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 III
Prelude: Opportunity
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The woman watched him in silence; in the cold, long hard stare she threw him? He could also see a hint of disgust.
But he didn't mind.
He never had.
Basking in her presence always had been the greatest present she made to him.
To have her here, in his modest lodging above his tavern…
Her silhouette, delicate yet generous, drifting lazily in her long kimono under the small-lighted room, her hand coming to rest on his bed as she sat easily, hair like silk, skin like the sand of summer…
She was a goddess in his eyes, and a goddess could do no wrong…
"Are you sure?" she asked again, her tone sultry yet sharper this time, her chestnut eyes piercing him to his soul. "Be mindful of your answer."
The tavern owner threw himself at her feet, stricken and appalled.
"Baki-sama! I swear on all that is good and proper! I swear on all the kamis that protect this village!"
The young woman had a movement of recoil, disgust radiating off her for good this time…
She greatly disliked this kind of exuberant display…
"Don't use the kamis in such distasteful fashion", admonished the woman. "It's a sin."
"Pardon me, Baki-sama…" grovelled the man once more, ashamed. "But… I swear! I swear I saw him! I swear I saw him as I see you right now."
"Hmm… Mayhaps…" came her voice as she tilted her head to the side, considering.
Regardless of memories, his and hers, the red glare of the Uchihas was unmistakable, let alone the profile of such a wielder…
The jutsu worked subtly, efficiently - she could see it in his mind, yes… The Sharingan, and the long mane of the one that wielded it… That youthful appearance… That greed and strong desire to prove himself…
That was the one, that was his brother alright…
Her clan had known for months that the Uchihas demons were doing business with the village of Takumi, having quelled the Kazumis into submission… But it was the first time they managed to track the movements of a member of that inner circle, the closest around this Uchiha prodigy even…
Finally!
This confirmed the intel they had been gathering on their side: they had a location now...
A target.
"Baki" readjusted her porcelain mask, thinking, indifferent to the look of adoration she received from the man.
"When is he due back?" she asked, getting up in a fluid motion.
"Next full moon, Baki-sama, to retrieve the command he made…"
So soon? That left her with little time to work her way into "that place" … To make the right acquaintances and leave the necessary… impressions.
The kind that would open her doors, that would give her the access she needed to complete her goal…
The young woman went to the small, cracked opening that served as a window outside this filthy bedroom - the road was deserted, as it should be this deep into the night. At the edge, she could make her escort, waiting for her in the looming shadows of the village…
Dedicated, committed warriors… The Kazumis were no match for them, and if it came to head, they would hold their own against the demons from the north…
Alas!
They wouldn't be there if she decided to act on this opportunity - they couldn't.
And the repercussions back home…
But on the other hand, that was the kind of high risk, high reward opportunities that seldom occurred in times like these - troubled and chaotic…
And if she succeeded, the blow to the Uchihas would be… devastating.
It would change everything for the Land of Fire.
It would change everything for her clan!
That alone was reason enough to tip the scale in her mind…
She had to do it.
She had to push forward.
For the sake of her clan, she would make the Uchihas pay...
The tavern owner stared at her, entranced, like a moth to a flame...
The blissful sensation of her presence would be all that remained in his mind from her passage here, in the morning… with the small hope of seeing her again.
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Season III
Chapter 1: Shikkotsu
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"Here."
They stopped.
They watched.
And they acknowledged the decision: indeed, this was the right location.
This part of the forest was much too clean, the clearing much too proper for it to be natural: traces of the fierce battle led here should have been still visible to their experimented eyes, even after all this time…
"The Aburames. We crossed them not long after the confrontation."
"... They worked well."
A silence befell those words, as a lone figure advanced in said clearing, seemingly deep in thought, crouching and examining the dirt here and there. Above, a full moon was witnessing this scene with indifference…
It was the hour of the Rat.
Only persons with the strongest agendas would find themselves in such a place, at such a time…
Itama Senju was one such person.
