eyes follow him carefully as Tobirama continues moving upwind. Tobirama looks down from Madara’s eyes and takes in the broad alpha's shoulder width and strong stance. It doesn’t take much fantasizing for Tobirama’s body to react.

“She says you spared her,” Madara claims and Tobirama watches with wild interest as Madara’s Sharingan seems to dilate, something to further study if he ever got the opportunity. 

“Did she ?” Tobirama scoffs dismissively before a strong breeze carries the new scent of slick to Madara. His eyes are so dark the only sign that Sharingan was still active was a small sliver of red ringing his dilated pupils. Fascinating.

 Tobirama shoves down his curiosity as Madara's chest begins to rumble. A low growl leaves Madara before his face flushes and he begins panting just like Tobirama. Madara has been sent into a rut. It’s the perfect opportunity Tobirama needs to send out his chakra signal and suddenly behind the distracted Madara, Tobirama’s shadow clone appears gunbai still in hand.

Madara very narrowly avoids the clone’s attack but jumps back into the path of Tobirama's incoming attack. Madara looks astounded as his eyes take in the two Tobiramas that attack him in unison. With the help of his sharingan, he is able to stay a step ahead and dodge the incoming attacks but makes no attacks of his own, much to Tobirama’s frustration. 

“Fight back you arrogant FUCK!” Tobirama shouts, causing Madara to stumble and misstep. Tobirama hopes Madara likes the bangs the misstep earns him. 

With Tobirama in heat and Madara in rut, it’s not the most coordinated dance and inevitably they have to separate to catch their breaths. Tobirama grins viciously at the very obvious missing section of Madara’s hair, expecting Madara to be furious over the mutilation. 

He is disappointed when Madara pointedly inspects the severed strands and laughs. 

“You never had this much fire in your blood, Yome.” Madara mocks him as he wipes blood away and Tobirama’s rage overtakes his mouth.

“Because you took it from me !” Tobirama roars, raising his sword again, “And then you had me killed!” Madara's smile is wiped off his face and Tobirama activates his hirashin. 

Tobirama aims for the same spot the assassin had and manages to shallowly wound Madara across the neck before he’s pushed back by Madara’s counterstrikes. 

“I had nothing to do with it,” Madara rasps out with a hand over his wounded neck and a devastated expression on his face. “I swear Tobirama, I didn’t know what he had planned.” 

“LIAR!” Tobirama shouts circling around Madara with weapon raised. “HE WAS YOUR CLOSEST ADVISOR, YOU—”

“I KILLED HIM.” Madara roars, eyes wide and spinning madly. They are both breathing hard and Tobirama slightly lowers his sword. 

“I killed him,” Madara continues “after I found you-” Madaras’s voice breaks and Tobirama steps back as the wildly spinning sharingan eyes begin to bleed. “I killed him when I came back.” Madara drops his weapons and holds his empty hands before him imploringly. 

“He will never touch you again,” Madara swears 

“You didn’t do me any favors,” Tobirama hisses “ I didn’t need you to protect me from him.” 

“He killed you,” Madara rumbles and the laughter that comes out of Tobirama is ugly. 

“Do you really think some second-rate  Uchiha cousin killed me so easily?” Tobirama sneers.

“I could not stand to be married to you another day” Tobirama continues trying to distract Madara as much as possible.

 “I let him kill me,” Tobirama confesses and takes dark joy in the disbelief and shock that Madara expresses. Suddenly behind the distracted Madara, a third shadow clone uses his hirashin to appear, real gunbai in hand.

Once again Madara is sent crashing through the battlefield by a hit from his own warfan.

 This time however Madara does not catch himself, instead landing heavily in a heap a few several yards away. Tobirama is sweating heavily and breathing hard when his clone hands over the gunbai and disperses. 

Madara is pushing himself off the ground, his face a mess of blood, most of it from his nose but some from his eyes. He is a pitiful sight but Tobirama hardens his heart against it. Madara is on his knees again but makes no move to stand. He looks dazed and in disbelief. 

“Get up!” Tobirama orders him while he lifts the heavy gunbai again and holds it out in front of him, letting water condense onto its surface before forcing it to freeze. Holding it by the iron handle Tobirama continues to freeze the water on it until mist radiates off of it he feels the iron become brittle. 

Madara stumbles to his feet and Tobirama lunges. 

Behind him, he can hear screams and he can feel the fluctuating chakra sources rush toward them. They won’t reach him in time but that’s okay. Tobirama has no plans to kill Madara here. It would be too easy. 

“FIGHT BACK!” Tobirama roars before he slams the brittle frozen gunbai into the ground at Madara’s feet and takes deep satisfaction when the iron shatters and Madara is thrown back. 

Finally, Tobirama’s heat gets the better of him and he falls to his knees beside the broken war fan. His final rush had put him in close proximity with Madara’s rut scent and Tobirama’s traitorous body was doing its best to entice him to mate. 

Tobirama tries to focus on the battles in the distance. Touka and Izuna have gotten closer and it’s probably their screams he had heard earlier. Hashirama is still further away, dealing with Tajima and Itama is still safeguarding the Senju compound.

He pulls his senses back and realizes Madara is stumbling toward him. When Tobirama opens his eyes Madara is falling to his knees in front of him. He’s a mess of blood and bruises and he has an awestruck expression on his face. Madara reaches out and Tobirama is overwhelmed by the scent of burning sugar. 

“You are a wonder,” Madara chokes out “and I do not deserve you.” Tobirama bites back a whine. It would be easy for Tobirama to shove him back but just for a moment, he lets himself be selfish and weak. Madara smells like burning sugar and Tobirama wants to be wrapped in the scent. 

Madara cups his face with one hand, thumb gently stroking a red line and Tobirama closes his eyes and turns his face into the warm caress. Tobirama has never been so aroused in his life and part of him hates that he still finds Madara desirable.  The red lines on his face are the first tattoos Tobirama had given himself. Meant to store chakra they are still rather new and quite sensitive.

Madara’s fingers begin to trail down his neck towards his scent glands and that is entirely too presumptuous. Quick as a viper Tobirama bites down on the offending hand while lashing out. Madara rips his hand back only to have to raise it back up to defend himself against Tobirama’s lightning fast hits. 

“You vicious little–” Madara hisses, interrupted when Tobirama spits in Madara’s face. Madara gives up all shinobi finesse and throws himself forward. 

Tobirama and Madara are soon grappling on the ground like children. Tobirama is biting, hitting, kicking, and scratching like a wild animal while Madara is busy trying to hold him down without actually hurting him.  

“Would you stop!” Madara hisses, finally managing to pin down Tobirama’s arms and straddle his stomach. Tobirama hisses and thrusts his hips up and pulls his hands down to unbalance Madara before impressively displaying his flexibility by wrapping his legs around Madara's waist and rolling them.  

Madara’s brain comes to a screeching stop when Tobbirama manages to reverse their position and both of them freeze when Tobirama straddles him and pushes down on Madara’s painfully hard dick. 

Neither of them moves for several moments as they stare at one another in wide-eyed surprise. Tobirama’s body betrays him once more and Madara moans as he’s inundated with the sweet scent of slick.

“Oh Fuck You!” Tobirama snaps before grinding his hips down and using the moment Madara is distracted by it to punch him in the throat. Madara lets out a very satisfying squawk and they begin to grapple again. 

Tobirama’s body betrays him yet again and the pain in his abdomen distracts him enough that Madara pins him down once more.  Tobirama is desperately out of breath, and extremely aroused, and unfortunately so is Madara. They quietly stare at one another while trying to catch their breath. 

“Now will you listen ?” Madara breaks the silence and Tobirama can’t help but snort in amusement. Tobirama twists his hand in Madara’s grip to make a rude gesture before smirking.

“Bye,” Tobirama spits before harshly biting through his own tongue and disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Madara is left reeling before he freezes at the touch of cool steel at his neck. 

“You really are a wonder,” Madara repeats himself with a dry laugh as he slowly raises his hands in defeat. “I’m sorry I did not treasure you as I should have.” 

Tobirama only barely stops himself from stabbing him then and there. He needs answers and he knows that Madara has them. Carefully he circles around Madara, sword still in contact with his skin, so that they may speak face to face. Madara looks resigned but not angry or sad.

“You used my seal work,” Tobirama states, already knowing the truth. 

“Yes,” Madara confirms as he wipes blood off his face, 

“What possessed you to use my half-finished seal to bring us back here?” Tobirama demands to know. Madara pauses only momentarily before responding.

“I didn’t know it would bring you as well,” Madara confesses and Tobirama is incredulous.

“You didn’t think,” Tobirama deadpans “ that my seal, anchored to my tattoos, set by me to the day of Itama's death, would bring me as well?” 

“You were dead.” Madara murmurs, staring at him warily and Tobirama's frighteningly clever mind has already put the pieces together. 

The time-bending seal was not the only work he had left behind. Tobirama knows for a fact the time seal he left behind should not have worked. It was unfinished. No one on earth could have finished it. No one had enough understanding of the inner workings and Laws of the universe. No one could see the threads that held the universe together.  No one but him.

