I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters of the Manga or Anime. If I did I wouldn't have so many damn fillers.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 21: The Other Side
The first flash of light crossed the sky signalling dawn over the mountainous plateau that had become the home of two weary travellers. They both still slept, escaping the blistering cold in each others warmth. The two teens lay in a single sleeping bag, their legs tangled together while the young kunoichi held blonde tightly as if her life depended on it, mostly because it did.
This was the scene that Karin woke too. She was half sprawled across Naruto's torso, using his chest as a pillow. A quick blush formed when she realised that neither of them had anything on above the waist, apart from her thin bra. She regained her senses a few seconds later as she remembered why they were in that position. 'Still I may as well make the most of the situation while I can. I may not get another chance like this again, I should enjoy it while I can, he's so warm.' she thought, snuggling closer into Naruto's chest before falling back to sleep.
Normally this would have been enough in itself to wake the blonde, however he had been awake late into the night training and conversing with Kurama the third and only intangible member of the small traveling party. The giant fox wanted to make sure that Naruto had not become rusty in the weeks of traveling, so he waited until Karin had fallen asleep before entering his seal. While he was unable to train his body, mental strain can be even more exhausting. As such it was around an hour later that he was finally roused from his slumber.
The first thing Naruto had noticed upon waking was the extra weight spread across his chest, it appeared that both teens moved around a bit in their sleep. Looking down he saw the top of Karin's blood red hair, and felt the warmth of her breath as it flicked across his skin. 'She seems so peaceful.' he thought. He quickly suppressed the sudden urge to run his hands through her hair, the position they were in was compromising enough, he was already sure that had it been Sakura he would have been hurt severely for waking up like this.
'You're staring.' Kurama interjected with thinly veiled disappointment.
Naruto immediately blushed and looked away. 'I was not.' He denied knowing full well that it was impossible to actually lie to the fox.
'The fact that you are even attempting to deny something like that to me proves that you were. It is going to be a big day, I hope you won't be distracted when it's important. Not get up and get dressed, you're wasting daylight.'
"Fine." He sighed out loud and began attempting to wriggle free of the kunoichi's grasp, a harder task than he realised. Karin didn't want to let go of her main source of warmth. So it was no real surprise that he failed in escaping without waking the sleeping redhead.
Naruto froze as she groaned and rubbed her eyes. "Morning." She sleepily greeted while not moving from his chest.
Naruto blinked a few times, the yell of anger and severe beating he was expecting didn't come. He slowly released a breath that he didn't recall holding. 'I keep forgetting that she's nothing like Sakura' "Uh good morning Karin-chan, sorry about this." He said hesitantly.
"Sorry about what?" She asked, still not moving.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and blushed lightly in embarrassment. "The position we're in."
"You don't need to apologise, if anything I should be the one apologising. I must have rolled over in my sleep to get warmer. You know you're actually quite comfortable." She replied.
"Uh... thanks I guess. But we should get out of bed, if we're lucky I can get us off these mountains by the time the day is out." He said with a large grin.
"Well I'm all for getting somewhere warmer, can you find my jacket and glasses? I'm not really wearing anything at the moment" She asked, turning her head slightly to look up at the blonde.
"Yeah sure I find your clothes. But first, can you let go of me? I can't get out of the sleeping bag like this." Naruto replied.
"Oh sorry." Karin said before removing her arms from around Naruto's bare torso. Once he had left the sleeping bag Karin instantly felt a good deal colder. Once Naruto had retrieved her clothes she quickly got dressed and began packing up while Naruto boiled some water breakfast. It was nothing appetising as far as she was concerned, just powdered soup, but the thought of finally being free of the cold and getting off the mountains made it taste that much better. "I'm really looking forward to having a proper bath again, or a shower, Kami I hope where ever we go has showers." She said happily digging into her small bowl of soup.
Naruto chuckled and nodded his agreement. "I just hope they have heard of Ramen, I don't know how long I could last without it."
Karin gave the blonde a quizzical look stunned at the simplicity of his wish. "You have been eating Ramen every other day since we have been traveling together, don't you ever get sick of it?"
"That's like asking if the sun get's sick of rising every morning." Naruto replied indignantly.
"That's a little extreme don't you think?" She deadpanned.
After a predictably long winded explanation of why ramen was supposedly far superior to other foods the pair packed away the tent and stood on the baron snow covered landscape. Karin had seen Naruto's transformation once before but that didn't change the feeling of raw power that exploded outwards as he entered his fox cloak. "You ready?" Naruto asked.
