Part two: The boy with an obnoxious neurosis.
One of the times the Uchiha clan wasn't at war, Madara made his way back down to the river. He had decided to really brush up on his stone skipping and reach the other side once and for all!
It will reach this time, I just have to keep trying again and again! I won't give up. I am beating adults in combat, I have to be able to skim a stone across a river! I haven't been trying hard enough that's all!
The young boy picked up a smooth stone and threw it like he would a shuriken. Flicking his wrists and letting the stone roll off his middle finger. Again and again, the stone fell a foot short of the opposite bank. The water not caring that there was another pebble to its rock collection.
Huh…? It didn't reach again? My shuriken throw is perfect… The best in my clan in fact… Tch, this time, I will reach the other side for sure! Madara told himself, just like he had done many times before. Before he prepared his stance to throw another pebble flew past fast from behind him over his shoulder. It hastily skimmed the surface all the way to the other side of the river, even bouncing a little before it came to rest on dry land.
"Just aim a little higher than you would expect. That's the trick." A lighter voice spoke from behind him. Madara turned with a glare to see a boy his age with short straight brown hair and an unwavering smile.
"I don't need you to tell me that. I can reach the other side if I want to." Madara retaliated proudly. "Who the hell are you anyway?"
"For now, I am just you rival at stone skipping and I am the winner." The boy replied smugly.
This annoying kid may actually be worth something... Madara thought to himself, picking up slight interest.
"I asked who you are!" Madara growled.
"It's Hashirama." The boy replied, his grin not once leaving his face to Madara's scowls. "I can't tell you my last name, due to reasons..."
"Hashirama eh? Well, just watch! I am going to make it this time!" The Uchiha stomped into position and threw his stone. The stone was much slower than Hashirama's and lazily sunk a foot before the shore again. Gobsmacked and slightly embarrassed, Madara quickly thought up an excuse.
"Hey! You stood behind me on purpose as a distraction!" The Uchiha pointed aggressively and the unsuspecting new kid. "I am the type that can't even pee when someone is standing behind me!"
Madara continued.
"S-sorry!" the brunette cowed.
To Madara's surprise Hashirama actually took the offence, a sat down in a sulk. He didn't think he had actually gone too far, his brothers usually argued back to him…
"Hey, no need to take it so seriously." Madara blinked, cooling off after blowing some steam. He was only messing around anyhow. "Ehh… sorry, I was just making excuses." He sighed, apologising for something so trivial felt weird.
"I-I didn't know…" Hashirama sniffed and looked up, "…that you had such an obnoxious self-diagnosed neurosis."
Okay, that was uncalled for! "Hey, brat! I can't tell if you are a nice or nasty guy!"
Hashirama sprang up laughing like someone had flicked a switch and all of his worries were gone. Or Hashirama was one seriously talented prankster.
"Well, one thing for sure – I am a better stone skipper than you!"
"Do you want me to skip you instead?!" Madara had no idea how to handle this kid. Hashirama was a piece of work.
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you!" Hashirama sat back down on the ground again. "To make amends I will let you throw me into the river."
What is up with this guy? Madara was seriously getting confused and it was beginning to piss him off for real.
"Go ahead, throw me…" Hashirama's soft voice sulked.
"Do you even notice you own obnoxious neurosis?" Madara lectured. He had stopped pointed and had his hands on his hips now.
"I just, hope I reach the opposite shore." What on earth, is he mocking me now?"The Uchiha finally snapped.
"You're a real eyesore! Get lost!" He yelled.
"Well then!" Hashirama stood up casually, stretching a little and turned to leave without a care in the world.
"Hey, wait a second!" the Uchiha grabbed Hashiama's shoulder to turn him back around.
"Which is it? Make up your mind." The brown haired boy asked. Eh?
Madara blinked, realising his unmade mind but dismissing it for there were now serious matters at hand. They both turned to see the body of a warrior drifting down the river.
"That's…" Hashirama ran on the water across to the warrior. Now, this really caught Madara's attention, for only someone who had learned chakra control could master walking on water.
"Are you a… shinobi?" He asked seriously.
Hashirama didn't respond immediately. He knew he had been caught and it had been a mistake to so carelessly reveal himself.
"This location will become a battlefield shortly. Go home." He replied. Providing no further details. The clan symbol was definitely that of the Hagomoro clan, who the Senju clan were currently enemies against alongside the terror of the Uchiha clan. "Sorry, but I have got to go."
