Butsama and Saruyama were not exactly on speaking terms, not that that would surprise anyone to hear or find out; the tension was awkward, palpable even, worse in the household of the small Senju family unit, but also it was quite present around those who were also in their clan. Tobirama would react to any whispers with his usual stoicism whereas Hashirama was more vocal with defending his sister more than his father, in truth.

Itama's death was hanging over them, more so than Kawarama's, this oppressive heavy cloud which didn't seemingly shift, not that grief worked that way; it wasn't here one day and gone the next. No doubt their father would be struggling himself with grief, although perish the thought of him showing it, but he didn't seem to fully register the pain of his children, thinking giving them tasks to do would just erase the pain. It didn't, of course, and Saruyama took it upon herself to stop taking part in the ridiculous tasks her father had set them.

Most seemed like scouting missions, and though Butsama was quite displeased and made that displeasure known, Saruyama had inherited Hashirama's stubborn streak, but she wouldn't speak up like her old brother sometimes did, no, she'd just stare blankly at her father, turn on her heels and walk away. All that could usually be heard then was the quiet sliding of the bedroom door as she sought shelter in the warm and inviting surroundings.

Home life was stricken, strife filled and uncomfortable for the Senju siblings, and there wasn't entirely anything they could do about it. Butsama was adamant that work would see them right, whereas Hashirama wanted his siblings to recover from this latest blow, and though he probably wouldn't voice it, Tobirama felt the same, he checked on their sister more times than what he needed to when she secluded herself away, but he was concerned and that's how he showed it. Saruyama evidently had zero intentions of taking part in any task, mission or whatever else their father would throw at them until she saw fit.

In this war of theirs, she had lost two brothers, that was two too many and the pain which came from that was unbearable, it was a heavy weight to carry, not a burden, never a burden, but there was only so much pain one person could take, before they broke. Saruyama wasn't broken, or near her breaking point, but she physically couldn't face going out into the field, to fight, to kill; it was the most awful thing she could think of.

It was in moments of solitude that she would often think if taking herself out of action for a bit was a good idea. It angered her father, but she actually found she didn't care; not in a heartless way, or a rebellious way, but in this empty, void sort of way, she didn't care what he thought. When these thoughts and feelings appeared, she didn't know; probably over his general reaction to Itama's death, and his behaviour towards her, it sealed this relationships fate. That wasn't to say she wished her father dead, she wished no one dead, those who killed her brothers were an awkward grey area, but he didn't seem to care much what happened to her, so why shouldn't it be returned?

The complicated relationship between siblings and parent were not something which was shared in the Uchiha compound, although if anything it was the opposite; Tajima had never struggled with his children, not really, though watching Izuna buzz around Madara grilling him for information was...well, he was torn whether to pull his youngest away before his eldest snapped. Madara's temper was its own force to be reckoned with, not that he'd ever really lose it with Izuna, he loved his younger brother beyond anything, but even he had a limit to how much he could get bugged by a curious child.

Izuna had this sixth sense, it seemed, where his brother was involved in whatever the situation was. No sooner had Madara reappeared from wherever he had been the few days previously, Izuna knew something had changed, something was up, and it was his mission to find out what that something was. Because, not to say it wasn't possible, but Madara seemed in a rather good mood. That wasn't to say his older brother couldn't be in a good mood, but Madara's definition usually differed from the norm, or so Izuna always guessed.

But there was a wry smile tugging at his lips, his hand was scratching the back of his head as his dark eyes were staring up at the sky distantly. Something had happened, and Izuna wanted to know what. "It's a girl," a voice suddenly said from over Izuna's shoulder, he may or may not have been sneaking about following his brother. The younger Uchiha naturally jumped and looked up at the owner of the voice. Junpei was leaning close and low so Madara wouldn't spot him either, a curious smile was on his face as he looked from one brother to the other.

Izuna scrunched his nose up, "My brother doesn't like girls," that got Junpei raising an eyebrow as he actually took to sitting down cross legged beside the younger boy. Izuna huffed and looked back to his brother, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes, Izuna glanced back at Junpei, he seemed to know something he didn't. "What do you mean?"