Karin nodded hesitantly but jumped in surprise as two large claws of chakra gently picked her up off her feet and wrapped themselves protectively around the kunoichi while holding her close. "This feels really weird." she admitted while bringing brought into Naruto's chest.
Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck in a boyish manner that seemed to signify the blondes charm and appeal, at least in Karin's mind. "I guess it would be. Then this will feel even weirder, you might want to hang on!"
"Huh wh-" She didn't get to finish speaking as Naruto took off, she let out a rather undignified scream as the world turned into a blur of white against a blue sky. Instinctively she latched onto the closest solid object which of course was Naruto, bathed in golden chakra that was so potent it expelled from his very skin like flames.
All that could be heard was Naruto laughing as every minute that passed they traveled the same distance that would normally take several hours. It was exhilarating to finally be free to use his chakra again, each time his foot hit the ground he tried to better the distance from the last, pushing himself harder.
Thirty minutes passed and much to Karin's surprise they came to a stop. "What's going on?" she asked, not yet prepared to remove her head from the safety of Naruto's chest.
"Look at this." Naruto gasped in awe.
Slowly the red head agreed and the sight was truly amazing. They had reached the end of the plateau, before them was several mountains that were spread across the landscape that was steadily descending, clouds gathered around the peaks letting the sun shine in between them almost inviting the travellers to continue their journey along those paths. "Amazing." She finally agreed.
"This is it, I can feel it." Naruto beamed. "You ready?"
"Wait a sec, you scared me half to death last time." She replied repositioning herself with her arms wrapped around his chest and neck. "Alright go."
Naruto didn't need anymore encouragement, he pushed off jumping as far forward in one leap as he could before kicking on.
From atop their lookout the path that Naruto mapped out seemed to be smooth and easy to travel, in reality it was anything but, large ridges and flat drops meant that Naruto had to regularly change direction or hop over or around obstacles. Still he was making great time, it was still morning and they had traveled further than they could have hoped to travel in a week even if he had been slowed somewhat by difficult terrain.
For Karin the day was boring, Naruto couldn't really talk much having to navigate at high speeds, she was also not used to the sensation of traveling so fast, meaning she found it difficult to speak anyway. She had attempted to close her eyes and get some sleep but the movement was far too erratic.
It was like this that they spent the next few hours, it was complete silence with what looked like a yellow blur darting across the landscape barely visible to the eye. It wasn't until the mid afternoon that Naruto slowed down. He let his fox cloak fade away and finally come to a stop. "Are you alright?" Karin asked a little worried.
"Yeah just a little tired, Kurama needs to gather more chakra, but that's not why I stopped." Naruto answered honestly.
"Then why?"
"I think we are almost to the other side, if anyone there can sense chakra, I don't really want them to think we're a threat." Naruto reasoned.
"I guess that makes sense, but how can you be so sure we're almost at the other side?" She pressed.
"We passed a small crop of trees just before... then there is that." Naruto said pointing to a nearby hill. Karin squinted to see what he was talking about, readjusting her glasses just to be sure. She paused for a few moments not seeing anything until there was a flash of movement, a small snow white rabbit. She could just make out it's shape and the glint of a red eye against the backdrop.
"That is the first animal, apart from the snow leopards that we have seen since the day we left that outpost at the edge of the Land of Earth. This has to be the end to it." Naruto said panting lightly, he had used a mammoth amount of chakra even if it had been Kurama's.
Karin couldn't help but agree, a giddy sense of excitement filled her. "We did it." she said almost unbelieving the words.
"Yeah we did. Still the work isn't done yet. We still have a short way go yet but the terrain has been getting much easier to travel this last hour." Naruto said, the sense of accomplishment making his voice fill with pride.
"I can start using my Minds Eye to look for a village or at least somewhere with people." Karin replied with barely contained excitement.
"Good idea, but don't waste your chakra yet, there is still a few hours before we need to start searching for a place to stay for the night." Naruto replied. Karin nodded in agreement and the pair began traveling again they were far slower, but in high spirits.
Despite Naruto's recommendation Karin began scanning for human chakra signatures every couple of miles without any luck. On the plus side, the snow was slowly getting thinner on the ground, and there were small areas where grass could clearly be seen, patches of tall evergreen trees started appearing towering far higher than any of those found in the forests of the Land of Fire. "They're too tall and thin to use for tree jumping." Naruto assessed while passing through a particularly large patch.
