A/N : Based on and inspired by "Under the Surface (Dig Deep Till It Bleeds)" by raendown. It was a good piece and I couldn't take Uchiha Tobirama out of my head ever since then. This is a fic for a fanfic, so I highly recommended you to read the original fic. It's on AO3.

Ever since he was a child, Uchiha Izuna abhorred his elder brother.

And it wasn't even Tobirama's fault.

Izuna remembered that day very clearly.

It was a calm day, and Izuna was playing alone in the compound, his mood as dark as the gloomy sky.

It was merely a few days since the last battle against the Senju—the battle that took the life of his last brother, Jiro—when Uchiha Tajima returned from his supposed business rendezvous with an ally, carrying a mangled corpse of a whore in one arm.

His other arm was cradling a skinny boy.

Izuna remembered being stupefied in both shock and horror, unable to tear his gaze away from the spinning Mangekyou of the trembling boy—the first time ever he saw the second upgrade of the Sharingan.

"Get the healer," Tajima has grunted at Izuna, not even bothering to explain himself as he gently placed the mangled woman onto the ground, only to shift so that he could cradle the strange boy with both of his arms. "Come on, Izuna. Quick. Get the healer."

Izuna didn't respond. He couldn't.

This boy was no Uchiha. The silver-hair alone was proof enough but yet—

The boy twitched, lifting his head from its rest against Tajima's collarbone to the dead woman on the ground—Mangekyou spinning viciously as he howled in pure sorrow.

Izuna peered up to look at the boy's face—his curiousity got the best of him—and his gaze met the spinning Mangekyou.

Izuna was pulled into hell.

He screamed.

"You have the nerve to bring your bastard home…"

Izuna woke up to the quiet cold voice of Grandma Sachiko, feeling strangely exhausted and worn. He couldn't remember what he dreamt of, but the pain still lingered, the weight in his heart reminded him when he cradled the broken, mangled bodies of his brothers in his small arms, feeling their cold bold drenched his body.

Grief. He had never felt grief this violently strong and it exhausted his young body to the point of immobility.

The familiar warmth of Tajima's hand was threading through his hair and Izuna couldn't help but nuzzle to the warmth. Mother has died a long time ago, shortly after giving birth to Izuna's youngest brother (who also died in an ambush at a mere age of two) and since then, Izuna was deprived of gentle parental touches like this.

He would've basked in the warmth if not because of yet another warmth cuddling him close to a skinny small body.

"We do not abandon our children, Mother," Tajima spoke, voice soft and eerily forlorn. "He has no one left."

Grandma Sachiko exhaled a sigh.

Izuna decided to snuggle to the smaller warmth for comfort from the weighing grief, knowing that Jiro wouldn't mind his clinginess at all.

"How long has this affair of yours went on?" there was a tiny clink of the teacup meeting the saucer. "How long have you been hiding your second family from the clan?"

"He's turning seven," there was a smile in Tajima's voice—rare it was but the fondness was obvious. "So, it would be eight years."

Grandma Sachiko hummed but said nothing else.

Izuna snuggled deeper into Jiro's chest, almost purring in approval when skinny arms wrapped around his body in return.

There was a reason Jiro was Izuna's favourite. He was so cuddly and warm and such a good fighter too—

Flashes of memories spurred into Izuna's drowsy mind—the bloodied mangled corpse that was crushed under a violent doton jutsu, the broken hilt of the sword in the loose grip and the pained flash in Tajima's eyes when he hugged Izuna and told him that—

—Jiro was dead too, following the footsteps of their other brothers.

Izuna was an only child now.

Izuna promptly tensed up.

His eyes snapped open, only to see silver everywhere—silver hair, silver lashes and pale skin that was so NOT Jiro—and Izuna hissed like an angry cat, pushing the skinny boy off their pile on Tajima's lap, sending his half-brother sprawling on the ground.

"Izuna!"

