Naruto and Tobirama

Chapter 2

Tobirama Senju woke to the feeling of someone poking his cheek and his eyes, with years of battle hardened instincts, immediately snapped open and locked onto the frightened blue eyes of a small child that had scurried away from him with surprising speed for a four year old.

He slowly sat up with a quiet grunt as he tested his sensing abilities, noting the rather unusual chakra signature of the child and the absence of other signatures in the immediate vicinity before he turned his attention fully to the young boy. He looked to be around four years old with blue eyes, blonde hair and three whisker like birthmarks on each of his cheeks. In short the boy was adorable and Tobirama had to shake himself out of it. He had always loved kids after all.

Tobirama quickly got to his feet, gazing around and taking in the faint but familiar chakra of his brother. This was definitely the forest of Konoha as his brother Hashirama had grown these trees himself with his own chakra, and it lingered to this day. To his left, quite a distance away, was a large gathering of chakra signatures that he assumed was the village of Konoha, though he couldn't be too sure. His attention turned back to the trembling boy when he raised his hand to straighten his face guard. The child had flinched. Tobirama narrowed his eyes in suspicion and addressed the boy.

"Where am I boy?" he asked, and he internally winced at how commanding his voice had sounded, no doubt scaring the boy more.

The child said nothing for a moment before simply pointing at him and then at the middle of his forehead. Tobirama realized he had been pointing to his face guard

"I'm in Konoha then?"

The boy nodded slightly and Tobirama took a moment to really look at him. He was skinny. Dangerously so, the child had obviously been starving for a long time and was very malnourished. He wouldn't be surprised if he was older than he appeared. He wore a pair of torn and dirty pants and a thin ripped shirt despite the cold, both of which were covered in a decent layer of blood in various stages of drying. He was barefoot and his arms and legs were covered in scars and healing wounds. The child's blonde hair was filthy and matted with god knows what and his eyes were dull and empty like he had given up on life. The whisker marks on his face that Tobirama had first thought to be birthmarks were in fact scars that had been carved into his face, and there was another scar that went from his forehead to his cheek, crossing over the top of his left eye, like someone had tried to slash the kid's eye out. He also appeared to have an injured arm, likely broken from the way the child held it gingerly, his chakra was clouded with pain, fear, wariness and... fox? strange. overall, Tobirama was not happy at all with how Konoha had treated a child of all things, and he was going to fix it.

"What's your name kid?" he finally asked the boy

"..."

"how old are you?"

"..."

"parents?"

That got a reaction. The boy scowled fiercely and his chakra flared with equal amounts of anger and sadness before he promptly turned to leave in the direction of Konoha, seeming not to care whether Tobirama followed him or not. Tobirama simply shrugged and jogged a bit to catch up with the child, not liking the idea of leaving him alone in the forest so far from the village.

...........

Why was the man following him? Naruto had had enough of his stupid questions and tried to leave him to his own devices but no. The damn shinobi had decided to follow him and they were now silently walking side by side back to Konoha despite Naruto's clear attempts to ditch the stranger. Naruto decided that he didn't like the man at all.

"so what happened to your arm" said the shinobi, Naruto ignored him hoping he would go away

"is it broken?" no shit

"did you go to the hospital?" obviously not

"can I have a look at it? I know a thing or two about broken bones"

Naruto stopped and glared at the shinobi, in the futile hope of scaring him off but the shinobi simply smiled in amusement and knelt to the ground in front of him

"now then, let me have a look at that arm and I'll see what I can do" he said stiffly, but Naruto could see the laugh in the stranger's eyes and he scowled again, about to keep walking when the man gently placed his calloused hand on his broken arm. Naruto flinched, then froze as the man examined it so carefully he barely felt any pain. He was shocked. A shinobi of all things was being... nice? to him? he didn't understan-

"well it's definitely broken, looks like it has been for a while. Come on, we'll go to the hospital together" Interrupted the strange shinobi as he scooped Naruto up in his arms, Ignoring his violent flinch at the contact, and began swiftly striding towards the heart of Konoha where he would ask directions to the hospital. Naruto who was pressed against the strange shinobi's chest was once again struck by how easily he seemed to trust the man for no reason. Normally he would be thrashing and struggling to be put down but in this man's arms he felt... safe. yes that was it. Naruto felt safe with the stranger.

He relaxed and gently rested his head on the shinobi's shoulder before muttering his name under his breath.

"what was that kid? I couldn't hear you" said the shinobi and Naruto, with a flash of irritation, repeated what he said

"Naruto"

The shinobi seemed to pause slightly in surprise before continuing his rhythmic striding towards the village.

"Nice to meet you Naruto, my name is Tobirama. Tobirama Senju"