The Senju Brothers

Tobirama Senju stared at the small, slender figure before the offering table. His features, his little mannerisms, even his short black-and-white hair.

They were identical in every detail to the younger brother who had always followed him around ten years ago: Itama Senju.

He repeatedly swept his senses over the Chakra around the child. This was not a Genjutsu.

It was not some Uchiha trick. A living, breathing child stood before him.

Itama had disappeared on the battlefield ten years ago. Only shattered armor and a fatal amount of blood had been found at the scene.

Tobirama Senju had compared the blood. It belonged to Itama.

But aside from the blood gradually congealing on the blades of grass and the fragments of armor, they had not found so much as a piece of a limb.

He was nowhere to be found, alive or dead.

The clan could only treat him as killed in action and bury his belongings in a cenotaph. Itama Senju's name had long since been carved into the memorial hall's list of the fallen.

Later, following the slightest of clues, he had personally captured the five Uchiha who had surrounded and killed his brother back then.

From them, he learned how they had surrounded and killed his younger brother, Itama Senju.

He had since taken his revenge, but his youngest brother could never return.

Over those ten years, Tobirama had often dreamed late at night of that wild, overgrown hill.

In his dreams, there was always that pool of blood soaking into the earth and the old armor shattered beyond repair.

Now, as Tobirama watched the small figure standing before the memorial, he felt as though he had returned to the day that changed everything.

Hashirama Senju's fingers hung in midair. When he had touched Itama just now, the response etched into his very bones and blood could not have been mistaken.

This was not a Genjutsu. It really was Itama Senju, his younger brother who had been missing for ten years!

But his brother's reflexive flinch made him stop himself, afraid of frightening him again.

The already flickering candle flames in the memorial hall suddenly swayed violently as the Senju brothers' Chakra surged.

Tobirama Senju abruptly drew a Kunai and aimed it at the two strangers.

His throat bobbed as he forced down all the regret, anger, and disbelief choking his chest. In a hoarse voice, he managed to say:

"Itama...?"

He had not spoken that name aloud in ten years.

He saw the child instinctively take half a step back at the sound, his shoulders trembling slightly.

It was exactly how he had reacted when frightened back then, right down to the rhythm of his trembling.

"We are not enemies, Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju." Utsusemi stepped half a pace forward, quietly shielding Itama at her side.

She calmly met the brothers' murderous gazes. "Itama can stand here because of my time Ninjutsu."

"My Ninjutsu can freeze the time of someone on the verge of death," she explained. "I happened to pass by when he fell on the battlefield ten years ago."

She turned her head toward Itama, who was peeking out from behind her. "He remained asleep until recently, when my ability broke through and I was able to release him."

Hashirama stared into Utsusemi's eyes, his pupils contracting sharply in the wavering candlelight. "You... where did you hide him?"

Utsusemi raised her head, the beads of her curtain clinking crisply with the movement. "Outside time."

Itama clutched the corner of Utsusemi's sleeve. The two tall, intensely imposing brothers before him

looked nothing like the boys in his memories who had ruffled his hair and slipped him candy.

Their fiercely aggressive Chakra surged toward him like a tide, leaving him feeling as though they were strangers and making him afraid.

But he had to protect Utsusemi, who had never fought anyone before.

Hashirama saw Itama hiding behind the woman, trembling as he clutched her clothing.

He staggered half a step back and fell to his knees on the cushion before the memorial tablet.

He raised a trembling hand, only to stop himself.

He was afraid that if he startled Itama, the younger brother he had found again would vanish like smoke.

Large tears struck the floor tiles as he sobbed, choking out, "Why didn't you come sooner...?"

His shoulders heaved violently. The ecstasy of having his brother back and the longing he had held down for ten whole years all poured out with those choked words.

"Even a few days earlier would have been enough... Father could have known his youngest son was still alive... He could have passed away in peace..."

The sacred rope in the memorial hall swayed in the draft as Itama knelt before his father's memorial tablet.

For the third time, Hashirama looked at the old wound on his younger brother's wrist.

Utsusemi opened her magnificent folding fan, positioning it just so to shield the trembling Itama behind it.

The brothers' surging Chakra pressed down on Itama until he could barely breathe, and he could not help coughing softly.