Tajima's warm hand found his shoulders, but Izuna shrugged it away as he focused all the anger his five-years-old body could muster to stare into the surprised ruby eyes—the ruby eyes that eerily resembled a sharingan, even without the tomoe.

The bastard didn't even bother to look at Izuna properly in the eyes. He was staring at Izuna's shoulder instead.

Izuna sneered.

"Don't touch me."

He stormed out of the room, leaving the crumpled form of his half-brother—his remaining brother—pretending that he didn't see the tears that rolled down those pale cheeks.

That bastard was not his brother. Never be. Never will.

His last brother was Jiro.

Jiro was dead.

Izuna didn't bother learning the name of his half-brother.

In his mind, the silver-haired was a bastard—an outsider that did not belong in the clan—no matter how strongly Tajima tried to argue that he did marry the Hatake woman that bore the ruby-eyed demon before the boy was conceived. Everything about the silver-haired was wrong. He stood out like a sore thumb—the only silver spikes in the midst of dark locks, the only sickly pale among healthy fairness of a true Uchiha, the only ruby against Uchiha's onyx, the only suiton user in the midst of their katon-oriented clan.

The freak did not belong in the Uchiha clan.

And Izuna wasn't the only one with this thought. The whole clan agreed with him.

But they didn't dare to say anything—not when the elders have lost their voice as Tajima floated with beaming pride whenever anyone mentioned his bastard son.

Pure Uchiha he was not, but the bastard was the strongest sharingan user in the whole clan.

Pure Uchiha he was not, but the bastard managed to master the polar opposite of his own nature affinity—razing the ground with his blue flame before washing away the remains with his violent water.

The clan couldn't say anything. Not when it was the freak who slew Senju Butsuma.

The kill itself was a feat of sorcery. Not because no one had even come close to slay the Clan Head of the Senju, but because of how the bastard has slain the man. The battlefield was filled with anticipation as the silver-haired freak stepped between Butsuma and the injured Tajima, clashing swords with the Clan Head of the Senju with no hesitation or fear. Everyone was expecting—hoping—that Butsuma's sword would pierce the sixteen years old's chest, praying so hard that the Senju Clan Head would kill the silver-haired demon that the Uchiha could not touch but—

—but the bastard simply stepped to the side and vanished from sight, only to appear directly behind Butsuma and took the man's head as his prize.

The whole battlefield froze in fear as Butsuma's headless body fell. Every eye on the battlefield—be it Uchiha or Senju—widened in horror as ruby eyes fluttered shut behind red-tainted silver hair as if the demon was relishing in some form of twisted pleasure from his kill before the menace bowed at the injured Tajima and presented Butsuma's head like an offering.

Demon. Uchiha Tajima's bastard son was a literal demon.

Senju Hashirama instantly called for a retreat and ended the battle of that day.

Izuna seethed as the elders reluctantly named the bastard as the Clan Heir.

The clan was not happy too. They feared the red-eyed demon.

But they could not do anything. They have no choice. Not when it was the demon's hands that healed their injuries after each battle despite his own exhaustion—glowing green chakra soothed them from the pain more than they would ever admit. Not when that demon was the one who stood in the frontline of each of their battle, red gigantic ribs of the legendary Susanoo shielded the clan from the worst of the Senju brothers' assaults since only the demon could take both of Hashirama's mokuton and Madara's fire without so much as few minor wounds on his skin or little dents on his armour.

The Uchiha couldn't do anything when the demon's blue flame razed the remains of the battlefield, driving their enemies away when the clan could no longer fight.

He protected them. Not a word, not a complaint—nothing. A silent shield for his clan.

They feared him in return.

And when Senju Madara ended the beating of Tajima's heart, the Uchiha was the one who trembled in fear for the future.

Their new Clan Head was a demon.

Izuna only learnt and remembered his half-brother's name when the elder called upon him to a private meeting.

"Tobirama-sama is too powerful," one of the elders spoke, his voice gravely and grim. "He is too dangerous."

