Chapter Text
This type of mission worked better with someone like Hashirama. He was nice, cheerful, social, occasionally a bit flirty. Tobirama still didn’t understand why he had to go on this mission. No wait, he did. It was because Hashirama was better at the proper ballroom dances and Tobirama was better at just moving his body in impossible positions. A dance was like a river, you just followed the current and bent and moved like water. He had been informed that the way he danced occasionally was closer to seduction than was strictly proper. That time near the river was purely accidental no matter how much the girls in his clan were convinced he was seducing them. He wasn’t even dancing, just doing katas to stretch his muscles. The second reason that Tobirama got this silly job was that their target had a thing for lean and unique. Tobirama was unique even if he covered the markings on his face and darkened his hair to a pale blond. The third and last reason was that Tobirama had gotten himself between Hashirama and his father during an argument. His father was pissed either way and sent both his sons on stupid missions. That was how he found himself with a leg wrapped around a pole hanging as good as upside down in clothes that left very little to the imagination. He was so absorbed in dancing that he hadn’t even noticed Madara come in until he was face to face with him. For a few seconds Madara was as surprised as he was before a smirk graced his lips. Tobirama moved on with his dance before Madara could say anything.
Madara wasn’t a huge fan of sucking up to targets, especially not when he’d been doing just that for nearly four weeks. He could pretend to be friendly, he could pretend to share interests, and he could pretend he wasn’t throwing up inside. He had to follow his client to a bar that was too seedy to be classy but too classy to be interpreted as seedy.
“I’ll show you the ones that caught my interest.” Mr. Yazuki said with a broad smile. “You told me you were interested in guys, right?”
Madara’s preference had never been particular about gender but he’d thought that there was less chance of Mr. Yazuki having a guy nearby. It appeared his luck had run out so he just nodded.
“Just tell me when you see something you like. They just dance but I can get you a room with a private dancer if you like one.” The smile was slightly lecherous. “I’m sure with your looks and a bit of money they’ll be willing to make an exception.”
No. Madara didn’t want to be made an exception. He felt slightly sick even thinking about it. The moment he showed interest in one of these people there was a chance that they were either bought by Mr. Yazuki or disappeared. Best he didn’t show interest. These people probably had it hard enough or they wouldn’t be here. So he took a steadying breath and followed Mr. Yazuki into the room. It was a stylish lounge room with different small stages each surrounded by comfortable couches. A slow song was playing, a love song and the theme seemed to be rather out of place here where love was little more than physical attraction. There was a bar near the side and waiters and waitresses walked around bringing drinks. What caught his attention was the one ‘main’ stage in the middle of the room. The dancer was lean, graceful, sensual, his dance more seductive than slutty.
“He’s pretty, right?” Mr. Yazuki said to him. “I’ve had my eye on his for a while now. He’s relatively new but look at that skill.”
Madara wanted to curse himself for staring too long. Mentally he apologized to the man. It’s not as if his fate was changed but Madara still hated being a part of it.
“Let’s get closer.” Mr. Yazuki sauntered towards the stage expecting Madara to follow.
There was little else to do but follow and so Madara did. He watched the spinning and the unnatural leg movements on the way there. How could anyone be that flexible? And strong, if the way he lifted himself from the ground meant anything. Madara hated to admit it but he was transfixed. He was so absorbed in watching this stranger’s movements that it took him way too long to realize it wasn’t a stranger at all. When the guy twisted in such a way that his head fell back and his eyes met Madara’s, Madara could cackle in glee. Who would’ve thought he’d ever see Tobirama do something like this. He turned to Mr. Yazuki. “Is that offer for a room still open?” When the man laughed and said he’d take care of it, Madara suddenly hated this mission a lot less.
“You do look quite fetching like this.” Madara’s smirk showed he was teasing. “You should wear it more often.” His smirk only grew when Tobirama looked a cross between bashful, offended, and ashamed.
“I’m sure I’m here for another reason than for you to ogle at me.” It had taken Tobirama quite some time to get used to people staring at him while wearing rather revealing clothes. He knew people stared at him more often, he even knew some of the people in the compound found him attractive but this was a whole different ball game. For one, it was clear Tobirama wasn’t armed and he was quite certain Madara had at least some weapons on him. Then there was the thing where Madara was the heir to a clan that very much wanted him dead.
