Chapter Text
Sasuke, they say, was born strange.
He doesn't really hear this too often. People are too polite, and he kind of ignores them a lot - picking up on the stuff they're saying is hard enough without throwing in interpreting weird glances, so he just doesn't bother.
Words are hard. Talking's worse than listening. The world outside his family is big, and loud, and bright, and chaotic, and Sasuke prefers the winding paths in the woods, the ponds, the rock garden around the shrine…
And, anyways, the ghosts are more common away from the people, too.
-
Sasuke doesn't remember not seeing the ghosts. He does, vaguely, remember his mother's worried look as she explained there was nothing there, don't you think you're a bit old for imaginary friends honey…
He remembers the nicest ghost, the one with droopy eyes and a bright grin and long hair, who tells Sasuke to just call him Hashi-ji-san, explaining that most people can't see ghosts. "People don't believe in us," he says, simply and clearly. Sasuke likes the way he talks. "And they wouldn't like it if they knew, since death is supposed to be peace."
"Which is why he should tell them," Hashi-ji-san's brother, Senju Tobirama, had said. "We can confirm to Saru at least that we're here - "
"I don't want to put that on a child," Hashi-ji-san said, firmly. "They'll sweep him into T&I - on either end."
Tobirama had sighed, but nodded.
Sasuke, of course, had wanted to know what T&I was.
(He agrees with Hashi-ji-san. He doesn't want to interrogate ghosts, and he's never seen a ghost less than a decade dead but no one's gonna believe that - )
-
A year after accepting that he can't tell anyone about his friends (yet), Sasuke's moping because his brother just poked him in the head again and went off to do something - and he doesn't even have team training or a mission, he's just avoiding teaching Sasuke -
Tobirama sits next to him. Sasuke huffs and glances away. "Big brothers are annoying, aren't they?" Tobirama asks.
Sasuke glances over at him, and makes an agreeing sound. Itachi's always doing this. It's - annoying is the right word.
"Hashirama used to get into these moods. We're closer in age than you two are, but he still thought of me as a little kid… And in those days we were already warriors, even at your age," Tobirama says. "He even decided he'd rather hang out with one of our clan's enemies than me."
Sasuke, who's heard the tale of Hashirama and Madara's epic… something… by now, blinks and then nods. He hadn't really thought of Tobirama's side, but… He must have felt a lot like Sasuke does now. And Shisui at least is their cousin, someone Itachi's supposed to be friends with.
"How do I get him to - " and Sasuke makes a frustrated noise, not really able to articulate it. He wants Itachi to look at him, to train him, to be his brother and not less present than a ghost -
Tobirama shrugs. "I'm not the charismatic brother. Trying to force the issue with Hashirama just got him to avoid me more."
Sasuke rolls over, flopping on his back. "Maybe if I catch up?" he muses, frowning. It always seems like Itachi's treating him like a kid, but if Sasuke can fight on his level…
"Hm. I don't think you'd like being a shinobi so young. It's tough, and Hashirama and I banned early graduation for a reason - yelling at Saru about removing the age minimum is one reason I'd wanted you to tell him about us…" Tobirama shrugs, even as Sasuke giggles a bit at the thought of the Hokage getting lectured by ghosts. "But," the ghost continues, "I can train you. It's shameful your education's being neglected like it is."
Sasuke sits up, eyes wide. "Can you?" he asks, almost vibrating.
Tobirama nods. His gaze is serious, but he doesn't force Sasuke to meet his eyes, which Sasuke appreciates. "Just promise to refuse any offers to graduate early," Tobirama says, evenly. "I don't want to see you on battlefields this young."
"I won't let you down," Sasuke says, clenching his fist. That sounds like a sensible rule.
"Good," says his new sensei, standing. "We'll start now."
Sasuke scrambles to his feet, Itachi almost forgotten as he scurries into the forest.