"I remember Junichi taking a liking to this girl, Chiyo. Her name was Chiyo, she was sweet, I remember her quite liking Junichi too, but he was an idiot and clueless. You can blame being young on that, but they seemingly got on swimmingly, he had the same stupid look on his face whenever she was around." Junpei explained, nodding Madara's way before his dark eyes looked at the younger boy beside him.

Izuna didn't need to get it explained to him what happened to this Chiyo, he hadn't heard of her, but then the cousins were a fair bit older than himself, anyone around about their age would be lost on Izuna. Still with a scrunched nose, Izuna crossed his arms firmly across his chest. "Tomoko is the only girl I ever see brave enough to dare to be close to him, at least enough to annoy my brother...but that doesn't count as what your cousin and Chiyo had, right?" Izuna knew, despite the teasing his sent his way, that though he saw Tomoko as a friend, Madara did also sometimes find her quite trying.

Junpei sniffed and scratched his head in thought, "Well...your kids, so..." He trailed off, rolling his hand in the air, Izuna just looked at him with narrowed eyes. He had come to the decision he had the wrong cousin with him to have this chat, where Junichi was, Izuna didn't know, the pair were usually always together...mainly Junichi checking his cousin wasn't up to mischief.

"We don't do one thing and mean another. That's adults that do that." Izuna said with a small frown on his face. His brother had never fobbed him off or lied to him about something. Unfortunately, their father had sugar coated somethings, but Tajima otherwise was quite forthcoming; but that didn't mean other adults were. They seemed quite content to use them, the younger generations of the clan, for any mission possible, but seemingly they weren't content to be honest and straight forward with them.

"You know what you could do? Just go ask your brother what's wrong. If anything is wrong." Junpei offered with a sigh before patting his knees and standing up. "If anyone can ask him such a blunt question, it'll be you. At least you won't suffer repercussions." Junpei turned on his heels and waved over his shoulder at the younger boy.

Izuna pouted before deciding that maybe, just maybe Junpei had a point. He was going to do it, just come right out and ask why Madara was walking around looking like that. Izuna went to jump out from his little hiding spot, only to take one step forward and falter. A hand clutched onto his collar and Izuna's eyes opened to stare up at the one person he was trying to find.

Needless to say, Madara's expression was back to its usual neutral blankness, but Izuna just grinned up at his brother. "I am not sure why you've been following me around for the last few days. But I am going to hope that it was for the sake of honing your tracking skills, Izuna." Madara set his brother straight and crossed his arms too, he looked his brother up and down as Izuna straightened out his clothes before pausing and looking shyly up at him. Madara sighed, he somehow got the sinking suspicion that no, that wasn't what his brother was doing.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Madara's head couldn't have snapped to look at his brother any quicker than it did. Izuna just stood there, a simple expression on his face as he looked his brother up and down, assessing his reaction and waiting to hear him speak to figure out if he was lying. "What...where did you get such an idea from?" Madara ran a hand down his face, though admittedly his heart rate may have picked up a little.

"Junpei."

Madara rolled his eyes skyward, he was secretly thanking a higher power that Izuna hadn't thought this up on his own, at least here he could just say it was Junpei's imagination getting carried away. "No. But also, don't listen to advice from Junpei...his advice isn't always sound." Junpei could be bluntly ignorant to things, not quite like Osamu and some others of rushing in without thinking, but his way of doing things could be more dramatic, and dangerous. Madara pointed a finger at Izuna, the younger brother's eyes widened as he watched the finger wag at him. "Especially that subject. You're too young for that, Izuna." Madara almost shuddered, almost. He was begrudgingly accepting his brother was growing up quickly, but he didn't want him to grow up that quickly. Though yes, Madara would want Izuna to grow up happy, find someone to love and live, but all the while the world was fighting itself, Madara was pained to think that might be hard to come by...

"We thought it was Tomoko." Izuna went on, shrugging as he followed his brother when Madara turned on his heels and started to walk away. "I said she's the only girl who seems to always pop up around you." Izuna paused, though he hadn't seen her for a while...