“Except I wasn’t dead,” Tobirama asks, voice hard “was I?” Madara looks like he’s in pain and finally the terrible spiraling red eyes look down in shame. 

“No,” Madara whispers 

“You used Edo Tensei to resurrect me so I could finish the seal.” Tobirama accuses him 

“Yes.” Madara nods and in his rage, Tobirama delivers another shallow cut to Madara’s neck, a perfect mirror to the earlier wound. Right above his scent glands. 

“Even in death, you could not let me have peace.” Tobirama hisses “What possessed you to resurrect me? To use an experimental seal like that? Do you have any idea of the potential repercussions?” 

“You were dead,” Madara repeats, only fanning Tobitama’s anger.

“That seal was highly unstable, you could have destroyed the world—” Tobirama hisses.

“The world was already destroyed.” Madara snaps and Tobirama freezes. 

“What did you do ?” Tobirama demands to know, looking at Madara in horror. 

“YOU WERE DEAD.” Madara roars once more with his Sharingan spinning furiously. 

“YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT ME DEAD!” Tobirama roars back, pointing his sword at Madara’s face. “THOSE SEALS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN USED.”  

They fall silent again, breathing harshly as they stare each other down. 

“When Hashirama found out what happened he destroyed the Uchiha.” Madara gasps out, breaking the silence. 

“Hashi would never-” Tobirama retorted in disbelief.

“Hashirama went mad with grief.” Madara interjected, “...and so did I.”

“Shut up!” Tobirama shouts while the sword in his hands shakes “Hashirama hated the Edo Tensei he would never let you have it!” 

There was a reason Tobirama never used it to revive his brothers. It was incomplete as well, anyone brought back with edo tensei would be cursed to live a half-life at the whims of the seal master. Tobirama could never bring himself to do that to his baby brothers and Hashirama would not let him use it as a weapon so Tobirama has hidden it. Only Hashirama would have known where. 

“We were lied to.” Madara continues, his red eyes growing distant, lost in memory “We thought we were building the perfect world.” Madara laughs without humor before looking back at Tobirama with his terrible eyes. 

“Hashirama knew only you could fix our mistakes.” Madara confesses, "he told me how to bring you back so that you could finish the time-bending seal." Tobirama throws his sword aside before falling to his knees in front of Madara and grasping his clothes to haul him in closer. 

“Tell me everything,” Tobirama demands as Madara blinks several times before falling forward to press his forehead against Tobirama’s. 

Madara’s eyes spin faster and faster until Tobirama is pulled in and Madara shows him how he destroyed the world. 

Chapter Text

Inside the Uchiha compound Tobirama is greeted by stony faces and scowls. Tobirama fights down the instinct to hold his head high in proud disinterest. Instead, he recalls the hurried scolding of an elder Senju and he bows his head down in deference. He kept his eyes on his feet and lets his grip on Madara’s arm guide him. 

“This will be your set of rooms,” Madara tells him while sliding open the lacquered rice paper door to reveal beautiful rooms with bright light and the perfect view of the gardens. 

“It’s lovely,” Tobirama murmurs appreciatively.

“Please let the housekeeper know if there is anything you may need.” Tobirama turns to thank him but Madara is already walking away. Pushing away his disappointment Tobirama inspects the rooms until he reaches the last. Deep inside where it was safest Tobirama finds his nest room. Tobirama smiles sadly at the fresh and scentless linens that have been provided but does his best to arrange them in a comforting manner.

After that Tobirama does not know what to do with himself. He’d been left alone with no means to entertain himself or keep himself busy.  Madara and Tobirama are expected to remain in seclusion for a period of adjustment but when Tobirama searches for Madara’s chakra, all remaining hope within him dies, when he finds him in a well-known entertainment district. 

In distress and with no comfort to be found Tobirama turns to his old self-soothing habits and lets his mind slip away. Deep in contemplation his unfocused eyes stare out at the garden as he mentally jumps from chakra theory to seal work then to experimental jutsu. That’s how Madara finds him. 

“Tobirama?” Madara sounds worried as Tobirama blinks several times before finally looking up at Madara who was hovering at the edge of the nest. 

“I’ve been told you are refusing to eat?” Madara asks and Tobirama is surprised. The sun had long ago set and he was sitting in darkness.

“I didn’t mean to.” Tobirama confesses quietly ‘I was waiting for you’ Tobirama almost says but hesitates, worried that he’d sound pathetic. Madara moves to light the room and Tobirama catches the first scent of a stranger on Madara. Suddenly he recalled where Madara had been. Anger, disbelief, jealousy, and something that feels like heartbreak threatens to overtake Tobirama. He clenches his hands into fists and swallows down all the emotions threatening to burst out. 

“We missed dinner in the banquet hall,” Madara speaks while lighting the lanterns in his room. “but I bought food for you” 

“Thank you,” Tobirama murmurs slowly, pulling himself out of his nest. “Will you be staying?”  Madara visibly flinches at the questions and avoids Tobirama’s gaze. 

“I already said we don’t have to force ourselves.” Madara says “ I don’t believe in forcing those rights.” Tobirama can feel his face heat up and he knows he must be bright red. 

“I meant,” Tobirama clarifies while also avoiding Madara’s eyes “Will you stay and eat with me? 

“Oh..” Madara breathes out after a long moment “No I…. I should go…I need to go.” Madara rushes out leaving a confused and dejected Tobirama to eat alone.

In the morning he’s rudely woken when the housekeeper lets herself into his room. Tobirama resists the urge to attack her only just barely. She eyes his pathetic nest critically before informing him that his morning lessons with a Uchiha elder would begin shortly. She is overstepping his boundaries but in the name of peace within his home Tobirama says nothing. 

The Uchiha elder who is waiting for him openly views him with distaste before informing him that he’d been sent by Madara, with instructions to instruct and educate Tobirama on his future duties as the Uchiha Clan mother. The role comes with great expectations and Tobirama will need to quickly learn how to be an elegant and demure wife. 

 The elder omega was clearly once a shinobi and when Tobirama fumbles in his attempt to serve tea the elder suddenly whips out a fan before striking the back of Tobirama’s hand with it. Tobirama is in shock when looks down at the sudden welts forming on the back of his pale hand and the blood that follows. The tessen must have sharpened edges, Tobirama numbly muses. The elder is sharply scolding him for his clumsiness and Tobirama forces himself not to lash out. So begins the slow torture of Tobirama. 

Tobirama had known since the moment he had first opened his eyes in the past that he was missing memories. He didn't know exactly how he had suddenly risen from the dead and displaced in time but he had theories. Since infancy, he had spent countless hours studying the world around him, endlessly fascinated by the way it all worked. Curious as to how he could pull it apart and put it back together. 

When Kawarama died he’d studied death and rebirth and learned that the business of creation was better left to the gods. When Itama died he began to look in desperation for other ways to bring his brothers back and began his foray into the study of time and space. It is what he studies endlessly while hidden away in the Uchiha compound. It’s the work that remains unfinished when he dies… or so he had thought. 

Here and now mid-battle, when Tobirama is pulled into a red and distorted world he witnesses the aftermath of his death through Madara’s eyes. The moment of his death, the effect it had on Madara, and the fallout. Tobirama cannot reconcile the distant husband he had in life with the rage-fueled beast that tears through his own kinsmen when Tobirama dies. Madara had spoken the truth. He did go mad with grief… and so did Hashirama.

Hashirama, who had convinced him to set aside the Edo Tensei and convinced him to study energy, time, and space instead. Hashirama was always there to pull his brother back from his darker tendencies. Hashirama with his love and acceptance made Tobirama feel human. 

 He is in awe of the power that Hashirama shows the day he learns of Tobirama‘s death and Tobirama realizes that while Hashirama kept him human Tobirama had been doing the same for his brother. Tobirama feels his own grief at the sight of his kind and brilliant brother losing himself to rage and despair. 

With Madara half-mad and incapacitated, Hashirama decimates the Uchiha forces. All hope of peace dies with Tobirama and that is when it comes creeping out of the darkness. In their moments of greatest weakness Madara and Hashirama fall into a trap centuries in the making. It’s the final piece of the puzzle that Tobirama had spent several lifetimes piecing together. 

At a dizzying speed, Tobirama watches as the creature makes promises and tells lies that win Hashirama and Madara over. The world doesn’t have much of a fighting chance after that and it all happens so fast. Too fast for Tobirama to process, the memories are flickering past faster and faster and Tobirama wants it to stop. -

Tobirama begins to fight against the hold Madara has on him. He doesn’t want to see it anymore. He already knows how it ends but he can’t break out fast enough. He watches the world fall and he witnesses their devastation when the truth is discovered. Then he watches as his brother and Madara defeat the dark entity that had corrupted them. Then  Hashirama tells Madara the secrets he swore to keep for Tobirama. He watches as his brother sacrifices himself to bring Tobirama back. 

Tobirama stares at himself and watches as the blacked-eyed version of him falls to his knees, screaming in horror at the sight of his dead brother and his cracked skin. 