-
Training with Tobirama is fun. Learning's easy, of course - but Sasuke grasps age-appropriate things so fast he spends lessons bored, but grasps things so sideways no one knows how to challenge him. Tobirama explains things always just past the edge of what Sasuke knows, so Sasuke has to think and ponder and ask questions around it, and it's wonderful. Sasuke's never learned this much before.
Tobirama starts out teaching him to throw shuriken, which turns into how to tell where his opponent will throw, which turns into how to fake out his opponent, which turns into the evolution of shurikenjutsu, which then becomes how shuriken themselves have changed, and Tobirama knows how to make swords!!!
Swords are the coolest thing ever. Sasuke's pretty sure that's more true than 'the sun rises in the East', especially since Tobirama told him the sun's not rising, the Earth's spinning to face it.
Sasuke is going to make a sword someday, and it'll be even cooler than the Seven Swordsmen's famous weapons, which are super cool to start with -
"One of your clansmen carries a custom sword," Tobirama tells him, evenly.
Sasuke pauses in drawing awesome sword designs, eyes wide. "Really?" he demands, leaning forwards.
Tobirama nods. "Uchiha Setsune, though she's someone who isn't of Uchiha blood. She feels like one of the old samurai clans."
That settles it. Samurai have the best swords. Sasuke leaps to his feet, and pauses only to ask, "Where is she?"
His ghost sensei gives him directions, smiling a bit, and Sasuke runs off with a 'thanks!'
Auntie Setsune turns to him when he runs up, raises an eyebrow. "What do you want, little one?" she asks. Her voice sounds amused.
Sasuke bounces, biting his lip, and points to her sword. "I wanna make one," he blurts.
She laughs, says, "Good! I was worried you shinobi didn't care enough about proper weapon care. Come on, let me show you my shop…"
She has a sword shop!
Sasuke runs after her.
-
"Thanks," he eventually remembers to say to Tobirama. "For - " He gestures back towards Auntie Setsune's shop. She's not quite as good at explaining things as Tobirama, but she knows a lot more about swords, so it balances out.
Tobirama nods, solemnly. "You shouldn't forget the living," he says. "They have as much to offer you as us ghosts."
Sasuke bobs his head, then shrugs. "Thanks," is all he says.
Still, Tobirama seems to get the message.
-
After swords and shuriken and lightning swords, seriously why don't they mention Tobirama had a lightning sword in normal history lessons, Sasuke likes history the best. Hashirama actually tells that well - Tobirama tends to relay just the important bits, without any of the characters. Listening to him and Hashirama and sometimes Mito when she's around tell stories is nice.
Mito's an oddity, one he meets when he goes to the Academy finally. She hangs around that loudmouth Naruto, since he's her clansman. Her last one in Konoha, she explains once, though she can feel a small handful of others scattered across the nations. Hashirama acts really silly around her, and she acts like a princess or a samurai, not much like a shinobi.
There's a lot more ghosts once Sasuke starts venturing out of the compound regularly, too. Not many, but they notice him, realize they can focus around him and he can see them, and start gathering around him. Tobirama scares them off a bunch of times, pretty much whenever they start bothering Sasuke.
A lot are Uchiha, and apparently the Uchiha used to live elsewhere in the village, all spread out, and a lot of the ghosts didn't move with the clan. A lot are Inuzuka. There's one Nara that he finds. A lot are quiet children who sit blank-faced in corners.
Those last ones bother him, but they won't talk to him, and will only report dully to the two Hokage. Seeing them seems to enrage both Tobirama and Hashirama, and depress Hashirama, though they don't show it around the kids. But Tobirama rants a lot when they're safely in the forest with no one around to hear, complains at length that he made a mistake putting Saru in charge, he hadn't thought the boy would give Danzo this much rein -
Sasuke spends a while gathering the words, then solemnly tells Tobirama he'll become Hokage for them and fix this. Maybe he can't help the ghosts, but there's other kids still, aren't there -
Tobirama tells him I believe you and expands his training into politics and diplomacy, roping in the most recent ghosts they can find for slightly more current events.
Sasuke takes it more seriously than he ever has anything before, even if it promises to be really hard.