"And there is no guarantee of his loyalty," the second elder added. "He is not fully bred of the clan's bloodline. Should he decided to defect to his maternal clan, we're doomed in this war."

"His sharingan is too powerful," the female elder sighed, eyes fixed on Izuna. "It would be more beneficial if we regain it for people who have the most loyalty to us."

She stared pointedly at Izuna as she said that, placing her teacup with a soft clink.

"I think you deserve his sharingan more, Izuna-sama."

Izuna bowed his head but kept his silence.

The elders either trusted him with the task to put an end to the demon's reign, or they wanted to take Izuna out of the heir lists by giving him this mission.

Sage knows that all previous sixteen assassins either drowned from their insides or been tortured with genjutsu so potent they ended up slitting their own throat and setting their own corpse on fire.

Not that he has any choice. He rather been used by the elders than expose this ploy to that bastard.

"We're looking forward to the day you slay that demon, Izuna-sama."

Izuna nodded obediently.

Poisons didn't work.

Perhaps because of his skills in medical ninjutsu, Tobirama only needed to sniff at his food and the ploy would be exposed.

"That is the third time this week, shishou," Kagami commented, wrinkling his nose as he placed the cup of poisonous tea onto the table. "And it's only Thursday," the boy sighed, sniffing the tea again. "Is your assassin even trying anymore?"

Um, hello? Izuna was right here and totally not offended at all.

"It's not nice to belittle someone else's effort, Kagami. They tried," Tobirama chided, swapping the cup with his plate. "This one next."

Kagami frowned, scrunching up his little chubby cheeks as he sniffed at the content of Tobirama's untouched lunch. How the hell the boy managed to stand being so near and familiar to the demon was a mystery. Kagami was literally the only pure Uchiha who spent time with their Clan Head outside of the official business—the only who toddled around the compound with beaming pride for being the only student to their terrifying Clan Head.

Weird blood. Izuna knew that Tobirama would've adopted the retarded child if only the elders allowed him to do so after the death of Kagami's parents.

Bless the gods that Kagami still have an aunt left.

Kagami eventually pushed the plate back to the centre of the table, crossing his arms with a thoughtful look.

"Mmm…," the boy started, eyeing his Clan Head hesitantly. "Is it nightshade?"

Izuna stared at the four-years-old boy, then to his half-brother, completely perplexed.

"Good try," Tobirama hummed, reaching a hand across the table to pat Kagami's fluffy hair. "It's actually hemlock."

Kagami pouted. "Why is recognising poison so hard…?"

Tobirama chuckled good-naturedly.

Izuna seethed.

Izuna was contemplating on slaying the demon from the back when Hashirama first offered a truce.

He halted, sword barely left his side when he met the gaze of the spinning sharingan as the dojustu faded to bright rubies. Izuna locked his jaw, determined to not give anything else away, despite the trembling of his hands and the sweat that slickened his grip on the hilt.

He knew.

Tobirama knew that his own brother was about to slay him.

The bastard quirked a smirk before he turned his head around to sneer at the waiting Hashirama, sharingan spinning back to life.

"No." It was a single word that came in the form of a vicious sneer.

Izuna felt like the word was more directed to him than to Hashirama.

The battle continued.

"I don't need—"

"Iryo-jutsu is much more effective than bandages."

I can't trust you.

"Izuna," the demon sighed, ruby eyes fluttered shut as he swiped a hand across his brows. "Be reasonable."

Izuna shifted backwards, the dread and panic settled in his stomach when the glowing green hands reached out for the wound in his ribs.

He failed to kill this man merely hours ago. Now that Izuna knew that Tobirama was aware of his intention to assassinate him, it caused a full-blown panic and distrust.

How could he trust the demon to heal him when he knew what Tobirama did to his other assassins?

Izuna yelped when his half-brother pulled him close but couldn't stop the blissful sigh from escaping his lips when he felt the soothing chakra invaded his body and aided his recovery. The stinging pain grew to become a bearable soreness as the blood finally stopped and the wound closed.