The twelve-year-old gazed at the man wandering before him, his hand coming to rest on the objects previously well-hidden under his green armour.
He could feel them: they were in the palms of his hands.
Crystals.
Tiny crystals of the strangest, softest colours.
Somewhat cold to the touch, yet...
Right under the surface, warm.
As warm as the fire burning in his heart, giving him intent and focus.
According to Shibuya, they had been a gift… Fragments of an ancient, powerful relic his sister had contributed to retrieve from the hands of the ones who fought her - the ones they were now battling with.
The jashinists.
The thought sent shivers in his back and fuelled even more the fire in him as the caped figure before him pursued its examination...
The small, uncannily powerful sect had been a thorn in the side of his clan for more than a year now: kidnapping civilians that were found brutally murdered… making fellow shinobis disappear, never to be heard again…
Spreading terror along Nakasendo Way like a dark disease, shaking a land at war to its core.
A thorn that felt more like a sharpened kunai at times, and not only for his fellow Senjus, but for the Uzumakis as well…
Ever since the disaster of Port Ryuk, their allies had devoted what resources they could to track the jashinists and neutralise them whenever possible; a tall order now that Uzushio was blockaded by a gathering of land of Water clans.
Funatos.
Hozukis.
Hoshigakis.
Strange names for stranger shinobis that the Senjus had come to know intimately over this year, battling them alongside the Uzumakis to disturb their supply lines as much as possible… all the while leading the campaigns of their daimyo and fighting the likes of the Uchihas.
The fall of Jigan had led to Lord Ujimasa settling for peace with their daimyo, and the retreat of the Hyuga clan into neutrality...
That vacuum had galvanised the ambitions of many - including daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto, the man who had unleashed the Uchihas on them for more than five years now…
More than ever, the Land of Fire was soaked in the blood of their confrontations...
Itama's eyes came to rest on the crystals hidden against his chest, linked with a simple cord to form the necklace around his neck.
A simple idea that Tôka had given him, during her convalescence at the village...
His cousin had been one of the few lucky survivors of the disaster hitting Port Ryuk. While he had been castaway by Maoru-san to the land of his summons with Momotama, she had been presumed lost alongside many Senjus that day…
Even though Renji's prowess had been instrumental to their survival, that Tobirama had found them with a couple of others was nothing short of miraculous in itself!
And despite her ordeal, Tôka had kept her door open to him once he had made it back from the Land of the Frogs with Momotama-san, landing him an ear where his own brother wouldn't anymore… For that, Itama would be forever grateful to her.
"That way… you'll have something more to give her than a simple message from the Fire monks", Tôka had said when he had learnt of the fragments' existence, her voice as weak as the smile she graced him with. "It will lift her mind, whenever you find her..."
And so, he had been to Lady Rukia with them, to obtain this result.
Moonlight made the collar shine for a brief moment as his hand closed on the shards of Silima determinedly.
Tôka had been right: they would find Hashirama.
Absolutely find her!
"Shall we depart then?" came the drawling voice of Shibuya Hatake. "Those roots… even the Aburames couldn't get rid of them, they should be useful to your… friend."
All sets of eyes turned toward the foreign ninja who had finished his inspection, Itama meeting those of the young kunoichi leading them, his future sister-in-law - then the rest of them, making Mito Uzumaki feel so tiny all of a sudden.
This mission…
This was a mission of such tremendous importance, of such high stakes…
For her.
For her clan.
For Tobirama and his Senjus…
Maybe even for the fate of the entire Land of Fire. With the escalation of war there, the resources of the Senjus were stretched thin… Their daimyo was committed in battles of a scale no one had seen before, and the Clan of a Thousand Hands was instrumental in giving him the edge against his rivals… But even they had limits.
As a result, Uzushio was suffering.
The Senjus couldn't assist them as much as they needed to be… Port Ryuk had been a disaster, not only striking hard at the Senjus, but allowing time for the land of Water clans to cement their positions in the archipelago of Uzushio.
