𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

89

"Hey, hey! Sasuke!"

As the raven exited his home one morning, his attention was caught by the sound of Tobirama calling out to him and running in his direction. Since Sayuri's birthday, nothing new had happened regarding Sasuke and his family. Madara had since gone off to mind his own business yet again, and Sarada and Sayuri were living normally with Sasuke and Sakura. Things had been routine and good.

"Yes?"

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he examined the Senju's state, noticing that he looked out of breath and slightly panicked.

"Sayuri! Where is Sayuri?!" he asked frantically, immediately rushing past Sasuke and running as fast as he could into the house. Although he knew she was safe, since he had just bid Sayuri and Sarada goodbye for the day, the raven's thoughts instantly leapt to the worst case scenario as he subconsciously followed the higher up into his home.

"T-Tobirama-sama?!"

Sakura looked greatly surprised when the white haired Senju threw the door to her room open, revealing her as she tired to get an agitated Sayuri dressed for the day ahead, while Sarada kept herself entertained on the other side of the room with the golden dragon netsuke she had received from [Name].

"She's good, that's great," breathed Tobirama heavily, his mind still fuzzy as he tried to comprehend how things could have gone so awry. "She's still here. Good."

"What's going on?" demanded Sasuke as he entered the room, already knowing that only one person could have been the cause of such frenzy for the usual calm and composed Senju's frenzy.

"The one day I tell my brother to watch over him while I dealt with matters outside of the village... he really is too lenient!" exclaimed the exasperated male, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Goddamnit, onii-san!"

"What happened?" asked Sakura cautiously, finishing putting on Sayuri's clothing and letting her toddle off to join Sarada. "Has something happened?"

"I had to attend to an urgent meeting with some representatives from the Land of Earth who were wanting to create a village of their own, and told my brother to watch over Madara while I was gone," seethed the Senju, already looking like he was regretting his decision to meet with the foreign shinobi. "I was so stupid to trust he would actually do it!"

"What has Madara done?"

"... if you want to look for yourself, I need to take these three to my brother so that I know that they're safe while we go ahead. I don't recommend you letting your children see the scene."

As he pondered over the Senju's words, Sasuke's eyes widened as a realisation struck him.

"Last night marked one year since [Name] left."

***

"... well, this is just..."

As with the Uchiha clan, the Kouhage clan had been tightly squeezed into their own corner of the village on the opposite side of the village, but all Sasuke could make of their living quarters were charred and smashed ruins of the buildings they once were. Amongst the ruins, village shinobi carted out body after body on stretchers, the stench of burnt flesh filling Sasuke's nose. Some houses had been razed to the ground, while others remained intact and untouched by the wrath of whoever had come to destroy their lives.

"I know."

Tobirama's face was somber as he eyed out the scene once more, not knowing what else there was to be said about the situation. The Kouhage clan's plight had only come to his attention once he had arrived in the village in the early hours of the morning, when he was alerted by guards that suspicious activity had been occurring in their compound.