Eyes × Tobirama

Tobirama gestured expressionlessly for Izuna to sit somewhere with better light.

Madara stood nearby, the air around him still oppressive, his gaze fixed on Izuna.

Izuna sat down obediently, his heart in turmoil as he frantically tried to think of a way to bluff his way through.

Tobirama put on the specially made glasses. Their lenses reflected a faint glimmer, hiding the emotion in his eyes.

He pulled on his gloves and reached out, preparing to examine the flow of chakra and the physiological condition around Izuna's left eye.

But the moment his fingers touched Izuna's left eyelid, just as he lifted it—

"Pop."

A sound so familiar it made Madara's heart stop rang out.

At the very moment Tobirama's fingertips were about to apply pressure, the black eyeball slipped out of its socket on its own, remarkably smoothly.

It landed neatly in Tobirama's palm, which he had opened on instinct.

The whole process was so effortless it sent chills down the spine.

Izuna blinked his remaining right eye, a look of mild fascination appearing on his face. "Huh, it fell out so smoothly this time... What a strange feeling," he muttered.

Madara: "..."

The corner of Madara's eye twitched uncontrollably, and a vein throbbed faintly at his temple.

He stared at the eyeball in Tobirama's palm, then at Izuna's empty eye socket, feeling his blood pressure and heart rate testing new limits.

Tobirama: "..."

Even Tobirama Senju, who had weathered countless storms and witnessed innumerable laboratory accidents and battlefield horrors, nearly had his brain shut down.

He looked down at the warm eyeball in his palm, feeling its bizarre texture, then looked up at Izuna, whose expression was perfectly normal...

An indescribable, absurd feeling welled up in him.

Uchiha Izuna... How on earth did this guy grow up in that other world?

How could he talk about such a serious malfunction involving an important organ in such a casual, even slightly curious tone?

Was he so carefree that he didn't realize how serious the problem was?!

What kind of environment did he live in to be so used to something this horrifying?!

"Izuna!" Madara finally found his voice. "Your eye... Has the problem gotten this serious?! It falls out on its own?! You... Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

His voice was full of anguish and self-reproach.

Without his knowledge, his little brother's eye had gotten this "broken," yet his various doubts and observations had kept him from forcing Izuna to get treatment immediately!

Startled by the sudden rise in Madara's voice, Izuna gave a full-body shudder, his eye widening. Then, as though a switch had been flipped...

Under Madara and Tobirama's astonished gazes, Izuna's shoulders slumped and his head drooped, his whole body instantly shrouded in a gloomy aura.

He hung his head, his fingers unconsciously picking at the edge of the tatami, and began muttering. His voice was quiet but clear enough to hear:

"Would telling you have helped...? Big brother, you'd just worry more, then go looking for trouble with Brother Hashirama with that dark look on your face... Or force Tobirama to work overtime fixing my eye..."

"My eye fell out on its own. What could I do...? It's not like I wanted it to fall out..."

"And Tobirama too, showing up with that cold face and asking me all those questions... Like I broke my eye on purpose..."

"Brother Hashirama wouldn't be like that... He'd definitely say, 'It's all right, Izuna! There's always a way!' And he'd bring me three-color dango too..."

That tone, that posture, the gloom radiating from him, almost tangible...

Madara's eyes shook.

Th-this familiar feeling.

Hashirama! It was that idiot Hashirama's signature habit of getting depressed!

The highest-level alarm instantly went off in Madara's head, and a nameless rage mixed with the grief and indignation of having his precious cabbage rooted up by a pig rushed to his head.

Fuck! Hashirama Senju! You bastard!!! What the hell did you do to my little brother?! What kind of nonsense did he learn from being around you?! Did you even pass your depression habit on to him?! I knew it! I knew you were up to no good when you got close to Izuna!!!

Madara's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, his fists cracking as he clenched them. Even the look he cast Tobirama was tinged with misdirected anger. Is there something wrong with your Senju Clan's personalities?! One of you infected two others?!

At that moment, a distinct crack also appeared in the mask of calm on Tobirama Senju's face.

His facial muscles twitched uncontrollably as his red eyes fixed on Uchiha Izuna, who had curled up in a corner drawing circles and radiating a Hashirama-style aura of depression.