The Uzumakis couldn't dislodge them on their own anymore and the Trident had decided to seal all access to Uzushio mainland itself.
A ferocious campaign had then been led for months under the domed island, to eradicate all enemy presence. Outside, the enemies had reinforced their blockade, leaving the situation stalemated.
Her clan needed the Senjus' help to break this deadlock.
And the Senjus needed Hashirama's help to face the jashinists.
They had been a blight on the Land of Fire, as much as they had been in the Land of Whirlpools…
Mito had vowed to succeed in her quest.
Despite the risks she was personally taking with her band of allies...
Despite the ire her own father would go through once alerted of her attempt...
Despite the chances of taking the latent tensions between the Senjus and the Uzumakis to a boiling point by hiding this initiative even from her betrothed…
She had to succeed.
She had to find her!
Mito took a deep breath.
She would find her.
With the help of all those assembled around her, all her effort, all their research… All of this would pay off today!
It would succeed, she was sure of it.
"Can you feel it, her chakra…? Gamakouji-san?"
The giant-armoured Toad nodded.
"Feel" couldn't begin to describe what he was perceiving. Humans and their senses, so limited… In a way, Gamakouji pitied them. There was a reason why the Toads seldom fared with humans, even the likes of the shinobis which, at least, were capable of harnessing the power of spiritual and physical energy…
Humans were foolish.
Foolish and weak.
Gnawing at each other and the world around them, disrespecting the way of nature by consuming more than they could handle…
He hated the Snakes and even they weren't such a mouthful to deal with...
And the closest thing among them to the Toads and their philosophy?
They bathed in warfare. Despite being so endearing, Maoru-boy and his clan had been no different. And if it weren't for that old geezer Gamamaru-sama intervening on Itama-boy's behalf, never would he have accepted to take another pupil under him.
Yet, here he was, participating in this suspicious attempt to reach Itama-boy' sister, someone he only knew as the kind to endanger others by fumbling dangerous water techniques…
Foolish.
And weak.
Though the way that chakra was mingled with natural energy…? It was very intriguing, he admitted in the quiet of his mind...
"... I can. Those traces of hers will be enough."
"Then… let's do this", stated Mito in a definitive tone, her eyes roaming on the group assembled before her.
Gamakouji's head tilted, eyes glinting under the moonlight as much as Itama's necklace just did before.
"Very well. All of you, put your hands on me. I will proceed with the technique now."
They obeyed, Itama looking intimidated yet determined, Shibuya feigning indifference, and Mito teeming with both anguish and anticipation.
For a moment, nothing occurred as the Toad made a single mudra, then…
"Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
It happened immediately.
A tug forward, irresistible, and the world suddenly spiralled around the Uzumaki princess in a maelstrom of colour and wind, vanishing her and her group from this realm.
They were gone.
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They arrived under a thunderous sky.
Shadows made of flesh and metal, cloaked against the adverse elements.
As they arrived at the gates of the village, they somewhat relaxed, being welcomed and escorted by their fellow men and women through the raging storm.
Home.
It had been months since they had last set foot on their land. And they were coming back with lesser numbers than they initially left the village...
So were their lives as shinobis.
So were their lives as Senjus.
So were their lives in the Land of Fire.
The streets were deserted, both because of the time of the night, and the ferocious storm above their head.
A tall figure dispensed instructions to the assembly of warriors surrounding him, whether escorts or fellow travellers, before heading westward as the others scattered around, more or less at a leisurely pace. Only one other figure remained, accompanying the tall figure as they moved through the village battered by the rain and wind.
"Tobirama."
"... Tôka."
"Welcome back."
"It's good to be back."
The two cousins crossed a section of the village less crowded, joining a shabby shack of seemingly unscrupulous appearance that was howling under the wind…
As they descended in the bowels of the hidden tunnel under it, only lit irregularly by small torches, Tôka dogged on her little cousin once more.
"The old geezers are expecting to hear from you, you know."
