Chapter Text
It starts like this:
Tobirama is becoming fond of his gaggle of children, he really is. At first, he didn’t think anything of it by taking a bunch of clan children under his wing, children part of the last generation born before the founding of Konoha, and part of the first to graduate their newly founded ninja academy.
There isn’t really an abundance of suitable sensei, and well, who would be more suited to teach them than the Hokage’s brother himself?
He’s sceptic at first, not knowing much about teaching children beside babysitting his younger clan members, but after a year, he can’t imagine a life without them.
Koharu and Homura bicker more than the entirety of Konoha’s elders combined, always at each other’s throats, and Tobirama has long since given up on trying to make peace between them. Hiruzen is a bright child, kind, intelligent, and mature, easily the most advanced of his teammates. He soaks Tobirama’s teachings up like a sponge, easily keeping up with him as he explains various parts of his research to him, and sometimes even sharing valuable input. Tobirama can see him growing into someone truly powerful in a few years.
Danzo, for all his effort into trying to act aloof and above everyone else, is a cunning and crafty little shit. He sticks to Hiruzen’s side like glue, more often than not taking personal offense when he succeeds in something faster than Danzo. Tobirama knows it’s unhealthy behaviour, but despite his efforts Danzo hasn’t shown signs of change. That one-sided rivalry with Hiruzen will destroy him sooner or later- not that Hiruzen is aware. He thinks they’re the best of friends.
Torifu is the youngest of the batch, however much he tries to prove himself, and always blushes when Kagami teases him about it. He’s not from the main line of his clan, but ahead enough of his peers that he doesn’t struggle more than usual under Tobirama. He may go under between Hiruzen and Danzo’s constant contest, Koharu and Kagami’s boisterous personalities or Homura’s never ending questions and complaints, but his shy and kind nature is the glue that sticks the team together. More often than not Tobirama sees him comforting Kagami after another argument with the clan elders, setting himself between Homura and Koharu when they’re at each other’s throats again and listening to Danzo when no one else would.
And then, there’s Kagami. Tobirama had felt a nagging irritation at the back of his head when he was first assigned to him, the kind still present from his time at war with the Uchiha before Konoha’s founding. Madara’s defection soon after team Tobirama formed also didn’t help. And he knows exactly why Hashirama placed the child in his team, even if he hates to admit it, because there have been nagging rumors amidst the clans of konoha, how Tobirama hates the Uchiha, how he thinks they’re all insane- and, well, they’re not wrong but Tobirama knows better than projecting his hate of one single person onto an entire clan.
(He regrets killing Izuna- he truly does. But in the few years before Madara left, he had never enough courage to swallow his pride and properly apologize to him after what he’d done.
He knows, that if Madara had killed Hashirama, he would have ended his life then and there.
In a way, he doesn’t resent Madara for leaving.)
And- it’s so hard to hate Kagami, and so easy to like him. He’s different from every other Uchiha he knows, with his constant smiles and his joking personality that never fails to put a smile on his teammate’s faces. He’s an anomaly in the usually stoic and cold Uchiha that Tobirama can’t explain himself, and if he didn’t know better he would guess that Kagami is half-clan.
Oh, he has all the skill of an Uchiha, no doubt about that- a genius in his own right, with a skill in Genjutsu unmatched by anyone else in his clan.
(Madara would’ve had have a field day with him, Tobirama thinks, if he hadn’t been so busy festering in his own hate and misery.)
There’s a sharp intellect beneath the facade of the mischevious trickster, one Tobirama has taken to poke and prod more than once. Despite his age, Kagami is a worthy shogi opponent, even if he has yet to beat Tobirama in a match. He contemplates sicking the Nara on him- Shikari especially, the current clan head, would enjoy taking him apart.
Tobirama loves his students. He has been with them through the first war, through fighting and death and misery, through every milestone in their life.
He was there when Homura’s parents died, when Torifu’s little sister was killed in the war, when Koharu fought off her parents kicking and screaming because they wanted to marry her off to some merchant’s son in kusa, when Kagami activated his Sharingan for the first time when he watched Hiruzen take a hit for him that would’ve killed him.
He was there for the more mundane things as well, through every birthday and celebration, through their hormonal teenage phases, through Torifu’s puppy crush on Kagami and Koharu’s emo Phase.
And, in return, they became his family too.
When Hashirama died and he was appointed Hokage, they were by his side. When he couldn’t stand being in the same room as his brother’s children, when he avoided Mito weeks after the funeral. They yanked him out of his depression, prevented him working himself into an early grave and finished paperwork for him when he fell asleep at his desk.
They were there when every one of his efforts to prevent another war failed, and they fought by his side from the moment the first attack hit them.
And when the moment came where they found themselves in a surprise ambush, days away from home, after months of endless fighting, Tobirama knew that he had to leave them behind.
He senses the silver and gold brothers at the edge of his awareness, the corrosive feeling of kyuubi chakra coming closer and closer, and he knows he won’t risk any of his student’s lives in an impossible fight.
But he’s not overly sad- Tobirama has lived a good life. Only about one third of it was in peacetime, and he lost more people than he can count- but that’s alright. He knows he’s leaving Konoha in capable hands.
He turns around, Hiruzen’s name on his tongue- and hesitates.
Hiruzen is strong, maybe the strongest of his students. He’s grown much from the snot-nosed brat he once was. But- Tobirama can’t see him leading a village, can’t see him making decisions for the good of the entirety. He’s too kind, too soft-hearted.