"Try to have a proper rest," the demon murmured once he was done, reaching out a pale hand to pat Izuna's shoulder.

Izuna flinched.

The hand halted.

If Izuna looked up to meet those ruby eyes, he would've seen the raw pain in those orbs.

But he kept his head down and didn't see anything.

Tobirama never said anything.

He didn't say anything when the assassination attempts started to grow in frequency as the clan started to grow desperate over the evolving prowess of his sharingan.

They didn't know how he did it. They didn't know how Tobirama kept finding a new way to use his sharingan, kept creating new jutsu that only deserve the honour of being listed as forbidden jutsu and kept evading the assassination attempts without so much of a shift in his emotionless face.

They didn't know how the hell his sharingan kept evolving when there were minimum traumatic events that had happened to invoke such evolution.

Such an irony that the clan with a dojustu capable of seeing the most minute details were unable to see the little things about their leader.

They didn't see the hurt in his eyes every time they flinched away from him.

They didn't see the pain that haunted those ruby eyes every time they rushed away from him once their official business with him has ended.

They didn't notice his breaking heart when Izuna spoke to him with words that would make all sensible adults rushed to cover the children's ears.

They didn't notice that they were the actual cause of his evolving abilities.

They didn't notice, and they didn't care.

For all that they know, their Clan Head was a demon.

Whispers about the Uchiha Clan Head spread like a wildfire, ignited by the Uchiha themselves.

A demon, they called him. A devil walking among the mortals.

Even his appearance supported the theory. Skin so pale like the embodiment of death itself, hair a pure silver so unlike the more human colour of the rest of the Uchiha and the ruby eyes that reflected his lust for blood. Those ruby eyes never made direct eye contact with anyone, as Tobirama's gaze often landed slightly off the other person's eyes, as if anyone who directly meet the gaze of those ruby eyes would meet a gruesome end.

If asked, there was one thing that the Uchiha clan whole-heartedly agreed on;

Uchiha Tobirama was a demon that lusted for blood.

He did not even spare Hashirama's offer of truce any more response than a sneer as he razed through the battlefield—cutting down enemies and protecting the Uchiha—bathing in the blood of his foes with such a manic craze to be everywhere all at once.

The world believed those words—especially after seeing the Uchiha Clan Head vanishing from sight only to appear behind another unsuspecting person, sending the horrified victim to death in a blink of an eye. It was a feat of sorcery—the powers that did not belong to a human.

He was getting even more powerful as the time passed.

The Uchiha clan panicked.

Anytime now, and Tobirama would be done with the Uchiha's hatred and his horror would be turned against them.

Izuna was urged to slay that demon before the situation worsened. Hikaku was ordered to be his aid, knowing that to take on the demon alone—no matter how unprepared the demon was—would be a suicide at this point.

They decided to do it when their leader was distracted by Hashirama's insistent offer of truce. The Senju wouldn't mind. One less powerful foe for them to fear.

The next battle would be between the Uchiha against their own Clan Head.

Izuna hated Hashirama.

It was so close. The Uchiha was so close to ending the reign of the silver-haired demon—and it would have been successful too. They all saw Tobirama lowered his sword, sharingan faded to clear rubies and shoulders slackened to a contemplative slouch—a slight opening that would end him with one strike of Izuna's sword if only Senju Hashirama didn't interfere.

The Senju Clan Head has offered his truce again to Tobirama, a beaming smile grew on his face when for the first time, the Uchiha Clan Head did not respond with a sneer. Instead, the silver-haired Uchiha has frowned, looking genuinely confused.

"Why?" such soft unsure word was a first they all ever heard coming from the demon. "Why would you offered something that you know I would deny?"

Hashirama beamed. "Because we're humans, and we possess the ability to have a change of heart."

Tobirama was eerily silent.

