Disclaimer: All my love for this saga won't change the fact that I do not own Naruto.
English not being my native language, please forgive me for the eventual errors I might do, I'll do my best to avoid doing them in the first place or remove them after the fact.
Summary: A story of Hashirama Senju, the one who revolutionised the Shinobi world. AU.
Season II
Prelude: Vengeance
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The man stopped.
The tracks ended here.
And the scents… They had to be in this area.
Looking around while crossing the dense vegetation of the forest, it took him a moment before finding what he was looking for.
Among the trees and the collapsed vegetation was a small hunters' cabin - a shack really.
It was barely noticeable; if he hadn't been actively searching for something here, he would have missed it.
Easily.
Abandoned, the ruin naturally disappeared within the darkness; even under the gaze of a full moon, it was no different than the shadows engulfing it.
As he approached it, the man couldn't help but notice how the atmosphere was eerily quiet this deep in the woods.
The place was remote.
Far from the usual trails used by games and other wild animals.
Far from the men hunting them, whether for their survival or for sport.
A perfect location with no unwanted witnesses… Not the first occurrence of such a place he encountered on his journey...
The man stopped short at the entrance of the little structure.
He breathed slowly, twice, in a matter of seconds…
And the subtle scents he had picked up to get here came back in force, flooding his system with a mixture of stool and metal...
Dread settling in his heart, the man almost opened the door, before eliciting not too.
So reckless!
He needed to properly scan the area first, make sure no hidden mechanism or trap was there, ready to tear him apart… Death favoured the unsuspecting, as stated the popular saying…
The irony of the thought wasn't lost on him as he made several verifications around the cabin, looking for anything suspicious.
He spotted nothing.
Felt nothing.
Only crass and the carcasses of small animals… If there were traps, they weren't physical ones.
Still.
Just to be on the safe side, the man decided to do a few things.
Firstly, darting inside the cabin via one of the windows he had deemed secure, instead of the door.
Secondly, standing on the ceiling of the cabin, head and body upside down, instead of the floor.
Paranoia really had its ways with him, he chuckled while landing inside…
Nothing untoward happened.
No traps.
The place was clean in that sense… only in that one.
The scents had exploded into full stenches inside - it was intoxicating, so much worse than what he had picked up outside…
Gritting his teeth, the man roving eyes came to a halt on the figures laying right under him…
The people he had been paid to look for.
All six of them.
All of them, dead.
The man eyed the scene warily… was there any chance…?
But no.
A closer look showed they all had their neck severed. Two of them even had it crushed, utterly destroyed under immense pressure…
No chance of survival here… Insects were already creeping around the bodies, slowly working their ways into the corpses.
One of the girls still held a small wooden toy in her cold finger, indifferent to the rotting that would soon take place in the entanglement of bodies...
Crouched on the ceiling, the man closed his eyes, joining his hands and murmuring a small prayer to the kamis, for them to take good care of the defuncts' spirits and help them on their journey to a Purer Land than the one he was currently cursed into…
Then, when he was done, he turned his attention to the room again.
The killings showed him two things.
Finesse.
And brute strength.
Two styles for two kinds of executions.
A pair.
And on the other side of the room, an incredibly tidy space where symbols and scriptures had been traced into ink and blood…
The man approached them.
He recognized the main sign on the ground, a triangle inside a circle… the insignia of the cultists' divinity… drawn with blood. Acres of it…
A ritual scene.
This was definitely the work of the cultists he had been tracking.
The pair of killers was elusive, but hopefully, he would catch up to them in the area… The corpses were too "intact" for them to be too far ahead of him…
The man tilted his head at the thought, troubled.
No.
Not all of the corpses.
In fact …
Turning back, the man went to look more closely at the girl still holding her toy, the one who had just caused him to challenge the conclusion his mind had led him to.
He saw her and stifled a curse under his breath.
He had looked without paying real attention, his mind still focused on another train of thought... but now that it wasn't on it anymore, it could register what it initially hadn't.
And now, he could not unsee what laid in front of him.
The blots and stains on the skin.
The wrinkles.
Even the stringy hairs…
The man dropped to the ground, provoking a gust of damp air, and the scattering of several cockroaches.
Delicately, he approached the little girl's body, his hand turning slowly toward him her face…
It wasn't the round, smooth face of a child that looked back at him.