Madara frowned slowly, "She pops up around everyone, she likes to know what everyone is up to." Madara couldn't help but feel a little mean, the girl was still recovering from the fight she had with a Senju, her nose was practically broken by a vicious hit; but Tomoko was nosey, curiously nosey, no awful pun intended. Madara stopped suddenly and shot a look at his brother, "Why are we still talking about this?"

Izuna tilted his head, he looked absolutely innocent, as if butter wouldn't melt and Madara just narrowed his eyes back at him. "Because I think you might like her, and you are lying to me..."

Madara scoffed, he actually scoffed as he double took at Izuna. "No."

"Well...isn't that what someone would say if they were wanting to keep something a secret?"

Madara looked baffled for a moment before turning and putting his hands on his brother's shoulders. "Izuna, I much rather you have been following me to hone your tracking skills than you follow me to allow your imagination to run wild. Tell me, have you seen anything out of the ordinary when you were following me? No, exactly. Don't you think if I were keeping a secret, let alone this secret being Tomoko being my girlfriend, you would've seen us together at some point? And you haven't, have you? No, exactly." Madara just watched as Izuna seemed a bit dejected, was his brother really that bored he was making up scenarios to follow him about?

Though granted, Izuna wasn't exactly making something up, was he? Not that Madara saw Saruyama as his girlfriend, the notion made him feel weird inside, but they did get along, they did like each other...just, Izuna was looking within their clan for this scenario, when clearly Saruyama wasn't from their clan. He felt bad for lying to Izuna, of course Madara would never want to shoot his brother down, but he did honestly mean it; he'd have rather have Izuna following him practising his skills, not following him because he was snooping. Madara knew his brother was following him, he wasn't the best at hiding his presence, and Madara was quite good at tracking and sensing. His brother's presence was always just on the periphery, this familiar warm feeling just lurking and doing nothing.

In hindsight, Madara had to give credit for Izuna's patience, but he must've always been pretty darn bored. Madara spent his days training with their father, reading, practising on his own even though he feigned not finding Izuna to train with, just to make his brother believe he was succeeding in hiding...like, Izuna would've had a really boring few days watching him. Madara didn't believe he was an entertaining person to watch, he didn't do anything interesting...

Izuna seemed so utterly dejected, Madara sighed softly and ruffled his brother's hair. Tilting his head, Madara placed an arm around his brother's shoulders and nudged him forwards. "You're getting better at tracking though, Izuna. I only sensed you a few times."

"You knew I was there?!" Izuna's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed up at his big brother.

Madara grinned slowly, "All the time, Izuna. I knew you were there basically all the time." He pulled him close when Izuna started to create a fuss, Madara just kept a grip on him with one arm and used his spare hand to really ruffle Izuna's spiky hair then, it just caused Izuna to flail his arms shouting at his brother to let him go.

The pair continued with their moment before pausing and hearing sounds of kunai impacting against targets. The brothers looked up and around before walking forwards towards the more communal training area. It was as if summoned, or just a coincidence but there Tomoko was trying her hardest to hit the centre of the target. She seemed to have been out here a while, her fingers seemed grazed and a little cut from her training, despite still being in a state of healing, she still continued on.

Her aim was a little off, but from having her nose basically be the target of an attack, she had also been hit in the side of the head, be it from that or the hit to her nose, but one eye was also a little swollen from all of this. She sensed the brothers and looked at them as they walked onwards and closer, Izuna just looked up at the older girl and then at his brother, Madara's expression was tense, he didn't think Tomoko forcing herself to do whatever she was doing here was the right path, but it seemed more and more she was turning into her grandfather, and Madara wouldn't be able to change that, ever.

"What are you two doing here?" Tomoko looked between them, admittedly her eye was still a little swollen, her nose bruised and a bruise adorning her temple.

"We were just passing through. How's your training going?" Madara was curt enough, even if he sounded a bit awkward, even he could tell her aim was bad because of her eye still being sore.

Tomoko scoffed and turned away, "Keep passing through then, don't let me stop you."