And then there’s Danzo to fracture into the calculation- if Tobirama makes Hiruzen Hokage he’ll never get over it. Their competition has the potential to morph into something dark and twisted, and Tobirama doesn’t want to be the catalyst.
And where Hiruzen is too soft, Danzo is too rash, willing to do anything and everything for his own selfish reasons. Where the others eventually understood that in war both sides lose, Danzo never learnt to see past his own ideals.
Danzo and Hiruzen are two sides of the same coin- so who leaves that?
Tobirama’s eyes wander to Kagami. Bright, warm Kagami, bright like the sun shining amidst the rain clouds. He’s intelligent, and mature even amongst prodigies like Hiruzen. He knows firsthand the dangers of corruption, of greed, having seen it in his own clan often enough. Despite his sharingan, and his heritage, or maybe because of it, Kagami is fiercely loyal- loyal to the village, loyal to Tobirama.
And Tobirama can see it- Kagami growing, filling out the hole soon to be left by Tobirama, maturing into someone that can protect Konoha better than Tobirama ever could. He’d have the backing of the Uchiha, instead of having to work against them like Tobirama, and he knows the Senju will support his decision.
When Tobirama sends them ahead, telling them he’ll stay behind to fight their pursuers off, Kagami is the one who protests fiercely, who screams, who begs Tobirama to take Kagami with him, that all together they’ll have a chance.
Hiruzen’s face twists like he wants to say something, but ultimately he doesn’t. Danzo is quiet- he understands, just like Tobirama knew he would.
Tobirama smiles, open and genuine in a way only reserved to his family, and grasps Kagami by his shoulders.
“Kagami. I’m making you the third Hokage.”, he says, and Kagami’s red eyes go wide.
Out of the corner of his eye, Tobirama sees Danzo grit his teeth, and Hiruzen’s mouth fall open.
“Protect each other, and the village, and those who will become the next generation.”, he says, and he knows it will be the last words he’ll say to him.
“Protect Konoha for me, Kagami.” Kagami nods, tears building up in his eyes, and Tobirama gives in to the urge to wipe them away. “And you”, he gestures to the rest of his students, “make sure he doesn’t run after me. You all need to stay alive for me, alright?”, he says as he rises, looking into each of his student’s eyes. “You’re the ones who will continue protecting the village, not me. I’ve fulfilled my part- now it’s your turn.”
With that, he turns around, and runs, in the opposite direction of his remaining family. He tries not to think of their faces as he runs, scared and helpless. He has made his decision. It’s time for the new generation to take turn leading Konoha- Tobirama has done enough.
Hashirama, I’m coming, he thinks as the enemy signatures come closer and closer.
There are many things he regrets, but his students aren’t one of them.
There’s silence after Tobirama-sensei left.
Just for a second- they can’t allow themselves to waste more of the time sensei has bought them.
“Let’s go”, Hiruzen says, tugging a frozen Kagami upright as he turns, away from his sensei, in the direction of konoha.
Something in him screams, telling him to go back to Tobirama-sensei, but he knows he can’t.
“Let’s go”, he repeats as Kagami still doesn’t budge.
He shakes his head, pure pain on his face “Sensei-“
“-is going to be pissed when we get killed-“ too, he wants to say, but shuts his mouth.
“You’re the Hokage now, Kagami. We need to go back to Konoha.”
Kagami inhales and exhales with a shudder, and turning away from where Tobirama disappeared into the trees seems almost phisically painful to him. But he still does.
He follows Hiruzen, doesn’t protest as he practically drags him along, a hand on his shoulder the entire way back. Doesn’t protest as his team (without sensei) falls into formation around him.
Koharu, Homura and Danzo throw glances at him and Kagami, and he knows what they’re thinking because he is too. Hiruzen is and has always been the team leader, the strongest of them, the perfect candidate- so why…?
Hiruzen looks at Kagami, expression pained and eyes staring straight ahead. It’s not like Hiruzen dislikes Kagami, and he doesn’t doubt that he will become a great Hokage- but why not him?
Only Torifu seems oblivious to it all, running ahead of them in the formation, silent tears slipping down his cheeks. He was always the more emotional one of them, and it seems even the death of his sensei couldn’t shake the habit.
Hiruzen quickens his pace, the hand around Kagami’s shoulder almost too tight. The only thing that matters now is getting them back to konoha. The rest can wait.
Kagami feels it when Tobirama dies.
He’s not a sensor- never was, abysmal even in comparison to Koharu, who was the only one to really grasp sensei’s teachings- but he knows. He knows like he knows his own name.
He feels his heart and his eyes ache, swallows back the sob that threatens to emerge, and the pain in his head threatens to make his knees buckle as his eyes change. A sun swirls to life in his eye as bloody tears fall down to the forest floor. Kagami has heard about the mangekyo- most Uchiha have. But he doesn’t care, doesn’t care that the elders will be pleased to see the first mangekyo sharingan awakened since the first war, doesn’t care the power that it will bring him, doesn’t care that his teammates might see, because sensei is gone. Sensei, who took him in and trained him even after Madara’s defection, when everyone whispered and pointed at the Uchiha clan. Sensei, who was there for him when even his own family wasn’t. Sensei, whose body was probably being desecrated by enemy nin.
Kagami wants to turn around, fight his way back to the border, to at least give his sensei a proper burial. But he doesn’t.
