Chapter 6

(The Sandsea)

Hashirama downed another drink as Synneva and Tomaj looked on with equal parts horror, amusement, and shock; neither of them could believe that the shinobi had consumed as many drinks as he had. Darius had (stupidly) bet that he could outdrink the young Hokage; he was now regretting his mistake as he watched his friend drink down glass after glass.

The wood user had been enjoying a round of drinks with his newest companion when the boisterous desert dweller had appeared from nowhere. The current score sat at nine glasses of Bhujerban madhu for Darius, and a shocking seventeen for the Senju. As he drank, Hashirama noted that his vision began to cloud and his better judgment seemed to have left him.

For their part, the duo watching them was truly amazed at their friends' sheer stupidity. "Madhu's not something to take lightly; it's not meant to be drunk that way. Those fellows are going to regret doing this tomorrow."

Synneva shook her head in disappointment, though the grin on her face ruined the effect. "I believe that they are regretting it now. Look at Darius," she gestured towards the brown-haired man who was currently trying to hit on a beautiful lady who, minus the 'beer goggle' effect, turned out to be the hunt board.

"This fellow's not doing much better," supplied Tomaj, jerking his thumb towards the red-armored man who was crying his eyes out over a spilled drink which he proclaimed was his 'lady love'.

The pair of drunks then turned towards each other. The Konoha shinobi lurched drunkenly towards his friend, who stumbled forwards at an impressive speed (for a drunk). They looked at each other for a brief, tension-filled moment. "Huh? Who who are y-you? what' ya doin herrr?" Darius asked, holding his arms in front of him in the boxer's posture.

Hashirama looked around quickly. "Eh? Wherrryouyousonovabitch? I'm gonna find you then I'm a goin to…to…to…hurt you. Yeah, thassit. Hurt you," he stammered, settling into a stance that appeared sloppy and malformed.

Back in Konoha, everyone knew that the elder Senju avoided alcoholic drinks like the plague because of his unique condition. What condition? Few knew the true reason, and those who did were sworn to secrecy. The truth was that it took a LOT of alcohol to intoxicate the wood user, but that wasn't the secret. The secret was that if he somehow DID manage to get drunk, he became essentially invincible.

Tobirama was actually the one who discovered the secret; while he was drunk, not only did his brother not feel any pain, but his attacks were also much more powerful (even more so than they already were) and his drunken stumbling ruined his opponents' aim. He christened the style Suiken, or Drunken Fist; the style was immediately labeled a kinjutsu (Forbidden Technique) and its secrets were locked within the Forbidden Scroll. It wasn't due to the fact that one needed to be drunk to use the style effectively, but it was actually because of the sheer amount of property damage caused by its use.

This costly aspect of the style proved apparent when the drunken shinobi put his fist through a table where Darius's head had just been, had Tomaj not pulled him away in time.

Hashirama then proceeded to engage a nearby table full of thugs in a fistfight; at least, that's what it would have been had the ruffians had the chance to fight back. Each thug was swiftly knocked out with a well-placed punch or haphazardly-thrown kick.

One man tried to skewer the shinobi with his sword but the drunk contorted his body to avoid the attack; the other patrons cringed as the man was rapidly kneed where any man is loath to be hit. Another who had pulled out a dagger was swiftly punched in the jaw, then lifted upwards and slammed headfirst into the stone floor of the tavern. His head was firmly planted into the ground; he would not be able to extract himself without assistance.

It went on like that for the next few minutes; thugs angry about his beatdown of their friends rushed him only to meet the same fate. The aftermath of the fight left the Sandsea in ruins, near enough: tables were overturned or smashed outright, glasses were broken, and there was a man whose head was planted firmly in the ground.

"It looks like a hurricane passed through here," remarked Tomaj. "I'll have to close the pub temporarily to clean it all up. Not to mention the tables need to be replaced. Still, it's not as bad as a typical bar fight. At least most of the tables can still be used."

There were no other patrons in the pub; they had gathered to watch the fight and left when it was over. There were even a couple of Imperials, though those two were on break and thus did not report anything. Synneva had, in the meantime, decided to help Tomaj and the barman clean up. Darius and Hashirama were currently asleep in the upper balcony of the pub.