"Not at this time of the night, they don't", countered Tobirama. "I'll deal with them in the morning."
"... You calculated this, didn't you?"
The white-haired Senju didn't bother with an answer: his cousin knew him too well for that question to be all but rhetorical…
"Negotiations went that bad huh? Old Tolerama won't like it."
"I can handle his disgruntling."
The truth was, he wasn't sure he could.
Meeting with the Sarutobis had been difficult, their clan having been approached only a few weeks before to enter the services of Lord Matsudaira, a notorious ally of daimyo Yoshimoto.
Potentially leading to a future alliance between the Sarutobis and the Uchihas.
And in the wake of the fall of Jigan, and the future assault planned on Tanzaku Gai by his father Butsuma, the Senjus and their daimyo couldn't allow such an alliance to take hold, derailing plans months in the making…
As a result, Tobirama had been tasked by the Elder's council on behalf of their daimyo to present a counterproposal to the Sarutobis, an exercise in futility in Tobirama's eyes: their current leader, Sarutobi Sasuke, was a mull-headed, arrogant fool. Smart too, which made for a difficult and dangerous combination.
The behemoth had been clear as they faced one another with their respective guards on a terrain close to the now occupied Jigan.
The man was a warmonger.
And more aggravatingly… a womanizer, with sordid stories following his trail throughout the northern side of the country.
'Only the meeting of our blood will be able to resolve this situation… Senju Tobirama, don't you see? In either case, I'm the one who'll end up winning here!' had been his parting words, which combined with his raucous laugh left little doubt on his intentions…
That bastard!
Tobirama had felt both anger and sorrow rise as his own delegation departed: anger at this fool for coveting his sister in such a way, sorrow for Hashirama to be still - to this day - missing.
The hope of finding her alive was looking more and more foolish every day…
"... a group of ten, subdued by me and my group" came the confident voice of Tôka. "You're welcome."
The young Senju Heir realised they had finally arrived at their destination.
A vast room, deep under the dwellings of the Naka River, far west from the village. The tunnel was a long work predating the two youngsters, a vestige from the time Rambuto, Tenma and Butsuma were themselves but teenagers…
An ideal place to handle sensitive situations - or individuals.
This far down, only one small torch was lit by the kunoichi, to spare the little oxygen that came from above through a sideway vent.
"I got the missive you sent for me in Jigan", said Tobirama, genuinely impressed. "Glad to see your skills haven't waned."
Tôka inclined her head, keeping at bay the terrors of the night that still plagued her sleeps so many months after Ryuk's leveling.
"As a great sage once said, 'it's good to be back'…" she said positively, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.
Tobirama didn't insist.
"Tenma-san already went through them with some of the other senior shinobis", the young woman continued, suddenly more serious and tense. "They're in the chamber below… and they've been neutralised. Permanently."
Tobirama scrutinized her intently; Tôka shrugged off.
"Tenma-san wasn't difficult to convince once I explained it was for you. But regardless of what your intentions are, he has been very clear: those prisoners won't see the light of days ever again. You have the week - I'll have to execute them afterward."
'If they are not already dead', went left unsaid between the two shinobis.
Tobirama nodded.
"... Alright. Thank you, cousin. I'll… take it from here. Prepare the tunnel in case of emergency and wait for me in this room at dawn."
"... Aye."
And as Tôka went out quietly from where they came, expression impassive, Tobirama sighed deeply, marching toward the set of stairs that descended further into obscurity.
Soon, the darkness swallowed him, leaving the room he just left cold and empty.
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It was instantaneous.
One moment they were standing under the moonlight, in the clearing theatre of a strife between nature and chaos…
The next? They were collecting themselves in a new setting, facing…
Trees.
Trees that were giant and swollen, surrounding them from all sides… with large green leaves and barks of a stark brown, oozing a smelly, sticky substance…
"A forest", murmured Itama, more to himself than to the others around him.