It was… all wrong.
Unnatural.
Dull eyes with greyed out and glassed pupils.
Collapsed nose with hollowed out cheeks.
Pungent lisps with cracked and decayed teeth peering through…and the sagging jaws…
The face was undeniably young, yet… it showed all the signs of deep, old age.
And beyond that, absolute fear twisting the offensive traits beyond recognition.
All that was wrong in the world, that's what looked back at him.
The man fought off the sudden urge to vomit…
The wretched animals.
They would pay.
He would make them pay for this, for the horrors they indiscriminately imposed on those children…
The man got to his feet.
Yes…
That settled it.
Cold outrage and sadness left room for another feeling to blossom and take root in his heart...
Vengeance.
And vengeance commanded him to find the persons responsible for this act against the natural order of things here… against what humanity had of most innocent…
Grabbing several scrolls in his coat, he made preparations that allowed the bodies on the ground to disappear one by one in their respective scrolls.
And while he was packing the scrolls and their content, the man took a last look at the room, before walking away.
Outside, the sky was rumbling gloomily despite the advanced hours of the night - a storm was coming.
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Season II
Chapter One: Of Water and Blood
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Despite the ambient cold, smooth hands grabbed the thick branches expertly, chakra coursing through them and reinforcing their grip.
Then, momentum and experience took the young frame through the air for a brief instant, before reaching the next platform.
A process repeated again and again, countless times in a matter of minutes. To the naked eye of a commoner, it would look like she was flying in the air…
The girl landed on her feet, atop one of the frozen trees, and looked at the landscape facing her, a few strands of loose hair floating in the wind.
Mount Zao was a remarkable place, Hashirama had to admit. It was both a place where the Uzumakis could come and train, but in some parts, they even had some small shrines and various resting places serving of retreats to the people traveling the mountain.
Mountains if she had to be accurate.
People commonly said Mount Zao, referring to the central and highest elevation of the chain, when it was really a cluster of ancient and dormant volcanoes.
That elevation itself harboured several lava domes and volcanic structures. It was said that the cycle of successive eruptions and tremors were the reason the archipelago of Uzushio existed today.
And during the cold season, "snow monsters" could be spotted around the vast Lake Okama lying at the centre of the main elevation.
The location of her meeting point with Tobirama and Maoru-san.
Hashirama remembered the first winter here, when Mito had taken her to Okama. It was freezing and the strong wind was charring in the girls faces a mixture of cold water and molten snow. A new experience for the young Senju - snow was a rare occurrence in the part of the country the Senju clan lived.
The snow monsters themselves were an assortment of horizontal icicles at various stages of their embalming by the falling snows.
Hashirama found them fascinating.
There was a simple beauty in the figures that nature and wind were creating under their eyes, in a matter of days if not hours at times…
The forest around the lake was daunting for this very reason.
The power of nature was incredible, and had been never more tempting than in those hours where they trained in the midst of the most essential elements of life…
This area was brimming with natural energy, she could feel it strongly all around her...
Sadly, this landscape was as ephemeral as the winter season, the snow monsters and entire setting in general not lasting long when the season was over as a result.
Which was the case here: the cold wasn't as biting as a moon ago, snow was scarcely falling anymore, and iced parts of the lake held less and less under weight...
The winter was ending slowly, and soon there would be little left to admire beyond the lake itself and its forest, less majestic than the one nearer Uzushio, let alone the ones at home…
Hashirama admonished herself.
Unfortunately, she had no time to leisurely consider her environment, let alone comparing it to the one back home...
She was running desperately late.
The sad result of an impromptu meeting with her uncle Rambuto and their liaison, Koki Uzumaki.
The latter had come to them with news of the recent presence of Land of Water clans near the coast of Nanakusa island.
In the two years she had already spent here, Hashirama had known four incursions from those clans, always repelled or crushed methodically by the Uzumakis.
Whether or not there was a deliberate agenda behind them remained unknown so far, though the possibility of those serving as a testing ground prelude to an invasion had been evoked in the past.
Koki-san seemed convinced a renewed attempt at testing the Uzumaki response would occur and had asked the Senjus for their help.
"It's time your future leaders see what we are up against from their own set of eyes."