“But you’re so easy to ogle like this.” Not really willing to give up teasing and get to business. Not even under threat of torture would he admit that Tobirama indeed was very easy and pleasant to look at. He realized only then that he had activated his sharingan and that it was lazily spinning to take in Tobirama’s appearance and the tiny expressions of discomfort and annoyance. “Aren’t you supposed to dance for me?” He could humiliate Tobirama a bit more.
He would not be humiliated! If Madara wanted to see him dance then fine Tobirama would dance. He’d danced for a lot worse people and he doubted Madara would get very grabby unless Tobirama moved first and maybe Tobirama wouldn’t mind having those hands on him. Madara sure as hell looked a lot better than most of the Senju. He might kill Tobirama but Madara wasn’t the type to sexually assault people. So Tobirama gave a sultry smile and walked to the tiny stage. “Of course.” He’d seen the awe in Madara’s face when their eyes met, Tobirama might be uncomfortable but Madara would be too. He could explain this away as it being part of the mission, how would Madara explain away that he got a hard-on from watching his enemy dance? So Tobirama danced. First, he danced on the stage wrapping his hands around the pole and slowly dropping down before showing Madara exactly how bendable he was. Then he moved to Madara slow, seductive, before gracefully depositing himself on Madara’s lap and continuing his dance.
Oh. Oh! Madara hadn’t expected this! Madara wasn’t ready for this! He wasn’t prepared for a lap full of Tobirama slowly grinding down. “What would your clan think if they saw this?” He could keep control he could stop his thoughts from going to a place where the two of them were a lot more comfortable and Tobirama was wearing even less.
“They’d think it hot.” He whispered in Madara’s ear before giving it a short nip. Tobirama’d heard enough of the members of his clan talking to know it was an image a lot of them would be interested in.
Not prepared! “Or they’d think you a slut.” Madara wasn’t sure what he would think. Hot or a slut? A very hot slut?
“Only for the mission.” Tobirama kept moving because it seemed to shut down some of Madara’s higher brain functions.
The reminder that this was a mission was enough to temporarily distract Madara from the amazing feeling. “Speaking of missions, why are you here?” He looked at Tobirama once more. “Or were they just in need of a stripper? I must say the occupation suits you.”
“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”
“Isn’t it 'I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?'” Madara laughed.
Tobirama was confused for a few seconds too long. How do you show missions…. Oh.. not the mission. He should’ve seen that coming. “I can already feel yours, why would I need to see it?”
“It’s quite appealing I assure you.”
“I’m sure.” Tobirama deadpanned. “Not what I asked for though.”
“The man I came in with, Mr. Yazuki, he’s suspected of working with a group of bloodline thieves. I just need to find proof and have him lead me to the thieves and the children they took.” Madara felt any and all arousal cool at the description of his mission and by the way Tobirama stopped moving he wasn’t the only one. “Your turn.”
“I’m not surprised that he deals with bloodline thieves. He’s dealing in human trafficking and I’m supposed to find where he takes his victims and moves them afterwards, then my mission is to get as many people out as possible. If at all possible I have to find a list with contacts as well. Then I’ll deal with those after that.” By now Tobirama had moved away from Madara and was leaning against the wall. Usually, he didn’t really like putting off important things but he’s been dancing here for three weeks now and the teasing had been fun.
“And I assume you working as a stripper is part of this?”
“Apparently I’m appealing to him. It’s a lot easier to find people when you’re being brought to them.” Tobirama wasn’t sure why he was telling Madara this but they seemed to be on the same side here. Or at least in the sense that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Madara had as good as initiated a ceasefire when he didn’t kill Tobirama the moment he walked in.
Oh. Madara mulled this over for a bit and realized that Tobirama was in a better position to find and rescue the victims. He also had a way to figure out some of the contacts if Tobirama was willing enough to wait to be sold. Madara as a business partner and ‘friend’ could probably get access to the list of contacts Tobirama was after. Now Madara thought about it, such a list was quite useful for him too. “I have a proposition.”