“Let me go,” Tobirama murmurs as he watches this “Let me go! LET ME GO!” 

He blinks several times and opens his eyes to a world with a clear blue morning sky. Tobirama blinks several more times and exhales the breath he had been holding before lunging out at Madara who was still kneeling before him. 

“You piece of shit!” Tobirama strikes out with the heel of his palm and hits Madara square on the forehead. The seal he lands instantly knocks out Madara giving Tobirama a chance to glance around the battlefield.  

Touka and Izuna are still fighting closest to them but they are wrapped up in their own battle of words so Tobirama doesn’t think they heard too much but Hashirama is racing towards him with Tajima chasing after him. 

Tobirama is still in heat, his breathing is heavy and he feels like his skin is crawling. Pushing his discomfort aside Tobirama stands and considers Madara’s unconscious form before making a decision as Hashirama arrives. 

“Stay back.” Tobirama hisses as he takes hold of his sword again and holds it against Madara’s throat. Hashirama freezes in shock and Tajima arrives. 

“Call a ceasefire.” Tobirama orders before Hashirama can speak and before Tajima fully takes in the scene. Tajima considers him carefully and Tobirama stares straight into his eyes. 

“Tajima,” Tobirama threatens, “I am all that you fear. ” The threat startles Tajima and with his son's life at stake, Tajima makes the only choice he can. Thus ends the last battle between the Uchiha and the Senju. He is still missing memories of that he is sure, but he suspects he knows why. Having a mind filled with the entirety of three timelines would probably drive him mad anyway. 

Tobirama then spends a miserable heat alone. He’s been overstimulated by Madara’s rut scent and it would take his instincts longer to realize no mating would occur. Locked in a separate room Tobirama thrashes around his bed trying to find comfort while furiously refusing to touch himself. If he gave in he knew he would not be able to stop his mind from conjuring Madara in all his glory and the guilt and rage that overwhelmed him would not stand for it. 

The overwhelming guilt is new and while he still has no memories of his Edo resurrection or the events that occurred after he does remember his previous life with Madara a bit clearer… and the life before that. He spins the new knowledge round and round in his mind but with pieces still missing, he can only hypothesize how he ended up where he is now. 

Finally, his racing thoughts slow as he begins to fever, signaling the end of his heat and once again he is carefully helped into a copper tub where the same omega as before helps him cool down by gently pouring water over his head. 

“Thank you,” Tobirama feverishly murmurs as more water is poured over his head he hopes this time around he can form closer bonds with the omegas in his clan. Tobirama never again wanted to be as isolated as he once was. The older omega coos over him and Tobirama lets himself cry silent tears again, certain this time, that his own mother had never been so gentle with him. 

When his fever breaks Tobirama doesn’t sneak out in the dead of night. Instead, he sits through an uncomfortable lecture about the bleeding that would soon start, signaling his cycle beginning again, how he was expected to remain in seclusion, and how he was meant to handle the changes to his cycle. 

Finally, Tobirama is released from his confinement and he quickly uses his hiraishin to land directly in his room. Immediately he hears the shouts of his brothers and rushes outside to check on them. 

“I can’t believe you’re considering this !” Itama is yelling in Hashirama’s face when Tobirama hurries into the room. 

“What is going on?” Tobirama demands to know and both brothers whirl around in shock to look at him. All worry drains out of him as Itama pushes Hashirama aside and rushes into Tobirama’s arms. 

“Tobi you smell so good!” Itama crows while rubbing a cheek against his. Tobirama takes a moment to marvel at how tall Itama’s grown before Hashirama also attempts to wrap his arms around them only to be sharply met with Itama’s elbow. 

“Itama!” Both Tobirama and Hashirama reprimand their youngest brother who looks unrepentant. 

“Hashirama wants to sell you to that pervert!” Itama hisses while maintaining his grip on Tobirama.

“Madara is not a pervert!” Hashirama defends his friend and Tobirama raises a hand to stop whatever defense Hashirama is going to attempt for his dear friend. 

“What is going on?” Tobirama sternly demands to know and Hashirama wilts. 

“Tajima sent a formal proposal on Madara’s behalf,” Hashirama tells him.

“Decline and send it back.” Tobirama hisses and Hashirama seems startled at the venom in his voice. 

“It was sent in good faith alongside a proposed ceasefire-” 

“NO!” Tobirama shouts and subconsciously grips Itama tighter to himself. “Did you not just witness me beat him half to death?!” 

“I told you!” Itama growls as he puts his body between Hashirama and Tobirama. “He wants to sell you to that pervert.”

“I would never!” Hashirama denies loudly but Tobirama silences him with a glare. Tobirama soothes a hissing Itama by running his fingers through his two-toned hair and marvels at how tall his younger brother is getting. 

“Did that pervert hurt you?” Itama asked with a scowl on his face, making Tobirama grin.

“No,” Tobirama murmurs nuzzling Itama's hair “he didn’t put up much of a fight.” Itama giggles and pulls away to look up at Tobirama. 

“Everyone saw you hit him with his own gunbai!” Itama cackles “I wish I was there!” 

“It was impressive,” Hashirama speaks up again and Tobirama is shocked that it is in praise of him. 

“You’re not angry I beat your childhood friend bloody?” Tobirama asks skeptically and Hashirama looks startled. 

“Why would I be angry?” He says as he tries to get closer to his brothers “the knowledge that you can handle your own against aggressive alphas fills me with comfort.” Hashirama laughs and ruffles Tobirama’s hair. Then he grows solemn again and looks at Tobirama with sincerity in his eyes. 

“I would never force you to marry,” Hashirama declares “but I want you to know I truly believe you and Madara would be good together.”

At that declaration, Tobirama takes a stunned step back while Itama lunges forward to punch Hashirama in the stomach. Hashirama gets the air knocked out of him and before long he and Itama are fighting on the floor as Itama tries to get more hits in. 

“You manipulative shit!” Itama yells while wailing in Hashirama who is doing his best to defend his face and his groin.  

“I’m not trying to manipulate him!” Hashirama cries out as Itama's hits keep coming

“You know Tobi does everything you ask him to!” Itama shouts, stunning Hashirama enough to land a solid knee to the crotch. The only thing that saves Hashirama’s face from Itama’s fist is Tobirama’s firm grip.

“Itama!” Tobirama yells as he pulls him off of Hashirama. 

“You know it’s true!” Itama yells as he weakly struggles against Tobirama. “He always always asks for too much! He knows you can’t say no, manipulative bastard!” Itama points and shouts at Hashirama with his free hand as Tobirama drags him across the floor with the other, away from Hashirama. 

“That's not true,” Hashirama murmurs with a truly distraught expression on his face. “You can say no to me Tobi, you know that right?” Tobirama looks at his brother for a long moment and says nothing. Hashirama visibly seems to slump onto himself and it’s a truly pitiful sight. No one says anything for several terrible moments before Tobirama sighs and breaks the silence. 

“I did say no,” Tobirama finally says, “Why did you still insist?” Hashirama’s head snaps up.

“I did not!” 

“Yes, you did!” Tobirama snaps back, patience thin. “Why else would you tell me you think we would be good together?!” 

“Because it’s true?” Hashirama said with full sincerity again and Tobirama grew angry. 

“Why would you think that?!” Tobirama snaps “You were friends as children, you don't know what sort of man he’s grown into, you haven’t had a full conversation with him since you were 10! What makes you think that he’s a good man at all?!” 

All of this is said with growing volume until Tobirama is shouting. After his final question, he stares down at Hashirama, breathing harshly and waiting for a response. The silence from Hashirama is deafening as Hashirama seems to contemplate something before finally speaking up. 

“We have spoken since then.” Hashirama murmurs and Tobirama scoffs

“Yelling at each other across the battlefield does not count Hashirama!”

“No!” Hashirama sits up and sighs before confessing his secrets to his brothers. “We meet every summer at the capital city in the Daimyos court and we send letters weekly.” Hashirama murmurs and both Tobirama and Itama are stunned and silent.

“Madara’s grandmother is a noble lady so he partakes in the summer courts and we trade letters using his hawks.” 

Both Itama and Tobirama continue to stare at him in stunned silence so Hashirama continues. 

“We’ve been in constant contact for years, I can show the letters!” Tobirama closes his eyes and puts a hand over his face as tries to remain calm. There is silence for several more moments until Hashirama whispers very quietly.

“Please don’t be angry.” Tobirama lowers his hand to glare at Hashirama 

“I’m angry and disappointed.” Tobirama deadpans.

“Nooo!” Hashirama whines and Itama laughs “I know I shouldn’t have kept in contact but-”

“I don’t care about that Hashirama!” Tobirama interrupts him “ You kept letters?! Do you have any idea what would have happened if you’d been caught? 

Itama slashes his free hand in front of his throat mimicking death and the grip on his other hand tightens as Tobirama continues to rant.

“The first rule of covert messages is to destroy them!” Tobirama hisses “And you risked meeting in person! In the Daimyo’s court! Where you were set to establish a good relationship with the Daimyo! Instead, you were running around the capital city with Madara!?” 