Of course, the discussion had revolved around the safety of said missions, but the Uzumakis were convinced it was both worth the risk, and that she and Tobirama were able to handle this.
And damn straight they were!
Cursing, the girl moved from one tree to the other, progressing faster and faster in the forest, until she reached the rendezvous place.
As usual, the lake was brimming with colours, oscillating between a shade of green and a violent blue, reaching far wide inside the enormous crater.
Hashirama caught sight of her brother training on the lake.
She was greeted with an incredible scene.
Okama seemed to come alive for Tobirama.
An outrageous wall of water was growing to a staggering height behind him, bursting with agitation and power - Hashirama could tell it was fighting to return to its natural resting state. But the chakra of her brother was encompassing the mass of water, keeping it tight under his control.
Then she saw him go through a set of mudras so fast she could barely register the gist of it (forty…-four signs, really?), and the giant wall of water spiralled into a powerful, ominous creature that roared above the lake, gathering chakra with each second passing.
Hashirama could feel the calm concentration of her brother, despite the extreme complexity and strain the technique was submitting him to; when it came to Suiton releases, her brother was the most gifted person she knew.
His struggle continued for a few more instants, until the creature swirled to the side before plunging at full speed inside the lake.
At the point of impact, the lake exploded with a tidal wave that both Tobirama and Maoru jumped high and out of its range to avoid it, leaving Hashirama to dodge the wave herself by the skin of her teeth.
The wave reached the limit of the volcanic crater, crashing against the shores at its peak and exploding into a torrential rain that soaked Hashirama and the bordering forest in seconds.
Maoru landed next to her.
The middle-aged ninja was one of the tutors assigned by Ashina Uzumaki to both Hashirama and Tobirama, a shinobi with a keen sense of observation and a sharp tongue. In that sense, he reminded Hashirama a lot of her fellow clansman Momotama.
"You are late!" admonished Maoru, glaring at Hashirama.
"Forgive my impertinence Maoru-san," apologised Hashirama while bowing to the man.
"Impressive display of humility, sister," teasingly joked the voice of her little brother as he landed next to her himself.
An adjective that applied poorly to him nowadays - he was getting taller months after months, and Hashirama knew her growth in size wouldn't be able to keep up...
She was tall for a girl, maybe taller than her cousin Toka now... but that would be it. Already in his build, her brother showed more muscles than she would probably ever have...
Yet, Hashirama couldn't help but grin at him. Even if he kept getting bigger and stronger, he would always remain her little brother...
"Look who's talking," she retorted while showing her wet hairs. "I'm soaked!"
"Yeah, I went a little overboard with that…" admitted Tobirama, before catching his tongue and restraining himself from talking anymore; Maoru-san was glaring at him too now...
Hashirama found it remarkable that the man managed to make them feel so little when the both of them were taller than him by several inches.
Maybe it was his powerful stature, his bright bald head and his fiery bushy brows that made him look wildly more ferocious than the both of them with their rather lanky frames in comparison to him, and tidied hairs.
Uzumakis had a very dogmatic approach with the hairs of their shinobis: they shouldn't get in the way of fighting - ever.
Either they were cut, gelled to the back of the head, or tied in the strictest of buns that suffered no untidiness.
After hours of debate with Mito, Hashirama had settled for the severe bun, despites loose strands regularly causing her to be admonished by her tutor when training.
Tobirama had chosen to have his hair gelled to the back, though he swore to his sister he would drop the horrid haircut whenever they would go back to their clan.
Something Hashirama doubted strongly, given how Mito seemed to appreciate it on him…
"Shinobis should know the essence of commitment and respect… two aspects your characters both lack severely!" Maoru admonished sternly. "Aren't you the future of the Senju clan? If it's left to the two of you, it'll be bleak!"
Hashirama restrained from reacting to the gratuitous jab. Maoru Uzumaki held little regard for foreigners, and in his eyes, the Senjus were as much foreigners as the shinobis coming from the Land of Water.
"Tobirama! Did I tell you to relinquish your water technique? Your Suiryūdan no Jutsu lacked control! It's one of the most powerful Suiton techniques, with your chakra, you should be able to maintain constant control at all times! How will you aim for your target otherwise? Do you like wasting chakra on poorly aimed techniques? Idiot boy!"
The dressing down took several more minutes, from the technique' speed of execution to Tobirama's posture. Hashirama was impressed by her brother' stoicism.