Tobirama just raised an eyebrow. Whatever Madara was going to say it was at the very least worth listening to it. If Madara came to the same conclusion and thought that working together might be beneficial for both of them it was good. The cease-fire was one thing but a temporary alliance was an entirely different thing. Tobirama couldn’t help but hope for the second. Things would be a lot easier.
“I’ll get you the contacts, you rescue all the people, including the Uchiha, you find the place they’re kept, and we’ll kill everyone together.”
Tobirama wasn’t cold enough to just leave one group of people. Either he’d kill them and spare them further misery or he’d save them. If they were children, as Madara had implied, there was really not much of a question either way. He’d die before he’d see any more children die, be they Uchiha or not. He wouldn’t say that to Madara however. If Madara got the contacts his job would be easier. The backup was also appreciated. For now, Madara was better off with him alive, so he’d live. Madara was too stubborn to let anyone he worked with die. “I assume this can go unspoken but you’ll not stab me in the back.”
“Of course not.” Madara huffed. “If the Senju….”
“The Senju wouldn’t. I’m not familiar enough with you to judge how you would handle a situation such as this.”
Madara opened his mouth to yell at the stupid Senju that he was not that dishonourable.
“Before you start screaming, that might risk the entire plan.”
“The entire plan?” Madara huffed. If Tobirama would tell him his plan at least they’d be on even footing. Madara didn’t have to tell him everything, just enough so they could work together. But it was always nice to know how your… partner… would act.
“He’s been looking to buy me for over a week now, if you yell at me I somehow have done something unacceptable, or I have an attitude. That might put off possible buyers and dissuade him from getting me.”
“I see.” To be honest, acting like this also got Madara in Mr. Yazuki’s good books. He’d be better off not ruining that. “Fine. We’ll finish this conversation later.”
“As you wish.” Tobirama nodded. “We should leave, your time is almost up.”
Madara was suddenly reminded of way more fun things. “I still have fifteen minutes, why don’t you get those fishnets off and continue what you started.” He pulled Tobirama back to his lap. It was more a challenge than an order.
Tobirama sighed longsuffering before moving back to Madara. When he’d situated himself on Madara’s lap he gently brought Madara’s hands to the edge of his fishnet shirt. It’s not like the fishnet shirt covered much and they wouldn’t go further than that. “Why don’t you?” He was well aware that in less than fifteen minutes Mr. Yazuki would walk in. Best to make the situation as realistic as possible. If Madara seemed to have some control here it would be better for both of them.
Tobirama had to hold back all of his instincts to not react to the shadow following him. When Mr. Yazuki made him the offer to work for him Tobirama had agreed. He was well aware that he wouldn’t get paid and that this was just a ruse to capture him but that was the only reason he went along with it. Now he found that being kidnapped was a lot harder than it looked like. He had to struggle with himself to make sure he didn’t just knock his kidnappers out. He had to forcefully prevent himself from killing them. He regretted not killing them when he saw the cells he was brought to and the people locked up there. His cell was shared with a few people who were probably dancers or prostitutes themselves. The cell next to theirs was what made his blood boil.
A young boy, he couldn’t have been more than six, was sniffing in a corner. He had a vivid hand-shaped bruise on his arm and another bruise on his head. Even with his curly hair and goldish eyes instead of black, the boy was definitely an Uchiha.
“What is your name?” Whatever anyone may think Tobirama was actually really good with people… as long as they haven’t passed the age of twelve.
“Kagami.” The boy sniffed. He then turned to the other four children. “That’s Mika.” He indicated the small girl curled up against him. Tobirama wouldn’t be able to tell you if it was for comfort or for warmth, probably both. “That’s Himeno and that’s Hana.” He pointed to what probably were two Hyuuga children. “That’s Shingetsu.” Both the name and the facial features made Tobirama think the boy was a Hözuki.
“I’m Tobi.” He stopped himself from saying his full name. He had been Tobi for three weeks now, no reason to let his cover drop. “Have you been here for long?” To his surprise, one of the women in his cell answered.
“Two weeks. None of us will stay here past three but because they’re bloodline kids it might take up to a month and a half before he sells them.”
