Chapter Text
You were not the first to apply for that job, and you knew it. In fact, since news spread fast in Konoha, you’ve been properly informed that you were the fourth person to occupy the position of assistant of the Second Hokage in a few months. Yes, in less than a year three other people were chosen to the position, but they could not hold it for too long. If it was due to their lack of competence, you couldn’t tell, but because you’ve heard the news, you were sure of one thing: it takes more than just competence for one to work – to keep working – with the younger Senju brother. It takes patience. Resilience. And courage.
A lot of courage.
It was something you discovered for yourself right on your first day. You were brought to his presence as soon as you arrived. It wasn’t that you have no confidence in your capacity, but when you’ve heard that your assessment would be handled by Tobirama Senju himself, and from it you got enough reasons to have your hands shaking: the fact is that his demanding – not to say difficult – nature was equal to his reputation as shinobi, and he never made it a secret. The man was hard at work, and he expected nothing less from the ones who worked by his side; and now you were assigned as one of his closest personnel, which meant you were going to have his eyes on all your movements.
However, you weren’t expecting this: your assessment would be finished in two days. The Hokage said that he was going to give you a basic task list and explain your duties, then you were going to perform the mentioned tasks under his supervision. In other words, if your performance was good enough, the job was yours.
- It is not difficult at all – he stated – All you need to do is to pay attention to what I say and to focus on what is in front of you. Once you get used to this, you will be capable of handling anything else.
You just nodded to show you agreed with the conditions, but somewhere in your mind there was a voice screaming that if everything was so easy, why did he have to look for a fourth assistant in so little time? When you raised your eyes to him, however, you made your best efforts to bury this thought on the depths of your mind: you weren’t sure if he was capable of reading minds, but you sensed that, as observant man, his analyzing skills could be used in a way that not being careful on what you think when you’re under his eye was a bad idea.
Fortunately for you, he made no comments about what you might be thinking nor mentioned the fact that you were not his first assistant, probably because you already knew it, but you decided to believe it was because you needed to draw your own path on this and digging into the previous workers’ experiences would not help you at all. They had nothing to do with you.
When you came back home by the end of that day, your parents were waiting for you. Of course they gave you some time to rest and eat instead of attacking you with a bunch of questions, but you saw it coming anyway, so when they sat with you in the living room, it wasn’t a big surprise; in fact, you already knew what they were going to ask.
- So, how was your day, y/n? – your mother started – I hope everything was okay.
You gave her a brief, positive reply.
Now it was your father’s turn. He was always more specific with information seeking than your mother.
- Are not you going to tell us about your first day on the new job, dear? Was it too difficult? Too easy? How did the Hokage treat you?
Yes, that was your father: always asking the right questions, never playing around. You wish you could’ve had more time to think about your day before answering so many questions at once, but you did your best with what you had.
- Though I had more things to do than I did in my previous jobs, I can’t say it was that difficult. You know, father, it’s not like I’ve never had to deal with paper in my life. I think it’s just a question of time... I mean, for gaining experience and for adaptation.
You tried not to give them much details, because your own vision of the facts were still to settle. Besides, you avoided to answer your father’s last question: you could even say you had some of your opinions on Tobirama confirmed, but it was too soon to make any statement, since you knew him just as the Hokage and not as a person, and he didn’t know you too; he just knew your resume.
Unfortunately for you, your father was a persistent man.
- Yes, that’s good, that’s good – he started – But I wanted to know more about…
Now you couldn’t contain your exasperation.
- I understand you worries, father, but honestly, they are a bit unfounded, since we’re talking about the Hokage here, right? – you then added a smile to diminish the harshness of your first words – It’s still too soon to be sure of anything, but all I can say for now is that we have nothing to worry about. Tobirama-sama is a professional and a respectable man. He’s not much of a talker, so we only exchanged the necessary words. He’s smart and articulated. He has no difficulties to make himself clear, and he’s one of the most practical people when it comes to doing what needs to be done. I believe this is not so different from what everyone says about him, isn’t it?
One look at your father and you saw he was satisfied. But, well, you couldn’t help but finishing your description with what’s been around your mind all the day.
- However, he’s not the sweetest person I’ve ever met.
Your parents’ reaction to this latter comment were nothing like you expected: both your mother and your father just laughed at the bitterness on your tone. You were never the type to say bad things about others or curse, specially when you barely knew the object of your talking; so that was the hardest thing you were capable to say about Tobirama Senju.
Still, that was your opinion, and you wanted it to be respected at least on your house. You soon got mad at their laughter.
- What’s so funny?
When they finally ceased the laughing, your mother was the first to speak.
- The Hokage must have been too bad for our girl to make her saying these awful things about him!
You were about to reply, when your father, more controlled, explained:
- Y/n, dear, we all know he’s not like his brother, Hashirama. We simply cannot expect to get along with him since the start. It takes time for one to get to know him, and to get used to him. But try to see things through his eyes. Tobirama-sama belongs to another generation, one with a different vision of life and a different way of raising kids. His early life was not like yours. He was never given the chance to be… how could I put it in words... to be soft, you understand?
While you were quiet, processing your father’s words, your mother, whose smile tempered her words, added to his observations:
- And, yes, you could point out that his brother’s life was as hard as his own, but consider that they’re not the same. Every person has their own way to respond to what life puts in their way, and we cannot expect everyone to always agree with each other’s responses. See ourselves as an example – she made a gesture to indicate you three – Your father and I still find reasons to argue after all these years, and we find reasons to disagree with you sometimes.
After hearing all of this in silence, and despite you were convinced your reasons weren’t as simple as they thought, you decided you couldn’t argue with their logic, at least not at that moment. You were a bit tired, and now that you had other opinions to examine alongside yours, you saw that some of the reasons you’d use to defend your own would honestly sound a little petty, and even childish, if you’ve said them out loud. Still, you didn’t believe your mother’s example was appropriate to the case, since you were talking about personality, but you didn’t mention that. Besides, you thought that our experiences should not interfere in the way we deal with others, specially when they had nothing to do with our problems. And you said that to your parents.
Your father nodded.
- You’re right, dear, but well, give him a chance. It’s just your first day, right?
You said you would try. You kissed them and went to your room.