That small reaction made all three adults in the memorial hall tense at once.

Hashirama and Tobirama simultaneously restrained their killing intent, their vast Chakra vanishing in an instant. Only then did the tense air in the memorial hall ease.

In the candlelight filtering through the gaps between the fan's ribs, Itama saw his two brothers' probing gazes pass through the fan and fix directly on Utsusemi.

Their eyes were full of wariness, but they also held doubts they could not suppress.

"If there is anything you two wish to know, please speak plainly," Utsusemi said frankly.

Tobirama Senju pressed his Kunai against the edge of the folding fan, but Hashirama reached back and caught his wrist, shaking his head slightly to stop him from acting rashly.

One brother pressed forward while the other held him back. Both restrained their strength as they engaged in a small, highly controlled contest.

Utsusemi watched the brothers' quarrel with her face hidden behind her fan, while Itama clutched the corner of her clothing.

Should I get ready to act at any moment, as we agreed before we set out?

Do I really have to fight my two brothers?

The gesture made Tobirama's pupils contract sharply. The brothers exchanged a glance and stopped, decades of understanding bringing them to an agreement.

"This memorial hall is hardly the place to discuss serious matters." The tension and wariness vanished from Hashirama's face, and he gestured for Utsusemi to follow him. "Lady Utsusemi, would you join me in the tearoom in the side courtyard?"

"Allow me, the newly appointed head of the Senju, to properly entertain you, the great benefactor of our Senju Clan."

When Itama saw Utsusemi about to leave with Hashirama, he immediately followed.

He had barely taken a step when a warm, strong hand settled on his shoulder.

Tobirama held him with carefully controlled strength. Itama struggled twice but could not move, and could only stop where he was.

"It's all right, Itama." Utsusemi gave him a calm glance. "Stay here. He won't do anything to me."

Itama was still worried. He looked up and stared straight at Hashirama. "Big brother, swear it!"

Hashirama Senju bent down and looked tenderly at the younger brother he had found again. "I swear on the Senju that I will never harm the person who saved your life."

At that promise, Itama's tense face finally relaxed, and he smiled for the first time since entering the hall that day.

He did not want to fight his brothers. He hoped everyone could get along.

Besides, Utsusemi had brought him back to help him fulfill his wish of seeing his father off one last time.

He hoped Utsusemi could accept reality. She could not hide in the Spacetime Tower forever, staring blankly at frozen time.

Unable to escape the lingering depression and stress that had trapped her since transmigrating.

Itama watched the two leave before turning to look at his second brother, who stood before him.

He was no longer the rosy-cheeked boy in Itama's memories. The youthfulness had faded from his features, leaving them cold and sharp, familiar yet strange.

Tobirama looked at him, swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue, and slowly reached out a hand.

Itama instinctively shrank half a step back, avoiding the hand.

He was traumatized by unfamiliar adult male ninja, especially since Tobirama also had red eyes.

Tobirama's hand paused in midair, and he did not reach any closer.

He took the initiative to step half a pace back, naturally maintaining a subtle distance that let Itama feel comfortable.

"Let's talk too, Itama." Tobirama looked at him, his expression softening. "I've missed you very much these past ten years."

Itama watched his second brother without looking away and nodded gently. "All right, second brother."

In the tearoom, Hashirama sat across from Utsusemi. "Thank you, Utsusemi, for saving my younger brother, Itama Senju."

He personally pushed the maple dew tea toward her. "Will Itama's body still grow?"

He kept unconsciously leaning forward as he spoke. "The flow of time inside the barrier... It's still worrying, after all."

Utsusemi held her folding fan in front of her face, avoiding his approach. "Now that he's out of the barrier, he'll grow as he originally would have."

Hashirama abruptly bowed from his seat, his head striking the tatami. "Lady Utsusemi, the Senju Tribe will never forget the kindness you showed in saving Itama."

"There's no need for such formality." Utsusemi asked softly, "Have you ever considered... what if Itama had stayed inside the barrier forever?"

"Then I would have gone to the edge of the barrier and waited for him every day." He gave a childlike smile. "Just like our mother used to wait for us to come back from the battlefield when we were little."