Hanami had not been more thankful in her entire life, for her previous training. She had taken care to conceal her chakra in the unlikely scenario that she would come across an enemy but she didn't think that the moment she would return to the surface, she would be coming face to face with a complete stranger.

As she regarded his features, she was trying to come up with her next move.

"For starters, the man must not be much older than me" she thought calmly "in fact he seems to be just about Nii-sama's age".

He was tall, handsome and despite his apparent age, he seemed very imposing. Even though he was not wearing any armor, she sensed a menacing aura, which made her realize that she would have to pick her subsequent actions carefully for her to escape safely. As she noticed him observing her from head to toe, she recalled that she had stripped most of her clothing, so she could move in the water with greater ease. Only then it downed her that she was participating semi naked in a stare down with a complete stranger, who had a powerful aura no less.

Hanami decided that the best route of action would be to play coy. She would engage in brief talk if needed and were the man to attack her, she would create a diversion to escape as fast as possible. Engaging with anyone besides fellow clansmen and allies was a potential danger, so she had to leave the place as soon as possible without letting herself reveal who she was.

With a gentle step, the girl moved towards a little rumble of clothing and took out a pouch to store in her findings. Madara was baffled at how aloof the girl was at his presence but she did seem to emit a familiar aura. Suddenly he made the connection and squinted his eyes.

The white haired girl was unfazed and now she was not looking at him, but rather she was calmly covering herself up, taking extra precautions so as to not expose any parts that the man would not want to see. Finally, as she picked up the last of her possessions to take her leave, her assailant spoke.

"Who are you?" Madara asked inquisitively.

She looked at him with an unreadable look and shot back at him "I am the one who should be asking this question, sir"

How dare he ask at the first place? She had been minding her own business and he was the one who walked in on her at the first place.

"I will ask again, and you will answer me" the raven haired man said in a calm yet assertive tone.

"I have no obligation to do so" she retorted and gave him a sharp look "you seem to be awfully entitled to be invading a bathing woman's privacy and instead of apologizing, asking questions. Without even giving your name, that is". With this she turned her back and decided to walk away as calmly as possible so as to not raise any suspicion. Innocents and civilians usually seemed to act that way when confronted with the shinobi clans' warmongering ways.

"Very well" the man answered and as she was walking away from him. Suddenly, he appeared in front of her grabbing her by the neck and pushing her against a tree. Hanami was bemused.

His hand was big and his grasp was firm, however contrary to what she expected, he was not chocking her, in fact she could breathe normally.

With his free hand's thumb, he raised her chin so her face would meet his and looked at her.

"Uchiha Madara. This is my name that you were asking for so adamantly." Madara uttered unbothered. He was however amused that the girl's eyes widened at the mention of the name. Without skipping a beat he spat "and you, woman, are from the Senju clan and don't you dare deny it. Hiding your chakra is no use, I know a Senju when I see one"

Hanami was at a loss of words. That was the man whom Hashirama had been fighting all along! She could not even react, she just stared at him surprised with how easily her cover had been blown and she had fallen into enemy hands just like a mouse in a trap. Trying to keep her composure, she decided that panicking would lead her nowhere. Madara Uchiha had a firm grasp on her and trying to escape would do more harm than good. The man was able to go toe to toe with Hashirama after all. She briefly thought of poisoning him but decided that would be useless for now, so instead she raised her face, looked at him defiantly and spoke seemingly unshaken.

"So what if I am of the Senju, Uchiha Madara-san? I am no fighter, this is just my namesake"

A somewhat true statement.

Madara was entertained by her newfound resolve. Quite a spirited one, the young Uchiha thought. The Senju certainly have some women…other people would have broken down for less, yet the white haired girl remained unflinching.

"Hah, a civilian yet you cover your chakra up. Truly interesting…" and just like that, he grabbed her slender red stained fingers and examined them closely "…and then here you are collecting questionable substances while concealing your chakra"

With a steady voice and without skipping a beat, Hanami smirked "The red paste is for food. The chakra concealing technique was taught to me to avoid prying strangers. War is war but now it seems that I cannot even go for a swim…though it looks like not everyone is being preoccupied with fighting."

The last comment came out of her almost unwittingly and at the realization she slightly bit her lip. She had a habit of blurting some things without thinking it out first and she had been punished by others before, however now it was the enemy that was in front of her. No matter how frustrated she was, she should have not shown it.

That slight hint of irony coming from the Senju woman did not escape Madara's attention. The nerve to be in such an inferior position and still becoming increasingly haughty by the second, struck him as an amusingly odd situation. Of course he was not buying her story. The woman was a shinobi, and judging from her situation she must be a medic, which means her next move would probably be a surprise attack using poison. He decided to end things then and there.

"Hn" Madara let a small smirking grunt and his eyes glimmered a crimson red with three tomoe appearing one after the other. It was the Sharingan. Hanami hadn't seen those eyes up close but she had heard stories.

"Now, Senju woman, although it would be nice to take you as a hostage with me, I would prefer it if you helped me instead"

Hanami's brows furrowed "Help you?"

She decided that it was hopeless anyway and with a swift motion she tried throwing him three poison laced needles. Madara however was too fast for her and grabbed her wrist before she even had the chance of attacking. He released her neck and took the needles, casually dropping them to his side and he pinned her hand on the tree with his own. Hanami stared daggers at him with her striking eyes.

"And now that you are out of tricks, you are going to answer me. I want to know where Hashirama is."

Her eyes widened. So this is what this was all about. If that man was truly Uchiha Madara she surmised that he would be more than capable to incapacitate her or even kill her in a heartbeat, without even bothering of cornering her. She should have expected this. Touka had said that Hashirama had a long standing rivalry with this man. The first battle of the spring was yesterday and Hashirama was gone. She mused at how out of luck she was, falling victim to the worst possible opponent, with her cousin gone off to wherever the hell it was that he went. She was basically a sitting duck at this point but couldn't help but form a little smile with the corner of her lips. Frankly, it was the only thing she was capable of at that moment.

"Looks like I am not very lucky these days, Uchiha Madara-san, but it also seems you are not either" Hanami finally answered, averting her gaze sideways "the truth is, that I have no idea where he is. Now if you are to kill me, please do so painlessly, I would hate to go down the way my father did."

Madara did not like her answer, but wasn't expecting have to Hashirama's whereabouts served to him on a silver platter either. The woman he had a grasp on though, had a very sharp tongue for the situation she had found herself in.

"Oh well…" he grabbed her head just below her jaw and he forced her face to directly meet his, staring deeply into her eyes with his Sharingan. Her intense gaze started dulling and she started losing focus. Her body softened and started succumbing to the tree he had pushed her against.

"Now I will ask again, Senju woman. Where is Hashirama?"

A soft, hypnotized voice escaped her lips "Gone...deep in the forest…away"

"Where is that?"

"Don't know…nobody knows…it is Hashirama after all"

Madara started laughing. This was indeed like Hashirama. The Senju girl was of no use anymore, but he decided against killing her. She had given him a pretty good time with her spunky attitude after all and on top of that she hadn't been lying to him either. He withdrew his grasp from her neck and her feet gave in. In no time she slid against the tree and fell in a sitting position, her eyes aimlessly drifting away.

Madara left her as she was and made his way back to his clan's compound. That river was always a place for interesting meetings he thought.

**Author's comments**

Thank you for reading another chapter!

Looks like Hanami's plan wasn't all that good, she is not a combatant after all...and Madara can spot a Senju miles away. Worst possible combo imo!

xoxo CS