memories

Most of the events in my life remained the same up until the Fourth Shinobi World War, but there were a couple of significant discrepancies. Prior to the founding of Konohagakure, following the battle that would have resulted in Izuna's death, Hashirama brought Tobirama to me in an act of good faith, proposing a truce between our clans while we discussed the terms of the treaty Hashirama had begun to devise. Tobirama was to remain with the Uchiha during this time, serving his sentence, as it were, by providing medical attention to Izuna's injuries.

Tobirama had learned medical ninjutsu from his brother and, while his abilities weren't quite as miraculous as Hashirama's, they were sufficient in keeping Izuna alive and slowly restoring him back to health in his coma-like state. While I was undeniably grateful that my last surviving brother was being treated, I still could not set aside the fact that Tobirama was the one to put him in that state in the first place. I more or less kept Tobirama prisoner within the Uchiha settlement, ordering strict surveillance over him at all times. Neither of us were particularly fond of being in each other's presence, but as time went on and peace talks continued, we gradually came to understand one another better than we once had.

By the time that the Senju-Uchiha alliance was sealed and Izuna was back in good health, Tobirama and I had begun to regard each other as equals, something that Hashirama was much too pleased about. Konohagakure was born and, while I still passed up the opportunity to become the "Hokage" of this new village, I was appointed Hashirama's advisor, along with his brother. Many of the shinobi in the village expressed concerns about my position in whispers and rumours, proving that it would still take quite some time before they would come to trust me.

It was that skeptical attitude from all corners of the village that isolated me. I spent many hours alone in the Naka Shrine in search of answers from our patron deity, Susano'o no Mikoto, desperate for a solution that would earn the village's trust, but as I began to decipher the contents of the stone tablet beneath the shrine, I became convinced that the reason I felt no belonging there was because it was little more than a charade. At least, that was the conclusion I came to as I interpreted the hidden meaning in the words that had been altered by Black Zetsu, unbeknownst to me at the time.

After several failed attempts of persuading members of my clan to see the "truth" and follow me to a path of salvation for the Uchiha, I fled the village. Even Izuna, alive and well, was reluctant to heed my warnings as he had come to appreciate the villagge and what it represented. I had much to think about and I couldn't do that with those who did not trust me breathing down my neck and observing my every move. Hashirama sent messenger birds to come find me over the course of several months, expressing his laments of my absence, detailing how the village continued to grow, sharing the news of his marriage and how he was heartbroken that I couldn't have been there...

A part of me began to wonder if I shouldn't come back and try to drown away my doubts of what the village meant for my clan. However, after several more months of no contact with Hashirama wherein my suspicions were allowed to continue to fester, I received an unexpected visitor in the form of Tobirama, who brought with him the lifeless body of my younger brother. Wrought with anger, grief, and regret, I mourned, and as Tobirama explained what had happened and why Hashirama had yet to send word of Izuna's death, I felt my resolve harden. I took Izuna's eyes—the last piece of him that I could still keep close to me—and awakened the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Tobirama, though understanding of my grief, held his ground against me when I tried to march toward the village once more with the intent of challenging Hashirama to a battle to the death. Alas, though Tobirama had grown much stronger since the last time we had fought each other seriously, he was still no match against me. He inevitably vanished with that Hiraishin jutsu of his to warn his brother ahead of time, but it didn't change the outcome. I had still obtained control over Kurama in the time that I was gone, intent on keeping it as an ace up my sleeve for a moment just such as this.

Although Hashirama defeated me, I was still able to resurrect with the Izanagi, a chunk of Hashirama's flesh safe in hand. Everything else remained relatively the same until the time that I was resurrected during the war. When I clashed with Hashirama on the battlefield, the annoying bastard actually managed to talk some sense into me. He explained how the Infinite Tsukuyomi couldn't bring salvation to anyone if it stripped others of their free will to choose their own paths, and that that was nothing close to "true peace".

"Look around," he had told me, gesturing out toward the armies of the Five Great Nations that had come together under one goal. "If the village we created was really destined to fail, how is all of this possible?"

Those words resonated with me more than anything else. I couldn't deny the truth of what he was saying. In spite of the circumstances, the great nations of the shinobi world still managed to put aside their differences and work as one, united front. Nobody had to subjugate them or force them to obey. They decided to fight together to protect what they all believed in. It was...a humbling realization, to say the least.

But that wasn't the end of it. By this point, Black Zetsu had already taken control of Obito's body to force him to use the Rinne Rebirth jutsu to revive me to my full former glory. I was still able to obtain my Rinnegan eye from another Zetsu, but what I planned to do with it now had drastically changed course. To keep an already long story from getting much longer, the entire war changed directions when I turned my blade against Black Zetsu instead. Outraged that his plans had been foiled, Black Zetsu commanded his White Zetsu clones to attack, even going so far as to awaken the sleeping clones from Kaguya's hidden ruins as they crawled out of the ground to join the battle. Now that I was fighting on the side of the Allied Shinobi Forces, however, the remainder of the war came quickly and without many more casualties.