This guy... Uchiha Izuna... Wasn't he supposed to be aloof, arrogant, and sharp-tongued?!

Who is this aggrieved mushroom, muttering complaints and putting others down while praising someone else?!

Big brother from the other world... What on earth did you teach him?! No, wait, can this really be taught?! This is personality contamination!

No!

Tobirama Senju abruptly came to his senses.

Why am I accepting the premise of "another world"?! Why am I assuming this weirdly behaving guy is Uchiha Izuna?! This is ridiculous!

His reason was screaming, but Izuna's natural, vivid performance, with a modern person's characteristic tendency to put on an act anywhere and anytime, left Tobirama feeling utterly powerless.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his churning urge to complain and investigate, and warned himself: Calm down, Tobirama Senju. Don't get sidetracked. Don't let this unconfirmed impostor lead you astray!

"...Enough." Tobirama coldly interrupted Izuna's muttering and forced his attention back to the eyeball in his hand. "I'll examine it first."

He stopped looking at the Uchiha brothers and concentrated instead, placing the eyeball in formalin before carefully extending his chakra into the warm eyeball and activating the instrument's analysis function.

Fine strands of chakra traveled through the structures inside the eyeball, sensing them. The instrument, covered in tadpole-like technical terms, gave a faint hum.

The tissue was highly active, the nerve connection ports were intact, and the basic structures for visual transmission were present...

However, the deeper his examination went, the more tightly Tobirama frowned.

Something's wrong.

Very wrong.

Aside from Uchiha Izuna's chakra, this eyeball also contained another chakra signature, extremely faint but impossible to ignore, brimming with vigorous life force.

He could not have been more familiar with this chakra.

It was his older brother Hashirama Senju's chakra.

Although it was extremely diluted, only a slight lingering trace, Tobirama would never mistake that vibrant aura belonging to Hashirama Senju.

Tobirama Senju: "...?"

He raised his head, his red eyes sharp as blades behind the lenses. He looked first at the motionless eyeball, then slowly shifted his gaze to Izuna, whose head was still drooping. Finally, his eyes met Madara's.

Madara frowned. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Was this right?

Why would an eye belonging to Uchiha Izuna, supposedly cultivated by Tobirama himself, contain traces of Hashirama Senju's chakra?

And judging by how the chakra had fused, it did not seem to have been forcibly injected by an outside force. It was more as though it had been one of the basic components from the very start of cultivation.

He thought of the Senju-style Taijutsu Izuna had somehow mastered, and the depressed state just now, which had been too familiar for him to ignore.

Could it be... In that so-called parallel world, their relationship really was that good?!

He knew how vigorous his older brother's life force was, so vigorous it was almost inconceivable. He, Tobirama, could not possibly leave such an excellent research subject alone and do nothing.

Even though his brother objected, he had secretly conducted many experiments, but his brother had opposed them all the same, and he had been unable to continue his research in depth.

But in the other world... He could actually find a trace of his brother's chakra in Uchiha Izuna's eye!

How was that possible?!

Aside from Madara, no one in this world could truly hurt his brother. In other words, for this "Izuna" to obtain enough sample material, he really could only have come from a parallel world, just as Tobirama had surmised.

But how had he done it?

Was he really that charming? Even big brother agreed to his experiments and willingly contributed his own cells, just to make an eye for Izuna?!

Tobirama's breathing quickened almost imperceptibly for an instant.

He stared intently at Izuna, trying to find even the slightest sign of concealment or guilt on the face that still bore traces of "depression."

But Izuna merely looked back at him innocently. He even blinked his long-lashed eye because they had held each other's gaze a little too long, and an appropriately confused and uneasy look appeared on his face. "Wh-what is it, Tobirama? Is the problem with my eye... serious?"

His voice held just the right amount of concern, along with an air of dependence that said, "I'm counting entirely on you."

He looked every bit like a well-protected, naive innocent who knew nothing about the technical details and only knew to seek out a "professional" when his eye was uncomfortable.

Damn it!

Madara also noticed the sudden change in Tobirama's expression and his unusually grave gaze. His heart tightened. "Tobirama, what exactly is going on? Izuna's eye..."

Tobirama did not answer immediately.

He lowered his head again, carefully sensing the traces of his brother's chakra in the eyeball, his mind racing.

