A Thousand Hands
Summary: The rise and fall of the man who moved nations; Senju Hashirama.
Disclaimer: Naruto Series is not mine
Author Speaking ...
Shortest chapter yet, but more to come soon. Read, review and enjoy!
Arc One: The Mountain Top
Chapter 3
"The morning glories
bloom, securing the gate
in the old fence"
- Matsuo Basho
Hashirama felt bigger than he was; it was glorious.
He knew that he stood no taller than the day before this one, but at this moment his head seemed to scrape the morning sky. The trees that he had inadvertently created continued to bloom until finally he managed to work up the courage to tell them to stop. The earth dome that had stood only moments before crumbled beneath neglect like an old fence.
No one across their human chessboard dared to move. The monks sat fearfully within the foliage for none of them could imagine where this forest had suddenly sprouted from. The Morino clan, in the open field, shifted nervously in fear of this technique that had never been witnessed.
Hashirama was frozen in awe of himself; the trees stood like a vanguard and secured the gates.
"Kill them!" a Morino voice shouted.
Hashirama moved without moving. At his sudden whim, the forest sprung into action. As the Morino soldiers rushed in to complete their slaughter, they were met with a world of moving branches and hostile trunks. The trees extended to great lengths to capture those enemies who were weak. Those who were strong enough to avoid capture where mercilessly crushed beneath the weight of the behemoth trunks.
Hashirama stood motionless; it was like having a thousand hands.
Idate suddenly rushed from the foliage with the Raijin sword in his still attached hand. Hashirama was so mesmerized by his new abilities that he was nearly caught off guard. A tree root erupted from the ground and encircled Idate like an anaconda. It squeezed him so hard that he dropped his sword which became nothing more than a handle.
Within just a few moments, the Morino clan was silenced; they were all either dead or entrapped within Hashirama's great wooden web.
"Return it!" Idate said, his face red from lack of circulation.
"I gave you one chance," Hashirama said, "but, I am not beyond giving another. Leave now, and I'll spare your clan!"
"Not until the scroll has been returned to us!" Idate said. "We'll die now rather than allow the secrets of our clan to be divulged!"
Hashirama didn't have time to question him, because suddenly Musei and other monks came carrying a beaten Nezumi in their arms. Musei removed a scroll from Nezumi's garb and rolled it gently to Hashirama's feet. A sense of great disgust bubbled in Hashirama's stomach as he realized what had happened. He picked up the scroll and brought it to Idate's face.
"Might this be that scroll?" Hashirama asked.
"Yes, give it to me!" Idate said. "That scroll contains the secret for the Morino clan's greatest poison … the very poison that almost defeated you. That coward monk, who stayed with us under under our hospitality, ripped it from my mother's hands and fled here. When my assassins could not capture him before his holing up in this temple, I ordered the entire clan to come and retrieve it!"
"Nezumi, you fool!" Mottomo raged. "Do you see what destruction you have brought upon us? I'll kill you where you stand!"
Hashirama managed to calm the situation, forcefully. He released the Morino clan just outside the limits of his world of trees. They sat on their knees behind Idate as he retrieved the scroll. The monks stood behind Hashirama with Nezumi kept to his knees by their pointed spears.
"What is your name?" Idate asked.
"Senju Hashirama."
"Hashirama …" Idate repeated. "Of the Senju clan. We will proclaim your might to all in this country that will hear us!" Idate suddenly handed Hashirama the handle of the Raijin sword. "In exchange for our sacred scroll, and to show our loyalty born on this battlefield to you, we give you the Sword of the Thunder God, which was no match for you."
Idate signaled his people to stand. Before they could leave, however, Mottomo stepped to the forefront and his monks threw the bound and gagged Nezumi to Idate's feet.
"And to you, as an apology, our Temple gives you this piece of scum," Mottomo said coldly.
"But he'll be tortured!" Hashirama said.
"Will you take him in then?" Mottomo asked. "I refuse to let him roam freely with such a despicable will and the skills of slaughter we taught him here."
Hashirama imagined for a moment that he would take Nezumi in, rather then subject him to whatever horrendous torture awaited him at the hands of Morino clan. But he knew he would not risk his village beneath the mountain by letting such scum go there. Freedom was even less of a choice; with his ninja abilities Nezumi would do nothing more than pilfer villages and rape women.