As the three went about their tasks, the bar owner decided to ask, "So, Synneva, what did you learn about the Hashirama fellow? You fought together with him, didn't you?"

The viera nodded. "I did. Just as Montblanc and Darius said, he was a strong warrior. During the contest we had, he matched me missile for missile, though I wonder what those things he threw were. They resembled stars made of metal, and then he threw things that appeared to be long daggers."

Tomaj thought for a bit before responding. "Well, I heard that he's from the East. Maybe those things are tools that those foreign fighters use. He's got a unique set of skills though. The boss was beaming when he left the clan house. I've never seen him so happy about new members ever since Vaan and his associates joined up."

"Well, kupo, it's always a thrill to see new blood in action," said the small yet somehow imposing voice of Clan Centurio's leader. "After all, you never know what you might find and-what happened here, kupo? The place is a mess!"

"There was a bar fight, boss. Things got a little rowdy in here," responded the bar owner.

The moogle raised a golden eyebrow. "A little rowdy is some spilled drinks and an overturned table or two. It looks like someone took a Sledgehammer to the bar!" He poked a table to make his point; it wobbled for a full minute before collapsing completely. "What in the Espers' names really happened, kupo? Bar fights are NOT this destructive."

Tomaj sighed heavily. "There really WAS a bar fight boss. But you'll never believe who was responsible for this mess," he said. In the background, the thug who was stuck in the ground had finally pulled himself up out of the hole and wandered off, dazed.

Montblanc walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of madhu. "Who was it? It wasn't those Imperials was it? Because I can't really help you if it was them."

A thumb was jerked towards the balcony. "It was the new fellow that joined the clan earlier today. He and Darius were involved in a drinking contest then things kind of got out of hand. After he put a hole through this table," he said, pointing to said hole, "he engaged a group of ruffians at a nearby table. You had to have been there to see it."

The moogle's curiosity was piqued. "What did you see, kupo?"

"It was unbelievable. Even though he was drunk, the thugs couldn't so much as touch him. He knocked them out with a single punch or kick. It was…just insane. Do you see that hole in the stone floor? That was him piledriving one of the thugs. It just looked like he was drunkenly imitating a fighting style, but that didn't seem right. Like the intoxication WAS the style," Tomaj responded, shaking his head in continued disbelief.

The blonde downed the drink in his hand and whistled. "I've heard stories about stuff like that, kupo. Fighters whose entire style revolves around being drunk. Are you saying that Hashirama is quite possibly a martial artist? It'd be great to have one in the clan. Bansat is strong, but he's more of a brawler. Having a real, honest-to-goodness martial artist would boost our image and lead to more clients."

Tomaj shook his head. "I don't know about that. I've met monks from the Tri-Bangaa temple before, you know, those monk fighters, the real ones? He carried himself like one; at least he did before he went and had that drinking contest. I've been thinking about banning those from the Sandsea anyway; they only to property damage…of MY property."

"That is not all he is good with," stated Synneva, drawing the attention of both Tomaj and Montblanc. "When I joined him during his hunt, he fought the Sleipnir with a sword he had before we began the contest. I counted around twenty foes he slew with that blade. Although the martial artist theory may not be entirely incorrect; he lashed out with a few unarmed strikes that killed the monsters with a single blow."

Montblanc rubbed his chin in a manner that almost made the viera squeal and hug him, though she thankfully got her urges under control. "So he fights well when he's barefisted, when he's drunk, when he's using a sword, and when he's throwing things. Hm, guys, I think that we've got ourselves a professional."

Synneva and Tomaj looked at him expectantly. "A professional what, boss?" asked the bar owner.

"A professional samurai. I've heard about warriors like him from the Far East. They're supposed to be peerless when it comes to martial arts and swordsmanship, though I've never heard about them using projectile weapons; maybe that's just his style. Regardless, I'm glad he signed up. Darius made a good choice when he recommended this fellow, kupo," finished Montblanc.