He doesn’t even register when they finally reach the gates, tired and so, so exhausted, doesn’t listen as Hiruzen informs the guards and announces sensei’s death, when he tells them Kagami is his successor. He ignores the sudden hush that follows, all eyes training on him.
One brave Jonin steps forward, bowing low. “What are your orders, Hokage-sama?”, he asks.
Kagami looks down at him.
Take care of Konoha, sensei had said.
He can mourn later. Konoha needs him now.
Kagami takes a deep breath, shoving his feelings into a far corner of his mind and locking the door, then he straightens.
“Where are our troups stationed?”, he asks with a steel in his voice he doesn’t recognize.
“This way, Hokage-sama”, they say, and isn’t it so bizarre to hear the title that has been his sensei’s for almost as long as he can remember now directed at him?
But Kagami ignores the pain, the anger, the sadness, ignores the stares and the voices. Tobirama left him his village, everything he and the shodaime have been working on for years, and it’s Kagami’s job now to make sure it remains standing.
The Uchiha clan is extatic about Kagami’s promotion, as expected. For years since Madara’s defection they have been the scorn of the village, victim of baseless rumors and accusations. Kagami being Hokage is like a breath of fresh air for the clan, and he just hopes it stays that way. He knows that his actions as Hokage will directly reflect on the clan.
Kagami tries to ignore the clan elders trying to manipulate him in one direction or the other, and has to remind them more than once that just because he is the Hokage it doesn’t mean that the Uchiha have full control over Konoha. He has ties to the Senju just as much as the Uchiha, maybe even more, when he remembers all the times he had fought with his clan. If the elders think he’ll dance to their whims now that Tobirama is gone, they are sorely mistaken.
He spends most of his time in the Senju compound, nowadays. The house his mother left him feels awfully empty now that he’s expected to show presence in the Uchiha compound, and it feels surreal to wake up in the same room he has spent childhood in now that so much has changed. The elders aren’t happy that he barely shows his face at the compound, but he could care less.
Kagami is busy- of course he is, it’s wartime and he is the Hokage- but in his freetime, he visits Tobirama’s family.
Mito has told him again and again that he’s always welcome among the Senju, and even though most of the older generation try to stare him to death anytime they see him, he believes her.
They grieve together, for Tobirama, for Hashirama, for every member of their family gone and buried, and Kagami feels the enourmous burden placed on his shoulder lessen when they talk.
He makes sure to spend time with Tobirama’s and nieces too, Mito’s children, who treat him warmly even after everything.
Yanagi’s daughter, Tsunade, is a little hellion, but Kagami can’t help but coo over her and pinch her little cheeks anytime he sees her. He knows Tobirama adored her as if she was his own granddaughter.
The others don’t visit as often as he does, even if they show their faces from time to time. Torifu especially can be often seen in the kitchen, cooking or baking something for Tsunade and little Nawaki when their parents aren’t home. Koharu and Homura come by once every few weeks, but they always seem a little distant- pleasant and perfectly polite, but as if they put on a mask. Kagami doesn’t like it. Hiruzen comes by, but. It’s not the same anymore.
Danzo hasn’t visited at all.
It’s like a punch to the gut entering Tobirama’s office for the first time, finding it just like he left it, papers askew everywhere, messy notes scribbled and then forgotten, day-old tea left standing in a far corner of his desk and scrolls upon scrolls filling the cabinets. Part of Kagami doesn’t want to ever touch what Toborama left behind, wants to preserve it all forever, but he knowns that isn’t possible. Now, only the photographic memory of the sharingan remains.
They stack the papers, sort the scrolls, leave unfinished business on the desk for Kagami to deal with, half- filled out documents with Tiborama‘s handwriting that will now be continued by Kagami.
Tobirama-sensei had a will- of course he did, he wasn’t stupid- and they all read it together, crammed into his office, their sensei‘s absence marked though an empty chair.
He left the clan compound and fortune to Hashirama‘s children, obviously, and later his grandchildren when they‘re old enough. His research he leaves to the entirety of konoha, and tasks Hiruzen to deal with the documents and samples. It makes sense, since he was always the most invested in their teacher‘s experiments.
He leaves Torifu old recipes, passed down through his mother‘s line for generations, and the small garden Tobirama managed to care to when he found the time. Many of the plants were first grown by Hashirama himself. Tobirama always allowed Torifu access to his plants, even let him plant his own when he started crafting soldier pills specialized to his clan. Kagami knows the garden means a lot to him.
Koharu inherits a few pieces of jewelry, Homura most of Tobirama‘s books. To Danzo the niidaime Hokage leaves old Jutsu and kata scrolls, as well as a ceremonial knife of his family.
And to Kagami-
Kagami, the letter reads, and the slant of Tobirama‘s familiar handwriting takes his breath away for a moment. He swallows, forcing himself to keep reading.
Kagami,
If you are reading this, then I am dead. I hope this happens in the far, far future, after many more years spent with you and your team, but I know very well that fate is rarely so kind.
I ask of you to not grieve much for me- keep living your life to the fullest, even if I’m not in it anymore.
There are a lot of things I would like to say to you, but most you already know, and this would be pages long if I wrote down every single thought I have.
Kagami, since I first became your sensei, you have become much more to me than just an Uchiha, tied to your clan and its expectations. You know of my doubts about the Uchiha clan, and I want to ask you to make sure they never become reality.
Take care of my family, Mito and the rest of the team- you‘ll need each other now.
