Hashirama × The Habit of Getting Depressed

After leaving the Uchiha residence, Tobirama headed straight for the Hokage Building.

He needed to gather his thoughts immediately and tell Big Brother what he had just discovered.

When he pushed open the door to the Hokage's office, Hashirama Senju was sitting obediently behind his desk, which was piled high with paperwork. His brow was furrowed, one hand propping up his chin and the other holding a file—though judging by his vacant stare, his thoughts had probably wandered far away.

Tobirama paused.

These past few days, Big Brother had been behaving himself and had stopped causing trouble at the casino... because of Uchiha Izuna.

Tobirama thought with some exasperation.

Does this count as one of the few positive effects that troublesome Uchiha Izuna has had? I didn't expect this to make Big Brother behave. Should I thank him?

"Big Brother." Tobirama spoke, interrupting Hashirama's wandering thoughts.

"Hm? Ah! Tobirama! You're back!" Hashirama snapped to attention and dropped the file. A smile immediately spread across his face, and he spoke with a hint of eagerness and curiosity. "Well? How did it go? Did you see Izuna? What exactly is wrong with his eye? Is it really that serious? What did you find?"

The questions came flying at him in rapid succession.

Tobirama didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked over to the desk, pulled up a chair, and sat down. His expression was as calm as ever, even somewhat grave.

"I saw him," Tobirama said evenly. "I also gave him a preliminary examination."

He paused to gather his words, deciding to start with the most shocking discovery.

"Big Brother," Tobirama said, looking Hashirama in the eye, "I detected traces of your Chakra in Izuna's left eye. They were extremely faint, but it was definitely your Chakra signature."

The smile froze on Hashirama's face. He blinked, seemingly unable to understand what he had heard. "...My Chakra? In Izuna's eye?"

"That's right." Tobirama nodded. "It wasn't contamination from an outside source. It was more as though it had been fused in as one of the base materials when the cultivation began."

Hashirama stared blankly for several seconds, his mouth slightly open, his expression gradually changing from confusion to incredulous shock.

"My... cells? Used to grow an eye... for Izuna?" He pointed at himself, then in the general direction of the Uchiha Clan Compound. "That... How is that possible? Tobirama, could you have made a mistake?"

"The instruments don't lie." Tobirama stated the fact calmly. "Besides, Izuna himself mentioned a key piece of information. It seems the 'me' of that world repeatedly told him he had to remember it: 'Two opposing forces, brought together as one, give rise to all things.'"

Hashirama repeated the words, his brow furrowing. "That... sounds like some kind of principle of fusion or creation. Yin and yang becoming one? Wait, Tobirama, you also think the kid came from a parallel world?"

Tobirama couldn't help rubbing his brow. "That's not the point. In any case, combined with the fact that your Chakra appeared in the Sharingan, it most likely means that, in that world, we tried to fuse the powers of the Senju and Uchiha at the cellular level and used that as a basis to grow a new replacement for the eye Izuna lost."

Hashirama fell silent. He leaned back in his chair, his gaze vacant, clearly digesting the astonishing information.

Using his cells to grow an eye for Uchiha Izuna... How much trust and cooperation would that take? Just how close were his counterpart and Madara, and Tobirama and Izuna, in that world?

"There's something else." Tobirama didn't give Hashirama much time to be shocked before dropping another bombshell. "Izuna admitted himself that his left eye has been practically blind these past few days."

Watching Hashirama's eyes widen abruptly, he added without a ripple in his voice, "In other words, the 'spar' he had at the training ground this morning, in which he sent nearly ten elite Uchiha ninja, including Uchiha Kenjirō, to the hospital, was fought with half his normal field of vision gone."

"What?!" Hashirama sprang out of his chair, bracing both hands on the desk and leaning forward. His face was filled with pure, undisguised horror. "Half his field of vision?! He—he only used one eye?! And... how... how is that possible?!"

He had just visited the hospital. Those were all elite members of the Uchiha Clan! Veteran ninja renowned on the battlefield for their cunning and ruthlessness! With their Sharingan and Fire Style, even he had to take them seriously!

Izuna... had taken them all down with one eye and pure Taijutsu?

Tobirama looked at Big Brother, whose worldview had clearly been shaken, and sighed.