Tobirama couldn’t help but appreciate how direct she was. He felt guilty for even feeling that way when he saw how it scared the kids even more. Change of plans. He first had to get the kids out. Preferably without getting out himself so he could still be sold. Then he had to get them back home somehow. Then the door opened and Tobirama prepared himself to play meek, confused, scared. He felt his blood turn to ice when he noticed something he should’ve noticed earlier. The cuffs on his wrists had seals embedded in them. Seals that could cut his chakra off at command. The seals that had cut his chakra off the moment the two men walked through the door.
“Get him out.” The first one inclined his head towards Tobirama.
“You think he’s one of them?” The second asked looking at Tobirama warily.
“Who knows.” The first replied dragging Tobirama with him. “Not up to me to check.”
One of whom? Tobirama’s mind was reeling and the headache he was getting from having his chakra suppressed wasn’t helping. He felt himself being led to an office holding Yazuki-san.
“Welcome, Tobi.” The man gave a vicious smile. “We’ve been having problems lately and all I need from you is proof that you’re not part of the problem.”
“Problem?” Tobirama wasn’t sure where this was going but he didn’t like it.
“It’s only a problem depending on how you look at it.” Yazuki-san shrugged. “Now about your chakra.”
“Chakra?” Tobirama echoed.
“It’s blocked now.”
Look confused. Look like you have no clue what he’s talking about. There are only two ways to figure out if he has chakra. The first is releasing the seals and even Yazuki wouldn’t be that stupid. The second is a high-level sensor and even with these seals Tobirama could pull his chakra in enough that it wouldn’t be sensed. Unless they had a sensor of his level and Tobirama was quite confident they did not. These seals were sloppy. They didn’t even completely cut off his chakra. If they didn’t have someone that could make decent seals they probably also didn’t have a decent sensor. He was right.
A mousy guy, probably not even a clan shinobi, walked in. He looked around nervously and Tobirama could see when he tried to sense. The guy was barely a sensor at all. He shook his head. “No chakra. Or at least not enough to do any jutsu.” The guy mumbled.
“Good.” Yazuki-san smiled. “It would be a waste to kill you. You can be sold for a decent price.” Now he got up and started walking around Tobirama. “Next order of business.” He tilted Tobirama’s head so he could get a good look at his eyes. “They’re really marvellous. Tetsu would pay well to have someone with a pair like that.” He then pulled at Tobirama’s hair. Not hard enough to really hurt but in no way gentle. “Soft, that’s good. Strip him.” He indicated to one of the guards. “No scars, no excess fat, nice muscles, wonderful ass. Yes, that will get us a nice price.”
Not even when Madara had been mocking him did Tobirama feel so humiliated. He tolerated it because he had little choice. He could kill everyone but it was a bit counterproductive.
“He’s a good dancer.” One of the guards offered.
“I didn’t ask for your opinion.” Yazuki-san said frustrated. “But for once you’re right.” He waved his hand in dismissal. “Dress him, bring him downstairs.”
That was a terrible experience. Tobirama would choose getting stabbed over this any day. But most of all it was informative. Somehow Yazuki-san knew there were shinobi looking for him. He was expecting them. They also sounded surer than someone who knew people were looking for him but had little chance of finding him. Then there was the mysterious remark that it was only a problem depending on how you looked at it. How could having shinobi after you not be a problem? The first order of business was warning Madara. This smelled like a trap and it was better if neither Madara nor Tobirama fell into it. If he saved Madara, Madara would owe him one. In so far as shinobi cared about that sort of thing, When he was thrown in the cell he thanked the gods that a stripped outfit was good for at least one thing. No one was surprised if he did something with his hair and as such, no one was surprised if he had hairpins there. “Kagami, Himeno, Hana, Shingetsu, Mika, I need you guys to do something for me.” He strained his ears to hear if someone was nearby. No one.
The children looked up.
“I’m going to pick this lock, I need you to be quiet and careful and get yourself out of this building. Do you think you can do that?”
The children looked doubtfully. “You’re Hyuuga children, right?”
Himeno and Hana nodded.
“Can you use the byakugan?”
Himeno nodded while Hana shook her head.
“Himeno, I need you to look ahead and make sure you don’t meet anyone. Kagami, can you use the sharingan?” When Kagami nodded Tobirama continued. “Look for traps and doorways. There’s probably a kitchen downstairs, they probably have a separate exit.” He knew these sorts of buildings, they had a separate exit in the kitchen. You didn’t want to pass through the entire house with all the trash from the kitchen. “Himeno can probably find it.”
