Tobirama wasn't someone who would usually regret his actions, but looking into the current future Sakura is currently living in, he sometimes wonders if he could have done better. He starts to doubt his past decisions—the one he thought was the best for Konoha and he starts to wonders if it was actually the best decision for Konoha. 

Because when he first brought the idea of an academy for the future generation, his hope was it could cultivate and enhanced the already powerful clan children in Konoha. At that time, other neighbouring villages like Kiri were said to have already started their own ninja academy. Therefore, it was of utmost importance that Konoha started theirs to catch up and have their own soldiers. Thus, his focus had always been on the clan children. Each subject was carefully planned to suit the clan kids without overindulging in sensitive clan matters. But it was with this foresight, he would forget about the other remaining citizens of Konoha—the civilians. 

His decision to focus on clan children resulted in a rift between the clan children and civilian children. Those with clan teachings would be able to pass their exams easily, while those coming from a civilian background usually would lack behind or find it very difficult to catch up with the rest of their peers. As a result, the passing rate for civilians background children was small. This foresight of his would only prove itself further when the teachers and instructors would usually neglect the training or teachings of children from civilian backgrounds. Because at the end of the day, a civilian parent with no shinobi training could not do as much harm as a clan parent who can bring the council upon you, ruin your career and if that isn't intimidating enough, they could and would break more than a few of your bones in retaliation and you wouldn't even be able to speak up to anyone about it.

Haruno Sakura— his ward— was the one who first brought this issue to light. After punching the second heir of the Uchiha clan, his ward was infamous. And even if the Uchiha kid was in the wrong, no one cared. All they know was his ward— a civilian girl had hit a clan child. The following day, kids—both clans and civilian background— distanced themselves from her. The clan children refuse to associate with a civilian who is aggressive, temperamental and lack discipline while the civilian background children did not want to be further boycotted.

Tobirama watch with a heavy heart as every child his ward approaches ran away or turn away in disgust. And if that wasn't enough, some of the academy instructors had also followed the childish boycott.

"Sensei, I'm not too sure about my stance, can you correct me?" His ward had asked Iwana Akame, a chunin who was responsible for the children's Taijutsu lessons. But her question fell on deaf ears as the chunin purposely ignores her in favour of the (still bruised nose) Uchiha boy.

"Sasuke-kun, as I thought, your stance is amazing! Your clan have taught you well." The chunin instructor compliments the other boy easily as if it was a well-made script—Tobirama notes in disgust. 

Frustrated that her calls are ignored, Sakura could only clench her fist and rubs away the few frustrated tears before retreating to a nearby tree for shade. It wasn't long for the other neglected kid of the class—Naruto— to come her way.

"Is not fair," He says and huffed in anger as he sat beside her. Just like her, his lessons were neglected too. Either because he was associated with her or for other reasons, Sakura doesn't know.

"I know."

"They think he's so great and all, but he couldn't even block a punch!"

Sakura hummed in response. Would this treatment continue? Maybe they could tell Naruto's jiji about it or something.

"S'kura-chan, let's prank sensei! That will let them know not to mess with us!" 

"Maybe another day, Naruto. My mama said I can't get into trouble or she will take away my reading time." Sakura sighs, and Tobirama frowns. He would have loved to see that chunin being pranked by the kids. It would at least partially satisfy his need of bashing the man's head into a rock.

"What's so good about reading? It's all old stuff that I don't understand anyway." Naruto whined. With the lack of attention from his teachers, it was already hard for Naruto to understand words and it was even harder for him to read books that use high class or olden time words.

"Naruto, didn't you say you want to be a Hokage? A Hokage must be knowledgeable."

Upon hearing the magic word, the blond boy immediately stood. "Fine then! I will read more and be the best Hokage Konoha had ever seen!" He announced passionately which was way louder than he intended. The laughter and snorts from the nearby kids who heard him made him flinch and frown. Was it so unbelievable that he wants to be the Hokage? Was it that impossible?

"No worries Naruto, I'm sure you'll be able to be the best Hokage and leader the world has ever seen. If anyone doubts that," Sakura pauses, "I will punch them for you." Here she smiles sweetly at the nearby kids. 

It appears whatever the kids were previously discussing were no longer funny because they stopped laughing and had gulped nervously.