"That's what happened," Tobirama confirmed. "The eye almost fell out on its own when I started preparing to examine it. And according to my examination, there really are serious problems with its nerve connections and signal transmission. What he said about his vision being blurry is very likely true."

Hashirama slowly sank back into his chair. The horror on his face gradually gave way to a complex mixture of shock, admiration, and deeper concern.

"To reach that level... with only half his field of vision..." he murmured. "What kind of battles did Izuna go through to hone his mind and body to that point?"

Tobirama didn't answer. That was one of the biggest questions on his mind.

Izuna had been far too friendly.

Tobirama believed he had opened with a taunt, and he had originally hoped to use it to test Izuna's attitude.

Yet Izuna hadn't taken it seriously at all.

If someone questioned his abilities, let alone taunted him as his sworn enemy, he, Tobirama Senju, would certainly teach them a lesson.

But Izuna hadn't. He had simply thought Tobirama was joking and then invited him to eat with him.

That was something that would only happen between people who knew each other extremely well.

And Izuna actually knew almost nothing about the condition of his own eye. All he remembered was that one line about all things, which "Tobirama Senju" had told him he had to remember.

He was a twenty-four-year-old ninja, long since grown, with exceptional strength.

What kind of environment could have raised an Uchiha second-in-command like him?

But why would an Uchiha Izuna who had grown up cherished and should have lived a relatively "comfortable" life possess such incredible combat ability? Especially with his senses restricted?

"Big Brother," Tobirama said, changing the subject, his tone growing serious, "I believe it's necessary to assess Uchiha Izuna's true combat strength more accurately. This concerns not only our judgment of his personal circumstances, but also our assessment of Konoha's future security. An unknown factor with such uncontrollable strength must be taken into account."

Hashirama looked up, his eyes still a little glazed. "How do we assess it?"

"Aren't you very interested?" Tobirama looked at him. "Go and test him yourself."

Hashirama's eyes lit up at once. His shock and concern seemed to be swept away by a gust of wind, replaced by blazing fighting spirit and excitement. "Really?! Can I go?! Spar with Izuna?!"

"In theory, it's possible." Tobirama analyzed the situation calmly. "From what I observed, Izuna holds you—or rather, 'you from that world'—in extremely high regard and trusts you deeply. When he mentioned you, the admiration and reliance in his voice were obvious. If you invited him to a 'friendly' spar, he most likely wouldn't refuse. He might even be very happy."

At this point, the corner of Tobirama's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly as he remembered Izuna's depressed-mushroom act just now, identical to Hashirama's.

"And..." he added, his tone a little peculiar, "Izuna... seems to have been greatly influenced by you in certain respects." Like that damned habit of getting depressed!

Hashirama completely missed the deeper meaning in his brother's words. The thought that he could spar with the incredibly strong Izuna had already fired him up completely, and he rubbed his hands together excitedly. "That's great! Then I'll—"

"—But not now." Tobirama ruthlessly cut him off.

A bucket of cold water was instantly thrown over Hashirama's high spirits, and his shoulders slumped. "Huh? Why?"

"Because if you run straight to the Uchiha Clan Compound now, the most likely outcome isn't a spar with Izuna, but Madara Uchiha beating you right back out. He's obviously in a terrible mood today."

Because Tobirama had gone to visit.

Thinking of how murderous Madara looked every time he faced Tobirama, as well as the problem with Izuna's eye, Hashirama immediately wilted. His whole being visibly darkened, as though his soul had been sucked out of him in an instant. He slumped in his chair and began to give off his familiar air of depression.

"Ah... Madara's angry... I can't go play with Izuna... I really want to fight... Paperwork is such a pain..."

Tobirama: "..."

He looked at Big Brother, who had instantly entered depression mode, then recalled Uchiha Izuna huddled in the corner, muttering to himself earlier...

An indescribable sense of déjà vu and absurdity washed over him again.

These two... how do they even look so alike when they're depressed?!

Tobirama stood up expressionlessly, deciding to ignore this troublemaker from now on.

"In any case, if you want to spar, find a suitable time and extend a formal invitation. Now"—he pointed at the mountain of paperwork on the desk—"get back to work."

With that, he stopped looking at Hashirama, who was sunk in depression and unable to pull himself out, and turned to leave the office. He planned to return to the laboratory to further analyze the eyeball's data.