“But what about the seals?” Shingetsu asked still slightly scared.
“I’ll deal with those too.” He had access to enough chakra to do that. What he didn’t have access to was ink so he’d have to use blood and that always had some traces of chakra so it worked even better. He slipped another five hairpins from his hair. “You know how to pour chakra in things?”
All five children nodded.
“You pour chakra in these and as long as you hold them you’re invisible.” Not to the byakugan but if they could be quiet they’d be fine. These were kids from ninja clans, they could be quiet. “Now when you’re out I need you to get to the city centre.” They were close enough that they could make that by foot. “Then follow the signs to town street.”
The children nodded.
“There’ll be a hotel there and there’ll be a man in there. His name is Uchiha Madara, Kagami’ll know him.”
Kagami had gasped at the name. “Madara-sama is here?”
“Yes.” Tobirama nodded. “And when you’re there I need you to tell him something.” He swallowed. This could go two ways. Madara could leave him now and be done with the entire thing. Tobirama would be fine but the thought stung. The second thing was that Madara actually kept his end of the bargain. This would make his life so much easier. “Tell him it’s a trap.”
The children gasped horrified. “Will you be fine then?” “You have to escape with us!” “Are you trapped here?” “Will we be able to get out?” “We won’t be safe without you!”
“Shhh.” Tobirama shushed them. “You’ll be fine if you stick together. You’re all strong ninja, right? You can protect each other. I need to stay here because I need to know where they’ll take me. I need to see if I can find more people.”
One of the adults snorted at that. “More children. You’re not helping us after all.”
“It would stand out if he did. The children need to get out first and they’ll get help.” A blonde woman replied annoyed.
“It might be impossible for him to get all of us out. Children first.” A young man agreed.
“A group this big would be a lot harder to hide than a group of five children.” The woman continued.
“I’ll get you out too.” Tobirama thanked them silently for being reasonable. He didn’t like this any more than they did but more people could be saved. “It’ll just take a bit longer.”
“We get it.” The woman responded. “It’s better than any of us had hoped for.”
“Can’t we all go?” Hana sniffed.
“I’m sorry.” Tobirama petted her hair. He’d managed to undo the chains and was now working on the seals. They’d been horrified when he did it in blood but everyone came around pretty quickly. “Just stick together and be strong, can you do that?”
The children nodded solemnly.
“Good, go.” He gave them a push towards the door. The children activated their seal hairclips and got out.
Madara was browsing through the information he already had when he felt a familiar ping of chakra. Kagami. He rushed downstairs out of the inn only to find… nothing. He activated his sharingan and before he could observe anything he felt small arms wrap around him.
“You’re here! You’re really here!” Kagami was whispering relieved. With him there were four other children one of them he knew as Mika. Three of them he had no clue. Two appeared Hyuuga and one… probably also a clan kid… from some water clan if he was to guess. “Tobirama-sama said you were here! He told us to go to you!”
“Quiet down a bit. That invisibility thing, can you do it a bit more?” As soon as he’d said it the kids turned invisible again. “Come to my room and be quiet for a bit more.” It wouldn’t do for the kids to get caught now. He wanted to know how they got here and he needed to know more. They said Tobirama. Was that idiot really irresponsible enough to let the kids go here by themselves? What was the idiot thinking? “The last close the door behind you and you can turn visible again. Now tell me how you got here.”
The children started talking all through each other until one of the Hyuuga girls seemed to take charge. “Tobirama-sama came to the cells where they kept us. He broke us out of the cell and removed the seals that sealed our chakra. He told Kagami to look for traps and Himeno and me to look for possible enemies. He then told us to sneak out through the kitchen and come here. He said you would help us. He also gave us these hairpins with these seals that make us invisible.”
“The byakugan can still see us.” The other Hyuuga said solemnly.
“It makes us invisible to everyone but Hyuuga.” The first girl agreed.
“I’m sure Madara-sama can see us with his sharingan.” Kagami defended.
Madara was amused and very relieved that the children were back but he had more things to worry about.
“Why isn’t Tobirama here?” Madara’s amusement and relief made place for annoyance. “For that matter, I’m sure there were more people there.”