Izuna didn't know what kind of expression his half-brother was making, but he saw the shift in Hashirama's dark eyes. The Senju's eyes softened, almost soothingly and he looked like he would have reached out his arms to embrace the enemy if he was as stupid as he acted like.

Hashirama remained in his place.

"Because I want peace," when the Senju head spoke afterwards, his voice was clear, ringing across the frozen battlefield. "Too many lives have already been lost. This war is senseless but we have the power to end it," he implored, offering a hand towards Tobirama, "…you and I, if you would just take my hand."

Hashirama's hand hung suspended in the air as Tobirama hesitated.

"You're an elder brother too," the Senju leader murmured, voice growing so soft that Izuna has to strain to hear, as those words were meant only for Tobirama. "We have lost too much in this pointless war—and I refused," there was a grim understanding in the Senju's dark eyes as he glanced at his own younger brother, eyeing Madara with the fierce protectiveness of an elder brother—something that later in his life, Izuna would belatedly remember seeing in Tobirama's own ruby eyes every time he caught the older man staring at him—as Hashirama added, "—I refused to lose anything else, and I know that your heart feels the same too."

The dark eyes of the elder Senju flickered just briefly towards Izuna, and Izuna knew that he was caught—that Hashirama saw the slight shift of Izuna's and Hikaku's weight, that the Senju knew they were about to strike Tobirama with a killing blow from behind.

If there was any proof that Senju Hashirama was not the idiot he came across as, this was it.

It was subtle—Hashirama didn't even move—but both Izuna and Hikaku felt it, the fear of being stared down by the God of Shinobi as those dark eyes stared at them, an unspoken warning against their ploy.

And they were betting on the Senju to be on their side against Tobirama.

Leave it to Hashirama to go against all predictions.

"You mean that," was all that eventually left the demon's mouth in a hesitant rumbling hum of thought.

"Of course I do!" Hashirama bounced back to his cheery foolishness, breaking the spell that he had on both Izuna and Hikaku.

Tobirama took Hashirama's offered hand.

The Uchiha feared for their future.

Turn out, the fear was baseless.

Konoha was surprisingly a good idea.

Izuna has never dreamt of being able to wake up to a peaceful morning where the only thing he dreaded was the paperwork piling on top of his desk at the Hokage's tower. He could hear the laughter of the clan's children just outside the window as they relished in a peaceful happy childhood—something that Izuna himself had no chance to enjoy, being bred and raised in the middle of a war.

Izuna has begrudgingly admitted that perhaps the clan was too tied to the old ways to throw the suspicion away back then during the start of this peace when they left Tobirama alone to be their representative to build the village.

Izuna appreciated this peace with the Senju.

Even if Izuna was sorely tempted to gouge Senju Madara's eyes out of their sockets.

The damned Senju has been throwing disapproval looks to Izuna's way ever since Hashirama first laid the foundation of the village. They rarely talked outside the few interactions while dealing with the administration as the Clan Heir of both founding clans, but Izuna could feel Madara's disapproving stare boring upon his back every time they crossed paths.

Izuna didn't know why he seethed when it was Madara who invoked the tiny smiles from Tobirama's usually unchanging expression.

It was no secret that the younger Senju spent more times with Tobirama rather than his own brother, something that the whole village took pleasure in watching whenever Hashirama burst to his dramatics and demanded Tobirama to return his baby brother back to him.

That usually ended with Madara sticking his tongue out at his elder brother before dragging Tobirama by the furs of his collar out of the window of their office.

The first time it happened, the Uchiha feared for their life if Tobirama decided to slay the annoying younger Senju right in front of Hashirama.

The whole clan (minus the strangely happy and smug Kagami) freaked out when Tobirama indulged Madara's antics with the tiniest quirk of a smile as Hashirama bellowed at them with an anguished accusation of Tobirama stealing his beloved baby brother from him.

Though, those three always ended up being seen at dinner together, sometimes Kagami joining in by taking his favourite spot either next to Tobirama or directly on the man's lap—the child would sneakily steal from everyone's plates, much to both Clan Heads' amusement and Madara's irritation.