And with that Hashirama began to jump off. "See you later, uh…"
"The name's Madara."
"Madara?"
"I am not proffering one's family name to a stranger… that's shinobi law."
"I knew it. You're a shinobi too."
As incompatible as we seemed, I felt Hashirama would make a suitable training partner. Nothing short of healthy competition.
When Madara returned to the river a few weeks later one evening, he found Hashirama sitting alone by the water's edge. Madara walked up to him quietly. The water was so clear, their reflections were almost perfect mirror images.
"Hey, it's been a while, uh, umm…" Madara began. Damn it, I already forgot his name, I look like a total noob…
"It's Hashirama." The brown haired boy sighed. Huh? What's with him? He's usually so over exuberant, something serious must have happened…
"What is it Hashirama? You seem awfully down." The Uchiha asked, concern in his voice. "What happened?"
"What's with you?" Hashirama tried deflecting the subject off of himself. "I'm fine."
'Che, so he's trying to brush me off that easily eh? I'll make him spit it out!'
"You liar, you can talk to me, you know."
"It's nothing."
"Come on tell me." 'This is like trying to talk to a wall…'
"No, I said it's nothing." Hashirama insisted.
"Hey stop dragging this out, I promise I will listen!" 'Or more like drawing blood out of a stone…'
"It's nothing really… nothing at all!" 'Now we are going around in circles…'
Hashirama finally looked up at Madara, tears streaming fresh down his face.
"Out with it!" Madara hit his boiling point again. Hashirama puppy eyes were shaking as he finally gave up the tough act.
'Eh? Is he seriously crying? Shinobi don't cry!'
"W-what's the matter?" He asked a tad scared.
Hashirama faced forward again and regained his breath.
"M-my little brother… died… I came to the river because I feel like all the haziness in my heart gets washed away as I stare at the water."
'Oh… He's just like me….'
"So that's what happened." It was a relief to finally have Hashirama trust him enough to tell him the truth.
"Your name's Madara, right? I wonder if you are like me."
"…."
'Yeah… a lot…' Madara internally agreed. He came to the river for exactly the same reasons. But he wasn't about to let up his shinobi or Uchiha pride for it.
"Do you have siblings?" Hashirama felt better with conversation.
"I am one of five. Well, used to." Madara picked up a stone off the bank again, tossing it in his hand and concentrating on the opposite shore. Hashirama in realisation that they were in fact as similar as he had suspected, turned around in shock to meet Madara's glare.
"Used to?"
'I'll show him how we are not supposed to cry over death!'
"We're shinobi. We never know when our time will come."
'Might as well tell him exactly what I think, if he rejects this then he is truly no different from all the other adults!'
"If there was a way where neither side would die, it would be where both sides revealed their insides and never hid anything from each other, and poured each other's drinks and drank together like brothers. But that's impossible!" Madara posed ready to throw his stone with the up most determination. "That's because no one can look deep enough into each other's insides down to each other's guts!" Madara threw the stone. "In reality, they may be as mad as hell." The stone flew strongly across the water's surface.
"Isn't it possible to really show how one's feeling without showing their guts?" Hashirama carefully asked.
"I don't know. But every time I come here, I pray for some way to make it happen." The stone hit the opposite shore forcefully, clanking to a halt on the other stones. "I finally got it to go in the right direction. You're not the only one. Me too. It reached."
'But he still looks like a weirdo old-timer, haha.'
"In your case, I can tell without looking into your insides…" Madara began,
"What?" Hashirama looked up confused and curious.
"That your hairdo and outfit are totally lame!" Madara joked, looking the other boy up and down and received as expected, a depressed reaction.
"Heh heh heh, say we catch up from time to time to spar?"
"Huh? Yeah, you're on! You'll be sorry you asked!"
"What? I could beat your scrawny ass anytime!"
"I'm really that scrawny?"
"You sure are, heh heh."
Hashirama continued to pout his lower lip.
From then we agreed to meet when we could to spar and compete. We talked about our future dreams, exploring all possible scenarios, without once ever asking each other's family names. The whole while I thought we only did just that, dreaming. No matter how much I prayed and we talked, I never really thought any of this would turn out to be true. I had seen so many hopeful shinobi die all the same as the ones fighting in fear. But for Hashirama's sake, I played along. He and I could not have been happier away from the battle zone than this. On my account, we agreed to learn as many Jutsu as possible to become strong enough if we were to back up our words, so we would be heard by the adults. For our words would be no more than noise if we had no power to match our spirits.