“He said he wanted to find other people as well.” The boy from the water clan said. “The other adults agreed.”
“And he said to tell you that it was a trap.” Mika added seriously. “But we can see traps, right? With the sharingan?”
Madara wanted to curse up a storm. Yes, the sharingan could see traps but only those that were laid. He couldn’t see nasty plans people cooked up in their minds. The sharingan could do a lot but not read minds. Then there was Tobirama, how dare he just stay there and not explain more about this ‘trap’. Madara had a million and some questions. Why wasn’t that bloody know-it-all here when he needed him. “Did he say anything about what kind of trap?”
The children shook their heads.
“Does he need help getting out?” Madara could forgive Tobirama if he couldn’t get out himself. He silently told himself that he could also forgive Tobirama if he let himself stay at risk to rescue more people.
The children seemed to disagree on the answer. One of the Hyuuga girls and Mika seemed convinced that Tobirama needed help. The others seemed to think that the only reason that Tobirama was still there was because he had a plan.
Madara was regretting ever working with the Senju. Not that it didn’t make his job easier. He didn’t have to rescue the children, Senju had done that. He also wouldn’t have known about the trap if it wasn’t for the Senju. But the Senju also turned out to be quite the headache. Well, at least he had a nice seal to study. “Can I see one of those invisibility seals?” He didn’t even want to imagine the kind of mischief these kids could get up to with invisibility seals. They apparently could and all of them seemed very reluctant to part with their hairclips. Any other moment Madara would’ve laughed about the fact that Tobirama made seals on hairclips, but he really did want to study them.
There was a knock on the door that disturbed his thought process. “Oshitari-san, Yazuki-sama wishes for me to escort you to dinner.”
Madara almost cursed up a storm but settled for only doing it mentally. No need to scare the kids. He’d just forgotten about that stupid dinner. “Can you give me a moment?”
“You’re with him.” Hana said with a slightly quivering lip.
“No.” He wanted to shout once more. “It’s easier to fight him if I get close to him.” He regretted telling these kids that. They shouldn’t have to worry about infiltration missions yet. They shouldn’t have to worry yet about missions in general. They should be home, play fighting, training if need be, helping their parents with stupid chores. The worst thing they should have to worry about is if they could get away with stealing an extra cookie or how they could avoid eating the veggies on their plate. The only thing they should fear is their mother’s wrath when they accidentally dirtied the clean laundry.
“Smart.” The kid from water said. If they couldn’t find his family Madara was willing to take the kid home with him. He at least seemed to understand and appreciate his genius.
He turned to the kids. “You’re going to stay here, turn invisible if needed. When I’ll come back I’ll bring food. There’s a canteen with water next to the bed and if it’s not enough there’s a bathroom with a faucet through that door.” It was disheartening how easy they accepted that they had to go without food for a while. That was something kids from ninja clans learned early. Madara could hate it all he wanted and it wouldn’t change anything. The worst part was that he reinforced the lesson with his current actions. Damn it all to hell and back. “Be careful.” He then turned to leave with the escort Yazuki-san sent.
The room Madara was brought to was too lavish to be appealing. Madara loved red well enough, just this extend of deep red was frustrating. It looked gaudy. And half of the people that occupied the table had also missed the notice that too much was well… too much. That he had to join these people was a sign that eating tonight might be a challenge in keeping it down. The small talk about politics, economics, trade routes, and favours owned by so and so, at least was something Madara had been trained in. Clan heirs somehow had the dubious pleasure of knowing all these things.
“You look frustrated Yazuki-san, is everything alright?” A black-haired woman asks. She was probably the only one at this table younger than Madara and one of the few everyone should see as a potential threat.
“Nothing to worry about. One of my guards managed to lose a shipment. Not any of the ones that would be of interest to you.”
“What kind of shipment?” A balding guy asked frustrated.
“I still have yours as well. Speaking off I recently found a lovely addition to yours. You might want to talk about it with Oshitari-san.”
“I thought I had the first choice with all of these?”
“Yes, but Oshitari-san helped me pick. He might’ve grown attached.”