Izuna pouted a little and looked awkward, they were both told to still be friendly with Tomoko, even with what her grandfather did, but Tomoko wasn't exactly radiating the same thing. "Can I have a go?"

Tomoko roughly pulled a kunai free and turned it to him, "Sure."

Izuna smiled and took up standing where she was. "Are you training for something in particular?" Izuna asked, he was concentrating a little too much and his tongue peeked out from between his lips.

Madara crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, Izuna was playing dumb here, his aim was as fine as it could be, whether Tomoko knew Izuna was playing silly here was another thing completely. Madara also didn't know that his brother too liked fishing for information. Tomoko tentatively touched her face, "The one who did this to me..."

Izuna threw his kunai and turned and looked at her, "You want to hit them before they even see you?"

Tomoko frowned, "Well, that doesn't sound right."

Madara inhaled slowly, "If you have a plan in mind for revenge, I'd rather you not say it in front of my brother." Madara didn't want Izuna to get ideas that this was an okay thing to do. Izuna walked back to be beside his brother, a confused look on his face, yet he wasn't going to question Madara. He was doing this for his own good, it was hard not to come out of every day tainted by something that had happened, but Madara would still like to keep Izuna as far from imprinting on other people's behaviour as much as possible.

Tomoko sighed shortly, she crossed her arms and looked at him pointedly. "The Senju have taken much from us, excuse me if I want to inflict some of that hurt back on them." Tomoko walked away from the brothers and took to walking towards the targets to get the kunai free. "The one who did this to me, I heard we killed her brother; she's memorable enough, white and black hair, she was patronising too, what right does she have to preach when so much has happened between our two clans? Did she think she was better than me, or something? Regardless, I feel somewhat justified, they took my grandfather, and we took her brother...at least she could recover what was left of him," Tomoko spoke quite viciously and vehemently as she yanked her kunai free and looked at the sharp blades in her hands.

Izuna was looking at her with a troubled look, he wasn't sure what to say or do on the matter whereas Madara stood there with his fists clenched by his sides, trying his hardest to come off nonchalant when really inside all he could feel was this churning turmoil. It was in this moment that realisation came absolutely crushing down on Madara, and his head was reeling. Oh no, he knew exactly the girl Tomoko was referring to, he too had to admit that Saruyama's hair was quite noticeable, and though, in truth, a small part of Madara had this weird inkling both her and her older brother were from a clan that his own had had severe displeasure towards for as long as he could remember, Madara was so opting to bypass that obvious feelings he should feel...because he liked the siblings.

Now the issue being here was that he now knew they were Senju, and how long would it take for them to figure out he was a Uchiha, or did they already know? Did they know, and much like him they were opting to ignore because they liked him? If there was animosity, surely it would've appeared by now? But also...Saruyama had made a mortal enemy out of Tomoko, Madara knew full well that the Uchiha girl would not stop, much like many Uchiha, she was tenacious and determined, though Tomoko would revel in knowing Saruyama was in emotional pain, it wouldn't be enough until Tomoko herself inflicted physical pain on Saruyama.

Wasn't there talk of the ambush between the siblings where Osamu was involved? Madara couldn't remember! He was standing there racking his brain as his dark eyes stared blankly up at Tomoko as she turned and sheathed her kunai, the look on her bruised face showed she meant business, she wouldn't stop until she had dealt serious harm to Saruyama; and Madara just frowned and placed his hand on Izuna's shoulder, turning him away to return home and leave Tomoko to it.

The issue being is if Saruyama, or even Hashirama did play a part in Osamu's death and this information came to light for Tomoko, then the girl would be even more determined for one or both to die; and Madara couldn't protect either from that, there wasn't a way of doing it without giving away everything, what clan he was from, the fact he knew theirs, the small details they spoke about in a disjointed manner to try and keep some information secret...Madara's mind was travelling at an accelerated speed, and for the moment he truly didn't know what to do, so he smiled at Izuna when he looked up at him and the pair continued on home, at least in the safety of their home Madara could muse over everything without the worry of giving anything away by accident.