As they continued north they soon found themselves in a forest of these trees, snow still covered the ground preventing smaller vegetation from thriving, but there was the odd small shrub here or there that somehow survived the still freezing temperatures. "Still nothing, I hoped we would have found something by now, we only have a few hours left to find a decent place to stay before we're sleeping in a tent again." Karin sighed.
"Well there is no telling if there is anyone living on this side of the the mountains. Maybe we should just keep going until we find somewhere warm." Naruto replied.
"I agree, but I would settle for a tiny mountain village where we can rest for the night." Karin said dreaming of a peaceful town filled with welcoming people. Sadly, for that night at least it was not meant to be. As the sun began to set Naruto unsealed the tent for the night. She tried one more time, hoping to find somewhere better to rest, but to no avail.
The next day followed the same pattern, again with no signs of civilisation. It was starting to get a little warmer however, small bushes and a larger variety of animals were becoming noticeable. By the third day the mountains really seemed to be far away, they could still see the peaks in the distance so long as they were really looking for them. The forrest they were in was now full of life, birds chirped away in the trees while the ground that was once covered in nothing but snow and a few shrubs was now filled with different types of plants and flowers. It seemed like the only type of life that was missing were humans.
At midday of the third day they finally came to a break in the forest, a Large river fifteen foot wide that seemed to go on for an eternity stretched out in front of them. "Wow I wonder where this comes from?" Naruto said bending down to test the water to see if it was drinkable. They had not been able to refill their water supply since the snow had dried up and as it was rather humid traveling in the forest a source of fresh drinking water was more than welcome. "It's freezing!" He yelped withdrawing his hand from the water almost at the exact moment he placed it in.
"Really?" Karin asked removing an empty flask and collecting a decent amount of the water before taking a sip. "It's fresh, the source must be up in the mountains, my guess would be a glacier. The water travels so quickly that it has no chance to warm up."
"Well let's fill up all our flasks then, no telling when we're going to need them again." Naruto said quickly getting to work.
"Actually we should just follow the river down stream, this water has to be going somewhere. If there are really people in this land then it would make sense that they would build near a major source of water like this one." Karin suggested.
"That's a great idea! If we follow this we will be bound to find find people. If not I guess it will lead out to an ocean and then we can decide what to do from there." Naruto replied, still filling the bottles.
They were both slightly disheartened as the day began to draw to a close, still no signs of life. "Let's stop here for the night." Naruto said slowly walking over to the closest bank of the river. There was a small clearing, only just large enough for him to unseal the tent and drop the bags down beside it. "I thought it would be easier than this." He sighed kneeling down at the side of the tent.
"Well at least we don't have to fear being frozen to death anymore. Beside's it's not like there is no food. We can survive out here, even if we don't find anyone else." Karin said trying to raise the jinchuuriki's spirits.
"Yeah, and at least we have each other. I'm really glad you came with me." Naruto said with a weak smile.
Karin blushed lightly but remained composed. "So am I."
Naruto hopped back up to his feet. "Alright, no sense in sitting around a sulking. I'll go hunt something for dinner."
"Do you want some help?" Karin asked.
"No that's alright. You can relax for awhile, I'll be back soon." Naruto replied.
'It will be easier for you to hunt in sage mode.' Kurama pointed out. Naruto readily agreed began focusing his chakra. A minute later and the pigment around his eyes darkened.
'This won't be hard at all.' Naruto realised happily. He could now easily sense all the lifeforms around him. He immediately raced off in the direction of the closest animal that seemed to be decent in size. Using the trees tops to hide his scent and remain silent.
He found a small deer that was lightly limping through the forest. 'It's injured already, well then this should be an easy kill.' Kurama spoke. Naruto nodded but he still hesitated for a few moments, it was a really too much for the two of them to share. 'Don't tell me you are thinking of letting it go, it's hurt already it would be kinder to put it out of it's misery. It's exhausted, looks like it's been running for hours. If you don't want to kill it you could always just wait a few hours for it to collapse in exhaustion, then some other predator will do the deed.'
Naruto needed no more encouragement, he jumped from the tree, blade in hand and impaled the deer clean through the heart. Thanks to his Sage Mode he could tell that the kill was instantaneous. He slowly stood up and began inspecting the animal, thats when he noticed a small blade attacked to a thin piece of broken wood that had dug into it's back right leg. He removed the blade before skinning the animal.