Madara frowned a bit when it was even implied he was interested in any of the ‘shipments’ until he realized that this particular ‘shipment’ was probably Tobirama. It wasn’t as though he never implied that he wasn’t interested in things like that. He needed an in with Yazuki-san after all. Now what he could do is either buy Tobirama and get him out. Or more likely, because he doubted Tobirama wanted out at this point, drive up the price and see how far he can push baldy… Onizaku Tetsu, if he remembered right. So he gave a shark-like grin. “If we’re talking about what you showed me last Friday, yes, I might’ve gotten attached.”
Yazuki laughed. “I’ll show you after dinner if you’re interested Tetsu.”
The man grunted and glared at Madara and he kept glaring until after dinner.
The office they were led to was as lavish as the dining room had been. Everything screamed expensive and usually, any of the many objects in the room would’ve kept someone’s attention, tonight was not usually. Tonight Tobirama was standing shirtless in the middle of the room and Madara found it very hard to tear his eyes away. Onizaku seemed to share that issue for a moment before moving forward and touching Tobirama. Madara almost made a noise of protest but Tobirama just let himself be groped. For a second Madara thought he was drugged until he saw the flashes of annoyance in his eyes.
Onizuka started with a decent amount of money while still moving his hands across Tobirma’s skin.
“You know, you should cease any further inspection until after you actually acquired him.” Yazuki was still smiling. “Oshitari-san, do you have a bid?”
Madara wasted no second before raising the offer. There was not a doubt in his mind that Onizuka hadn’t made a serious offer. If Madara hadn’t made a counteroffer Yazuki would’ve just informed them that there was a higher starting price. There was no way that Tobirama would be sold that cheap. Lucky for him Tobirama was well aware of what he was doing.
The original offer was nearly doubled with Onizuka’s next bid. He clearly wanted this over with quickly.
Madara almost wanted to laugh. The prices were higher but he’d played this game with enough merchants to make things interesting. He raised and he kept raising Onizuka’s offers for a while.
“Final offer.” Onizuka grumbled. “That and you get to spend some more time with him before I take him. After that, you’ll get a discount the first three times at my place.”
Oh, now wasn’t that interesting and a good business strategy. This could get him some time with Tobirama that he very desperately needed. “Is there a room we can use?”
“Of course. I’ll show you to one of the guestrooms. Anything you need done beforehand?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“You have one hour.” Onizuka said calmer now that he knew that he got Tobirama.
One hour wasn’t nearly enough so he glared at Onizuka. Madara had a patented glare and stronger men than this worm had cowered under.
“Two hours?” It sounded like a question more than an order.
Madara frowned again. “Three.” He eventually settled for. Tobirama had other things to do after all.
“All right.” Both Onizuka and Yazuki seemed to agree. “I’ll have someone escort you.”
Madara near slammed Tobirama against the door. “Talk.” He let go quickly enough. Tobirama was wearing way too little to be slammed against the wall like that. To anyone looking it would look more sexual than threatening. Madara saw that too as such he couldn’t do that without being distracted.
Tobirama arched an eyebrow and started. “They are expecting shinobi.”
“Criminals always do.”
“Not in the vague way that if we keep doing this shinobi might come looking for us.”
“You mean that they’re aware that someone was sent to deal with them?”
“Yes, and they don’t mind.”
“What?!” Madara nearly shouted. What idiot wouldn’t care if there were shinobi after them?
“Quiet. What do you think will happen when people get curious?”
“I would say I could always put you on your knees in front of me to sell the act.” It was meant as teasing stress relief but it came out strained.
Tobirama just glared. “He more than implied that it might be a good thing that ninja are coming after them. My best guess is that they expect adults with activated bloodlines. It would sell well.”
“So it’s a trap specifically for the Uchiha?” Madara had to do anything to keep from shouting. The closest he could get was clenching his teeth together and just gritting out the words.
“No. It would work for the Byakugan as well. But that’s not…”
“Please do tell me there’s more.” The sarcasm was almost touchable.
“They were somewhat expecting one of the people they ‘kidnapped’ to be a shinobi. We got chakra suppression cuff and all.”
“What!” Madara grabbed at Tobirama’s wrist to study the cuffs.
“Quiet!” Tobirama hissed. “I have a couple of theories.”
“Like…” Madara wanted to hear this.
