The ninja from Taki was exhausted. Sweat dribbled down his face, he was covered in mud, blood and god knows what else. His fight had lasted for the better part of two hours in this god forsaken desert claimed by Konoha, where his opponent was probably at his weakest. Even so his opponent was still able to keep pace and it hadn't been till about a minute ago the ninja from Taki had managed to break through.

He stared at the face that was bulging in his hands, literally dying for a breath. The Shodaime Hokage was nearly unconscious, a few more seconds. The ninja from Taki cried out as his back was suddenly pierced by a shuriken. He spun around, hands still at the Hokage's neck. The next shuriken wasn't nearly as graceful it tumbled end over end and hit him on the face right above his eye flat part first. The third shuriken wasn't even metal, it was the plastic kind that was issued to kids by grumpy shinobi after they had been badgered constantly for shinobi weapons, this one had been sharpened and thus left its mark on the hands of the Taki ninja as he inadvertently saved the Hokage's life. The fifth one was the most magnificent of all, it was a rock which struck the ninja straight in the nuts.

In the span of two seconds the Taki ninja was left lying on the floor covering his balls with his bleeding hands. The Hokage sat up and just as he was about to capitalise on his newfound higher ground the presumed shuriken thrower made himself known, or should he say, thrown. Screaming

"FROM THE HIGHEST PEAKS, TO THE LOWEST VALLEYS, FROM THE STARS ABOVE, TO THE WORN OUT GULLEYS, THE ONLY NAME… THAT THE CUTE GIRLS CHANT… IS MINE, THE GALLANT JI-CHAN!"

The boy dashed out and slammed his head into the neck of the hunched over ninja. The ninja fell to the ground gasping for breath.

The boy looked rather plain the Hokage mused, the only thing that truly stuck out for him was white hair the boy had. Nevertheless the boy had saved him and had enabled him to launch a counterattack against the Taki ninja who, by the looks of things was showing signs of trauma.

Weaving his hands in convoluted ways, that would have left other ninjas with their fingers in knots he clasped his hands together, pointing his index fingers upwards, screaming "Super Ultimate Secret Penetration Style…" (it was well known that he didn't have the best sense in naming). Before he proceeded to reinforce his fingers with chakra and the earth release. His fingers had an outline of blue chakra and turned black from the earth release. He clasped his hands together and folded all his fingers except his index and middle finger. Next he charged the tips of his two fingers with lightning release and coated the sides with wind chakra.

Under the pain of the strike to the nuts and the appearance of what seemed to be a landscape changing ninjutsu, the Taki ninja immediately fled screaming "I won't forget this brat, remember the name KAKAZU!"

Hashirama slumped in relief, that last technique had been a fake, a terrible genjutsu that would have been detected by a three year old. Speaking of three year olds, he turned around.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, the scolding tone giving the kid the feeling that he was in trouble.

"Whatdaya mean whatya doin' here mister? I just saved your life!" the indignant kid yelled back comically waving his fist in the air.

"Thank you." he said blandly, he crossed his arms ,"Now what are you doing here?"

The brat stood there silent for a minute, unable to comprehend the total lack of sincerity that he had received. Then he screamed back "I was patrolling the area and I heard some clashing so I came here." It would be years later when he told Hashirama that he was travelling to Konoha by himself after watching his parents die in a Iwa ninja raid.

"Listen kid, there are no patrols in this area, so first of all if you want to lie than get your facts right, and second if you want to lie, don't lie to the person that rules the lands and organises the patrols."

Ji scratched his head in confusion, "Are you saying that you're the daimyo? Damn you must cover all that fat up pretty well."

Hashirama palmed his head before proceeding to knockout the kid and search the area. After declaring that the area was clear Hashirama left and taking the kid with him. He had a friend that could take care of the kid.