A forest yes, but unlike the one they were coming from… of a kind he had never seen before… The young Senju had known forests his whole life, as short as it was. And despite his age, he could tell instantly that this one was no ordinary forest.
So ancient.
So dense.
It felt like the trees were stretching around them to encompass them completely, as birds with strange feathers roamed far above their heads, under a canopy that let through a little hue of daylight amid its shade…
And below, an overabundance of mosses and decaying leaves were covering the ground, dulling each of the steps they made.
All of this, delved in a persistent fog of both moisture and… something else.
Something rich.
That richness. That density in the air… Itama found the sensation fascinating.
As much as the symphony of cries and sounds in his ears.
As much as the colourful vegetation before him.
As much as the choking heat.
"From darkness to daylight...?" wondered Mito aloud, astonished.
"This place…" said Gamakouji, eyes creased sternly.
"Gamakouji-san, do you know where we are?" asked Itama, as Mito and Shibuya scanned the field around them warily, trying to reconcile the shift of time they experienced.
The creature didn't answer right away, his palm leaning against one of the trees of lesser stature next to him, concentrating. For a moment, everyone remained silent, as the forest around them, trimming with life, reasserted its presence to them...
A look of concern met the eyes of Itama only moments later.
"Shikkotsu", croaked the armoured Toad with a sombre look. "The Land of the Slugs", he detailed as Mito was on the verge to ask something. "This is one of the Five natural realms, which means… that is as far as I can go."
"What?! Why?" blurted Itama.
"Gamakouji-san, we need you!" added Mito tensely.
The Toad turned to watch them, no other emotion transpiring beyond his concerned look.
"The Five Great Lands are insulated realms - strictly separated too", explained Gamakouji, unfazed. "Travelling from one to the other is a forbidden sin to all the creatures from those lands - one that is punishable by death. If I were to be found here, it would trigger a conflict between the Toads and Katsuyu and we can't have that."
"Katsuyu?" repeated Shibuya, intrigued.
"The guardian of this forest", answered the Toad. "You'll find her soon enough, but I can't be there when you do."
"Hmm… do you have any intel on her?" asked Shibuya.
Gamakouji gauged the silver-haired ninja.
He could tell the man was a true warrior, someone battle-hardened…
Still.
He needed to hammer down any notion of fighting the protector of this realm he - or any of his companions - could have.
"She's merciful… and deadly. Don't antagonise her carelessly or you will all die."
"I… see."
Gamakouji turned his attention back to his new summoner, the one he reluctantly accepted under his palm. This would be a good test to see if there was talent in him, as there used to be in Maoru-boy...
Maybe he could become more than a simple Summoner to the Toads. Maybe.
"Good luck to you, Itama-boy", said Gamakouji, eyeing the young teenager carefully. "You and your party. I hope you are successful in finding your sister. Shall the need arise, I'll call you back to me in a heartbeat."
"Thanks for everything Gamakouji-san!" bowed the young Senju.
"We'll take care of him", assured Mito, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder.
She looked with uncertainty at Shibuya, who was following the exchange nonchalantly.
"We'll take care of each other", confirmed the older ninja, finally giving in to her insisting look.
Gamakouji took a stance, then parted last words with them.
"When you cross paths with Katsuyu, be mindful of your behaviour - things should work out fine that way."
The group nodded. Satisfied, Gamakouji made a hand sign before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
"Alright, I guess it's time for me to do my thing then…" said Shibuya, moving toward the closest tree.
"Expecting something?" asked Mito.
"Always", the man answered as he jumped on said tree. "You and Itama-kun should stay alert."
And as he disappeared in the canopy above, Mito realised he was right.
They were shinobis.
They should always be expecting the unexpected…
And how unexpected could things turn out to be in such a mythical place?
How ?
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Shibuya didn't know what to think.
From the look of it, they were in the heart of this forest, verdure seemingly stretching to the horizon…
This high up the forest had a timeless feeling, looking so verdant and visibly untouched by human hands - at the very least. And how could it not have been? For all he knew, they might have been the first humans to step foot here.