Hashirama is looking extremely chastised while Itama is shaking his head in agreement with Tobirama. 

“I did not neglect my duties,” Hashirama pouts, “We mostly met late at night in different Izakaya.”

Tobirama takes a deep breath so that he can continue to yell at his brother but something pings at the edge of his senses and he freezes. His seal has finally worn off and Madara is awake. All the memories and events of the battle he’d been pushing aside are at the forefront of his mind again. 

“Go get the letters Hashirama,” Tobirama orders him as he lets go of Itama’s hand “Go with him and make sure he brings it all,” he tells his little brother who salutes him and takes off after Hashirama. 

“And no fighting!” He yells out after them. He hesitates only slightly before hurtling through their home to attack the linen cabinet. His instincts are itching and while he is still angry with Hashirama his instincts want him to build them a communal nest. He takes as much cloth as he can carry and lets himself into Hashirama's room. Itama and Hashirama find him as he’s putting the finishing touches on his nest. 

“Tobi, it's perfect!” Itama crows before tackling Tobirama into the nest. Tobirama ‘s instincts preen in delight that Itama, who was by all accounts his child, was finally covered in his protective scent. Hashirama hovers nervously by the entrance, at the very least smart enough to realize he is not entirely welcome. 

Tobirama nuzzles into the crown of Itama’s head before finally turning to his older brother and holding out a hand. Hashirama sighs in relief and quickly joins them along with his squirreled-away letters. 

“Literally squirreled away,” Itama laughs “He hid them in a tree!” 

Before Tobirama can make his next move he needs to know more about Madara. Despite being married for nearly a year Tobirama knows very little about his husband and he doesn’t know how to feel about the honest words and sincere sentiments in Madara’s letter. 

Madara is an idealist like Hashirama, perhaps not as optimistic but he still has hopes and dreams of a peaceful future. Tobirama’s not sure why he’s surprised, he knows so little about Madara after all. Stumbling across Madara’s poems was bewildering. Tobirama pretends not to see Hashirama’s amused look when he rereads old worn paper and traces the beautiful words on it. The whole experience is confusing and painful, especially for Tobirama who can finally say with certainty, he’s spent three lifetimes love-sick over Madara Uchiha. 

When Itama and Hashirama finally fall asleep Tobirama finally takes into account all he has learned and how it fits into the knowledge of the past he had. Madara never made much effort to share much of himself with Tobirama. Madara spent most of his time ignoring him, instead choosing to go on missions or frequent visits to the pleasure district. 

At the recollection of Madara’s frequent visits, Tobirama reaches out with his senses. Madara is still in the Uchiha compound but the familiar chakra signature that he visited so often was easy to find. In an instant Tobirama's mind is made up. He needs to know who this person is, the reason Tobirama spent so many nights alone in an untouched bed and unconsummated marriage. 

It’s not hard to slip out of his nest and away from his brothers. The experience of their first proper omega nest since the death of their mother has dropped them into a deep restful sleep. Dressed for a covert mission it is not hard for Tobirama to sneak out of the compound either and before he can have second thoughts he’s already at the edge of the pleasure district seeking out the familiar and resented chakra. 

Tobirama had never been to this particular district but they all shared the same overwhelming crowds, sights, and sounds. This one has red lanterns illuminating the entirety of it casting everything in a near ominous red glow. The crowd swarms around one end of the street and Tobirama senses that familiar chakra. 

He’s never had the pleasure of watching an Oiran walk but now at a glacial pace, a magnificently dressed woman was parading down the avenue with dozens of attendants around her. Tobirama stands transfixed until the moment he can finally see her face and then he is shocked. The woman who’d Madara had spent hours visiting was clearly an Uchiha and a very familiar one at that. Tobirama mentally searches for a name but nothing comes up. 

She is so beautiful, it’s hard for Tobirama to believe he would have met her and forgotten her name. Tobirama watches as the Oiran walks past him and the old hurt in him begins to resurface. Combined with his unending guilt, Tobirama feels he’s seen enough and turns to leave only to be stopped by a tiny brilliantly dressed attendant. 

“My mistress wishes to meet with you.” Tobirama blinks blankly at her

“I’m not interested in—” Tobirama begins but is cut off. 

“My mistress wishes to meet her future brother-in-law.” The young attendant recites and then pointedly stares behind Tobirama. 

Tobirama glances back and makes eye contact with the Oiran and then it hits him like lightning. Tobirama didn’t spend much time around many Uchiha whom he wouldn’t now recognize and hate on sight. Tobirama did however spend hours upon hours praying at the memorial altar dedicated to the spirits of the deceased Uchiha ancestors. He was very familiar with the portraits there.

This Oiran is Kuro the black prince of the Uchiha, Madara’s elder sibling who should be by all accounts a beta and dead. Now, Tobirama knows a thing or two about hiding one sex but faking a death seems to be a uniquely dramatic Uchiha trait that Madara and his siblings share. Tobirama slowly nods and turns to follow the attendant. Between his missing memories and the resurrection of the Uchiha heir, Tobirama has more questions than ever but one thing is certain, Tobirama has finally seen an omega he wants to emulate. 

Chapter Text

Tobirama’s body is littered with dozens of wounds. Burns from purposefully spilled tea, bruised legs from canes and kicks, his arms are wrapped in bandages hiding tessen cuts. Tobirama heals none of them. He knows seeing them gives his tormentors pleasure, which in turn gives Tobirama some respite. Madara makes an appearance only once and he only glances at Tobirama’s wounds quickly. 

“Hashirama would be distraught to hear you are hurting yourself.” Madara murmurs and Tobirama bites his tongue to say nothing. He wonders if Madara honestly believes the lies he’s been told or if he just chooses to. 

“Would you like to be kept in constant guard?” Madara threatens “Your every move monitored?” Again Tobirama says nothing. He keeps his head down as Madara paces the length of his room.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” Madara asks, aggravated by Tobirama’s silence. Tobirama finally looks up and Madara can’t hide his flinch. It has taken a few weeks but Tobirama has discovered something about his husband. Madara doesn’t like it when Tobirama looks at him. More exactly, Madara doesn’t like Tobirama’s eyes. It wasn’t difficult to put together, especially with the maids whispering and calling him a ‘red-eyed witch’. 

“What would you like me to say, husband?” Tobirama coldly breaks his silence, glaring at Madara with the hate he can muster. When Madara says nothing Tobirama bitterly continues.  

“How about,” Tobirama solemnly declares “I want an annulment?”

“No!” Madara quickly shuts him down and Tobirama stands to finally face his husband. 

“Why not!?” Tobirama demands to know but instead of getting an answer Madara suddenly turns and leaves mid-argument. Leaving Tobirama with no answers.

In the morning when he goes to attend lessons instead of being met with the same Uchiha elder who so loved to wound him, Tobirama comes face to face with his father-in-law. Tajima Uchiha has always looked at Tobirama with a wary expression. 

“It’s time we discuss some things.” Tajima gravely intones and Tobirama feels like he is finally going to find some answer. Tajima is silent for a long time as he studies Tobirama. 

“Uchiha believe in soulmates,” Tajima begins abruptly and Tobirama freezes. 

By the end of the lesson, Tobirama will understand why they hate him so much. 

Tobirama is led through a backdoor and then upstairs into an elegant room at the highest level of the building. Tobirama marvels at all the pretty baubles and rich decorations. Whoever Kuro’s patron was they must be drowning in wealth to have their oiran living in such luxury. He is seated at a low table and expects to be waiting some time but is surprised when Kuro’s chakra begins racing back towards him, followed by several other chakra signatures. 

He’s even more surprised when Kuro appears in the window, looking as stunning and well-adorned as they had on the street. The only thing missing is the long, impractical shoes. Tobirama stares as Kuro gracefully leaps from the window and elegantly lands in the center of the room. 

“Tobirama Senju” Kuro greets him, “I’m so pleased to finally meet you.”  Kuro smiles gently when they bow. Tobirama is enchanted so he returns the smile and nods deeply. 

“Kuro Uchiha, I presume.” Tobirama responds and watches as Kuro’s kind smile dims a bit. 

“Kurohime Uchiha.” She corrects him “I’m Madara’s older sister.” Tobirama only blinks before letting his small smile grow more genuine. 

“Kurohime Uchiha,” he repeats and bows while a brilliant smile returns to her face. They both smile at one another for several seconds before Kurohime jumps into action again. 

“We don’t have much time,” she gracefully crosses over to sit opposite of him “I have so many questions!” 

Tobirama has several questions as well and he doesn’t know how to ask them without being unspeakably rude. For starters, How does an heir of the Uchiha clan become a high-class oiran? 

“I have several questions too,” He settles for and Kurohime laughs quietly.

“Well then I’ll let you start,” She graciously concedes but Tobirama is at a loss. 

“Why did you want to meet with me?” He settles on and Kurohime smiles softly

“Why wouldn’t I want to meet my brother's soulmate?” She asks and Tobirama frowns. 