More clans flooded into the village upon the spread of the news that the Uchiha's demon was getting along so well with the God of Shinobi and his fiery brother.

The village prospered. The peace lasted. Their people were happy.

No blood has ever been shed again.

Until it did.

Izuna didn't feel anything when Kagami burst through the Hokage's office with tears streaking down his cheeks and his injured teammates limped behind him as he exploded into manic babble demanding for reinforcement for his dear shishou.

An ambush. Kumogakure has finally made their move—and Izuna was generously impressed, considering that they dared to ambush the Uchiha's Clan Head despite knowing of Tobirama's demonic reputation. Such foolish daredevil attack that Izuna would applaud and pay a round of drinks for, if those Kumo-nin could survive Tobirama.

Kagami babbled on, voice inching to the note of hysteria.

Apparently, Izuna might have to pay the drinks for the Kumo-nin after all.

Tobirama was edging on chakra exhaustion after healing his students when it happened. If Kagami's frantic words were any true, the demon was already close to passing out when he ordered his students to flee as he faced the foes.

Izuna fleetingly considered to get back home early and tell the elders that they might need to crown him as the new Clan Head, just in case.

On the other hand, Hashirama spared only a brief second to gather himself before he shed his Hokage robes and reached for his armour, his baby brother was close on his heels—Madara only halted in his path as he stood right beside Izuna.

"You're not going?" the younger Senju growled, chakra flared in rage.

"And leave the village unprotected?" Izuna countered in a hum.

Madara sneered but said nothing else.

Izuna watched the Senju brothers departed without an ounce of worry or sorrow in his chest as he contemplated the type of burial the clan was supposed to give to Tobirama. Traditionally, the Uchiha cremated their dead, but Tobirama was only half Uchiha, so they could sneak around that tradition. As one of the founders of the Konoha, it wouldn't be too glaringly disrespectful if they laid Tobirama to rest in Konoha's graveyard instead.

The clan would appreciate it if they did not lay the half-bred demon to rest in the clan's graveyard.

"Stop crying," Izuna snapped to the beaten children, eyeing Kagami's tears with a distasteful leer. "A shinobi would not show such pathetic weakness."

Kagami's gaze snapped up, his newly awakened sharingan glazed with tears as they bore straight into Izuna's soul. The boy has all but spat at the Clan Heir;

"A decent human being would have shown emotions when their last brother is in mortal danger."

Izuna backhanded the boy, sending Kagami to the wall.

"He is not my brother," Izuna gritted out through his clenched teeth.

My last brother is Jiro and he is long dead.

Hashirama and Madara returned faster than expected, empty-handed.

Izuna was crowned as the new Clan Head.

The Uchiha rejoiced.

They were in the midst of their celebration (disguised as a funeral wake—but no one but Kagami was actually grieving) when the Senju brothers knocked upon their doors.

It wasn't like there was any body to grieve over with anyway.

"Hashirama-sama," Izuna greeted once his guests were seated in front of him, taking the authoritative tone of his new position to greet the worn-looking Senju. "Madara," he added with a curt nod. "What brings you to our doors so late at night?"

Hashirama exhaled a deep breath and cast a fleeting gaze to his younger brother.

Madara's jaw was locked in place as if he was forced to swallow a particularly bitter medicine. It took a full minute before the younger Senju could gather himself back. Madara took a deep breath as he placed a scroll and a bloodied happuri in front of Izuna.

Izuna didn't even bother to change his bored gaze upon seeing the bloodied happuri.

"Your brother's final wish," the younger Senju said firmly, head bowed slightly to hide his eyes behind his dark unruly mane.

Izuna resisted the urge to snap at Madara, to berate the Senju for associating his pure bloodline with that half-bred, but he held back his tongue and remained silent. The Senju was not aware of the Uchiha's own animosity against their former Clan Head. Plus, judging by the closeness of the Senju brothers with Tobirama, it was better if he kept it silent, so that he did not fell into Hashirama's bad grace.