Well, after Hashirama-san, at least…
The older ninja could feel it, the mystical nature of this land; the way chakra seemed to be imbued into everything, woven into the very fabric of leaves, and mosses and trees - even the wind… was uncanny.
What would be waiting for them here? What wonders? What dangers?
Shikkotsu.
That's the name the Toad had called this realm, under the watchful protection of its guardian, Katsuyu…
So… a sanctuary of sorts.
If the kamis were on their side, this forest would prove to have been one for the Senju princess, a place where she'd have been sheltered by the ancient forces roaming it.
If he was realistic though… the girl would have had to face a deadly menace as soon as she landed here… Would she have been strong enough to overcome it? In any shape to do so, even? That was the question, indeed…
He knew her to be powerful. He had witnessed incredible things from her during that fight against the two jashinists… She was an exceptional shinobi, and if years and wars were kind to her, she would be so for a long time…
If.
Shibuya hummed the air, pristine and rich in fragrances unknown.
Never would he have imagined finding himself here, two years ago.
Tracking down those fanatics had been his sole objective at the time… obsession even.
And with the escalation of conflict between them and the established clans of shinobis on the continent, he had found himself suddenly at the centre of scrutiny from many, with people eager to learn the intel he had gathered over time on the jashinists.
Time and effort well spent, if it meant it could even prevent the loss of one life at the hand of those murderers… sparing someone from going through the same hell he did…
That the Uzumaki princess had approached him to track down Hashirama Senju was a real surprise though.
Firstly, he hadn't been aware the Senju girl had been missing.
The Senjus had been surprisingly cagey when it came to her the few times he had worked with them, but Shibuya had chalked it off as them prizing this much the kunoichi…
After all, he remained a stranger to them, and they to him as well…
Secondly, the mission Mito-san came to him with wasn't sanctioned by the Uzumakis, nor the Senjus, in any way: the direct involvement of the Uzumaki princess in it was telling.
Even though they were at the forefront of the battles against the land of water clans and tracking down the jashinists, the Uzumaki clan couldn't be stretched so thin that they would have relied on someone as important as her to lead such an operation.
But the Uzumaki princess had been persuasive: the Senju girl was close to her, close to the Senju leadership, and both clans would look favorably to him if he managed to track her down and bring her back from wherever she was…
Moreover, Mito Uzumaki had committed herself to finance Shibuya's personal vendetta against the jashinists, which would allow him to focus only on the task at hand and nothing else...
Having spent some time with the Senju girl gave him an edge on any of the shinobi-for-hire that could have had the skills to track her, as well as the necessary experience and strength to confront the jashinists or any of the dangers along the way.
Fierce. Talented. Good-natured.
Hashirama Senju had been a wonderful surprise to Shibuya: a true force of nature, someone despondent and capable and rightful...
He even liked her little brother, Itama and the strong determination he showed despite his young age...
Accepting the offer from Mito Uzumaki hadn't been difficult for him.
A decision that had led him to meet the legendary summons from Mount Myoboku, and to stand atop of a tree in a forest that used to be a myth for him still an hour ago…
Life could be strange sometimes.
Shibuya scanned the environment around him.
Even up in such towering trees, he could smell and hear the flux below with perfection, as if his senses had been awakened by the forest… and the otherworldly setting didn't stop him from picking on something… promising.
Deep to the east, he could make out a spire, reflecting the light of the sun vibrantly - a structure of golden shards, alien to the rest of the woods.
With anticipation, he noted the position of the sun above their heads, and relating to the distance of the structure, before dropping back to his companions on the ground of moss and mushrooms.
"There is a lead", he reported. "A strange structure, far east. I can't sense her chakra yet - but it's not from here, like her."
"How far?"
"Two days, at most, and assuming we move cautiously through this unknown territory."
"Two days it is then", cut Mito. "Lead the way, Shibuya-san."