Following the spiritual gathering of all the former kage that had been reanimated with Edo Tensei, all of their souls ascended for the final time. All but one, that is. Tobirama lingered and it quickly became apparent that his soul was not quite ready to depart from this world, still clinging to its unfinished business. It didn't take me very long to figure out that that "unfinished business" had to do with me, considering that my revived body would now live on, and our last encounter in life had ended on such a strained note.

Hagoromo, understanding of the circumstances, bestowed the last remnants of his life essence unto Tobirama to grant him a revived body of his own, putting a final end to the legendary Sage of Six Paths. I feel no shame now in admitting that a part of me was the slightest bit relieved.

Tobirama would return to Konohagakure to serve in the ANBU Black Ops, but before I was permitted to return as well, I was imprisoned at Hozuki Castle alongside Sasuke and Obito, who had also survived since we avoided the encounter with Kaguya Otsutsuki altogether. Sasuke was, of course, pardoned first by Naruto as the Seventh Hokage, while Obito and I spent a little while longer within the castle walls while the village decided what to do with us. Eventually, Obito was pardoned on behalf of the former Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, who apparently vouched for him. Then there was just me. Another month or so went by until I, too, received my pardon, though it was never made clear who issued it.

I was brought back to the village, given a home within the walls of the former Uchiha compound, and placed under constant surveillance by a certain ANBU. I wasn't allowed to leave the village for quite some time after that, but I had very few qualms about that, considering the privileges I was already being gifted. It took some personal adjustments to swallow my pride over it all, but I did understand that the fact that I was still alive at that time was a blessing in and of itself. It wasn't as if the vast majority of the village was ready to accept me with open arms, after all.

The Uchiha District wasn't quite as bustling as I remembered it to be, but I admit that it was still nice to live amoungst my kinsmen after all was said and done. Obito took quite a while to warm back up to me after he came to understand the way I had manipulated him in his youth, but he eventually came around. Sasuke remained wary and aloof, but that seemed fairly par for the course for him. It wasn't my intention to spy on him, but I couldn't help but notice when a Hyuga girl began coming by more and more often. Eventually, she even introduced herself to me: Hinata Hyuga.

The two married and brought three new Uchiha children into the world since the downfall of our clan: twins—a boy named Yozuru and a girl named Soraka—and their youngest daughter, Shirei. Yozuru and Soraka eached possessed a Sharingan and Byakugan in their eyes, which came as quite the shock to nearly everyone, considering this was the first recorded instance of such a thing happening naturally. Then again, the Uchiha and Hyuga were never quite that friendly with each other even from my time, so that was to be expected. However, curiously, Shirei didn't seem to possess either dojutsu, at least not from I remember of her youth.

On a less relevant note, Naruto went on to marry Sakura, the disciple of the Fifth Hokage and inheritor of the Strength of a Hundred Seal possessed by Mito Uzumaki, who had passed it on to her granddaughter. Quite the formidable duo, if you ask me. They bore two children: a bright and ambitious redheaded girl named Minami, and a younger son named Noriaki, who seemed to take after Naruto the most. There was also another Uzumaki girl who appeared in the village many years later to attend the Ninja Academy. Considering the scarce lack of Uzumaki in this day and age, I found this rather curious, and Sasuke eventually confided in me that the girl, Katsuki, was his illegitimate daughter conceived with someone he had worked with before the war. Now, then, an Uzumaki and Uchiha child? I was very interested in observing her progress as a shinobi.

To my surprise, I was afforded the opportunity to do just that when Naruto informed me that I had served my sentence confined to the village and could begin leading a genin team of my own, if I so desired. It had been over a decade since the end of the war, so perhaps it was a reasonable time to spend paying my dues, but for some reason I was still surprised. I accepted the offer, of course, and found myself the captain of Katsuki's team, along with Yozuru Uchiha and one other whose name I can't quite recall right now...

I suppose it's also worth noting that, after my return to the village, Tobirama's true emotional hangups that had kept him in this plane of existence were revealed. If it weren't already obvious, he was the ANBU charged with keeping tabs on me, and at some point, we had fallen into bed together. This budding relationship of ours was tightly kept under lock and key, of course, for if anyone were to find out about it, they would have begun to question whether or not Tobirama was suited to do his job properly. Of course, that prick's sense of duty came first the majority of the time, so he would never hesitate to report something that concerned him. In fact, that did happen a couple of times and led to "wellness checks" on me, much to my chagrin. Most of the time it was a misunderstanding, but it was annoying and inconvenient all the same.

Truthfully, I'm sure that my own affections for Tobirama began much earlier—namely when he had spent time amoung my clan, even if he had been more or less a hostage at the time. It was back then that I had started to appreciate his intellect first and foremost, even if I would have rather died than admit how smart he was, and a part of me found his blunt behaviour just a little bit endearing. There was no terminology or diagnosis for it at the time, but I know how that I was likely on the autism spectrum in my lifetime, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same went for Tobirama. I do distinctly remember finding that absurd scarf of his very pleasant to touch, especially considering I had to wear gloves most of the time to avoid other textures that I didn't enjoy so much. Then again, I also liked it because it was made of fox fur and was apparently the only kind of animal fur I wasn't allergic to.

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