Meanwhile Karin had been occupying herself, first by starting a small fire, and then by creating a makeshift shower out of a bucket with a few holes, a waterproof cloth, and some heavy duty rope to control the water flow. The last few weeks she and Naruto had been cleaning themselves in a tiny wash basin with a rag, so the feeling of having hot water freely cascade down her back was amazing, even if it meant having to start a fire to heat the water and waiting for it to reach an acceptable temperature.
Once finished she wrapped a towel around her chest and ties her hair back into a ponytail before returning to their camp site. "It's nice out I think I can stop wearing all that thick wintery stuff." She said to herself. While rummaging through her bag to find a change of clothes. She was now comfortable enough around Naruto that she didn't really care if he saw her dressed only in a towel. She was actually a little disappointed when that did not happen, she pulled on a black T shirt that came down to just above her naval and some comfortable track pants. She had been tempted to go for something a little more enticing but decided to go for practical at least for now.
Karin took a seat at the side of the small fire, and waited for Naruto to return. She was not waiting long, he entered the clearing a few minutes later, a small amount of blood on his jacket. "I take it by your appearance that everything went well?" She questioned.
"Yeah I got us enough food to last a month, I sealed it away to keep it fresh." Naruto admitted showing her a food storage seal. "I did find something interesting though, what do you make of this?" He said tossing the small blade he removed from the deer to the kunoichi.
Karin's eyes widened. "Where did you find this?" She asked urgently.
"It was stuck in the leg of the deer I killed, it wasn't in very deep. Why what is it?" Naruto replied.
"It's an arrow head! Civilian hunters use them with bows to fire these projectiles a long distance. Shinobi don't use them often as the strength and velocity of the arrow is dependent on the pressure in the string and size of the bow, most shinobi can produce more force by simply throwing a kunai." Karin explained.
"So basically you're saying that there are people around here?" Naruto replied not fully following her explanation.
"Exactly, if the arrow didn't get far in then it's possible that it was able to escape and ran s good distance before you found it. But it means that we are at least not alone here." Karin said happily.
"Alright that's awesome news. We just need to keep searching and we'll find them I'm sure of it!" Naruto beamed.
"Well we can do that tomorrow, for now how about I cook us something for dinner, while you go get washed up. I made a makeshift shower just behind those trees over there." Karin reasoned while pointing Naruto in the right direction.
"Wow you're amazing Karin, how did you do that?" Naruto asked clearly impressed.
"I'm was a scientist, something like that is no big deal. Now go, and take off that jacket, it's covered in blood." She ordered. Naruto nodded and did as he was told. When he came back he wore a black sweater and a pair of black pants. "Aren't you a little hot in that?" Karin questioned.
"Well I guess so, but I didn't buy anything other than winter clothing for the journey." He admitted.
"That's right, you can be very stupid when it comes to being properly prepared. What if we had come out of the mountains to somewhere incredibly hot?" Karin teased lightheartedly.
"Ah I would have thought of something." Naruto replied with a small laugh. Greatly encouraged by the news that they were not the only people on this side of the insurmountable peaks Naruto and Karin spent most of the night happily conversing and joking. Karin had attempted to flirt only to find Naruto to be quite dense. 'Today turned out to be a good day in the end.' He thought when he retired for the night.
'If you say so, but just because you found evidence of humans, doesn't mean that they will be at all welcoming.' Kurama pointed out.
'Still we have to try, it would be nice if Karin and I found a place to live.'
'Karin as well, do you plan on spending your life with that woman?' The fox questioned. The question seemed to stump Naruto, he just didn't know how to answer it. He had not considered the possibility that Karin would want to go off on her own once they were safe and settled. The thought did not go down well, he didn't want her to leave he wanted to stay together. The lack of an answer was enough for the fox. 'Just get some rest Naruto, I doubt you have anything to worry about.' He sighed.
Naruto didn't really understand what Kurama meant but did as the large fox suggested, he was quite tired from the long days work. The next day started as the last few had begun, Naruto and Karin packed up and sealed away their tent before having a quick breakfast.
"Which way should we go today? Do you still think we should follow the water? It might be a good idea to try and follow the path that the deer that I killed yesterday took. It had been in contact with someone so it might lead us in the right direction." Naruto asked once they were ready to set out.