Synneva and Tomaj could only agree.

(Rabanastre, High Class District)

Madara's Sharingan spun wildly as he used his stealth skills to avoid the attention of the Imperial troops who were actively searching for him. He knew that they were too weak to warrant the usage of his Mangekyo, but there were too many to engage, even for him. The Uchiha clan head would be hard pressed to defeat them all.

When he had first arrived here, he was still shocked by his failure to achieve his goals for Konoha. This shock had worn off and been replaced by amazement at his new surroundings. This world was far different than the one he was used to. Few people here had any chakra, yet there were those who were quite capable of defending themselves, though not on the same level as him.

He briefly thought that he'd landed in Tetsu No Kuni (Iron Country) when he beheld the Archadian soldiers doing their daily drills. He had approached them in a nonthreatening manner, hoping to meet with Iron Country's general Yoritomo Minamoto. Unfortunately, the soldiers believed that he was hostile as well as a trespasser, so they tried to arrest him.

In the ensuing scuffle, he had managed to win by activating his Sharingan and using his family's signature Taijutsu style. The armored men, no matter how well trained, stood no chance against the more-experienced shinobi; they were defeated in a matter of seconds. "Fall back! This fellow is some sort of monster! Call forth the Judges and Hoplites!"

As the men shouted and retreated in a panic, Madara made good his escape. He cursed when he came upon a huge gate that led to a magnificent castle that reminded him of the Kikyo Castle back in Konoha.

While running up the gate using his chakra would be simple, it would attract far too much attention from the numerous soldiers now running to and fro. Smashing the gate open by summoning Kyubi would cause the same problems, not to mention that it was forever beyond his reach. Using the Shunshin (Body Flicker) was also out of the question, since he did not know what lay behind the gate. The only thing he could do was wait until they either dropped their guard or opened the gate so he could sneak through.

Now, one might ask why he had not used his Kamui to return himself to the Elemental Nations. The short answer was that it was too unreliable. The Kamui did in fact banish the target to another dimension, but the dimension it was sent to was random and there was no guarantee he would end up back home. In addition, the Uchiha was well aware of the risks of continuous use of his eyes. Call him crazy, but he had no desire to go prematurely blind.

This led to the unique situation of Madara being completely and utterly stuck. He had no idea of how he was going to return home, and on top of that he'd provoked the locals and thus had them out for his blood, possibly. He had the urge to scream in frustration. 'If only that fool Hashirama had just given up like he should have, I would not be stuck here! Damn the Senju clan!'

However, a trained shinobi like him knew better than to make any sort of noise that would attract attention, so he forcefully silenced himself and made sure to stick to the shadows when traveling. It was only a matter of time before they dropped their guard and allowed him to pass by unseen.

Unfortunately that proved not to be the case as he turned a corner…and walked straight into a random woman making her way across the alley. Before he could silence her, she let out a loud scream that alerted the nearby soldiers to their presence. "Shit!" he cursed, and ran after knocking the woman out.

He could hear the armored footsteps of the men as they gave chase. Now, there was one thing most people did not take into account when discussing Madara's skills: his speed. While he was not as fast as Tobirama or Mito, he could still move at an astonishing rate that was too fast for untrained foes to follow. He was currently taking advantage of that fact as he outran his armored pursuers.

He was so busy making his escape, in fact, that he only noticed another group in front of him almost too late. He hurriedly stopped himself and made to head right only to find another group of soldiers blocking the streets on any side of him; this was a classic encirclement. He cursed himself for falling for such a simple tactic.

"Put your hands up! Under the authority of the Archadian Empire, you are under arrest!" shouted a soldier in fancier armor than the rest; Madara guessed that he was the leader of these troops. The shinobi knew that fighting his way out was impossible at this point, so he did the only sensible thing a man in his position could do. He calmly raised his hands up and surrendered.

One soldier moved hesitantly and chained his arms behind his back with heavy irons. Internally, the Uchiha snorted; it wasn't as if these chains could hold him anyway. He was then brusquely led away by a small contingent of soldiers spearheaded by the one in fancy armor.