In my house, the second door on the left side past my office, is a room with a katana hanging on the wall. I want you to have it. I haven‘t used it since I was your age, so it should suit you. You have already surpassed my skill in kenjutsu.
Additionally, there‘s a scroll in my personal belongings, blue with silver lining- you‘ll know which one I mean when you see it. You don‘t have to use it if you don‘t want to, you can pass it on to whoever you like. Or don’t. It’s yours now to decide with.
That is all. This letter s coming to an end, and as last words, I want you to know that I love you, Kagami, as if you were my own flesh and blood, you and every one of your teammates. You are my family, and nothing is ever going to change that.
But, most importantly, I want you to live. Live a good, long life, with as few regrets as possible. Maybe find someone to settle down with, once the war is over, start a family. Or don‘t- I never did either.
You and the other five gremlins are one of the best things that have ever happened to me. Never forget that.
With you, always,
Tobirama
The house is empty when Kagami steps foot in it. It has always been empty, with Tobirama the only inhabitant. Kagami remembers countless of days spent here with his team, eating, laughing, training.
The ghost of childish laughter seems to echo in his ears as he walks down the hallways.
The others have been here already, picking up the things sensei left for them, and Kagami is the last. Mito said they could take more of his things, since they were closest to him besides her and her children, but to Kagami‘s knowledge no one did.
It‘s a wonderful summer morning, and it feels bizarre to to this on such a wonderful day. It would be more fitting if Kagami came at night- but then he would feel like a thief.
The birds chirp as Kagami walks, past Tobirama‘s office, the second door, like he wrote.
Kagami has been in every room in this house, he knew of the sword Tobirsms was speaking oflong before it was in his will. A long, sturdy Katana made out of black steel, with a matching sheath.
the Senju clan symbol is inked in red on the sheath right under the hilt, and with a bitter smile Kagami thinks of his ancestors rolling in their graves at an Uchiha wielding a Senju blade.
Years and years he has spent in this room, passing though, admiring and wondering about the sword from afar, and now he finally steps up to it, lifting it up from the hooks in the wall. It feels forbidden to even touch it, but Kagami ignores the feeling. The sword is lighter than he guessed, and the leather-wrapped hilt looks well worn. Kagami wraps a hand around it, imagining Tobirama‘s hand doing the same countless times before him. Kagami exhales, and moves on.
Stifling through Tobirsma‘s personal belongings feels just as forbidden and out of place, but Kagami ignores the sense of unease and works faster. He curses his sensei silently, and hopes he stumbles over a rock, wherever he is now. There are hundreds of scrolls how does he expect him to find-? Oh.
Kagami crouched down, removing a stack of paper from an object stashed right between a desk and shelf.
It‘s a scroll, as long as Kagami‘s arm and wider than his head. It‘s blue, with silver lining, just as Tobirama described.
Kagami heaves it up, curiously. What could be hidden in a scroll like this?
He settles it down on the floor, in the empty space in front of Tobirams‘s bed, and carefully unclamps the latch. The scroll unrolls, heavy, yellowed paper unfurling over the floor, and-
Kagami takes a sharp breath. He feels tears prickling at his eyes again, blurring his vision as he takes in the rows of different names and fingerprints, written in blood.
Damn you, Tobirama-sensei, Kagami thinks as he curls over the floor, tears falling onto the wood as his forehead touches the ground, and sobs wrack his frame as he truly starts to grieve his teacher, letting himself feel in a way he had forbidden himself since he came back from that one disastrous mission.
It feels like hours until the tears and the crying stops, and Kagami gathers himself, wiping his tears as he takes in the ancient scroll still spread out before him.
A summoning contract. Tobirama left him his summoning contract.
his name is all the way at the bottom, a handful of characters in a writing that Kagami would recognize everywhere.
There‘s an empty space right beneath it, fitting for a name and fingerprints, and Kagami-
Kagami hesitates.
He sits there for a long time, staring at the scroll, at the space fitting for his name, until he sighs and rolls it together again. That is something he can think of another day.
The war is still raging on, and Kagami barely has time to breathe, much less wallow in self-misery.
There’s much to learn and too little time, and after a few days crammed in the office Kagami feels ready to die of stress and boredom.
Mito is a constant presence in those few days, on a personal mission to cram as much knowledge in his head as possible. Not that Kagsmk‘s ungrateful- looking back, he would have been much more lost without her guiding his every step. It was incredibly useful to have one of Konoha‘s founders as his right hand, with all the information needed about Konoha and its laws because she helped create them.
Of course, the Jonin and ANBU commanders also take away at Kagami‘s workload, probably more than they should given his age and inexperience, and Kagmi does his best to express his gratitude.
Nara Shikari, the Jonin commander, has been in that position since that position existed, and even though he keeps complaining about it, Kagami knows he is one of the best minds suited for the job. He appreciates the knowledge the Nara clan head is willing to share with him, even if he announces time and time again that he‘ll retire once the war is over and finally let his son take over the position.
The Anbu commander, while the polar opposite of Shikari personality wise, quickly becomes a steady presence at the edge of Kagami‘s awareness. Senju Yusaku, or otherwise known as ANBU Fox, is a familiar presence to Kagami, and he‘s glad Tobirama‘s niece is working with him.
His team also integrated in the new lifestyle revolving around the Hokage‘s office, and Kagami is incredibly glad that his appointment as Hokage hasn‘t distanced him from his teammates much. Most are even part of his guard, and all are his personal advisors. He can‘t imagine doing all this without them.