If this really was a product cultivated using his brother's cells, then the parallel world theory was true.

This person really had come from a parallel world.

But that raised even more questions.

Why had the "him" of that world and his brother agreed to conduct such a taboo experiment?

Just how close were they to the Uchiha brothers? Would Madara Uchiha agree to have Hashirama Senju's cells fused into his little brother's eye?

And this Izuna before him... Did he genuinely not know, or was he acting?

Looking at Izuna's clear yet foolish gaze, Tobirama leaned toward the former.

An image gradually took shape in Tobirama's mind: Uchiha Izuna, pampered by his brother, protected by Madara Uchiha, and possibly even looked after with resignation by Tobirama's counterpart in that world, spoiled a little "useless" and far too happy.

So that's how it is...

Tobirama closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he had regained his usual composure.

"The preliminary examination shows that the eyeball is highly active and its basic structure is intact." He gave a selective report, skipping over the most sensitive part. "But there's a serious defect in the stability of the connection, causing it to fall out frequently. There's also obvious interference in the transmission of optic nerve signals, which may be why your vision is blurry."

He handed the eyeball back to Izuna, his movements slightly stiff. "I need more detailed 'cultivation' records and initial parameters before I can make targeted repairs. Izuna, there was a recent accident in my laboratory, and all the information on your eye is gone. Do you know what to do?"

He tossed the question and the eyeball back to Izuna, watching his reaction closely.

Izuna fumbled to catch his own eyeball. At those words, he froze for a moment, then an awkward "well, about that" expression appeared on his face.

"Let me think." He thought hard. "Uh... I don't know the details of your experiments at all. They were too much trouble to remember, so I didn't memorize them. But you said something like..."

"Two opposing forces, united as one, give birth to all things."

Madara's eyes widened slightly. Wasn't that what was written on the stone tablet, something only the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan could reveal?

How would Izuna... No, how would Tobirama know? Could I have told him?

"Two opposing forces, united as one, give birth to all things?" Tobirama repeated. He pondered it. What did it mean?

Izuna tilted his head. "Yes, that's it. You said those words were the key." He pouted. "You were really fierce about it too. You said, 'Even if you forget your own surname, you can't forget these words! Burn them into your memory!' Honestly, my memory isn't that bad!"

Tobirama: "..."

He felt his temples throbbing.

What the hell was the other me doing?!

He didn't even tell the person involved about something as serious as cultivating a Sharingan with Hashirama's cells?!

I can't take this. I really want to go to that world, grab the guy by the collar, and punch him.

How did they manage to treat Uchiha Izuna, a shrewd, difficult guy who should have been as calculating as a fox, like a naive fool?!

Izuna, don't you think you should have more information before you can feel at ease?!

He really only remembered that one sentence! I...

Tobirama took a deep breath, his vision darkening.

From anger.

All right, let's sum this up first.

In other words, aside from the defective eye itself, there was currently no direct evidence that could tell him anything more.

And this Izuna before him seemed unable to provide any more useful information beyond complaints and dependence.

What a nuisance, just as I thought.

Tobirama reached his conclusion.

"I understand." He stood up, his tone level. "I'll find a way. In the meantime, keep strenuous activity to a minimum and avoid direct impacts to your eye. If it falls out again, put it back promptly. I assume Madara has already learned how."

He glanced at Madara, who gave a cold snort, tacitly confirming it.

"As for a permanent solution..." Tobirama paused. "That will take time."

"Oh, okay. Sorry for the trouble, Tobirama." Izuna nodded obediently. "Then hurry back and look through your records! Fix it as soon as you can!"

Tobirama said no more. He gave Madara a slight nod, then turned and left, his steps considerably quicker than when he had arrived.

He needed to go back immediately and sort through the information he had obtained today.

They watched Tobirama leave, and the sliding door closed again.

Izuna secretly breathed a sigh of relief and stole a glance at Madara, whose expression still did not look good. He spoke cautiously. "Brother... If there's nothing else... I'll go back to my room..."

Madara turned sharply and looked at him with a complicated expression.

"Izuna, don't go yet." Madara's voice was somewhat hoarse. "About your eye... Why did you say you were used to it?"

Izuna's heart skipped a beat.

Here it comes, the ultimate interrogation!