“Soulmate?” He quietly asks and Kurohime also frowns slightly. 

“Did Madara not tell you?” She asks and Tobirama avoids looking into her eyes but shakes his head. 

“I knocked him out cold during our battle.” He confesses “We have never spoken before then.” 

Kurohime freezes for a moment but quickly relaxes after a moment. She takes a moment to pour them tea and then takes a sip before she speaks again. 

“You know the whole clan has been in an uproar since your battle.” She tells him “Izuna himself came to visit and tell me the news.” Tobirama says nothing so she continues.

“How a fight that should have been easy for Madara ended in defeat and even more surprisingly only defeat, not death.”

“I would have gained nothing with Madara’s death.” Tobirama quickly interrupts and Kurohime only raises a brow at that.

“An opinion not all share,” Kurohime responds and Tobirama says nothing

“Before today it was widely believed you did not endorse your brother's ideals of peace between our two clans, yet here you are speaking to me as a friend.”  

“I have always been my brother's strongest supporter,” Tobirama responds, and Kurohime studies him quietly for several moments before smiling gently at him. 

“Well, imagine my surprise when the man everyone is dying to know more about wanders into my district. How did you come to be here?” Kurohime asks and Tobirama feels like an interrogation has begun. 

“I wanted to know who Madara visited so often.” Tobirama chooses to be mostly truthful and Kurohime grins in amusement. 

“I was curious about you.” Tobirama carefully continues “You clearly keep close contact with your family and you are given several guards,” Tobirama gestures to the window where several chakra signatures still linger. “But you’ve been presumed dead for years.” 

Kurohime laughs and waves her hand in front of her. 

“My sharingan imprinted on a high member of the daimyos court and I ran away from home to be with my soulmate, but he’s married so this is the only way we can be together.  It’s not such a complicated story.” 

Tobirama blinks several times at the blunt honesty but doesn’t have time to collect himself before Kurohime continues. 

“But of course, you don’t know a thing about imprinting or soulmates” Kurohime sighs “When Madara gets here he’ll explain everything to you.”

 That makes Tobirama's heart drop. He casts out his senses and realizes that yes, Madara is on his way. 

“Did you mean to keep me here for your brother?” Tobirama asks, growing cold. Kurohime smiles softly and shakes her head. 

“I really did just want to speak to you,” She confesses sadly  “One of the Uchiha guards must have sent a message to him.” 

Tobirama looks at her and the genuine remorse on her face makes him relax.

“We really don’t have long then do we.” He asks softly and Kurohime gives him a bright smile. 

“No,” she laughs. “ That man will come bursting through at any moment.” 

“Then before he comes,” Tobirama pleads “Tell me everything you can”

“It may be best coming from Madara,” Kurohime insists “ He should have been the one to tell you about it all.” 

“Please,” Tobirama interrupts “I’m afraid Madara and I will simply argue and fight again before he ever explains anything to me.” 

Kurohime hesitates only momentarily before nodding. 

“Uchiha believe in soulmates,” Kurohime begins and Tobirama freezes again. He’s heard this speech once before. 

 “You believe that your souls are tethered by strings of fate.” Tobirama quietly interrupts. Kurohime looks surprised but nods.

“Then you do know something about it.” She says and Tobirama shrugs.

“Something.” he reluctantly agrees before continuing.

“You believe that those with the Mangekyo Sharingan can see these threads.” Tobirama says and is surprised when Kurohime shakes her head. 

“We do not believe it,” She huffs before smiling “We know it to be true.”  

“How?” Tobirama asks though he knows the answer

“We can see the threads,” 

“You can see all the threads?” Tobirama asks

“Just ours,” She quickly adds “the one that connects us to our soulmates I mean.”

“And that manifested when Madara first lay eyes on me?” Tobirama asks and Kurohime nods. 

“You made eye contact with Madara for the first time during your battle and his sharingan and chakra imprinted on you, immediately identifying you as Madara’s soulmate and causing such emotional upheaval in him that his Mangekyo manifested."

"Is that what happened?" Tobirama is unimpressed but continues “Then those with the mangekyo sharingan are the only ones who can see threads and no one else.” 

“No,” Kurohime pauses before continuing “Well there are rumors about blessed red eyes but that’s a myth.” Tobirama can’t help but grin and chuckle then.

“Are you sure?” Tobirama stares at her intently until he sees a tremor of unease run through her. He knows Tajima must have told her the same thing he had told him. More importantly, her kind demeanor and her willingness to offer him information is all Tobirama needs to know that Madara hasn’t told them something vital this time around. Madara hasn’t told his family that he'd actually first made eye contact with Tobirama years ago at the riverside.  

It’s too late to say anything more though. Madara is there, he can feel his burning chakra ascend the stairs towards the room. 

“It was nice to meet you.” Tobirama smiles once more at her “ But I’m afraid I must go now.” Kurohime blinks several times but says nothing more as Tobirama sprints to the window and throws himself out, or at least he tries to. He is forced to block a kick with his arm that forces him back into the room.

“Izuna!” Kurohime shouts behind him in reprimand but Izuna looks unbothered 

“I knew you would try to run.” Izuna hisses as he drops into the room blocking Tobirama’s exit. 

“You can’t expect me to make it easy for Madara.” Tobirama snaps just as the man himself bursts into the room. 

“So this is an ambush.” he snarls and Kurohime gasps

“Of course not!” she exclaims before beginning to chastise her brothers “You will treat my guest with respect!”

Tobirama sighs but relaxes his shoulders and finally gives in to the urge to look at Madara. 

Madara who is openly staring at him like Tobirama is water in the desert. Tobirama can feel himself blush but he forces himself to look away. 

“We need to talk, don't we?” He quietly murmurs while Izuna and Kurohime argue amongst themselves behind them 

“Yes.” Madara sighs out and it sounds so unbearably hopeful that Tobirama frowns. This is not his Madara, he reminds himself. 

“Why did you bring your brother then?” He asks just as Izuna and Kurohimes bickering begins to grow louder than the attempted hushed whispers. 

“He followed.” Madara shrugged and Tobirama rolled his eyes. 

“Is it to be a hunt then?” Tobirama loudly asks the room and the Uchiha siblings look horrified. 

“No!” Madara quickly denies drawing closer to Tobirama, then back with a glare aimed at him. 

“Then why are there so many of you?” All motions around Tobirama pauses including the hidden chakra signature just outside.

“I will speak with Madara alone or not at all.” He declares The figures around him remain unmoving until Kurohime quickly takes Izuna’s arm in with her own and begins to lead them toward the door. 

“It was lovely to meet you.” She quietly expresses as she walks past him “I hope we will see each other again soon.” Izuna simply stares at him with distrust.

“They need a chaperone.” Izuna whines and begins to pull away but Kurohime holds firm. 

“Tradition would require the chaperone to be of Tobirama’s family.” Kurohime reminds him sharply “Seeing as there are none then I will remain just outside this door. 

Tobirama internally bemoans how improper he must appear. He showed up alone at night in an entertainment district to meet with an Oiran and now chose to remain alone in a room with an unbonded alpha. Tobirama quickly shakes off any regret or embarrassment though. He was never going to be a good omega anyway. 

When the door slides closed behind them Tobirama does not hesitate before holding up a sealing paper and activating privacy seals around them. 

“You didn’t tell them about the first time we laid eyes on each other.” Tobirama immediately begins and Madara looks so confused.

“Is that what you want to talk about?” Madara asks and Tobirama rolls his eyes. 

“What do you want to talk about then?” he asks and Madara looks very serious

“Zetsu.” He firmly states

“....what is a Zetsu?” Tobirama asks in confusion. 

“The creature!” Madara exclaims and Tobirama takes a wary step back "The thing that manipulated us." 

“What have you been doing all this time if not defeating the creature that ended the world?!” Tobirama is suddenly alarmed 

"I have it trapped in a sealing scroll” Madara quickly defends himself  “but to destroy it I need Hashirama!”

“Oh gods I’m going to have to explain time travel to Hashirama.” Tobirama groans

“You haven’t told him?!” It’s Madara’s turn to be surprised 

“Why would I tell him?” Tobirama snaps back and then it dawns on him “Who have you told?” Madara looks sheepish only for a moment before confessing.

“My father.” Tobirama has to close his eyes and take several calming breaths before he can speak again.

“Why would you do that?” Tobirama demands to know and when looks back up, Madara looks lost. 

“I had successfully time traveled, I thought I was alone... I needed help and guidance to hunt the Zetsu.” Madara quietly defends himself and once again Tobirama needs to remind himself. This is not his Madara.

Tobirama quietly studies the unsure young man in front of him, untouched by madness and he mourns what he’s lost all over again. 

“What did you tell him?” Tobirama finally asks and Madara seems to hunch in on himself even more. 

“Everything,” Madara admits 

“Then you did tell them about the first time we laid eyes on each other.” Tobirama sighs. To his surprise, Madara frowns and shakes his head. 

“No,” he says and Tobirama is at a loss. 

“Why not?” He asks and Madara looks at him then, eyes filled with remorse.