Their next class did not fare any better than their Taijutsu class. Mizuki-sensei must have also caught wind of the news of her punching the Uchiha boy because as soon as he distributes the children to their own targets he finally approaches her and Naruto with a smug look.

"Oh my, Sakura-chan, I heard your teachers are ignoring you? How would Naruto ever graduate now that his only hope is also being neglected? Perhaps we will have two failures this year." He laughs cruelly and smirks when he sees Naruto shake in what he thinks is fear. Unbeknown to him, he has set himself up to be the second person of the day that Tobirama wants to bash into a rock. 

Sakura tilts her head innocently and smiles sweetly, "Sensei, it has only been a day. Isn't it too early to tell that yet?" I can handle more than this

"Besides, who is to say I have no outside teachers? After all, I too find the academy teachers rather boring and inadequate to teach us." She shrugs carelessly and besides her Naruto nods in agreement. Finally, someone else other than himself thinks the teachers were boring too!

"Yeah, you teachers suck anyway!" Naruto adds on

In an instant, Mizuki-sensei's face turns red. "Inadequate? You!"

"If they were adequate, I don't think they—an adult— would ignore two 5-year-olds, don't you think?" She raises an eyebrow and challenges the older man.

Because at the end of the day, she wasn't the one who neglect two five-year-olds because she wanted to suck up to clans who wouldn't give a shit about her. It was kinda hilarious in a way to witness the teachers suck up to Sasuke unknowing that Sasuke had criticized their civilian background which was the reason for Sakura punching him.

Satisfied that she had left the older chunin speechless, Sakura moves to her intended target and throw a shuriken. It hit right in the centre. She turns to the chunin and smiles sweetly as if saying See? I'm doing great, even without you.

Fuming, Mizuki-sensei storms off to assist other clan children who struggle to pull off the throw she did with ease.

Tobi's teachings do come in handy in cases like this. She was thankful for Tobi who had drilled it to her weeks earlier.

"You're putting too much force on your wrist. You'll hurt yourself that way." Tobi—her first friend and current mentor— tells her.

"Thanks, Tobi," Her thanks only did so little on the slowly increasing guilt that he feels.

Nevertheless, Tobirama could probably never apologize for this hindsight of his nor could he possibly fix this situation, but for what it's worth, he hopes his efforts of teaching Haruno Sakura—a civilian prodigy could change things. 

Because if this was Kami's way to give him a second chance at life to rectify his mistakes and to repent, he will gladly take it. Perhaps then, this time, when this life ends again, he will be able to reunite with his brother. Perhaps that would be his goal for this life. It has been a very long time since he last talk with that man. There was no doubt in Tobirama that Hashirama is resting in heaven—a place that Tobirama is unsure if he's worthy of.

Are you resting well, brother?

::

It would only come to Tobirama's attention later that his focus on clan children at the academy was only one of many other mistakes that he had made.

::

Despite the boycott that they faced throughout the week, Sakura and Naruto are still able to cope with the Academy. The theory had always been Sakura's speciality so it was no wonder she was quick to catch up and was able to tutor Naruto in the meantime. It also always was an added bonus when Tobi would add in additional information that the teachers don't even point out about. 

It was on the weekend when Sakura decided that she wants to meet the pretty boy who called her pretty. It has been some time since she had met with him so she wonders if he even remembers her. After helping out some old Uchiha obaa-san with their bags, she manages to find out that pretty boy frequently visits the Dango stall. It was there when she suddenly senses two familiar presence—one who she knows belongs to the pretty boy and the another who she did not particularly enjoy interacting with.

"You!" Uchiha Sasuke stands right before her looking equally shocked as if she had no right to be there.

Naturally, Sakura doesn't take his rude greeting nicely, "What are you doing here? Have you come here to spy?"

"I'm here to find my brother!" Upon Sasuke's declaration, Sakura frowned. Sasuke was looking for the heir of the Uchiha clan?

"And I'm here to meet a pretty boy!" She declares and it hit them both then. There was after all only the three of them at the stall.

They both turn around to look at the odd Uchiha chunin who was standing behind them holding two bags of dango. Uchiha Shisui scratches his head sheepishly as he looks between his little cousin and future apprentice (self-declared by Shisui himself and unbeknown to the said apprentice).