She almost yelped when Maoru turned his attention to her.
"You! You saw the hand seals, didn't you? Get to it then! Show me what control you can muster!"
"Aye!" Hashirama said, too happy to oblige and put some distance between her and him.
"Hashi, be careful with that technique!" warned Tobirama. "The balance was delicate to handle, even with my chakra affinity..."
"I will Tobi", Hashirama smiled quickly, nodding. "Trust me."
She jumped off the cliff, landing gracefully on the water below.
It wasn't the first time Maoru-san asked of them an ad hoc performance of a new technique… Though this one seemed to be a mouthful, with such high-level consumption of chakra, if the forty-four mudras she witnessed were any indication…
Breathing slowly, Hashirama concentrated on malaxing her chakra.
She didn't need to transform it - yet.
Nature transformation was a continuity of the years of chakra control training and meditation she had undergone in her clan. Only now in Uzushio had she started experimenting with other natures than the one she was naturally drawn to: Earth.
And, to her growing surprise, she had come to realise the Suiton release came to her as easily as the Doton release always had…
But here? As long as she could exploit the body of water under her feet, she wouldn't have to use nature transformation: she would only need to power the technique with her regular chakra…
Ox.
Monkey.
Hare.
Committing herself to memory, confident in her reasoning, she executed the sequence of signs to perform the technique, fully aware that, on that ground alone, she was behind Tobirama's earlier speed already.
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"
Moulded from her imagination and will, a giant creature emerged from the lake, constrained in taking the same shape as the one of Tobirama: a dragon.
And immediately, Hashirama felt the enormous strain the technique required to maintain its form - the power of the water was immense.
She had to perfectly control the chakra innervating the water and giving it its form… And Maoru asked them that they maintained it at all times?
Hashirama gritted her teeth as she felt the water wrestle forcefully to break free from its tether to her.
The potency was increasing, as was the size of the dragon, growing with the mounting firmness the girl imposed to her chakra form.
It was as if she wrestled with Lake Okama itself.
Tobirama had been right about the difficulty of the technique...
Soon, the dragon's head reached the elevated shoreline of the lake, to Tobirama and Maoru astounded expression, the furious water composing it causing it to roar menacingly.
That size… It's too much! Hashirama thought to herself, more and more worried.
Had she made a mistake?
The way she had cast it, the jutsu fuelled itself directly with the Lake - without limits it seemed...
The water dragon kept growing, and growing, forcing her into keeping powering it with her chakra to maintain its form.
If she released the technique, the dragon would collapse on the shore, destroying it, endangering her brother and Maoru-san…
But if she managed to alert them, to tell them to run away? Would they hear her over the tumultuous raging of the jutsu?
She looked desperately in Tobirama's direction, trying to catch a glimpse of him through her creation…
As if on cue, the thether between her and the water dragon tugged brutally, causing the creature to wobble under its own mass.
And to her stunned horror, it started to dive toward Tobirama and Maoru, ready to shatter them and the shore they stood on.
Oh no, you don't!
Hashirama pushed in even more chakra in response, and pressed it quickly to stop the dragon's dangerous momentum...
"DON'T! YOU FOOL!"
The voice boomed above the tumult, chakra amplified.
Hashirama understood too late both the warning her tutor shouted out and the reason why: too much chakra.
During that fraction of second where time itself seemed suspended, she realised she had injected too much chakra in the technique, and way too fast...
Rupturing the technique's equilibrium itself… Then, time seemed to resume normally.
The jutsu became unbalanced.
The water dragon roared one last time… before imploding from the sudden surge in pressure caused by the chakra compressing it.
Hashirama had no time to react.
Something heavy hit her in the gut instantly, cutting her breath, shattering her ribs… then, something hard hit her.
Crushed her.
Everywhere.
All at once.
Both pain and shock disputed it as she saw the whirlpool, suddenly present at the centre of the lake, move above her head like a kaleidoscope - as it came it disappeared from her field of vision, replaced by blue sky and colourful rain...
The next moment, a wall finished to shatter the bones on her back and expelled the air in her lungs.
Cries of agony filled the air.
Hers and her brother's.
Something red and tasting of iron spurt from her mouth spontaneously. A coldness gripped her heart - in response, it tried to beat even more furiously in her chest.