The only regret the Uchiha clan have regarding Tobirama's passing was that no one else in the clan could even hope to match the God of Shinobi should a war broke out again.

"I thought you found nothing?" Izuna hummed, only to start attempting to act when Hashirama's eyes narrowed upon witnessing his lack of grief.

The younger of the Senju gritted his teeth, obviously displeased with Izuna's reaction. Hashirama's hand immediately came up to rest upon Madara's shoulder, a reflex to sooth that Izuna recognised with a thick tinge of envy. It took only a second for Madara to relax, breath growing calmer as the Senju Clan Heir reached a hand out to grasp Hashirama's grounding hand.

Meanwhile, Izuna seethed in envy as he watched the brothers' interaction, wondering if he would have the same relationship with Jiro if only his elder brother was alive.

He squashed down the rising memories—memories of glowing hands soothing his injuries, memories of powerful protective presence guarding him whenever he fell to the pain-induced delirious fever, memories of the broad back cloaked with red Susanoo shielding him from harm—he squashed them down without mercy because the bastard was not his brother.

A tiny part of him trembled, as if disagreeing.

"Tobirama hid something before he—," Hashirama trailed off, swallowing bitterly. "He must have known that Madara would be one of the reinforcements and since Madara is familiar with his seals…"

Izuna blinked. Seals?

He was not aware that the bastard demon has any knowledge of the art of fuuinjutsu.

"He knew that I would discover the thing that he hid," Madara spat in a low grumble, dark eyes flashing dangerously upon meeting Izuna's gaze that Izuna fleetingly wondered how powerful the Senju brat would be if only he was born in the Uchiha clan and possessed the sharingan. "He left this for you."

"I don't think this is so important to require both of you crashing our funeral wake—"

Izuna halted mid-speech when Madara unsealed the scroll to reveal a sleek container—two perfect spheres floated in the clear fluid, the ruby irises were eerily familiar.

The new Uchiha's Clan Head stared at the container with widened eyes.

"Your eyesight is deteriorating, right?" Hashirama murmured, voice soft and weighed with grief. "I believe he intended for his eyes to be used to cure yours."

"Oh," Izuna breathed, honestly not expecting this pleasant surprise.

Madara's chakra flared dangerously.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Senju?" Izuna snapped, honestly not impressed when his men broke the door to defend him the moment the wild dangerous chakra claimed the intention of being murderous.

"He fought," Madara growled, standing now as he loomed over Izuna. "He fought, alone and blind," he choked out, sending Hikaku to the wall with a simple flick of his wrist and Ayaka to the opposite wall with a kick in her gut as he pulled Izuna up from his seating position by the folds of his black yukata. "Alone and blind, Uchiha. Because he wanted to make sure you have a chance to cure your eyes," the man hissed, unruly mane flared up like the hackles of an angry beast. "And that is your reaction?"

"It was his choice to die that way," Izuna sneered, clawing on Madara's hands in a well-hidden panic.

Hashirama was the powerhouse of the Senju Clan. The God of Shinobi was hailed as the strongest in term of his military prowess that most often, people forgot that his younger brother was powerful in his own ways too—the only katon-oriented shinobi among the Senju.

"He was your brother," Madara's voice was softer as he spoke, laced with thick raw emotions. "Your last brother," the Senju added, grip loosening on Izuna's yukata. "If it was me in your place, if it was Hashirama who died alone and blind," he spat the last word with a distasteful horror, adding, "I would've turned the world upside down and burn everything in my path to avenge him."

Izuna sneered. "And that is the difference between you and me, Senju."

Madara punched him across the room.

Izuna didn't feel the effects of the loss until months after he became the Clan Head.

Oh, he enjoyed the perks that Tobirama's eyes gifted him—he honestly could not believe that despite the continuous use, the ruby eyes that resided in his skull was still perfect like brand new eyes—and the way his clan hailed him for possessing Tobirama's sharingan abilities made him preened in pride.