All except Torifu have their own responsibilities to fulfil, since they are all heirs of their respective clans. Since his father died, Hiruzen especially has his hands full with administration and clan ceremonies, and understandably not much time for Kagami left. Most of his time only Torifu stays to keep him company, and he‘s one more person that supports him that Kagami knows he can rely on without second thoughts.
Since Kagami became Hokage, things have… changed between him and his old team.
Where once they were a tightly-knit unit, Kagami can’t seem to stop them from drifting apart.
He knows he wasn‘t the best choice of successor, alright, he knows that Hiruzen or Danzo would have been the more obvious choice- but Tobirama didn‘t chose them. He chose Kagami. And they‘ll have to live with that.
Danzo especially seems more cold and distant than he ever was. Since the very beginning, he had been more angry and bitter than any of them, but Kagami has thought that changed. They were a team, weren‘t they? They grew up together, Kagami was there when Danzo‘s family died, when his clan dwindled down to alarmingly low numbers, and he thought they were at least friends. Maybe Danzo didn’t consider Kagami family like he did, but at least…
Well, seems like Danzo thinks otherwise.
Whenever they meet, he seemed absent, his eyes colder than usual when they look at Kagami. His suggestions and advices are insensitive at best and outright harmful at worst, and Kagami doesn’t understand why. Why is he so set on prolonging the war rather than end it? Why is he so persistent on sending more and more troups to the front lines, even though it will bring next to nothing? He yelled at Kagami when he suggested retreating from suna, as if the very thought was unimaginable. Danzo yells, yes, and it‘s not something he has never done before, but- something is changing, and Kagami can’t stop it.
Homura and Koharu still smile at him, still joke, but he knows by their glances and the twists of their lips that they agree with Danzo. The way they look at him sometimes, like a hungry vulture, makes Kagami‘s hair rise.
Hiruzen though, Hiruzen hasn‘t changed, and much less Torifu. Kagami finds it hard to believe that Hiruzen doesn’t hold at least a little bit of resentment against him- from the beginning, it had been clear that he was the best candidate for Hokage. He was strong, stronger than any of them, charming, responsible, kind. He was always the team leader, always the one to get them out of tricky situations, and now Kagami was supposed to fill that role. Not for the first time, Kagami asks himself what the hell Tobirama was thinking.
But still, if Hiruzen is bitter, he doesn’t show it. He’s been a shoulder for Kagami to lean on when everything else failed, even with his duties as clan head, even as a newly wed husband. Kagami thinks he understands something about sensei’s decision that he has yet to grasp, but that’s fine. Kagami doesn’t know what he would have done if Hiruzen changed too.
But out of his entire team, Torifu is the one who sticks with Kagami the most, always has. Kagami was aware of the Akimichi’s crush on him when they were younger, it was hard to miss, but it’s been a long time since then, and Torifu has shown himself to be a true friend. He’s not the clan head or heir like everyone else in their team, and he doesn’t have many other obligations apart from Kagami. In the weeks after sensei’s death, he has become a presence in Kagami’s life that he can’t imagine gone.
Kagami’s hands shake minimally as he unfurls the summoning scroll, painstakingly aware of the eyes of his teammates in him.
When the first feet of paper unroll, there’s a sharp intake from Koharu, and a narrowing of eyes from Danzo, but nothing else. They’re trained too well to show much of a reaction when they don’t want to.
“Kagami, why-“, Homura begins to ask before he snaps his mouth shut. Kagami grimaces. He knows what he wanted to ask. Why him? Why Kagami? And why not one of them? Kagami wishes he knew the answer.
Hiruzen already has his monkeys, and everyone except Torifu are clan heirs, with potential contracts passed down through generations. And Torifu’s fighting style would adapt poorly to Tobirama’s agile snow leopards. Kagami though, Kagami is fast, and deadly, and he admits that his sensei’s summons would suit him well. Not that he says this in front of his teammates.
“Are you going to sign it?”, Koharu asks, and Kagami only hesitates a moment before he nods.
“The crows have consented to the additional contract- I can only hope that the leopards will too.”
Danzo’s upper lip curls in something Kagami can’t quite recognize. Disdain, probably- even if Kagami would have never accepted idea that Danzo could harbor any of such feelings for him a few months ago.
Well- things change. Kagami ignores Danzo. Two can play that game.
Kagami almost cries again when he flips through the summoning signs and Tobirama’s primary summon appears in a puff of smoke.
“Kitten”, Toyotama purrs sadly, curling her massive black-and-white body around him.
Kagami blinks back tears, burying his hands in her fur. “Toyotama-sama”, he mutters as greeting. He remembers the days that Tobirama would sick his summons after them as training, testing their evasion skills, remembers Toyotama dragging them back to Tobirama like unruly kittens.
“So he left the contract to you”, Toyotama says after he calmed down, her big blue eyes blinking down at him. “Unsurprisingly. You were always his favorite.”
Kagami stares at her blankly, and choses to ignore what she just said. He won’t- he can’t deal with that at the moment.
“I know the snow leopards are prideful summons”, Kagami says, “but I’m already co reacted to the crows. If that’s a problem-“
Toyotama huffs, flicking her tail. “We can live with the crows. At least it’s not dogs.”
Kagami smiles faintly. Some things never change.
“How are the others?”, he asks, remembering all the other leopards that followed his sensei around.