Pain as she had never felt before rendered her numb to everything; soon, the sky was replaced by water, and darkness seized her, melting away her last shreads of consciousness…
Tobirama had flung automatically at his sister's rescue, jumping above the towering armoured amphibian that had shielded him and Maoru from the blast, his yell not even finished yet him already diving in the water at tremendous speed to prevent Hashirama from drowning.
He caught her rapidly by the side, in a sea of red and murky waters, and took them to the volcanic shore in a single, prodigious leap.
Maoru would have been impressed if he wasn't horrified by what he saw.
The girl had had her chest cracked open, her armour - and everything under - cut cleanly by the earlier shockwave.
White protuberances erupted through her abdomen… The rest of her body was ruined, skin peeled right off by high-velocity water and the meat underneath exposed, even pierced at times… Her breath was laboured, her blood was everywhere… Her death seemed to be imminent.
Only then the disaster would be complete.
Stupid Senju! the man spat in his mind.
"Do something!" ordered Tobirama, gripping his sister's hand, her pallor surpassing even his own.
His eyes roamed toward the unknown creature, clad in armor, that looked at the scene dispassionately from above them.
"Quickly! That… that thing… Have it take her back to Uzushio immediately!"
But there was nothing to be done, and he knew it; they both did.
Now was a time for prayer, to accompany the girl passing to the Purer Land.
"Boy, those wounds are too much, even for someone with her chakra reserves… Gamajouki is gentle, but your sister wouldn't survive the transport", admonished Maoru, as he examined Hashirama closely. "It's incredible that she didn't die on the spot, the explosion was point blank… Your duty now is to ease her passing in the land of the Ancestors. Don't weep yet! Being able to accompany your dearest for their last journey is a privilege in this world... Honour her! Honour your sister, Lady Hashirama!"
Pure rage forced Tobirama to close his eyes and still his will, lest he lashed out and attacked his tutor for his words…
If some of his killing intent had leaked out, Maoru didn't show he notice, already joining hands and psalming the appropriate plea to the Ancestors as the giant amphibian behind him disappeared in a flash of smoke.
Swallowing hard, Tobirama gripped Hashirama's hand, cuping what was left of her cheek.
Her gaze was fading, her eyes inexorably drifting away from his, her breath now reduced to gurgling gasps…
All the while, her blood was pooling under them, at their feet, spilling away Hashirama's life.
All this over a fucking chakra accident…
"I told you… I told you to be careful… Hashirama!"
The taste of salt and his burning eyes made the boy realise he was crying for good, breaking one of their father's cardinal rules.
He couldn't care less.
Not anymore.
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Was this how she would die?
Blown open by her own failed jutsu?
That was so pathetic… All that, because she couldn't follow the instructions of her bald tutor…
She would have chuckled if she could still do - instead, she coughed, smirring her brother's torso with more of her blood.
Was it? Her brother? Or Maoru?
Whoever he was, he seemed so far away…
So far… A blurred figure in the distance…
"... told you… careful … Hashirama…"
Her brother's voice had never been so faint, his chakra never been in such turmoil…
The more she felt herself fading away, the more she felt her brother's radiant and tumultuous presence…
Him being with her was soothing… Hyper-aware, she was glad he was with her, at the end of her journey...
One last selfish wish, just for her…
Now, she could let go of everything.
Hashirama felt herself drifting away, further and further…
As she went, there was No more pain.
As she went, there was No more suffering.
Was she falling?
Was she dying?
She couldn't tell. Her body itself had grown silent on her, what felt like a long time ago…
And what of Itama?
What of her father?
What of…Madara?
Was she leaving them? To fend for themselves, their hopes and dreams, without her?
But as soon as the thought floated to the surface of her consciousness, she instinctually knew the answer.
She was leaving, wasn't she?
She really was…
Even her body…
She was leaving everyone and everything behind…
She observed curiously the broken doll under her, the sprayed hairs around her head and glazed eyes riveted into hers.
All the blood.
All the suffering of her brother.
All the pain he would carry to the rest of her people.
She knelt beside him, her hand resting on his chakra, bright as a moon, fluid like the lake that had killed her.
Her other hand rested on the stare of the dead - she wished she could close those eyes.
She wished for so many things… but most of all, she wished to unburden Tobirama from this pain of losing her...