“If it’s indeed to catch people with a bloodline limit then the entire thing is a trap. The flaw there is that he didn’t have to take civilians.”
Madara hummed. “So shinobi in general. Why?”
“And how.”
“How?”
“If it’s a ruse to catch shinobi, how are they so sure that someone is biting right now?”
“Spy?”
“Yes, or set up.” Tobirama had an uncomfortable expression on his face.
Madara suddenly started putting pieces together he really didn’t want to put together.
“We got… an unusually large amount of information from the person that gave us this job. We don’t discuss strategy with clients. But…”
“The information you had made this a good way to approach?” Madara remembered how each and every new trail seemed to lead him to this place. How easy it had been. Then he realized that the man had at least five new people at that table. He was trying to connect with people who might be the shinobi sent after him. Trying to find and capture. Why?
“I wasn’t even meant to be sent on this mission. If it was a specific trap for me they would’ve recognized me. I think they’re suspecting a shinobi, just not a specific one. One of the Senju though. A high ranking one.”
“High ranking?”
“With the pay we got for this, the Senju were honour bound to send someone that’s at least a general.” Tobirama scrunched his eyebrows. “But the children almost seem to be a way to lure the Uchiha in.”
The pay offered to the Uchiha had been enough to guarantee someone high ranking as well. “There were… traces… clues. We first thought people were just being sloppy but looking at it now…”
Tobirama nodded. “And I don’t even want to know how you got the contacts to get here that fast.”
“I have plenty of contacts.” Madara huffed. He didn’t say that most of these were actually Hikaku’s. Hikaku would’ve been sent if it wasn’t for the nasty flu he got.
“I’m disturbed you already had contacts with people like this.”
“They’re useful on occasion.”
Tobirama was a firm believer in keeping what was useful, no matter how disgusting. “Why would they want an Uchiha and a Senju?”
“It’ll just give us a mutual enemy. Who would want something like that?”
It took Tobirama a moment to think about it. No one wanted that sort of attention. Honestly, everyone was better off if the Uchiha and Senju were focused on each other. Small clans would be wiped out otherwise. Unless… unless it was a distraction. If Madara died here the Uchiha would put their focus here. The same went for the Senju if someone like Touka or Renji had died. They would first destroy their target and then each other. The Senju and Uchiha would still be fighting. The place would just be different. Even better if they suspected the other of the murder. They would. It would be so very easy. Tobirama was going to slaughter each and every one of the people here. One of them would be an Uchiha. Either the Uchiha was killed in the crossfire or it would be a battle because they recognized each other. The second option was that Tobirama was killed somewhere. The Uchiha had the same mission. Kill everyone. “They wouldn’t. We would be each other’s enemy. We would blame the other clan for the deaths.”
“It doesn’t make sense. We were fighting anyways.”
“I think Mr. Yazuki is being paid for this. Either or capture or death. Capture does sound more likely when you put it like that.”
“Great you already did half the work.”
“I can get out any time I want to.” Tobirama hissed.
“It could also be a trap for Mr. Yazuki. He doesn’t know that he gets the wrath of two clans on him if something happens to us. He probably just got paid to capture us.”
“Who would pay such an idiot for something like this?”
Madara was searching his mind for an answer. “The battle would move here. We would slaughter them. We’d meet you and try to kill the Senju here. Our battlefront changes. Someone wants to move our battlefront.”
That sounded logical. Painfully logical. Who would do…. The Hagoroma clan. Tobirama really hated them. The Hagoroma hadn’t been able to properly ship anything on the east border for months. The battles between the Senju and the Uchiha had destroyed most pathways. It was dangerous there, even for seasoned shinobi. They probably could get the money together for something like this. “The Hagoroma.”
Madara could follow Tobirama’s thought process easily enough. That was… bad. Annoying. “The mission doesn’t change.” They still had something to do. They just had to be careful of other traps.
“Of course not.” These people needed help and it wasn’t as if Tobirama had never danced his way across a minefield.
“We should plan.” And so they did. Madara was impressed more than once by Tobirama’s excessive information and skills with seals. Tobirama looked impressed once or twice with Madara’s strategic mind and the ability to predict people, and god if that didn’t make Madara feel smug. He would think, or not think, about the feeling of wanting the Senju to be impressed later.