Toyotama averts her gaze, tail flicking from left to right in unease. “As well as can be, given the circumstances. Tobirama-chan wasn’t our first summoner, but he was with us longer than most.”
She sighs, her ears twitching as she lays her head on her paws. “You know that most of Tobirama-chan’s summons won’t want to be contracted to you right? The wound is still fresh, and summons live longer than humans. They will feel that loss forever.”
“I understand”, Kagami says. He hadn’t really expected it from them.
“Well, you’ll have to talk to Kogyoku-sama first before signing the contract. She’ll want to test you herself- though I doubt it will actually be difficult for you.”
Kagami smiles, brushing a hand over Toyotama’s soft fur. “I’m not worried. Besides, I have you, don’t I?”
Toyotama answers with a soft purr.
Kogyoku-sama let’s Kagami sign the contract ithout much fanfare. She tells him he’s fared the best in a fight against her, besides Tobirama of course. Kagami knows his sensei signed the contract when his age hadn’t even reached double digits, a stark contrast to Kagami’s twenty-something years, but he still takes the compliment for what it is. Not many have come close to Tobirama, and Kagami doesn’t know f he’ll ever be one of them.
Still, by the end of the day Kagami’s name and fingerprints are signed at the end of the scroll in blood, right below Tobirama’s neat signature. Kagami tries not to let his gaze linger too much on it, the blood faded to almost black with time. He misses his sensei.
Toyotama quickly becomes a silent pillar in Kagami’s life, she and the other gaggle of leopards contracted under Kagami. Out of them, she is the only one of Tobirama’s summons who chose to stay with him. Kagami doesn’t resent the others for it- it would be quite hypocritical of him.
“You know, you should get an apprentice”, Hiruzen tells him one day, sitting on his windowsill and trying to distract Kagami from his paperwork.
Kagami doesn’t hear him at first, squinting down at the paper. His eyesight has been deteriorating, the more he used his mangekyo. He quickly stopped once he realized, but the damage is there. (And no, he won’t get glasses no matter what Torifu says. He’s an Uchiha. Uchiha don’t need glasses.)
“Sorry, what?”, he says, looking up at his friend.
Hiruzen rolls his eyes, repeating the question.
Kagami blinks, sitting back in his chair. “An apprentice”, he echoes. “Why?”
Hiruzen smiles. Kagami bets he’s probably thinking of the little hellions he’s been teaching for a while. Tsunade-chan, the last member of the once reknown Yamata clan and an orphan- quite the team. Despite their young age, they have already gathered quite the reputation on the battlefield.
“Well, you’re the Hokage now, Kagami.”, Hiruzen smiles, looking out the window over konoha.
“It’s your duty to pass down your knowledge to the new generation, maybe even find someone to take your place some day.” He looks back at Kagami. “It could do you good.”
Kagami leans back in his chair, setting the ink brush down carefully. A student of his own? Kagami didn’t really see himself as the teaching type. That was Hiruzen’s job, and he did it pretty well, if the three new entrances in the bingo book are any indication. He was the patient and nurturing type, perfect for teaching, but Kagami? He might actually kill the child by accident.
But still, Hiruzen had a point. The elders were already nagging at him to pick an Uchiha apprentice to pass his genjutsu skills down to, and Kagami had been avoiding them as much as possible.
As the Hokage, he had a duty, to teach that which he had been thaught by his teacher, to continue his legacy. Someone to leave his summoning contracts to when he passed, someone to pick and place the Hokage hat on their head.
“I’ll think about it”, he tells Hiruzen.
The thought follows Kagami over the past few days, up until Kagami leads a team against the suna front.
It’s kind of weird how the shinobi change in his presence, how they look up to him in awe and fear. How they cheer when he appears, how hope flares up like a wildfire whenever the shinobi notice him on the battlefield. He isn’t used to being regarded so highly, and it feels kind of awkward when his shinobi call him ‘Hokage-sama’ or ‘Sandaime-sama’.
But he can’t deny that the moment he steps foot on the battlefield the stakes rise for konoha. There are few who have been able to escape his genjutsu, and suna’s run-of-the-mill shinobi aren’t part of them.
Under the gaze of his sharingan, shinobi turn on each other, turning traitor to their own village, they stab their blades onto their own stomachs, they scream and cry at things only they can see. No one escapes the grasp of his illusions, and the tide quickly turns in Konoha’s favor.
It is then that Kagami stumbles- literally- over a small child in the middle of battle.
Huh, Kagami thinks as he looks down, taking in the child’s silver hair matted with blood and more of it seeping out under his flak jacket. But they’re in the middle of battle, of enemy territory, and Kagami can’t allow himself to hesitate.
He scoops the kid up, mindful of his injuries, ignoring his protests as he continues decimating suna shinobi with a child tucked under his arm. He stops struggling after a few minutes, and Kagami doesn’t know if it’s the blood loss or if he’s just given up trying to escape Kagami.
“Kid, you alright?”, he asks once there aren’t persons everywhere trying to take his head off his shoulders.
He lifts the child up in front of him like one would hold a kitten, checking for anything lethal he could have missed.
The child squirms in his grip, snarling at him with sharp canine teeth. “Put me down!”
“That’s not very nice”, Kagami says, sidestepping an attack. He turns, his eyes swirling red, and the offending shinobi’s eyes roll to the back of his head before he collapses, foaming at the mouth.