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She would unburden him.
She would unburden them all.
She reached for the world around her.
She reached for help in soothing the pain of everyone…
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/ - And the world ANSWERED. - /
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Suddenly, her body felt warm.
Suddenly, her brother turned toward her, disbelief etched on his traits.
Suddenly, the vastness of the Warmth swallowed her whole.
Suddenly, she was no more.
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It sped through her, and she lurched at It reflexively. The both of them mingled, covering her corpse in a blinding green hue of light, while flooding it to the brim, cell to cell.
It settled and made her its own.
She became Life itself.
Air frizzled around her so much Maoru and Tobirama had to step back, shocked beyond belief.
Her brother felt Hashirama's chakra flare to monumental heights, so much more potent than before… so large and all encompassing…
It poured outside of her, unmistakable, unmissable for anyone who could sense the world the way he sensed it...
His sister stopped bleeding.
His sister stopped dying.
His sister opened her eyes, her body made anew.
She was.
Incomprehension and incredulity rushed through Maoru's mind as he saw the Senju girl's wounds now closed completely, the muscles grown back to full health, her bones snapped back into their natural positions, the flesh knitted itself back into form…
It was miraculous.
Amazing…
And then, as if she had received the urge to, she gathered chakra in both hands.
Doton release.
Suiton release.
Maoru felt it, the exact moment when both nature of chakra connected.
The waves of chakra the boy's sister emitted, suddenly focused into those two hands, the purest form Maoru had ever felt…
Tobirama felt it too; that and something else with them: natural energy, pooling inside his sister.
Something new was born from those three elements.
Something flamboyant, something vibrant… unlike anything Tobirama had ever experienced.
Hashirama allowed It to seize her, freely... changing her forever on a fundamental level.
She let it spill out of her, carefree, into her environment.
And Life responded eagerly to her invitation.
"Mokuton", she whispered softly.
A forest erupted as she pronounced those words, trees emerging from the ground at an uncanny speed, decades of development taking place between two heartbeats, and taking the girl to the sky.
Soon, she was posted atop a giant tree, one amongst many, dominating the forest that came from her will to live and ease her brother's pain.
His, and the world's…
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The echoes of Okama's wrath were heard kilometres around the epicentre of the disaster, sending the civilians fleeing in panic to cave shelters, and putting the shinobis into disarray.
It had taken hours before anyone heard of the Senju siblings' whereabouts, and even then, secrecy had surrounded their circumstances.
But here, at the peak of the White Palatium, that secrecy was shared between one witness, and two men that had a hard time reconciling what they were hearing.
"The shockwave was tremendous, pushing back everything around it, including the young Senju," commented Maoru, reminiscing. "One of my summonses protected the brother and me, but the girl… She was hit head-on."
The man had come back with the siblings in an unusually quiet fashion for him. Tutoring the siblings had been his crux for the last year, having taken over the duty from Koki Uzumaki, their former tutor.
Maoru had made known his displeasure through the regular remonstrances and clashing he made to the two Senjus.
This wasn't the case here.
A mixture of grumbling awe and perplexity coloured his every word.
"She was blackballed for dozens of meters; the explosion crushed her ribcage, and she was skinned off by the pressured water", Maoru continued. "By any standard, the girl should be dead."
"I see," murmured Ashina pensively. "For her to survive, something miraculous occurred, then."
"Something… miraculous occurred," agreed Maoru. "She survived somehow… She said she connected with the power of the world and rose as a result… I suspect natural energy manipulation though that would be unprecedented, to my knowledge."
He paused.
"Also, she created a forest when she was revived."
"Really?" asked Rambuto, frowning.
"Really", confirmed Maoru. "You can't miss the trees; they are humongous compared to the rest of the forest over there…"
"Incredible!" exclaimed Ashina, marveled. "Rambuto-san, did you know about this?"
Rambuto, who had been leaning to the side, puffing slowly on his pipe, took his time to answer.
"Such an ability to heal, and using an unknown Release? A new chakra transformation that she created…? That's insane, really… No, Lord Ashina, this is unheard of among the Senjus."
"She called it Mokuton", said Maoru. "She says she can feel her ties to nature via the trees."
The three men remained silent, in awe of the new abilities, and the possibilities it was opening for their respective clans.