“Because it ruined us.” He admits and Tobirama frowns. 

“What do you mean?” Tobirama asks and Madara rushes to explain 

“In our past life, I told my father and elders that it was not possible to be soulmates because we had made eye contact before, as children at the riverside…”

“And since I had red eyes like the myths of old your elders assumed I had bewitched you?” Tobirama correctly concluded and Madara nodded 

“The Uchiha have long believed red eyes are blessed to see the thread tying souls together… with your red eyes and my denial… I doomed you to suspicion and cruelty … I’m sorry.” Madara truly looks sorry but Tobirama has little patience for it.

“Madara, you didn’t doom us,” Tobirama snaps “We were never meant to be.” 

Madara looks confused and hurt by Tobirama’s sudden declaration and Tobirama decides to finally release Madara from this torment. 

“Madara you were right.” Tobirama declares “The myths were right… I took our threads and tied us together long after our first meeting.” 

“What are you saying?” Madara is shaking his head in wide-eyed denial 

“I’m saying,” Tobirama softly speaks “You are still missing part of the story and this is not the second life you’ve lived but the third.”

Madara is still shaking his head but Tobirama continues. 

“And in our first life, I took our separate threads and tied them together and then I sent us through time and space to our second lifetime… and you… you forgot me.” 

Chapter Text

Every Uchiha knows the Mangekyo Sharingan can only be obtained by someone who has gone through a great emotional upheaval. Some Uchiha get theirs through heroic acts to protect their precious people. Many gain theirs when they witness the death of their loved ones. A lucky few gain their sharingan when they first look into the eyes of their soulmates. They get to watch as their Mangekyo blooms into existence, and the first time they meet their soulmate's eyes is forever ingrained in them. 

Crouching down beside his mortally wounded brother, Madara doesn’t feel very lucky. On instinct, he rises to his feet and rushes towards Tobirama. He doesn’t get very far. Hashirama suddenly appears between them, and another Senju sprints away with Tobirama. All Madara can do is roar and rage. 

His sharingan has imprinted, and his intended mate has been taken from him. Nothing will calm him as he fights again to be reunited. He is lost in rage and grief as he cuts through Hashirama’s wood release and tears apart the landscape. He does not realize it is his own clan trying to reign him in as he continues to fight his way toward Senju lands. 

“Madara!” Hashirama yells while attempting to trap him with wood release, “Stop this so I can heal Izuna!” Madara thrashes against Hashirama for several more moments before his words penetrate the rage coating his mind. He slumps onto himself and is immediately pinned by Hashirama.

“Save him.” Madara begs “Hashirama! Save him!” Madara tries to turn in his binding to look back at where his brother has fallen, but his father is suddenly there, and his sharingan pulls Madara under. The Uchiha carry him and his healed but unconscious brother back to the compound on stretchers. Madara will be kept under sharingan influence, in a half-conscious state until his rut ends.

While he is sedated and held under Tajima’s power, it is almost unanimously decided to call for a cease-fire. Imprinting is sacred and rare. Madara is the first of his generation to have imprinted, and to a strong shinobi blessed with Amaertsu’s red eyes, no less. 

Long have the Uchiha looked at Tobirama Senju with envy, desire, and hate. Red eyes are desired above all else, and now, there is a chance that the Senju will bring red eyes into the main family line. There would be no fighting while Tobirama was not wed to Madara, and if Madara could not be with his soulmate, then he would surely go mad. The Sharingan would make sure of it.  

Madara is pulled into consciousness when his triggered rut ends, and he can better suppress the urge to tear out of the Uchiha compound and into Senju land. Izuna is sleeping beside him in a nest carrying his sister's mint scent. Slowly, Madara turns so he can hold his recently healed brother and breathe in his ginger scent. He tries not to think about Tobirama. 

He doesn’t have that luxury when he is dragged into a meeting with his father and elders a few hours later. Something has to be done about Tobirama and Madara. Half the elders wanted Tobirama stolen away or hunted so that they could continue their war against the Senju. Half wanted the war to end since Tobirama’s marriage to Madara would make the Senju kin. Amid all this, Madara remains silent.

In the end, a temporary truce is called, as long as the Senju hand over Tobirama. If Tobirama is not given to them then the war will only escalate and Madara would be permitted to declare a hunt. There were no scenarios for the Uchiha where Tobirama and Madara were not married. A message is sent with their terms, and the gathering disperses. Madara lingers until he is alone with his father. 

“Father…” Madara begins hesitantly. He doesn’t even know how tobegin to voice his doubts. His father remains quiet as Madara searches for the words he needs. 

“Tobriama and I have met before.” He finally stumbles out. His father studies him carefully as Madara’s doubts come rushing out. 

“At the riverside the day you found me with Hashirama, and I looked into his eyes!” Madara rushes out. “I remember I was surprised because they were red and they were pretty, but…” Madara falters then at the terrible expression on his father's face. “but I didn’t feel anything else.” Madara ends with a whispers 

“And you did not receive your Sharingan then,”  Tajima finishes quietly for him. Madara nods, hoping his father can explain away his doubts. Tobirama was his soulmate; the Mangekyou Sharingan he now possessed was proof!

 Unless he received it for another reason…like Izuna being struck down the moment before he met Tobirama’s eyes. His sharingan flares uncontrollably, and Madara claps his hand over his eyes in shock. Just the memory of Izuna being injured made his emotions overpower his Sharingan. Why wouldn’t the event itself be responsible for manifesting his new power? 

Another meeting is called, this one smaller, between only the most senior elders. Madara sits dazed as they begin to whisper among themselves. 

“Is it possible you could be mistaken?” an elder asks Madara, who vigorously shakes his head. 

“Our eyes met,” Madara confirms. “There is no doubt.” 

“Your Sharingan did manifest that same day, did it not?” another asks, and Madara nods. 

“But it did not manifest for him.” Madara insists and then he hesitates “It manifested because I needed to protect my family.” and because he lost a friend.  

“Are you sure?” they ask him repeatedly, and Madara insists that their eyes met and nothing happened. 

“What can this mean?” the elders hiss, and eventually, they all suspect the same thing. 

“The boy has red eyes.” someone finally says. “What if they are truly blessed?” 

“That is a myth.” another elder scoffs.”Never in living memory has one of our blessed been capable of seeing the threads.” 

“Never in living memory has a Sharingan failed to emerge when soulmates meet,” Tajima argues. “Yet here we are.” 

“You can’t possibly think this Senju has been truly blessed, and with his power, he has ensnared Madara?” 

“It does sound unbelievable, but what else can we assume from these events?” Tajima seems to have made up his mind, and he was leading the elders to the same conclusion. 

“It's too farfetched.” an elder stubbornly insists, and Tajima runs out of patience.

“Are you not listening?” he snaps. “My son has come to me with doubts about his soulmate. That alone should make us suspicious!” 

They cannot deny this, at least. Upon meeting their soulmates, most Uchiha would loudly declare their love and commitment to all to hear. Never has a Uchiha turned on their soulmate or doubted them the way Madara has. 

“Then what should we do?” someone finally asks, but no one has a clear answer. 

“If he is truly blessed, then there is all the more reason to insist upon the marriage,” an elder solemnly declares. “It would be a folly not to bring such power into our main line.” 

“If he is truly blessed, then he has used his powers to entrap our heir, and we can only assume for nefarious reasons. Why would we bring such a snake into our home?” 

“Madara has imprinted on him.” Tajima reminds them, “He will not know peace until Tobirama is by his side.” 

“Then we bring the boy here and restrain his chakra, and we watch him,” the elders finally conclude. Again, it is unanimously, if reluctantly, decided that Tobirama will wed Madara.

Madara’s brow furrowes in confusion and his eyes are unseeing as they dart from one thought to the next. Finally, his eyes meet Tobirama’s again, and they are filled with determination. 

“Explain,” he demands, and Tobirama gives him a long, hard look before he sighs and looks away.

“Why?” Tobirama asks, “It won’t change anything.” Madara’s determination takes on an angry edge, and he steps closer to Tobirama. 

“I deserve to know.” Madara growls. “It was my life, was it not?” Tobirama steps back to maintain distance and crosses his arms tightly against his chest. 

“You know how it ends,” Tobirama sighs. “Why does it matter if you know how it began?” Madara takes a step closer, and Tobirama takes a step back. 

“So that I don’t make the same mistakes,” Madara answers honestly, and Tobirama can’t help but scoff. 

“No matter what I do,” Tobirama mournfully recalls, “We keep making the same mistakes again and again ….and you can’t stop fucking up. ” He says the last part very bitterly, and Madara looks indignant.

“ I’m only human ,” Madara defends himself. “ Tell me what did I do wrong? ” 

“Nothing….” Tobirama begins hesitantly, “ … and everything.” Madara looks even more offended. 

“However, did I manage that?” Madara asks dryly. Tobirama can’t help but smile ruefully, and Madara can’t help but return the smile. They are silent for a long moment as they stare at one another. 

“I don’t know where to begin.” Tobirama finally confesses quietly, and Madara’s smile grows. 

