Chapter Text
a demon.
thats all what tobirama was. its all he has ever known.
tobirama senju was simply not human.
a freak.
a monster.
a blood thirsty, warmongering beast.
he would hear as soon as he entered another’s presence.
sentiments not only shared by his enemies, but by his own blood, his own clan .
to being born, to his death.
to hearing his own clan members gossip about him behind his back as a child, up to when he was finally killed off by kumo shinobi as they cheered that they had finally killed the white demon.
tobirama senju was not human.
Izuna mused. Ever since he met him at the river with his brother and Hashirama, he always thought the boy was odd.
To his unnatural white hair, his unnerving red eyes, and skin pale as the undead.
One could mistake him for a vengeful spirit with such appearances. The snarl that would tug on his lips wasn’t making it any better.
And the way he would fight would make the uchiha just believe he really was one.
The way he moved, the way he would swing his katana, throw a kunai, do jutsus which one can only describe as complicated and forbidden—
He fought to kill. Everyone could see that.
But. But sometimes Izuna felt different. He saw something different.
He would see his rival’s eyes soften or shift into panic as he looked at hashirama across the battlefield.
He would see him snort or let out a soft chuckle when one of the Senju kunoichi (Touka was it?), would entrap a few of Izuna’s clan members in a skillful genjutsu.
A monster couldn’t possibly do that right? A monster couldn’t— feel. a monster can’t have emotions.
So Izuna simply convinced himself that he was just being deceived by the Senju demon. It made it easier for him not to feel guilty once he killed the man.
tobirama senju was not human.
kagami would hear. why was that? the man was his teacher, his… somewhat father-figure. if anything, tobirama was more human than anyone he has met.
ever since the man found him in Senju territory, lost, confused and incapable of finding his way back to Uchiha lands, kagami saw Tobirama as someone he looked up to and adored.
he never understood it when his clan members would hiss and spit the man’s name out as if it was a curse.
kagami wanted to argue back, tell them they were wrong. but he couldn’t, because he promised tobirama. he promised he wouldn’t tell anyone that he knew the Senju heir even when he didn’t understand why.
Everyone should know how cool mister Tobi was! they should know how patient and smart his teacher was.
So he asked his beloved teacher about why people hated him so much one day. he regretted it soon after as he saw how the light in his eyes would dim slightly.
tobirama senju was not human.
The elders would snarl. How could the boy even be considered a Senju? With his unnatural coloring. He looked nothing like the rest of the clan. A black sheep of the flock, a rotted root which was bound to send them off to their deaths.
When he— when it was born, it had made not a single sound. tiny fists curled up and nothing but a small patch of white hair on its head. nothing but a few minutes later, its lids would open to reveal those unruly red eyes.
they should’ve known. Oh they should’ve known that— that beast was a bad omen at that very moment. They should’ve killed it as soon as it was out of that whore’s womb—
Tobirama was a sign of the clan’s end, a curse sent from the gods of their demise.
Only a demon would be born with eyes of their sworn enemies.
tobirama senju was not human.
Butsuma made sure of that. he never thought of himself of bad father, but he wasn’t a good one either. He was far too occupied with the war with the uchiha, too driven to win to actually be a father.
So instead of raising his sons as actual children, he raised them as soldiers.
Hashirama was a failed attempt unfortunately, as he was his first born. the boy was far too interested in optimistic and idealistic dreams of peace and harmony among the clans to be actually trained properly.
But Tobirama. His second born was different case.
Butsuma never liked him, almost believed the boy to not be his with how… odd he appeared. but he was, much to Butsuma’s dismay.
Though his appearance was obviously disliked by the majority of the clan, including him, Butsuma could see the usefulness of his second born.
He saw how loyal he was to his elder brother, how he’d follow Hashirama to the ends of the earth.
He saw how the boy barely reacted as he killed someone for the first time. It was perfect. Perfect.
Butsuma knew it was wrong. He tried to reason it all. To attain a peaceful future is to sacrifice a peaceful present.
So to attain his clan’s peaceful future, he would sacrifice his son’s childhood in order to make him his perfect soldier.
tobirama senju was not human.
Hashirama would overhear on the battlefield and in the confines of the Senju compound. Of course his little brother was human!
Maybe the elders were finally going senile and the clan members just saw his brother in a henge.
He knew Tobirama was strong and ferocious in battle, but to go to the extent to call his own brother a demon?
Tobi isn’t that frightening! He’s Hashirama’s little brother after all. The same brother whose favorite food is fish. The same brother who used to crawl into the same futon with him when he was cold.
But then again.
Hashirama can’t help but believe those loud screams or hushed whispers that his dear brother was a demon when he witnesses it with his own eyes.
Tobirama was the same brother who created a jutsu to revive the dead.
The brother who killed hordes of clansmen of his best friend.
The brother who didn’t lash out or even cry when their younger siblings died.
Humans have compassion and love.
Tobirama, to Hashirama, obviously does not.
tobirama senju was not human.
Madara knew it was obvious. He… never knew that much of the younger Senju. Only that he was the one who snitched on him and Hashirama when they were younger. And that he was a fearsome man to go against.
Far too many of his clansmen fell to the man’s blade. Only seeing a flash of white and blue with his people left bleeding out or dead to follow.
And that was how the moniker ‘White Demon’ was formed. He moved like a beast in human skin. Leaving only bodies in his wake.
Madara could only pray and hope that whatever semblance of friendship he has left with Hashirama would allow the White demon to spare his little brother.
Because he knew, one day, the only one left standing would be that beast with a blade coated with Izuna’s blood.