"Looks like you guys know one another?" He chuckles at the dumbfounded look they gave him. He turns to Sakura and offers a bag, "Dango?"

Sakura snatches the bag before he could retract the offer away and turns to Sasuke with a raised brow in disbelieve, "Pretty boy is your brother?"

"Ew, he wishes!" Sasuke indignantly yells out, disgust etches itself on his face as he ignores Shisui's protest of 'Hey!' in the background. Shisui wished he could be as cool as Itachi, but no matter, because to Sasuke, Itachi-niisan is the best!

"And why do you call him pretty anyway? Are you blind?" Sasuke scoffs to which Shisui protested once more only to be ignored again by the kids who are younger than half his age. Tobirama silently pities him. 

"You want me to break your nose again?" Sakura tilts her head innocently, a dango sweetly hanging off her mouth and yet despite the innocent and sweet look, Sasuke flinched.

"Oh shit," Shisui curses as it finally dawns on him, " So that is how you both knew one another! Itachi's gonna flip out!" He enthusiastically declares, eyes glinting in excitement. Was this fate? It must have been fate!

If only Itachi was here to witness this meeting himself. "Sadly, Itachi-chan's not here kid." He pats Sasuke's hair. It really does remind him of a duck...

"I can see that myself!" Sasuke huffs indignantly as he pushes Shisui's hand away. He isn't blind!

"No need to be feisty, I haven't seen him myself for a few days."

"Is he on a mission?" Sakura questions as she takes another bite of her dango. It was truly the best dango she had ever tasted. If Tobi could eat she would have offered it to him as well. 

Shisui hums and nods, "Yeah, he's on some sort of a mission."

"You don't sound too sure." Sasuke accused and crosses his arm trying to look cool and mature which only translates into an adorable upset duck in Shisui's eyes. 

Chuckling, Shisui ruffles the younger boy's hair and tells him, "Well, it is top-secret. So do not worry too much about it. He'll be back in a couple of days or so." 

Sakura wonders how old this Itachi is for him to go on a top-secret mission. Regardless, this Itachi must be an advanced shinobi if he's better than the pretty boy and is already going on top-secret missions. 

"Now, Sakura-chan, why are you here? Are you here to learn a few tricks from this very awesome, very handsome, very talented and very strong Uchiha Shisui?" He exclaims proudly with a glint in his eyes. This was the moment he gains an apprentice. An apprentice he can brag to Itachi-chan about! 

Sasuke scowls in disgust while Sakura stares at him dumbfounded at his brazen behaviour. 

"No worries, senpai will teach you everything you will need to know! Cute Sakura-chan, you can rely on me!" 

Sakura doesn't have the heart to tell him she already has Tobi. Glancing at Tobi from the corner of her eyes, she could tell he too was taken aback at Shisui's behaviour.

It's confirmed. This boy has been dropped as a baby.

Oh well, the more guidance she receives, the better, right?

-To be continued-

Yall thought Sakura gonna be free from consequences? lol nah

oh well at least she now has not one but TWO mentor/tutor 

Anyway, I hope this chapter can also shine some more light on Tobirama's character. I think Tobirama's character is interesting. He's a straight forward guy who some might consider too stiff or strict but I genuinely think he's a great guy who would do things for the sake of Konoha, but as we all know, sometimes that decision end up not being the best for Konoha. One thing for sure is that this man really and truly loves his brother. I can't imagine how he felt when Hashirama passes away :(
I actually wanted to put 'I miss you, brother' but you know in Asian cultures, we suck at expressing our feelings so instead I chose to put 'Are you resting well, brother?' 

Fun fact: Iwana Akame is an actual character in Naruto tho there are two different biodata that I can find?? like one is him being an academy instructor and another of him being a ROOT member who takes Fugaku's eyes to start a rebellion or summ? Anyway this is that dude.

 I am still very much alive! I've been dealing with university + had writer's block and only today I decided to try and write something for this and boom this is how this chapter came about. Thank you so much for reading and your support on this book! I'm very touched that people actually like this idea! I have more ideas and am interested to further explore Tobirama's character, so please look forward to that.

Until then, please take care and stay safe <3