“At the beginning.” Madara arrogantly replies, making Tobirama roll his eyes.

“Which beginning?” Tobirama mutters. “Yours or mine?” Madara tilts his head questioningly and the sight is so unbearably endearing to Tobirama that he feels himself giving in. He smiles at Madara sadly and braces himself. 

“I killed Izuna.”  He confesses, and Madara freezes. Tobirama watches in dread as Madara’s face shuts down, and his smile disappears. 

“I mortally wounded him in battle,” Tobirama says as Madara’s face grows harder. “It took him days to die… it was a slow and painful death.” Madara remains silent, so Tobirama continues. 

“It did not take long for the Uchiha to fall after that.” Tobirama says, “In our last battle, Hashirama asked you for peace, and you agreed… so long as I died.” Madara is gazing at him silently with an unreadable expression, and Tobirama continues. 

“Hashirama refused, of course, but he offered his own life in exchange, and only then did you accept and —”

“Hashirama sacrificed himself !?” Madara suddenly interrupts, looking shocked. Tobirama is quick to correct his misconception, though. 

“No! No…” Tobirama reassures him, “ Hashirama offered, but you rejected him.” Madara does not seem assured as he once again takes a step forward. Once again, Tobirama takes a step back. 

“You built a village with Hashirama,” Tobirama quickly says, “where the Senju and Uchiha could live in peace.” Tobirama can see that Madara doesn’t believe him. 

“If it was so peaceful, then why did you feel the need to go back in time?” Madara lowly asks him. Tobirama hesitates for a long moment, unsure how to explain what had happened and how the dream had fallen apart. 

“You left.” He finally admits, “Izuna was dead, and the man who killed him was constantly in your presence… to say you were bitter is to put it mildly.” Madara doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t have to. Tobirama can see that Madara is absorbing everything Tobirama is telling him, so he presses on. 

“You were not content with how the village was run and you grew resentful and hostile. You attacked the village several times until Hashirama was forced to fight you.” 

“I’m guessing he won?” Madara dryly asks him, and Tobirama huffs 

“No one won.” He bitterly responds. “You were dead, and Hashirama’s dream was falling apart.”

“And that’s when you decided to turn back time?” Madara asks, and Tobirama shakes his head. 

“No.” Tobirama softly replies, “Only after you were resurrected.”

“You used Edo Tensei to bring me back?” Madara asks, and Tobirama glares at him. 

“No, I swore never to use it and I kept my word.” Tobirama snaps angrily

Madara looks at him closely, assessing him for any lie until he scoffs and looks away. He is quiet for a long time before he looks back at Tobirama with a tired look on his face. 

“Then how?” Madara demands to know.

“I don’t know,” Tobirama finally admits. “You would not say, but I can guess it had something to do with the Sharingan.” 

“What do you mean?” Madara presses him, and Tobirama frowns in annoyance.

“You altered reality somehow.” Tobirama tells him, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

Madara flinches and looks away, clearly surprised. 

“You know,” Tobirama correctly surmises with wide eyes. “What did you do? Tell me!” 

“It’s a forbidden technique.” Madara carefully tells him, “It comes with a great cost, but yes… some Uchiha can alter reality.”

“How?” Tobirama asks breathlessly, excitement clear in his voice. The space he had previously put between them is gone as Tobirama takes several steps forward. 

“I’ll tell you,” Madara offers with a wry grin, “but only when you tell me about our first life.”

Tobirama’s eyes lose their shine, and his head ducks down as he avoids Madara’s gaze.

“What happened?” he asks, urging Tobirama to continue their story. Tobirama sighs before repeatedly running his hand through his hair. 

“When you died….no one wanted to claim your body,” Tobirama confesses, and it hurts Madara to hear it. Tobirama sees it in his eyes and the way his jaw clenches. 

“You were resurrected while I was preparing your body for burial,” Tobirama whispers as he recalls the way he had sobbed over the cold and still body that had once been Madara. He can feel the same tears well up in his eyes even now. 

“You called me pathetic for crying over you.” Tobirama laughs wetly as the tears finally roll down his cheek. “You were furious that I was the one who was left to prepare your body.” 

Suddenly, before he can wipe his tears away, Madara cradles Tobirama’s face in his hands. His thumbs gently wipe away Tobirama’s tears, and Tobirama feels his face crumple. The concern on Madara’s face is more than Tobirama can bear. It isn’t real—not for Tobirama. 

“I was desperate, ” Tobirama closes his eyes and forces himself to keep speaking. “I was out of options. Nothing else was going to make you stay.” 

He takes a moment to compose himself as Madara wipes away his tears. Unconsciously, Tobirama reaches up to put his hands on Madara’s, maybe in an attempt to remove them, but Tobirama is weak. 

“What did you do?” Madara softly urges him. Tobirama opens his eyes, takes a deep breath, and breaks an oath for the second time in all his lifetimes. He tells Madara about his greatest secret. 

“I made a deal with you,” Tobirama quietly admits. “I told you I could fix it all, that I could change what had happened… that I could bring Izuna back.” 

“With time travel?” Madara asks and Tobirama nods. 

“Everyone has grown up with stories about red-eyed matchmakers, with the ability to see the threads that tie soulmates together, but it’s so much more than that. We see everything, all the threads that hold the universe together; it’s all connected, Madara.” 

Tobirama can’t help but smile as he explains the greatest joy of his life. 

“It’s all so perfectly imperfect,” Tobirama crows, making Madara grin, “I see it all, every messy and impeccably balanced part.”

Madara still holds Tobirama’s face in his hands, but now that his tears are drying, he gently strokes the marks on Tobirama’s face. 

“Is that how you can send us back?” Madara asks, encouraging him to continue. 

“In a manner of speaking,” Tobirama admits, “There is an infinite amount of ways I could manipulate space and time, but I chose the easiest with the greatest chance of success and the smallest potential for backlash. I decided to take our memories of the future and transfer them into the minds of our past selves. 

The slight smile on his face falls as Tobirama finally pulls Madara’s hands away from his face.  

“The life we live makes us who we are,” Tobirama says. “We are molded by the past, and we keep a record of it in our memories, so that’s what I sent back, but I needed an anchor.” 

“An anchor?” Madara repeats, trying to follow along with Tobirama.

“Yes, I needed something that contained energy and existed in the present exactly as it existed in the past, and it had to be connected to us…that was the difficult part.” 

“We existed in the past and the present, did we not?” Madara asks, and Tobirama rolls his eyes. 

“Yes, but our bodies are constantly regenerating, and the permanent parts make up vital organs like the brain and the heart. I did not want to risk them.” Tobirama explains and watches as Madara ponders the dilemma.

“Your tattoos,” Madara finally remembers 

“Yes, my tattoos were my anchor.” Tobirama acknowledges

“What was my anchor?” Madara asks and Tobirama smirks. 

“I was,” he says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Why do you think I tied your soul to mine?” 

“That’s why you did it?” Madara looks uncomfortable with the revelation.

“Yes,” Tobirama confirms. “Unfortunately, I didn’t know how it would affect the Sharigan.” 

“You understand the universe's inner workings, but knowledge of the Sharingan evaded you?” Madara scoffs, and Tobirama glares at him. 

“I never got to study the Sharingan,” Tobirama bares his sharp teeth with a grin, ”Hashirama never let me keep any of them.” 

The implication causes Madara to act on instinct, and suddenly, he slams Tobirama’s body against the wall and growls furiously. Tobirama retains his sharp grin.

“You're trying to antagonize me.” Madara snarls. “Why?”

“I wanted to see if he was in there somewhere,” Tobirama responds, his grin turning feral.

“Who?”

“My Madara.” Tobirama crows. “The bastard that was supposed to remember me.” Madara looks shocked by the declaration and then furious. 

“We are one and the same.” Madara snarls, and Tobirama laughs.

“No, you’re really not,” Tobirama counters, smiling viciously at Madara. “We had a deal! I gave you a second life! I returned Izuna to you! You swore to offer Hashirama peace! You were supposed to save Itama! You were supposed to remember!”

By the end, Tobirama is yelling, with his fangs bared, ready for Madara to unleash his own anger. Instead, Madara looks pained.

“I can’t keep up with you.” Madara huffs in annoyance and anguish. “You go from one extreme to another, and I am trying to understand, but you’re right; I don’t remember…but you don’t remember either.” 

Madara observes his face carefully, and Tobirama understands what he must be referring to.

“I don’t care to remember my resurrection,” Tobirama scoffs. "By your own description, it doesn’t sound worth remembering.” 

“Neither does my first life,” Madara dryly retorts, “yet here we both are, bound by promises we can no longer remember.” 

“I made you promises?” Tobirama asks in disbelief, and Madara nods. 

“Yes,” Madara confirms, “and I intend for you to keep them.” His tone carries a dark undercurrent, and Tobirama feels a shiver up his spine. That sounded more like his Madara. 

“I don’t care about your intentions,” Tobirama hisses, finally pushing against the bulk of Madara’s weight, which still had him pinned to the wall. “I intend to live a life free of you!” 