He turned a blind eye as they carried Nezumi away and vanished into the horizon.
"Your temple," Hashirama said, looking at the mass of trees still in his control. "I'm sorry … but it seems that I've destroyed it beyond repair!"
"Hardly!" Mottomo said, assuring him. "You could have destroyed a thousand temples, and you would still be in our favor. What matters is that you have saved our lives … our ideology shall now live long because of your heroic efforts. Let us celebrate!"
And so they did, as much as they could. Hashirama managed to get the forest to recede, though it fought him at his first mentioning it. Mottomo and his monks fed Hashirama well, and then they gave him thirty-thousand ryu for his services, which was twice as much as the fifteen thousand that Nezumi had offered him. They urged him to stay one more night, but he kindly refused. Hashirama could now only think about his brother back home and the mountain top.
Hashirama strapped the Kusanagi and Raijin to his hips, and he began his journey home.
The monks had kindly given him a map with his trail home outlined, but he did not use it. Rather, Hashirama used his new connection with the world around him to plot his course. After an hour of travel he finally pin-pointed his brother's chakra; it was very distant, at least half a day away if he kept his steady pace through the country side.
On his way home, Hashirama stopped briefly in Tanzaku Gai to purchase some ramen and mushroom soup, something he had been craving since leaving his village beneath the mountain. There, he saw an argument between a married couple nearly erupt into violence. It was stopped short of becoming physical only by one of them deciding to simply ask a question.
'So simple!' Hashirama had thought. He imagined if everyone could approach conflict so diplomatically, then they would live in a much gentler world. If Idate and his Morino clan assassins had simply asked for their sacred scroll back instead of attacking, then many lives would have been spared from that senseless violence.
But of course, the fight between the wife and husband had been but a diamond in a sea of coal. On his journey home, in the span of just half a day, Hashirama aged considerably with the sight of his deteriorated country. Entire villages lay abandoned as they had been pillaged by roaming bandits. Men, woman and children alike at times lined the streets of broken towns; their entire livelihoods had been robbed from them by a passerby with the ability to ignite homes, or cut through metal armor.
The devastation was highlighted to Hashirama when he came to a village with no one working in the rice paddies. It was a beautiful day for the sun was shining brightly but was thankfully kept at bay by a generously cool lick of wind. The village itself was empty as everyone seemed to be cooped up in their homes; he could sense them inside the houses cowering at the sight of him. Finally, Hashirama found a woman sitting near rubble.
"Why isn't anyone farming?" he asked her.
The woman gave him a cold glare; she understood immediately from the swords at his hips that he was a ninja.
"Because of monsters like you!" she said, spraying saliva on his chest. "Whenever we farm, bandits come through here with their swords and shurikens in hand. They take our food, burn our homes and kill our husbands and sons … better to starve than to-"
As she continued, Hashirama understood at that moment that bandits had done much more than just burn her home and take her food. He almost felt sorrow for her … almost. Hashirama came to the sudden realization that he was as desensitized to the violence plaguing the world as any. It filled him with guilt. This woman had once been a mother, but now she was alone and homeless. He imagined for a moment his own mother's heartbreak had he and Tobirama been killed in her defense.
With that mind, Hashirama called once more upon the universe. Immediately he created his 'life chakra' and pumped it back into the earth. This time, he controlled it. A sweat rose on his brow with the effort of refining the power down to just wood. He was successful. Wood emerged from the ground where the woman's home had once been. It formed together and within seconds there stood a small home, large enough for a small family.
The woman stopped her rant and stared in silent awe at him and his creation. Hashirama pushed the home to make sure it was sturdy.
"Tell the people of this village," Hashirama said, "to never abandon hope. One day, a change will sweep this country. Until then …"
Hashirama leaped away from the village; he unsure what he had just promised her. When he reached his mountain, with his village on the other side, Hashirama was still unsure what he had promised. After all, a Fire Country without violence was unheard of. In this day and age, where ninja ruled, the only truths were warfare and death.
Hashirama climbed to the top of the mountain, and smiled as beneath he saw his tiny village with its little dots roaming about to fulfill their days purpose. The people here rarely feared of being eradicated, and ate well compared to the rest of the country. All his life, Hashirama had pondered the question of how he could make it safer beneath this mountain, but now peaked into his mind the idea of how he could spread the standard of living here throughout the country.
