Tobirama has never before used the seal in real combat. He has made certain that no one knows about its existence but him. And yet when he moves to flash to the kunai he's thrown with the hirashin seal he'd so carefully painted on it…
Someone beats him to it.
In one unmeasurable fraction of a second, a body is there before his can be, a sword twists and deflects his strike on Izuna.
All three of them leap backwards and settle into a standoff -- Izuna's eyes are wide and no doubt spinning. He tries to keep both Tobirama and this new fighter in his range of vision, because he had just been saved, yes, but the stranger is a dangerous unknown to have appeared so suddenly. Just a bit taller and broader than either of them, covered head to toe in black, complete with a white and red theatre mask of a cat. They (he, Tobirama already knows) stands loose but ready, with a blade ready to strike at either one of them.
And Tobirama --
He knows he should keep his attention on Izuna, but he can't, because though this man has his chakra suppressed, Tobirama is searching for it, and the nature of it is --
It's hard to get a sense of one's own chakra. It takes meditation that Tobriama usually finds is time best spend on other things. But he has felt it, both that way and in the brief moments before his experimental shadow clones dissipate.
That chakra is his.
Chakra signatures can be suppressed, can be changed to hide their nature, but the chakra control required to copy one is something considered impossible. Still, there could be some unknown technique or kekkei genkai...
The fact that the hirashin is a space-time jutsu does not escape him, either. It had in fact caused him a great deal of trouble when trying to puzzle out how to make it work. No one but the creator should be able to use the seal he's made.
Tobirama is quite sure that he's talking to himself when he asks, "If you are who I think you are, then why?"
It would have been a good hit, probably enough to end the battle right away. Why would he time travel to save Izuna?
A movement from the figure in black -- Senju hand signs (awkward and unpracticed -- how long had it been since he'd used them last?) to say 'speak later.' Tobirama frowns but he can see the wisdom in not revealing whatever is going on in front of the Uchiha. The Uchiha who is looking between them suspiciously.
"Right, okay." Says Izuna, "Thanks for the save new guy, I don't suppose you'd be willing to team up with me and take down this Senju trash?"
The mask somehow manages to radiate a sense of unimpressed-bemusement in the moment before it shakes in negative.
Izuna makes an aborted movement with his shoulders, as if to say well I had to try.
Then he tilts his head at Tobirama and asks, with a lot more bite, "And I don't guess you'd be willing to team up with me to chase off this clown?"
"No." Says Tobirama. You have no idea what you're asking. Then he goes carefully stiff, because Madara and Hashirama both have realized that something was wrong and are headed this way at a speed which leaves chakra trails in his sensing.
There's a spike of chakra, a flash, and the figure in black is gone. To another hirashin seal, probably, and one out of his range.
Well, that's heartening for the future of that jutsu, at least.
His brother lands a moment before Madara does, though they both seem confused at the lack of active fighting. The Uchiha demands an explanation, and Izuna gives one that is truthful enough ("The fucking Senju invented some crazy new jutsu again, but some third guy showed up to block his hit --") that Tobirama just offers a shrug in response when Hashirama looks at him. He can't bring himself to care about explaining in light of the revelations he's just had.
The conversation inevitably turns into a request for peace, and Izuna sneering at the idea, and Tobirama is too good a shinobi to tune out entirely, but it's a near thing. The offer is rejected, but in the face of a jutsu that Izuna has no idea how to deal with, the Uchiha retreat.
(He is a little miffed about losing the element of surprise, but if time travel is involved, Tobirama guesses he never had it in the first place.)
Hashirama's questions on the matter stay thankfully very base level -- he's not a skilled enough sensor to have picked up the chakra of that person as separate from Tobirama's own and is likely assuming the man was suppressing it entierly. When he asks about the hirashin, it's clear that he doesn't understand it, beyond teleportation, and he can't puzzle out how important the fact that someone else used his seal is.
"It didn't work as expected" Tobirama says truthfully, and leaves it as that.
(He's not sure whether or not Madara could tell that there were two of him. In the future he'll be able to create a similar phenomenon with a shadow clone, but that will do nothing to explain the why someone with his chakra signature saved his brother).
That evening back at the compound, Tobirama lays awake, senses stretched out, until he feels his own chakra signature appear on the far edge of the main house's garden. Confident in not being caught, it seems -- but then why would he be? Even if he was, everyone would just think it was him.
Hopefully he will not do anything to hurt his own standing in the clan.
He has swallowed down his trepidation about the situation up until this point, and will continue to do so in the pursuit of answers. Tobirama slips on his sandals, slips out the window, and lands on the railing of the gazebo that overlooks the sand garden.
The man there has his back to him, and his clothes are still concealing and black, but the mask and hood are gone.
The hair is white, and just a bit longer than Tobirama's own.
Any last shred of doubt is wiped away when the man turns to look at him.
Anyone could copy his face with a henge, but no one would know what it meant to see your own face with cracked skin and dark sclera like that.
"Edo Tensei." he breathes, "I was able to use it on myself? A time release seal of some kind?"
"No." The other him huffs humorlessly, "It was used by another long after I was gone."
"Ah." And this, Tobirama had not considered at all, and it is enough to have him feeling vaguely queasy. To have such mastery as to bring someone back and send them back in time--"So you are under someone else's control."