He eyes the child again, memorizing his face, cataloguing all his microexpressions in a split second, seeing the way blood still spills out sluggishly put of his wound. he frowns, lifting the flak jacket out of the way.
kagami grimaces. the wound is deep.
“you’re staying with me”, he says, holding him under his arm like a sack of potatoes. “You’re not dying on my watch, kid.”
“not a kid”, the kid grumbles, but doesn’t squirm much in Kagami’s hold. And Kagami doesn’t have much of a chance to reply, because war waits for no one, and soon he finds himself blocking kunai and jutsu left and right. Fighting with a child in thow isn’t something Kagami is used to, but once he gets used to it it’s not that difficult. It’s rather fun actually to see the confusion on the suna nin’s faces once they come close enough to see. None of them live long enough to tell the tale, however. The kid isn’t idle either- throwing kunai and shuriken in enemies’ blind spots and cutting their ankles when they think they’re safe sneaking up at Kagami’s back. Not bad.
Eventually though suna retreats, met with the overwhelming force of the Hokage, and Kagami shunshins to the med nin healing the injured.
“Here”, he says, placing the kid down, and flickers away as she nods at him, not even looking at him, elbow deep into someone’s guts.
The kid may have protested vaguely, but Kagami has obligations, and he can’t stay long enough to make sure he’s all right no matter how much he wants to.
Next time he sees him, is on the battlefield again, a few weeks later, and in a different one, but a battlefield nonetheless.
“Hey, it’s you!”, Kagami grins, dancing around the child to decapitate two iwa nin.
The kid whips around, blinking up at him in surprise and recognition. There are two wolves circling him, one white and one silver, snapping at everyone who comes too close.
“Ugh, it’s you”, the child says, and Kagami pouts. “Hey, what’s with that tone? It’s thanks to me you’re still alive, brat!”
“As if”, the child honest to god rolls his eyes at him, slashing his tanto down at an unfortunate shinobi. “I can handle myself.” He ducks, stabbing his blade towards the enemie’s ankles while his wolf uses his back as a springboard and locks his jaw around his neck.
“Sure”, Kagami says, a little impressed it he’s honest- the child has skill. A Hatake, probably, if the wolves and the prickly white chakra are any indication. There haven’t been many around in the past years, they were a small clan to begin with, neutral but fiercely loyal of those they deemed family. Kagami has never seen this particular Hatake before, though.
“A battlefield is no place for a child, no matter how skilled.”, Kagami says, sidestepping a handful of kunai. That’s why the village was established in the first place- to give children a place to grow up in.
Kagami is part of the last generation born outside Konoha, into the warring clans period, and he still remembers. Remembers all his siblings and cousins getting sent out and never returning. Remembers graves and armor too small, faces engraved in his memory that would never reach adulthood.
Konoha was supposed to protect the children- or so he though. Still somehow, there was a child in the middle of a battlefield.
“I’m not a child”, the boy responded. “And I’m strong.”
Kagami doesn’t answer, too busy making sure they both don’t die. You shouldn’t have to be, he thinks, remembering everything Tobirama thaught him and wondering when the ideals that built the village in the first place were starting to be forgotten by the very people living in it.
He sees the child again and again, on nearly every battlefield, somehow still not having found the time to look up his file or ask his teammates about him, and by now it’s starting to become a routine somehow, and Kagami is even starting to anticipate meeting him, looking out for those familiar wolves and the silver glint of his hair. He tells himself that he’ll stay and talk to him this time, but there’s always something to be done, somewhere else to be.
Until, after a particular grueling battle, Kagami rushes to the medical tents, the boy barely conscious in his arms. It was probably fine, he had a concussion and he lost a lot of blood, nothing the med nin couldn’t fix, but-
Fear grips Kagami’s heart, and he clutches the boy tightly, the wolves following at his heel.
He flickers through the tents until a familiar shock of blonde hair catches his eyes.
“Tsunade-chan!”, he calls, dropping down in front of her. “Kagami-ji”, she says, blinking at him in surprise. She looks tired, her eyes sunken in and her skin pale. It’s to be expected- Nawaki’s funeral was barely a month ago. It had been a shock to lose him, to come home to the news that the happy child Kagami saw running around the Senju compound was gone. Kagami hadn’t been overly close to him, not the way he is close to Tsunade, the time Nawaki was growing having been spent fighting the first and second war. Still, Kagami grieved for the boy.
“Can you look him over?”, he says, placing the boy down in front of her. She furrows her brows in confusion, placing her glowing green hands on his body. Under Kagami’s watchful gaze, the wounds start to stitch themselves together, and not much after the boy opens his stormy grey eyes.
“You!”, Tsunade exclaims in recognition. “What were you doing on the frontlines again?! You know damn well that you’re meant to stay at the base.”
The boy huffs, sitting up as his wolves come greet him. “I’m fine. The old man won’t leave me alone.”
Kagami gales in offense, because, old? He’s in his twenties!
Tsunade claps the boy on the back of his head. “Show come respect! That old man is still the Hokage, you know?!”
The boy’s head swivels around so fast Kagami thinks he pulled something, eyes fixating on him.
“You’re the Hokage?”, he asks, eyes widening in growing horror. But before Kagami can say anything, he’s called away again, and the weird encounter is showed to the back of his mind for now.
The next time he sees the boy, is oddly enough, not on the battlefield for once.
Kagami almost doesn’t believe his eyes when he spots him as he steps out of the Hokage tower, clean and blood-free.