Once reaching the village, Hashirama was immediately bombarded with greetings.
"Welcome back, Hashirama!"
"We've missed you, Hashirama!"
The ruckus brought Chuuko from his tiny home. He hugged Hashirama.
"Are you well?" Chuuko asked. "Did you succeed on your mission?"
"Greatly," Hashirama said, handing him the bag of thirty-thousand ryu he had received. "I received twice what I was promised."
"Excellent!" Chuuko proclaimed, which gathered many villages. "Spread the word, Hashirama has returned and has brought us ample savings! The people of this village will live well this winter! In celebration, we will have a feast in the village center tonight!"
Filled with immense joy, Hashirama made his way home. Tobirama, having heard the news, met him halfway. They hugged and silently made their way home. There Tobirama prepared him a meal of fine deer, given to them by the Nara clan, and brewed them both some tea.
"So, the prodigal son has returned," Tobirama said, before smiling. "Anything interesting happen?"
Hashirama told him every minute detail of the story. Tobirama had found it particularly hilarious that he had nearly been killed by the Morino clan, and did not seem to fully understand what Hashirama meant when he said:
"I developed a Wood Release."
"Wood Release?" Tobirama asked. "You created Wood? … Well, that isn't so special … I create wood every morning."
Tobirama laughed uproariously at his own crude humor, and Hashirama tried to hide his growing snicker.
"Anything happen in the village?" Hashirama asked.
Tobirama told him the morbid story of the two bandits who had managed to sneak into the outskirts of the village under the disguise of being villagers themselves. Hashirama was particularly saddened to hear that the woman who had been violated had killed herself just two days earlier; with her son dead and her prospects of remarriage gone, she had seen no light at the end of her tunnel. Tobirama brightened the mood up with tales of his own new jutsu discoveries.
"Recently," Tobirama said, "I delved into the idea of Space-Time Ninjutsu."
"Space-Time?" Hashirama asked.
"Yes," Tobirama nodded. "The two bandits I killed were both proficient with summoning techniques. That made me very curious; after all, summoning implies crossing huge distances instantaneously. If animals can be summoned with contracts, why can't other things? In fact, why can't things be reverse summoned?"
"Have you gained any ground with these Space-Time techniques?"
"None," Tobirama lied, smiling.
Before they left to meet the villagers for the feast, Hashirama gave Tobirama the Raijin.
"Its just a handle? How'd it give you such troub-"
A golden light erupted from the handle and formed an electric blade. Tobirama barely avoided stabbing himself right through the throat in the midst of his surprise, but he still singed the fringes of his hair. He angrily threw the blade at Hashirama's laughing form, but without a chakra source to give it life, the blade receded immediately.
"You'll regret that one," Tobirama said, retrieving his new weapon.
At sundown they joined the villagers in the village square. Every family came, and all of them carried some dish of their choosing. In the center of the square, above a pile of unlit lumber, were two sacrificial goats stripped of their skin and other inedible parts, given to them by a rather generous Chuuko. Once the sun was gone and the sky was black, the party began.
They laughed, told stories, and relived entire childhoods around the bright fire. Eventually, the folk instruments were retrieved and they began to sing and dance. It was a warm night with a cool breeze that made leaves float in the wind and dance with them. Tobirama was in the midst of the celebration; he danced with everyone young and old. Hashirama would indulge any young lass brave enough to approach him, but mostly, he just watched and smiled.
When the goats were finally done roasting, Chuuko led them in prayer and they evenly divided the food between the people. Hashirama, during the silence of the prayer, wondered if the devastated mother he had met earlier in his travels was also getting ready to eat. His heart sunk like a stone when he rationalized that she probably was not.
"Hashirama! Tobirama!" a voice shouted from the distance.
The brothers rose to meet a figure sprinting at them. The figure, having reached them, stopped to regain his breath as if he had never done hard running before. They recognized him immediately as Nara Nodoka, the husband of Peko, and co-leader of the Nara clan.
"Breath, Nodoka," Hashirama demanded. "What is it?"
"We're under attack!" he said. "The Akimichi clan is attacking us!"
Chapter Edited