Karin paused thinking about the figurative fork in the road they had reached. "I don't know it's hard to tell, both have a bit of a risk." She admitted while casting fleeting glances in both directions. "I still think that we will likely run into a village along this river... Why not send a clone to trace the deers path, while we follow the river? First one to civilisation wins." She finally suggested.
"Good idea." Naruto said creating a clone that immediately took off into the bush already knowing it's purpose. "Come on let's go, I have a good feeling about today."
His enthusiasm was infecting Karin couldn't help but smile back. The two teens ran off down the river making good time by walking on the surface of the water.
As they walked the forest around them seemed to change with them, becoming more sparse with a few areas of small fields occupied by nothing but a few wandering animals or low level plants. Naruto payed them no mind but Karin knew that this was signs of farm land it was small in size but evidence none the less. 'These sites haven't been used in awhile perhaps they found new areas that were more productive?' She thought as they passed another one of the open areas. The other option was far less of an appealing thought, that who ever had been caring for these fields had been wiped out.
Finally Naruto spotted something, a small boat sitting empty that was tied up to a pillar sticking out of the water. "Hey check this out." Naruto said a little hushed while pointing ahead towards his discovery.
"We don't know if they can use chakra, so let's approach from land, we wouldn't want to appear threatening." Karin suggested.
They approached slowly, and eventually came to an old village that looked so dilapidated and run down that most of the buildings had tarp covering the roof to keep rain out. Each building was made with wood and small wooden trails connected separate areas of the village. In what looked like the centre of the village there was a large fire pit and the many small wood burning lanterns suggested that the village had no electricity.
Despite how primitive the place seemed their first site of the occupants changed their mind, a small child ran out of a run down shack in brightly coloured shorts and a T shirt, but what gave it away was a flashing red light on a digital watch. Several more children followed soon after running out into the street laughing happily. Naruto smiled and took a few steps forward out of the forest. The moment he appeared everyone froze. "Uh... Hi." Naruto said hesitantly.
Nobody answered for a few moments, the children looked somewhat scared of the new arrivals. Naruto was about to speak again to assure them that he meant no harm when four men came bursting out of the same building. "Who are you and what are you doing here!" the tallest member for the four asked. Naruto could tell he was trying to be authoritative yet seemed genuinely afraid at the same time. He was around six foot tall and had curly black hair that formed an afro.
Naruto smiled. "I'm Naruto and this is Karin-chan, we aren't here to hurt you, really we're just looking for a new place to live, I guess we're explorers." He said.
"What do you think?" one of the other man asked.
The man with the Afro stood for a few moments in deep thought. Eventually he let out a sigh and lowered his guard. "If they were bandits they would be better armed, and they don't wear the crest of the empire so I don't think they are military." He mused. He turned his attention back to the shinobi. "I am Cho Fujika. I guess I am the leader of this village, at least what is left of it. I am afraid we are not accustomed to friendly visitors here so please forgive our mistrust."
"Ah that's alright, to be honest I am just thrilled to see people." Naruto replied with a small laugh.
"You sound like you have come a long way, where are you from?" Cho asked calmly, he did not yet trust the new arrivals, far from it.
"Well I guess we came from the south over the mountains." Naruto said hesitantly.
He had clearly said something that struck a nerve with the towns people. "Those mountains are cursed, nothing good could come from there." Cho said the tone of his voice icy. "As you have come a long we you may stay for the night but in the morning you must leave, there is a road at the edge of town that will take you to a larger town, but it would be wise not to mention those mountains again."
"Having them here is dangerous Cho-sama, we should make them leave immediately!" a baled man in his thirties said urgently.
"We will not turn away guests that mean us no harm, these two will stay for one night and then leave, I trust you will accept my conditions?" Cho replied turning to Naruto for an answer.
"Ah sure, we don't mean to intrude, but why are you so concerned that we came from the other side of the mountains?" Naruto asked.
"We do not talk about it, the topic is Taboo. I get the feeling that there is much you will need to learn about this place, come with me." Cho said and turned, beaconing Naruto and Karin to follow.
The two teens looked at each other before admitting that learning more about this land would be helpful so they readily agreed to follow the village leader. At closer inspection the village was really in bad shape, doors and been broken and windows smashed, it looked as if it had been a war zone. "What happened here?" Naruto eventually asked unable to stand how run down everything was.