"Not as such." His future self says, turning fully to face him. He's backlit by the moon, shadows casting his face (older, enough for a few wrinkles around the eyes, though how much of that is from the jutsu he could not say) into stark relief, "Though that was only by the choice of the one who summoned me. They had controlled me, before."
It is suddenly too much, and all Tobirama can do about it is stare.
His other self rolls his eyes of all things, and reaches up to pull down the collar of his shirt, turns to show the back of his neck.
"Examine the seal if you'd like, but there is no compulsion in this one."
Tobirama looks, though he does not move closer. It looks --
Well, it looks like a refined version of Edo Tensei, and its missing the lines that force control…
"I know you didn't hear this quote until much later," Says his future self, "But to save you some grief: you shouldn't create weapons that you aren't prepared to have used against you."
"…I see." Says Tobirama after a beat, even though he's not entirely sure that he does.
(He made it sound at though being under Edo Tensei was not a pleasant experience. A useful data point to have, but if even this refined version is not a nice way to live -- Tobirama makes himself put the thought out of his mind)
His future self turns to face him again, though his expression is blank in a way that means he knows that Tobirama doesn't see, really. He probably knows, or can guess with great accuracy, everything Tobirama is going to think and say during this conversation. Though not with perfect clarity -- clearly time has passed for this version of himself, and his priorities must have changed, because --
"Why did you block that blow."
His other self gives him a considering look.
"It was something of a gamble on my part, but I believe Izuna's survival will lead to a better peace than the one I had."
Tobirama's heart jolts and he's sure his chakra does too. So much there -- Izuna's survival meant he had died, and then he'd said peace, yes, but--
"You're changing the future. Not ensuring it."
Future-Tobirama inclines his head, "I am. But I know things are likely to go, and my actions have been to ensure that the same mistakes from my time aren't made again."
Tobirama has to takes a moment to stare at this twisted mirror of himself, heart still pounding hard. In whatever future this version of him had come from, he had died, been brought back, and then decided that he could do it better if he tried it again. That--
Well, it sounds like him.
Tobirama fights the urge to bite the inside of his cheek. He doesn't have nervous habits like that, though one would be a comfort right about now.
"You said there was peace. With the Uchiha?"
Another nod, and a finger tapping at happuri -- there's a different symbol on this one than on the one Tobirama wears -- a spiral, a triangle, a line. Tobirama had already noticed, but there had been more pressing questions.
"And other clans. Not just a ceasefire, but Hashirama's peace."
"The village." Tobirama murmurs. And at that, the other him gives a wicked little smirk. Out from a pouch comes a sealing scroll (and yes, that is very much the way he makes his sealing scrolls), and out of the scroll comes three thick binders.
"As I said." the other him says, "I will not allow the same mistakes."
Tobirama is not stopped when he reaches for binder on top. It's --
"The peace treaty." The other him says, "And the agreements that came before. I expect there will be differences because the manner of how peace comes will be different, but they will be good reference points."
Tobirama swallows thickly.
"…The Uchiha can be trusted to keep this?"
But they must have, if this other version of him wears the symbol of their village over the symbol of his clan.
"…Tentatively." says future him, "There were forces manipulating both sides into fighting that I have already taken care of, and things should be much more stable without that influence." A pause, "Though Izuna being left alive may negate that. I suppose we will see."
"…Then why." If they had their village last time without him there, and this supposed influence is gone…
"Madara loves his brother very much. Being responsible for his death made things… More difficult than they should have been." His future self says, "And Izuna can be convinced, one way or the other."
"How?" He asks, and gets an answer.
The second binder is filled with pages upon pages of new jutsu. Tobirama wonders if he made these in the future, or if they belong to people who no longer exist. Or might never have the chance to exist, rather.
But he's sure he draws the conclusion his future self thought he would. With these he can easily overpower Izuna… But he's not allowed to kill him, apparently.
"It's been a long time for me, but if I remember Izuna correctly, he will push himself very hard to try and keep up with you." Says his future-self softly, "The hope is that he will reach a point that Madara will think he is pushing too far, and agree to peace before his little brother can hurt himself."
But Izuna pushing himself that hard might do something desperate. Leaving him alive puts every Senju in danger.
"But I shouldn't hurt him too badly." Tobirama doesn't like that idea much at all, and if anyone could read that from his tone, it would be himself. "Should I not kill any Uchiha?"
"Not if you can help it." Future him answers without even having to consider it. How long did you live in peace? Tobirama wants to ask. When was the last time you fought the Uchiha that you can say such a thing so easily? "If it worries you, know that I will be taking steps myself to prevent casualties caused by the changes I've made."
That does soothe him. Barely. His future self continues on.
"You are aware of your reputation. Mercy from you will be considered a plot at first, but repeated enough it will be forced to be understood as sincerity."
"And what should I say about the sudden change of heart?" He finally snaps, "If you know me then you know how hard the idea of this must be to swallow."
His future self doesn't answer right away, gaze locked onto some distant point in the darkness.
"In the village, children will not to have to go to war." He says, "And there be a sharing of ideas and techniques that the world has not yet seen." He grows quieter, "There will be people who seek you out not for your use as a tool, but for your companionship as a person." And there is some deep buried grief in his voice when he says, "And it will make anija very happy."
Tobirama has felt this ache in his chest before, but it hasn't been this fierce in a long time.
"You've seen it all?" Hopefully he will not judge himself too harshly for the roughness in his voice.
The third binder is offered, now. On it's pages are plans for roads and buildings.
"I've built it. Now you will."