Madara growls at his declaration and uses his solid weight to entrap Tobirama further. Tobirama seriously considers severely wounding Madara, but his next words stop him mid-strike. 

“You never got to study the Sharingan, so let me educate you,” Madara snaps. “The moment my eyes met yours, my Sharingan imprinted on you.” 

“I don’t know what that means,” Tobirama snarls, renewing his struggle to escape, “and I don’t care!” 

With that final declaration, Tobirama is finally able to kick Madara square in the dick and off him. Tobirama reaches out with his senses for the nearest hiraishin marker and pulls. He miscalculates how long it would take Madara to recover, though, and in a moment of pure horror, he feels Madara grab onto him before they are both swept away. 

When they land in a confusing tangle of limbs, Tobirama gets the air knocked out of him. He immediately shoves Madara off him and gasps for air, and Madara begins to dry heave beside him.

“You idiot!” Tobirama gasps out, “You could have killed us both!”

Instead of responding, Madara rolls onto his back and stares at the sky with a dazed expression. 

“You’re my lifeline,” Madara murmurs nonsensically, like it is a grand revelation.

“What?” Tobirama is utterly confused as he sits up. He looks over at Madara and immediately notices the blood dripping down his temple. 

“Madara?” Tobirama whispers worriedly as he scrambles on hands and knees over to Madara, who is still dazedly staring at the sky. 

Tobirama’s hands carefully hover over Madara as he quickly checks for wounds. There is some bruising, but the worst is the laceration on his head. He must have hit it against a rock or root when they landed. Tobirama’s hands glow green as he quickly heals the wound, and Madara blinks several times rapidly before focusing on him. 

 “ Are you trying to kill me? ” Madara groans, and Tobirama resists the urge to flick him in the forehead—no need to add more head trauma. 

“You are lucky you weren’t split in half,” Tobirama scolds him while gently running his hands along Madara’s scalp. There was no swelling, so Tobirama hopes a minor concussion is the worst of it. 

“What was that?” Madara asks as he lifts his head to glance around and finally notices they are in the middle of the forest. 

“A transportation jutsu.” When he tells him, Tobirama can’t quite keep the smug grin off his face. 

“You didn’t teach me that one,” Madara mutters as he rests his head against the ground again and closes his eyes. Tobirama peers down at him in shock.

“I taught you jutsu?” Tobirama asks, curiosity winning him over, and Madara laughs.

“Jutsu, chakra theory, sealing…” Madara lists off as Tobirama grows increasingly surprised. “Anything you thought would help me defeat Zetsu.”

That didn’t quite make sense to Tobirama. Out of all the Jutsu he’s ever created, he’d personally consider his flying thunder technique the most useful in combat. Not for the first time, Tobirama wonders what his reincarnated edo tensei self must have been thinking. He wishes he could remember, but part of him is glad he doesn’t. 

“Go home, Madara,” Tobirama dismisses him as he picks himself off the ground. Madara’s eyes snap open, and he groans as he swiftly sits up. 

“We are not done with our discussion.” He argues, and Tobirama sighs. 

“We are on Senju lands,” Tobirama informs him. “You need to leave before someone notices you here.” 

Madara quickly tampers down his chakra as he heaves himself off the ground but still makes no move to leave. 

“I can’t leave you.” Madara confesses, “Not for any great length of time, at least.” 

“Is this about the Sharingan?” Tobirama sighed exasperatedly, and Madara growled at the dismissive tone. 

“I told you.” Madara grits out, “My Sharingan has imprinted on you.”

“Fine.” Tobirama rolls his eyes and throws his hands in the air. “Tell me what that means.” 

“It means that you are the center of my universe and anchor to this world.” Madara rushes to explain when Tobirama stares at him blankly, “My people are passionate, our emotions intense, and without direction, our emotions can be all-consuming and uncontrollable.”

“And as your anchor, do you intend for me to suffer the burden of your intensity?” Tobirama asks spitefully, causing Madara’s chakra to roll in anger. 

“Only you would look at what I offer and find it a burden,” Madara growls. “We are soulmates—

“Except we are not,” Tobirama loudly interrupts. “Not really.”

“The red thread tying us together would indicate otherwise.” Madara dryly retorts, and Tobirama can’t hold back the ugly laugh that bursts out of him. 

“Have you not been listening!?” He asks in disbelief. “It’s not real!” 

Without thinking, Tobirama marches up to Madara, focuses on the air between them for a moment, then reaches out to twirl his finger once, twice, a third time, and then he pulls.  

Madara’s eyes widen as he stumbles forward, and his Sharingan activates instinctually. He looks down in awe at the thin red strand extending out of his chest and into Tobirama’s hand, where it wraps around his fingers. Similarly, a thread extends out of Tobirama and leads out to his hand, where Madara notices a slight imperfection. 

Delicate and pretty as a spider lily, Madara sees where their two threads have been knotted repeatedly. Clearly, when Tobirama tied them together, he was adamant they would never fall apart.

“It’s a mess.” Tobirama frowns as he studies the knots, and Madara quickly shakes his head. 

“It’s beautiful.” He murmurs and reaches out with the desire to touch. His fingers, of course, go right through the brilliant glowing thread. 

“It will take a long time to unravel.” Tobirama absently comments, and Madara’s gaze shoots up to stare at Tobirama in horror. 

“What?” Madara asks, hoping he’d misunderstood, but no. Tobirama raises his other hand and begins to pull at the knotted thread gently.

“Stop!” Madara demands, and when he doesn’t, Madara reaches out to clasp Tobirama’s hands in his. 

“Don’t,” Madara stutters out in panic. “Please.” Tobirama tilts his head to the side and carefully studies Madara before responding. 

“It’s not real,” he repeats slowly, which only further aggravates Madara. “What are you feeling right now? It’s just a product of the artificial bond.”

“I didn’t have a connection before, did I?” Madara asks, already knowing the answer, “That means I have no destined soulmate, and neither have you.” Tobirama hesitates slightly before nodding.

“Yes,” Tobirama quietly confirms, which is still a blow to Madara but one he quickly shrugs off. 

“Then what does it matter if we keep it?” Madara implores him, and he hates the pity he sees in Tobirama’s eyes. 

“You don’t want that,” Tobirama softly says 

“I do!” Madara insists. Tightening his grip on Tobirama’s hands, he pulls him closer. “I made a mess of our past life, but we can make it work here and now!”

“Stop it,” Tobirama pleads, trying to pull away from Madara’s grasp. “What you feel are false emotions generated by an unnaturally created soulmate bond.”

“I want you,” Madara persists, “and you want me! Don’t deny it!” 

Tobirama looks pained and opens his mouth, but nothing comes out because he can’t deny it, not truthfully. Madara sees this hesitance and grins victoriously. He releases Tobirama’s hands and instead reaches out to hold Tobirama’s face in his hands. He delights in the way Tobirama trembles as he clutches onto Madara’s shoulders. 

“Marry me,” Madara asks, and Tobirama stares at him with wide and frightened eyes. Madara softly strokes Tobirama’s face tattoos and is pleased when Tobirama’s eyes flutter shut. 

“Marry me,” Madara repeats as he slowly moves to kiss the corner of Tobirama’s mouth. Tobirama’s soft inhale and tightening grip is all the encouragement Madara needs. 

He kisses Tobirama slowly and softly once, then twice before Tobirama shivers and pushes himself against Madara, chasing after Madara’s kisses. The air around them is heavy with the smell of lemons and sugar as Madara smiles into their next kiss. High off of the success of their first kisses Madara deepend the next kiss and revels in the adorable whimper Tobirama lets out. 

Perhaps he pushed too far then because Tobirama quickly breaks off their kiss and pushes against Madara’s chest. 

“No,” Tobirama shakes his head frantically “We can’t.”

“Why not?” Madara asks, not understanding why Tobirama would deny his proposal. “You and me could stop this war.” 

“Have you already forgotten how hard you fought against our bond in our last life?” Tobirama reminds him scathingly. 

“I was a fool then,” Madara declares “But it’s different now, we both love each other now!”

Instead of finding any joy in Madara’s words Tobirama looks even more distressed.

“Madara, I have loved you in every one of our lifetimes.” Tobirama confesses miserably,”...and you have loved me in none. ” 

“That’s not true,” Madara denies, desperately shaking his head. “I love you now. I want you now!”

“Then let me undo this,” Tobirama begs. “Grant me this kindness.” 

“Why?” Madara doesn’t understand. He desperately wants to understand.

“If I don’t undo this,” Tobirama explains, “then I will always wonder if you choose me of your own free will or if you stay because the bond compels you to.”

Madara wants to further argue but the unwavering determination of Tobirama’s face tells him all he needs to know. He will not win this argument. He releases Tobirama and backs away. 

Madara’s mouth opens, ready to accept Tobirama’s desire to disintegrate their bond, but he is stopped by the sudden awareness of a familiar chakra racing toward them.

“FUCK—” is all he can yell moments before a root burst from the ground, catapulting Madara clear over the treetops and far away from Tobirama.