Madara did not so much as struggle; he knew that any more resistance was likely to earn him a severe punishment (if not more than the one he was already promised) and so decided to keep even his mouth shut. When the small group came to a low building, only the commanding officer and the one holding the chain entered the building with their prisoner in tow.

They led him into what appeared to be a huge dry dock, which caused the former clan head to raise his eyebrows in curiosity. He'd heard of the fantastical flying contraptions used by the shinobi of Sky Country (if anyone knows how to translate it into correct Japanese let me know), but this totally took the cake, presents, AND balloons. The soldiers hurriedly shoved him inside one of the huge devices, then left.

After a short trip (that nonetheless took forever in the shinobi's honest opinion), the flying ship landed in Kami knows where. After Madara was roughly dragged outside, he was led into the basement of what appeared to be a huge, imposing stone fortress in the middle of the desert. His chakra-enhance hearing picked up that he was in some sort of town named Nalbina.

"You're in a huge spot o' trouble now, churl. Assaulting an Imperial soldier, woo. You've got a lot o' spirit in you, eh? Wonder 'ow long it'll last! Harharhar!" the soldier leading him on laughed.

"And I trust you know that provoking a prisoner is hardly a good idea. If you continue these actions, I will have to take drastic measures," warned the shinobi, giving his captor the sort of look that a parent reserved for a misbehaving child.

The armored man spit. "Drastic measures? Look at ye! Ye can't even move yer arms! 'Ow do you expect to make me regret wot I'm saying, eh?!" he taunted, tugging hard on the iron collar on the Uchiha's neck, causing it to dig into the skin.

Madara had had enough of this man's taunting; the hard tugging was the straw that broke the camel's back. "I do not make monkeys, I train them," he said, and before anyone could blink he swept out with his foot and knocked the man over, then planted his foot square in the man's chest, cracking a few ribs. "Like this," he said nonchalantly. The entire exchange took less than ten seconds.

In the background, several of the prisoners cheered him on as he stood over the fallen body of his guard. They chanted for him to finish the man off, but he shook his head. "What would I stand to gain from killing him? I have already taught him a lesson; there is no need to cause him further pain." After he said that, the crowd's enthusiasm dispersed and so did they…at least until a new voice caused them all to instantly quiet.

"What in the Gods is happening here? Why is one of my men laid out on the floor? And why is everyone staring? Back to your duties, now!" shouted the speaker, causing everyone to instantly return to minding their own business. An imperial Hoplite hoisted his fallen comrade on his shoulders while a Magus cast Cure on him.

Another armored man appeared on the scene, but he was different from the ones that Madara had encountered thus far. This man boasted far more ornate armor than the others; he also wore a black cape tied around his neck and a strange helmet that resembled a bull's horns. He stood a full head taller than the others and seemed to command them with authority.

"You!" the man addressed him.

Madara looked up from his position towards the balcony. "Yes?"

"I would like a few words with you! Bring him to my office!" The other soldiers nodded in response.

OMAKE

Tobirama sat on his front porch. Blood oozed from multiple deep gashes on his face and one eye dangled from its socket. He was cautiously approached by Daisuke. "H-Hokage-sama? Are you alright?"

The younger Senju replied cheerfully, "Of course! Thanks for your concern, Daisuke-san!"

The Hyuga clan head was completely mystified by his leader's easygoing attitude. "Hokage-sama, are you not aware of your horrifying injuries? We must get to a medic-nin immediately!"

The Suiton user raised an eyebrow and spoke in a cheerful tone that sent shivers down the stoic man's side. "We do? Oh, you mean this? Makoto-chan did it to me when I accidentally called her fat. Worry not, it'll heal. In the meantime, why don't come in and join us for some tea? We would love to have you and your wife to visit."

Daisuke couldn't run away fast enough. When he was gone, Tobirama dispelled the henge to reveal a perfectly-unscarred face. "FINALLY I can have some alone time with Makoto-chan. Seriously, those guys were getting annoying," he said and went inside.

A/N: That's a wrap. Stay tuned for the next installment! Unknownbyself, away! *uses a jetpack*