Your Depth

As the days went by, the issue of the academy was put on hold for a later time as neither side was willing to budge, and there were still many other pressing issues in the village that needed to be addressed and resolved.

On this particular bright and sunny day, in a room possessing the likeness of a library with shelves packed from top to bottom and side to side with books until there was no room left for more, leaving big piles of extra books to be stacked all across the ground, Naruto sat across from Tobirama as they worked on the seal for Black Zetsu within the Senju's study. At that moment, Tobirama was still figuring out the structure of what would make the most optimal seal that could last thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of years, and could only be destroyed with the force of all the tailed beasts combined; meanwhile, Naruto sat on the other side of the table idly rolling the handle of an unused brush back and forth on the table.

Tobirama glanced up from his papers as he had noticed for a while now how preoccupied the young man seemed within his thoughts these days. With the appearance of Black Zetsu, Tobirama began to take more time off to work on the seal, and each time they worked together he always noticed Naruto thinking deeply about something.

The longer he stared at the perturbed face, the more he felt compelled to ask about what was on the blond's mind—eventually, however, he could no longer stand the irritating sounds of the brush being pushed around on the table and let out a sigh as he finally asked,

"Alright, spit it out. What has your mind so preoccupied?"

Naruto jolted in surprise at the out of the blue question and looked at the man across from him with avoidant eyes. "Huh? Oh, uh... I- I dunno what you're talking about..." he lied nervously.

"Do not lie to me now," Tobirama stated firmly with sharp, stern eyes, "I will not have it. Just hurry up and say what is on your mind."

Naruto grumbled a little with a childish pout, as if being ordered around by an older brother, before giving in to the harsh ruby glare boring holes into his head.

"Well... It's just that... These days, Madara's been in kind of a bad mood and he doesn't sleep too well anymore either, and I've noticed that he's been pretty stressed lately... I think it has to do with the academy," the blond disclosed.

"The academy, huh..." Tobirama hummed thoughtfully, and turned his attention back to the papers before him as he continued writing down ideas. "Well, I can certainly say that he retains passion over his stance on the issue in every meeting concerning the academy, that is for sure."

"I mean, I know this is a complicated issue and all, but is there really no way to compromise?" Naruto inquired.

"It's easy to throw around the word 'compromise', but we have to really look at this carefully and objectively. Not every nation will be like us and hold the same values as we do. They will most likely want to train shinobis at a young age and we cannot fall behind them, not even a little bit. If we fall behind, we will be at the mercy of other shinobi villages. We have to protect the village, Naruto."

"Mmm... That's true..." Naruto admitted with a groan, "But, maybe they'll feel the same too? All the villages that followed pretty much copied ours like a blueprint, so maybe if we increased the age to become a shinobi here, maybe they'll do the same too!" the young man insisted eagerly; however, Tobirama merely quirked a brow without looking up as he scribbled something down onto the piece of paper in front of him.

"That's a lot of 'maybes' there, Naruto. We cannot rely on 'maybes'," the man stated blandly; nevertheless, Naruto balled his hands into tight fists on the table and persisted. "Please, Tobirama, if we don't change something about the system, Obito might still become evil if he fights and Rin dies in war!"