“Hey!”, he calls as he jogs over. “Kid!”
The boy turns around, his eyes narrowing in annoyance once he spots him. Still, he bows, uncharacteristically. “Hokage-sama”
Kagami blinks in shock, before he laughs. “Just Kagami is fine, you know! I think we’ve known each other long enough.”
The boy shrugs, turning around again, but Kagami falls into step with him.
“What’s your name then?”
The boy scowls up at him. It was probably meant to be a menacing glare, but with his youthful face and the baby fat still filing out his cheeks the effect is lessened.
“Sakumo”, he mumbles eventually, averting his gaze.
Hatake Sakumo, Kagami says the name in his head.
“Do you often find yourself on the battlefield by accident, Sakumo-chan?”
Sakumo scowls harder in response, ignoring him.
“Come on, I won’t be mad! I think you’ve already heard I enough from Tsunade-chan, right? Not that I think it’s not dangerous- you’re tiny, after all- but I mean, you’re capable, more or less, especially with me looking out for you right?”
Sakumo sighs. “Do you ever shut up?”, he grumbles and Kagami laughs.
“Hmm”, he says once he’s calmed down. “I think I’ve decided.”
“Decides what?”, Sakumo answers skeptically.
“You’re going to be my apprentice!”, Kagami smiles, lifting him up and carrying him away under his arm like he’s done so many times before.
“Hey, wait-!”, Sakumo tries to protest, but it’s futile. Once Kagami has decided on something, it’s hard to make him change his mind.
It’s quite difficult to find enough time for an apprentice as the Hokage in war, but Kagami still tries to meet up with Sakumo as often as he can.
Sometimes he struggles and insists Kagami lets him go, so Kagami turns it into an evasion training session. He’s such a great sensei, isn’t he? Too bad Sakumo won’t call him sensei. Eh, they’ll get there.
It turns out Kagami and Sakumo don’t actually have a lot in common fighting style-wise- where Kagami relies on speed and stealth, Sakumo prefers to brute-force his way through his enemies, fighting together with his wolves. And he absolutely refuses to learn genjutsu. He probably could do it, the Hatake’s white chakra is very adaptable, he just doesn’t want to, no matter how much Kagami tries to convince him.
Well, since Sakumo is more the force and speed-oriented type, Kagami will show him speed.
His shunshin improves in leaps, and when they spar they often only appear as a blur to the untrained eye. Where Kagami has his Sharingan to anticipate his movements, Sakumo acts on pure instinct.
He’s also not bad with a tanto, even if he refuses to learn how to wield a katana, the weapon Kagami prefers. Additionally, his affinity for Raiton makes him the perfect person for Kagami to dump all his half-finished jutsu ideas on. Kagami’s primary nature is fire, like most Uchiha, but Raiton is much more interesting to shape and mold. Sakumo’s input has proven itself very valuable on that topic at least, and they have already developed many new Raiton jutsu.
All in all, Kagami has grown fond of his little grumpy apprentice. Sakumo can pretend to hate him all he wants, but Kagami sees the way he melts when he ruffles the boy’s hair and the way he flushes whenever Kagami praises him.
It’s not really the ideal student the uchiha elders had envisioned, but it’s someone Kagami chose, not one of the countless potential uchiha students the elders tried to saddle him with, and Kagami is grateful to have him in his life. He begins to understand what Hiruzen meant when he said an apprentice could be good for him, and also why Tobirama did what he did. He knows he would lay down his life for Sakumo in a heartbeat.
Kagami smiles nervously, trying not to let his discomfort show.
The woman sitting opposite him fixes him with an unimpressed stare.
Man, Sakumo’s aunt is scary.
With her wild mane of silver, seemingly gravity-defying hair and haunting yellow eyes Hatake Utsushiyo is exactly as terrifying as the bingo book entry makes her out to be.
Her mouth pulls into a smile, revealing sharp canine teeth.
“At ease, Uchiha”, she laughs rumblingly. “I’m not going to eat you.”
Kagami doubts that. Not that he says so. “I know”, he says, trying to relax his tense muscles. Well, it’s probably no use- as a Hatake, Kagami is sure she can probably smell his fear.
After teaching Sakumo for about a month now, Kagami thought it time to make him his official apprentice- which meant speaking with his official guardian or clan head. Since Sakumo was already a chunin (or even Jonin, judging by his skill level) he was an adult in the eyes of the law, which still unfortunately meant that Kagami had to visit the Hatake compound.
The Hatake were never a big clan like the Uchiha or Senju, but two wars had taken their toll on them. Most of the buildings Kagami passed were empty, and it seemed that there were barely more than a dozen people carrying the Hatake name. It made Kagami sad- joining Konoha was supposed to protect them. Instead, the decades of war had reduced the clan to a shadow of their former self.
While Sakumo was the clan heir, his aunt was the actual clan head- had been since Sakumo’s parents died. And to start officially training Sakumo, Kagami needed her approval.
After a very tense talk, in which Kagami had to fight the instinct to draw his katana any time the woman moved, Kagami was allowed to leave the compound with all his limbs intact and the approval of the clan head, however reluctantly it was given.
“Oh, you’re still in one piece”, Kagami hears, and turns around to see his (now official!) apprentice standing behind him.
“Don’t sound so disappointed”, Kagami pouts. “I’m sure your aunt will bite my head off if I breathe in your direction wrongly.”
“Of course she will”, Sakumo huffs. That little shit.