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"They're just trying to use us, don't you see?"
"I can see that those two are Senju– "
"So can the clients! Izuna, they know we're Uchiha and Senju, and they're barely foreigners—they know what that means! Just think!"
It's true, their clients do travel through Hi no Kuni quite often. But this time, they hired Uchiha and arrived with Senju. The Senju Clan who– who killed Togakushi in cold blood. Kurohime wants him to let them go?
He'd spit and curse at her, but Togakushi was her brother, too.
Izuna takes a deep breath instead. Think. Just think.
"…Okay, okay. We team up with those heathens, find out why our clients want to start conflict, yeah? After that– after that, the Senju are fair game—me and you, we can take them."
Perhaps he's being a bit unfair. Kurohime is a pacifist at heart and will always desire the bloodless option, but Izuna isn't having it. Not so soon after Togakushi…
Kurohime bites her lip, but her eyes are cold as she nods. Izuna can't help but grin. So there is a vindictive part in her. Maybe it took her twin's death to bring out, but it's there. Oh, she wishes it wasn't, but she's already accepted it.
"All right. Who's telling the Senju?"
"My name is Uchiha Izuna. Me and my clansman want to make a deal."
No way in hell is he going to tell the Senju that he and Kurohime are siblings. They'd only use it against them. The two Senju boys could guess it from appearances alone, but they all think the Uchiha are inbred, anyways.
"My clansman and I." The white-haired one mutters.
Izuna squints at him. Really, a dig at his grammar?
"…I don't care? You understood me just fine, didn't you? Or are you socially–"
"Izuna!" Kurohime scolds.
Izuna clicks his tongue.
The other Senju kid sneers at him. He's got light-brown hair, just as spikey as the other. Which is almost as spikey as Izuna's and Kurohime's hair, really.
"We're not going to make any deals with you."
Kurohime rolls her eyes. "Uhh, you'd better."
The white-haired kid goes stiff.
"Was that a threat?"
Izuna puts a hand on Kurohime's shoulder, trying to shove her behind him. There's a reason he's making the deal and she isn't. No people skills, that one. She kicks his shin a little on the way, trying to assert her older sibling dominance. Whatever.
"No, it wasn't. What she meant was that we're being used. All four of us."
"Of course we are, we're shinobi. It's our job."
…Right. Right, does he have a counter for that? Oh, who is he kidding, Izuna has a counterargument for everything.
"Yeah, we get used because we get paid. But we don't get paid if we die, so hear us out, okay?"
The brown-haired one growls, but the other Senju signals for him to stop. He nods at Izuna, squinting his red eyes in interest.
"Senju Tobirama." He refers to himself. "Talk."
"…We kill them."
Oh, Izuna likes this one. Kurohime subtly nudges his ribs, eyes clearly telling him, stop it, you're barely seven. He relaxes his admittedly creepy smile, but only because they're siblings. If Hikaku were to nudge him like that, Izuna would put frogs in his futon.
"How d'ya figure?" Izuna asks.
"They paid half upfront, yes? A good sum, but they were betting on profiting off us later." Tobirama starts to explain.
"I don't think we're what they expected, though. They mentioned thinking they were going to get adults." Kurohime pauses, apparently having the same thoughts as Tobirama. "So maybe we've already taken more money than they planned for, if they thought they were going to start an actual conflict."
It's true that adults have more connections than children, more people willing to avenge them. When having child soldiers is basically traditional and extremely widespread, the protectiveness civilians seem to think is inherent in adults tends to be faint. So people are less willing to risk battle over the deaths of a couple of children, unless their parents are important.
Izuna looks to Kurohime. Their clients won't have much luck with them. They may be more closely related to the current Clan Head than most, but Kuraokami started a new family line, one they're exempt from. They're nobodies until Dad tries to… well, takeover.
Tobirama and the younger Senju exchange their own look. It's different from the nonchalant one Izuna and Kurohime had—they're worried. Oh? Are they siblings? Do they have an important parent?
"…Right. It's like you said before—we let ourselves be used because we get paid. I don't think we're going to be paid what we were promised. Their products are getting flimsy, too, so we're not missing much."