A shinobi able to heal from mortal wounds and create forests of giant trees? On the military aspect alone, it might give an incredible advantage to the Senjus and their allies in battle…
In fact, it might completely upset their combat doctrine long term… And the potential tactics that could be born from this…?
With the right amount of nurturing, it could lead to -
"The issue is… she can't stay in Uzushio", Maoru said gravely.
That immediately stopped the two others musing.
"Why is that?" reacted Rambuto, sobering up at once.
"Every sensor on the island felt the moment she flared", explained Maoru. "Even though we didn't communicate over the cause of the incident, most people already know the Senju girl was involved… Any decent sensor will have noticed her new chakra signature by now, even on the mainland… She is currently exuding that much power, even if she doesn't seem to realise it. And the way our security architecture is built…"
The Uzumaki seemed to catch his tongue just in time, glancing toward Ashina with an implied question.
"You can continue, Maoru-san. We are between brotherly clans here."
Maoru nodded, hiding his scepticism.
"Right now, as she is, Hashirama is a beacon for sensors", he explained. "Meaning, she's revealing Uzushio's location to the world… And part of our security relies on the difficulty to find the island beyond the veil of whirlpools."
"I see… The deception cannot work properly with her on the island", deduced Rambuto. "As she is now, she's a liability to your island's security."
"And we can't have that sort of thing occur, with the timing of the Land of Water' shinobis preparing for a new incursion… This is dangerous."
Rambuto sighed. Of course. That issue…
"Well, it's been two years already… It's earlier than expected, but we always knew there would be a time to get back to our land", he said philosophically.
"To think it would be because someone would harness natural energy… it's a unique gain for the Senjus", noticed Maoru.
"Not quite, Maoru-san."
"What do you mean?"
"You just said she doesn't seem to realise she's leaking power right now. Maoru-san, there's a possibility she's gingerly understanding her new abilities, right?" asked Rambuto rhetorically. "So what she needs is training to master those new abilities. Only then will it be a gain to the Senjus."
Rambuto Senju mulled over the idea he just had.
"There's a sect of monks on the mainland…" elaborated the man, still puffing on his pipe. "They are known for their deep connection to nature."
"A sect you say?" repeated Ashina perplexedly. "And those monks would have experience with harnessing natural energy too?"
"I don't see why they wouldn't, Lord Ashina… In fact,…"
"In fact, they could help the girl with understanding the phenomena '', dawned Ashina slowly.
"That and help her in masking that special chakra now…", added Maoru. "For her own sake, and the one of those around her…"
"Exactly", agreed Rambuto. "I'll have to inform my clan of this development, but I believe visiting the place can't do her harm."
"Not just visiting", warned Ashina. "Rambuto-san, I trust Maoru-san's analysis in the matter: if Hashirama is ever to set foot on Uzushio again, she has to master her new skills and learn how to mask them."
"I understand Lord Ashina. She won't fail", assured Rambuto.
The Uzumaki leader stared at the man and his pipe for a few instants, wondering whether the man knew something he did not to exude such bravado, before clasping his hands.
"Wonderful! It is decided then! Where can those monks be found?"
"They have a temple in the southern part of Fire Country, a location called Fire Temple", explained Rambuto. "As soon as Hashirama is able, we'll be traveling there, she and I. I'll have Renji-san stay here to second our clan's Heir, Tobirama-kun."
"Wonderful, wonderful... Mito will be happy to hear he's staying put for the time being. As for you and Hashirama-chan, we'll make arrangements for you to go there quickly."
"Aye Lord Ashina."
And as the doors slept back into place behind the Senju shinobi and Maoru-san, the leader of the Uzumaki clan couldn't help but smile broadly toward the sun setting outside.
The girl…
If she truly managed to control this… Mokuton … Maybe they would be able to turn the tide regarding the foreign clans entering their territory regularly.
Maybe they would be able to put an end to those incursions permanently.
Maybe.
On the horizon, the sun dived into the ocean, ablaze.
.
.
.
Author's note: And here. We. Go! The second season of Hashirama's adventures has arrived!
We'll see what comes next for her with this awakening! How much of a game changer will it be for the Senjus and their allies?
We'll see that as the season unfold!
New chapter next week!
Hope you enjoyed this read as much as I enjoyed the process of writing it, dear readers! See you next time!