He had every single one of the demon's ability—all except for the ability to teleport.

He wondered if Tobirama has sealed that ability from these eyes because the demon didn't trust him enough to not stab any of the Senju brothers from the back.

Considering that Madara has requested a long-distance mission outside of the village's borders right after Tobirama's official funeral, Izuna has no doubt that the demon's death has hit the younger Senju harder than it should. Those two were pretty close, yes, but it was still weird that Madara could not look at Izuna's newly-transplanted ruby eyes without having that mixed expression of longing and pure rageful hatred.

Back then, Izuna didn't bother to wonder why Madara was so affected by Tobirama's death.

But the effects of the loss have indeed caught up to young Clan Head—months too late, but it finally did—and it started with Kagami.

Kagami, who after the tenth or so rebellious defiance has managed to snap Izuna's thin patience to the point that the Clan Head threatened to disown him from the clan.

To the clan's surprise, the boy's lips curled to a smirk as he stood defiantly, toe-to-toe against Izuna and spat;

"No need to disown me, oh honourable sir. I quit this godforsaken clan."

Kagami turned on his heels and headed to the door where his nervous teammates were waiting when Izuna gathered his wits again and fumbled for his last-resort threat.

"If you quit this clan, you're not allowed to have the sharingan!" Izuna shouted, lips curled to a smug smile knowing that there was no way the boy would gouge out his own eyes—

Except that Kagami did.

With hands glowing in poor mimicry of the healing jutsu that the clan has lost when Tobirama died, the boy gouged out his own eyes and left them on the floor, a grim smile was on his youthful face as he spoke, both eyes now closed and leaking out blood;

"Take it then. Perhaps with these extra eyes, the whole lot of you could cure your blindness."

The whole clan watched in disbelief when Kagami walked out of the compound with pure defiance, his nervous teammates trailed behind him.

"You dared to go against your Clan Head?" Izuna scrambled after the boy, yelling in pure rage. "Insolent brat!"

He only has two reasons to chase after the boy.

One, because he should not tolerate this behaviour, having his own ego as the Clan Head.

And two, they really could not afford to lose Kagami because even without the sharingan, the boy was trained by Tobirama and was powerful even without relying on his dojustu.

"I only remember one Clan Head," the boy hissed back, turning around to face Izuna's direction.

The collective gasps of surprise resounded so loud across the compound when Kagami disappeared from the protective circle of his teammates, only to reappear behind Izuna with the tip of his kunai pressed against Izuna's open back.

"His name is Uchiha Tobirama," Kagami said, his voice was void of emotions as he pressed the blade a bit deeper against Izuna's back. "And my loyalty only belonged to him."

Izuna froze, the surprise was still dormant in his mind.

Kagami vanished from sight and reappeared where Izuna least suspect it.

That was supposedly Tobirama's sharingan ability.

How?

Izuna didn't realise that he has said that out loud.

Kagami's expression softened, brows scrunched at the centre of his forehead.

"None of you really know anything about him," the boy murmured, shaking his head in grief. "None of you even bothered…"

Kagami lowered his kunai and stormed in the direction of his waiting friends, the blood leaking out of his eyes now was diluted with his tears.

Izuna only barely heard the boy's soft murmur as Kagami stormed past him;

"And yet, he died thinking of you…"

Something huge and heavy lodged itself in Izuna's throat, making it difficult to swallow.

He didn't know why those words affected him.

But it did. It affected him greatly.

And that was only the start.

A/N: Ah, the angst. I adore raendown's idea of clan swap. Uchiha Tobirama would be hella terrifying on the battlefield. I'm still contemplating on adding the second chapter for this, but then again, this looks like an okay ending? lol who the hell am I bullshitting? I wrote this purely to have Izuna suffering over the guilt after he realised that he has forsaken the brother that dearly loved him. His suffering just started y'all