So their clients are suppliers for the Senju. Would've been nice to know. The Uchiha don't tend to buy from outsiders—they own an underground market. Of course, Sora-ku relies on raw materials from Tsuchi no Kuni, but these clients don't sell those, so there's hardly any repercussions in killing them for the Uchiha Clan, either.
The younger Senju squints.
"So we're not fighting each other… on the basis of profit? We're–"
"Mortal enemies, yes, but someone's gotta put food on the table." Kurohime assures quickly.
Too quickly, if Tobirama's glare is anything to go by.
"Uchiha, you said you wanted a deal. So here's the deal—we help you assassinate our clients and speak of this to no one, and we expect you to do the same. We split the loot evenly, and we don't turn on each other."
Izuna may take some small delight in Kurohime the Pacifist souring at Tobirama's last demand. She wants to kill these Senju.
"Deal." Izuna lies. "But these guys are traveling weapons merchants—I think they know a thing or two about self-defense and sleeping lightly."
Tobirama hums. "Confrontation is inevitable, but your chakras are… strong. I know we can succeed."
A sensor, huh?
Izuna shrugs. “Confrontation is inevitable”—sounds like life, really.
"Kurohime!"
"Kawarama!"
The woman strikes her naginata out just as Kurohime and the younger Senju land a killing blow on another merchant. She's going for their faces.
The eyes reflect the heart, reflect a person. If that woman gets Kurohime's eyes–
(Togakushi had the good sense to burn his off before he died. Izuna doesn't want another of his siblings' corpses to look like that ever again. Doesn't want to see their corpses at all. He'd do anything– )
Suddenly, everything makes sense. He can see. He can see everything. Chakra, the tensing of muscles, Kurohime's fading genjutsus.
He can see, but most importantly—he knows what to do about it.
Is this the Sharingan?
Izuna expertly cuts the naginata from the woman's hands and goes for the throat. She dies quickly.
"I'm fine, it's just a cut." Kurohime says, holding her cheek, blood seeping through her fingers.
Kawarama is holding his cheek, too, not handling the pain as well as Kurohime. He seems to be Izuna's age, so his squirming is acceptable. Izuna gives Kurohime the stink eye, knowing she's understating her condition. It's a facial injury on her cheek—there could be a hole right through to her mouth!
"Look, she was the last one, yeah? And– oh. You've got! You've got it!" She says excitedly.
Izuna pulls a thick bandaging cloth from his pouch to give her.
"Don't ever do that to me again, okay?" He hisses.
She smiles indulgently, not entirely listening. She's older, after all.
"I'll tell Madara." He threatens.
Kurohime cringes at that. She quickly takes the cloth from him with her other hand, and nearly puts it on her face when Tobirama intervenes.
"Wait! Your hand is probably filthy, don't you know anything? You've got to clean the wound, or do you want to get an infection?"
Kawarama glares at his brother for helping the Uchiha, his own right cheek precisely bandaged, probably with help from Tobirama. Tobirama tells him to round up the loot, and Kawarama obeys surprisingly easily.
"Look at her! She's all pale! Do you want her to bleed out?" Izuna retorts, sending a venomous look Tobirama's way.
Tobirama gapes at the Sharingan and quickly looks down. His eyes never again meet Izuna's, after.
"Just– let me do it!"
"And let you kill her? Get away!"
Tobirama scowls at the ground.
"No, you– You saved my– you saved Kawarama, too, alright? I won't kill her. You can–" Tobirama gulps. "You can watch."
"…Okay. Okay, be quick."
Tobirama strides over to Kurohime and delicately takes her face in his hands, not wanting to startle her. She glares at Tobirama the entire time, but Izuna figures that pacifism in her is preening at an enemy helping her. Her and Madara, always on about peace.
"…There. Just get her to a healer as soon as you can."
"The loot." Kurohime says, ever the taskmaster. "Just give us our share and we'll go."
Tobirama nods slowly.
"Kawarama."
Kawarama smartly throws the bags at their feet. Izuna is almost certain it's not their fair share, but he doesn't want to fight them anymore—Izuna and Kurohime would probably win, and he's got a sneaking suspicion his theory about the Senju boys having an important parent is true. Too true for nobodies like him and Kurohime.
And maybe Tobirama taking care of his sister didn't hurt.
"Right. Thanks—we're off!"
Izuna will be seeing them again, he knows.