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If running into the Senju during one of his nowadays rare personal missions wasn’t odd enough, Madara really hadn’t been prepared to work literally right beside the man. Let alone the circumstances that had brought the two of them there.
He stood back and watched as their clients bickered, trying not to twitch over how close the Senju was to him. Which really wasn’t that close, but considering their alliance was still shaky a couple of feet was far closer than he was comfortable with.
At least they were in mutual feelings over the idiots that had hired them. Both merchants had to be loaded to afford them in particular, two of the highest ranking shinobi in the whole damned country, and to make the whole situation weirder they really didn’t seem to need them. If the so far week long journey was anything to go on, they really wouldn’t have needed a guard at all, let alone ones that would be sapping quite a bit of that pretty gold away from their mountainous fortune.
He rolled his eyes before he could stop himself as one raised their already high-pitched voice in protest at the other, watching as the brothers - brothers, mind, meaning they really could have shared a guard or at the very least not gotten ones from damned near rival clans - bickered back and forth like children. Young children. Ones that really had no concept of the world around them beyond what was annoying them.
On the battlefield, Madara had never seen Tobirama’s eye twitch. Even during the few meetings between the clan dignitaries he’d not seen it do that. But for the past few days it had not stopped, and that alone made it easier for Madara to bite his tongue and not give the two man children a lashing for their stupidity.
At least he wasn’t suffering alone. And, on the brightest of sides, Tobirama and himself had not been at each other’s throats. Only amicable silence as they trudged on behind the merchants, proving that the worst of enemies with the worst histories could point their weapons elsewhere if left in the presence of a greater one: fools.
He could only hope the fools would shut up, or else there wouldn’t be anyone left to pay them by the end of this. Who would be the first between them to snap at this rate? Madara mused inwardly over whether he or the Senju would lose their temper first, armor clanking as he meandered on, the sun beading sweat on his skin as the summer day beat down on him, both shinobi quite done with their mission already.