Not so imaginary

i.

It didn't occur to her who her imaginary friend was, how did he first appear, or why is he dressed in bulky armour until she was 5 and was casually reading about the History of Konoha when his face popped up. In the book was a picture of a white-haired man with stunning dark red eyes in his mid-30s who look really alike to her imaginary friend. Or maybe, in her case, her imaginary friend is the one that looks like him. That man was Senju Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage of Konoha.

She was quick to point it out to Tobi, her imaginary friend, and he stared back for a short period before he starts pointing out all the inaccurate information listed in the book. Like how he did not hate Uchiha clan —He was only wary, but if he did hate them, he wouldn't have created the Konoha Military Police Force and entrusted it to them— or how he did not join the war at 10 years old— he was actually 7 years old because he was gifted and genius like that— and no, he absolutely did not have a fling with Mito Uzumaki —that thought disgusts him. They were mere friends and plus, Mito was his sister in law.

Sakura stared at him with stars in her eyes by the time he was done.

"Tell me more?" Sakura urges. Other than reading, her second most favourite thing is she loves listening to stories. Stories from an imaginary figure from the past —especially since it's The Senju Tobirama— would definitely be interesting to hear.

He sighed and Sakura knew it was a win for her. It was rare, but ever so slowly her pile of 'I manage to convince my imaginary friend to do something' increase.

He told her the story of four brothers, hailing from the infamous—now almost non-existent— Senju clan. How they were the children of war—born in times of constant wars. A war between rivalling clans to survive. He told her of his lack of childhood—his earliest memories being his father teaching him the vital spots to maim their enemies and constant training. Mainly their clan has been battling out the Uchiha more often than not. And it was to this war that the four brothers become two brothers—the other half slaughtered by Uchihas. And it wasn't after losing their half, that the two remaining brothers, Hashirama and Tobirama, had really talked and considered ways to end the war and the cycle of children deaths. They did not want to lose more of their kin and especially one another. Hashirama had suggested an alliance between the warring clans but it was clear Butsuma Senju— the clan head, their father— was already in too deep. The boys were told coldly to train harder to avoid being failures like their brothers did. It was said in anger, so the boys knew that he did not mean to call the death of his two sons a failure —after all, it was Butsuma who had called them true shinobi in the first place.

And so Tobirama Senju trained, and trained and trained to be a better shinobi. He promised himself that he would not allow his death to be dishonourable in any way if he could help it. He was quickly becoming a master in a variety of ninjutsu form, an adept sensor with a wide range and accuracy and was even skilled with a sword. It wasn't until he received an order from Butsuma to follow his older brother silently and observe what he does that he realised his brother had been leaving the Senju compound to meet up with a suspicious boy named Madara at a nearby river.

The suspicious boy's identity was later confirmed by his father as Uchiha Madara, eldest son and heir to Tajima Uchiha, the head of The Uchiha clan. Feeling betrayed that his older son would fraternize with the enemy, Butsuma had quickly urged and pressured the boy to set up an ambush in which they plan to kill the boy. The ambush failed because the Uchihas had similar planning and it was only because of Hashirama and Madara that a temporary ceasefire was negotiated and it allowed them to continue without any bloodshed that day.

He told her how years later, Hashirama and Madara would then come to form an alliance which will then lead to establishing a peaceful village called Konoha—the village hidden in the leaf—, where no children would ever need to die in battle.

By the time he ended his story, Sakura was already yawning and rubbing her tired eyes.
"That's really cool of you, Tobi." She said which was replied with a raised eyebrow, urging her to continue. Her green eyes droop lower.

"You are a good shinobi. I want to be like you." Sakura yawns once more before snuggling closer to her blanket and her pink stuffed rabbit. Her eyes droop close and a small snore was soon heard from the child.

Tobirama eyes the sleeping pink-haired girl, his eyes filled with an unreadable emotion before he leaves and the room was empty again.

—To be continued—
Heyyo, I had an idea, decided to start writing and this is the outcome! I love reading stories about little Haruno Sakura and her adventures so this book will be all about that. She's absolutely precious and has to be protected at all cost. Of course, Tobirama knows and agrees with me on this. Anyway, next part is gonna be Tobi's POV uwu

And I'm also posting this on AO3 under the same username I have on Wattpad too, and if you guys want to see more I will be posting over there first.