"Many compounded problems have left our village in this state, none of which are worth the risk of revealing. If you came to this land searching for salvation then I fear you would be better off turning around and heading back to your home." Cho said while entering what was by far the largest building in the village, although it was really no bigger than an average two bedroom home in Konoha.
"You said that you were part of some empire, couldn't they help you out?" Karin asked curiously.
Cho let out a humourless laugh. "They would not raise a finger to help us. In the outer sections of the Empire are basically lawless, you would be lucky to see one military patrol a year come through this sector. The closer you get to the capitol the more money is spent and the safer it is." Cho explained.
"So they just let you fend for yourselves?" Naruto asked clearly upset about the standard of living.
"Not as such, the empire hire private contractors to keep order." Cho replied in a tone that clearly said that he did not want to delve any deeper into this topic.
"There has to be something you can do about this." Karin said firmly.
"It does not pay to make waves, we work hard so that our family might one day move out of this section into a richer one. But to be allowed into villages of higher standing you need to have the right symbols of stature. Because of this criminals and those that upset the empire are sent out here to live and it can take generations to return. My grandfather spoke out against the emperor and was sent here with his family." Cho explained.
"That's why the village is in such disrepair yet some of the children have expensive clothing and watches." Karin surmised.
"Precisely, It's to help our next generation survive." Cho said.
"But wouldn't it be better to just improve this area and make it a better place to live?" Naruto asked.
"The more time you spend here, the more you will see that way is impossible." Cho replied.
"How long has this been going on?" Karin asked.
"A little over one hundred years ago this was a thriving village, and was part of the southern country, one of four separate nations that held power over what is now the empire. But when the first emperor appeared he conquered each nation one by one, then he initiated this class system in order to maintain control of the population, his family has been in control and expanding ever since, they say that nobody has ever survived an encounter with a member of the royal family." Cho replied.
"Wow they sound really strong." Naruto replied with a low whistle.
Suddenly there was a loud bang and burst of flames sent an orange glow over the tiny village. "It appears that Bandits have come in search of items of value, please wait here I need to attempt to send them away." Cho declared walking out of the room on shaking legs. "Stay hidden, it's for your own safety." He warned before disappearing.
Karin and Naruto sat in silence for a few minutes before Naruto got to his feet and headed for the door. "Where are you going?" Karin asked in a hushed voice.
"I need to know what's going on, someone is terrorising these people and I can't let that happen." Naruto replied.
"But you heard him, it's dangerous you could end up doing more harm than good." Karin replied, truth was she was a little scared, she had never been the best at combat in fact if she was honest in a fight she was little better than a Genin.
"I know that, but I can't just sit by and do nothing, if they are in trouble I need to help them." Naruto said.
Karin sighed with a smile. This was just who Naruto was she realised, someone that will always do what he thinks is the right thing no matter what. 'Maybe that's why I like you so much.' She thought while getting to her feet. "If you're going then so am I, we're a team, besides you already promised you wouldn't leave me."
End Chapter!
Cue evil cliffhanger music.
Started building the world and dropped a few clues as to what they will find. The sectors signifying wealth and strength is similar to that of the Sereitei in Bleach, but that is as far as the cross over will go, this is still essentially the Naruto Universe just a new unexplored section.
No scenes from Konoha this chapter, nor do I foresee any for awhile, The major villages entered into an alliance and all is well, while Tsunade was about to set off looking for Naruto. I am by no means forgetting about them just leaving things as they are until I feel the time is right.
Spoiler Warning!
Whole lot of anticlimactic stuff in the latest chapter, meaningless power up followed by a failure of an attack, just to compress how pointless this arc has become in the cannon. Also what happened to Hiruzen? He came back with the other Kages and hasn't been seen since. Hashirama and Tobirama are just there to indicate how much better they were than everyone else that has ever lived which makes very little sense. Tobirama seems have invented every single jutsu that other shinobi are famous for and despite Madara's overwhelming power up in the Rinnegan and having Mokuton they are still evidently even.
Hopefully we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the start of the Infinite Tsukuyomi but I have my doubts, for one the fact that they other Kage haven't shown up yet. It seems quite obvious that they are going to have a scene with Tsunade and Hashirama meeting that will probably be drawn out over two chapters.
The fact is the cannon has failed to have a new plot or any significant character development in close to three years now. I stopped watching the anime due to the fillers and you just know that this already long winded and drawn out arc will have to have at least three seasons of fillers in it.