This idea was born because I got really tired of female characters (even ones that are canonically non entities, like Mito) being overshadowed by their male peers, both in canon and in fanon, even though canon supports or outright states she is supposed to be the best in her area. So instead of Tobirama using fuuinjutsu to invent his jutsu, I imagined a canon where Mito did, just to see if she could, and then gave them to Tobirama to test and would eventually become famous for them.

The title is taken from Royall Tyler's translation of the Heike Monogatari, the Tale of Heike. The line in question is a reference to the perils of pride, and is a prediction for one of the main characters of the story. The line goes "the arrogant do not long endure/they are a like a dream one night in spring."; I'm using it here to reference Mito's hubris.

This fic is for crowind, who has been my friend for a few years now, and has also graciously beta'ed most of my Naruto fics. Without her encouragement, my current WIPs would not exist at all, and I am forever indebted to the immense help she has given me in the conception, shaping, and editing of my work.

"What did you want?"

Various masks set in different expressions glared down at Tobirama, as if displeased that he had intruded upon sacred Uzumaki grounds. He was tempted to sneer at them in return but for the fact that they were inanimate objects. Instead he trained his focus on Mito who had yet to acknowledge him.

She painted a few more strokes on the elaborate scroll she was working on. There were a few seal matrices that Tobirama recognized. Most he did not. Several ink wells and brushes lay scattered around her, the tools of an Uzumaki fuuinjutsu specialist trained in seal work far more intricate and arcane than the rest of the continent would ever know.

At last she set her brush to the side and looked up. "I have another jutsu for you to try," she said. Candlelight cast her face into shadow and made her appear wraith-like, a restless ghost haunting the Uzumaki shrine built for her.

Tobirama crossed his arms. "The last time you gave me a jutsu to try, I ended up teleporting into a tree."

Mito sniffed. "There is always trial and error when it comes to the invention of new jutsu and seal work. I told you that there was a chance of distortions in time or space with that jutsu."

"I also ended up in the ocean," he said dryly.

"You could've ended up one hundred years in the past. You should be thankful there were only problems with the space matrix," Mito snapped. "Besides, the jutsu worked out fine in the end. I've expanded my knowledge of the space-time continuum and you can kill other people faster than ever before."

Tobirama ignored the dig at his motives. Instead he examined the large scroll and its intricate seal work. He still couldn't discern the purpose of the seal, but Tobirama knew enough to know that Mito was once again pushing the limits of human knowledge and ability, if not destroying them entirely.

"What is the purpose of this jutsu?" Tobirama asked.

"You mentioned something once about winning wars without losing any soldiers. This jutsu should do that for you," Mito said. He frowned at her seemingly casual answer. It was unusually evasive. When Mito made a discovery, she was eager to share it with anyone she thought might understand her brilliance. He glanced around the shrine again.

Finally, he said, "does Hashirama know what you're working on?" Tobirama tapped the seal matrix that he knew for certain represented a summoning.

"Of course he knows I'm working on something," Mito scoffed. "He might be preoccupied with Madara at the moment, but even that wouldn't distract him from realizing his wife is missing several hours a day."

Tobirama narrowed his eyes at his sister-in-law. "That isn't what I asked you."

Mito's face was unreadable to him, but her cool chakra wasn't. It shifted and turned with anxiety that betrayed her. He wondered when she would invent a seal that prevented her chakra from giving away her moods. It couldn't be long in coming; she knew well that he was a sensor, and hated that he could always without fail read her moods. Under her make up, he could see faint lines of painted on seals, though he couldn't make them out. He wondered what she felt she needed to seal inside herself today.

"Does it matter? It will do what you wish. Soldiers who cannot die. They will not eat. They will not sleep. They will only fight, until there is nothing left. Or you command them to stop." She shrugged an elegant shoulder.

"Ah, so you have created something that even you will acknowledge has crossed some line." Tobirama smirked. "What is it? What has made even an Uzumaki take pause in their pursuit for knowledge?"

Her jaw lifted in a proud, stubborn tilt. "It was the next natural step. While you shinobi of the continent have spent your time thinking of new ways to destroy each other, the Uzumaki bent the seas and storms to our will. With the Hiraishin, I have begun to conquer time and space. With this," she gestured to the scroll between them, "I have gained control over the Shinigami, and so I will now begin to claim life and death for my own as well. You decide who will die. I will decide who will live."

She paused. Tobirama parsed through her speech, reading between the lines to see what she was actually saying. A summoning seal with control over the Shinigami, that could create tireless, undying shinobi. The ability to control life and death. His eyes widened in realization.

"You found a way to bring back the dead," he breathed.

"Nearly," Mito said. "It isn't perfect. They are not truly alive, and the sort of half life they have...this jutsu is perhaps best suited for our enemies rather than our allies. But it is a start down the road to a complete, perfect resurrection."

Tobirama peered down at the scroll while he listened to her. How he wished he could divine the secrets of this fuuinjutsu. But he had never had the time to properly learn Uzumaki style sealing, which was without a doubt the most effective form of sealing the shinobi world had ever seen. It was also the most esoteric and archaic.

"What does it need to work?" he asked her.

Mito frowned. "It takes a lot of power. The kind that takes years upon years to store….or the kind found in a single human life. A sacrifice, and the blood of the person you wish to bring back."

"Death and desecration. So this is why you didn't want to tell Hashirama what it was you were creating," Tobirama said, springing his trap. "You feared what he might think."

Mito became subdued. Her lack of immediate response told Tobirama he had found the source of her unease. It was true Hashirama's charisma made people want to be a better version of themselves. It even appeared to work on Madara. Tobirama had thought that Mito had been immune to it, but now he saw that she wasn't.

"Hashirama has a fanciful dream for peace. And that dream is becoming a reality," Tobirama started. "But he was also raised in an era of war, no different from me, and with a unique power of his own to defend the clan and fight his enemies. If he thought it was necessary, there is nothing Hashirama would stop at to protect this peace he has created, not even the violation of the laws of life and death. He will be pleased with this jutsu."

A shy smile grew on Mito's face, startling Tobirama with its girlishness. He often forgot, with Mito's normally reserved demeanor, that Mito had chosen to leave her clan for Hashirama as much as Hashirama had broken contract to marry Mito instead of her elder sister. They were devoted to each other.

"I should show it to him right away then," she murmured. "I haven't spoken with him about it at all yet. Perhaps tonight…"

Tobirama rolled his eyes. "There's no sense becoming excited over it before we even know if it works. When do you want me to test this?"

The growing aura of tenderness abruptly fell away from Mito as her mind returned to more important matters. "Immediately, of course," she said briskly. "There's no need to wait. You can try it on anyone you please." She set about rolling up the scroll and binding it shut.

"And what do you call this new jutsu?" he asked. Mito met his eyes, thrilled satisfaction gleaming in her eyes.

"Edo Tensei."