And so he did, crossing crystal-clear streams meandering throughout the massive trees and the colourful vegetation; a latent phosphorescence was reverberating through the constant fog around them, illuminating their way softly on the carpeted forest floor.
Then twilight descended on them, and the setting changed.
As the day transited into night, the woods seemed to transform into an elaborate illusion that even the most expert genjutsu practitioner couldn't dream of: constellations of blurry stars were twinkling through the darkened canopy, casting a celestial net of light upon the forest floor. Emerging fireflies were painting trails of luminescence around the three shinobis as they flew from tree to tree, accompanying them, allowing them to plot their course through the air.
Even the streams of waters they crossed were imbued with a subtle shimmer reflecting off the lights above…
Shibuya sped up, the two others trailing close behind him, the repetitive thump of their footsteps settling in his ears.
They were fast, managing to keep up with his steady pace, despite his better senses and experience - even the Uzumaki princess which was by far the least experienced of the trio when it came to nocturnal tree-hoping…
The ninja liked that.
This meant they could keep pushing through the woods as long as the night was this clear, the forest this flooded with sources of light, gaining time on the duration of their journey...
"We'll bivouac here", came his voice after two hours of this constant regimen.
The darkness had progressed too much now to continue: the outlines of the branches and trees were now barely visible, and the starlight from above had dimmed to a minimum… It was time.
Their group had stopped near a natural alcove of sorts, made of the crossing of two gnarled trees with a taller one. Shibuya examined the location, all his senses on alert…
Beyond a weak and stale oily odour, and the smudging of mosses across the barks, there was no doubt this area was deserted…
"Surely the nesting place of some animal, but it's long gone now", declared Shibuya, hand on the trunk. "I'll make the first shift, you two can rest for now. Make sure to set up quietly. We'll stay here until dawn."
The two others obeyed, trusting the man's analysis, as the faint hooting of an owl accompanied them into the night.
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What had started as a desperate attempt to find his family across untold distances had turned into a personal obsession for Tobirama, once he realised that maybe, in the future, this could turn into a true asset for the Senjus…
Transcending time.
Transcending space.
What if transcending both of their limitations was a real possibility? To the point of traversing the veil between the living and the dead itself…?
What if the frontier between the Pure Land and this Impure world could be broken… and crossed? To bring back those who had departed…?
Tobirama felt somewhat guilty about that line of thinking, to prospect beyond what his heart craved for: hope…
But reality had a way to impose itself upon everyone.
And the current reality was that the war had escalated between their daimyo and the one ruling over the Uchihas…
With the arrival of new allies, combat had intensified against the troops of daimyo Yoshimoto. And it was becoming difficult for the Senjus to both support the Uzumakis, triumph in the name of their daimyo on his battlefields, and face off the hordes led by their enemies…
Without Hashirama, the Clan of a Thousand Hands was pushed to its limits: Tobirama knew they needed an edge, now more than ever, if they were to face and prevail on the challenges to come.
And that jutsu, born of his anguish and despair at reaching for his little brother… and his older sister… wherever they might have been… that jutsu… It could very well change everything for his clan.
Everything.
Sometimes, the young Senju cursed the workings of his mind…
Theorising had been a hard, treacherous path.
Even the Uzumakis and their ability to weaponize the Shinigami had acknowledged this simple truth: acquiring a summoning contract from the dead was impossible.
So Tobirama had to work around this impossibility to find a solution… Settling for the obvious choice: create one. To bind him, the summoner, with the individual being summoned back to this world...
The process of research in itself had been stimulating: figuring out how to transpose to the world such an unnatural intent, identifying the proper Anchoring, then hand seals to balance this… jutsu… and the consequences it could potentially lead to in order to harness it, what manner of chakra was needed to fuel it and the amount to activate it…
All those were extremely complex problems to solve, taking months of Tobirama's time to deal with, between campaigns and fighting and the few days he scrapped in Uzushio doing research and opposing the land of water clans…
And all of this was coming to an end here, with him being able to test it today for the first time...
On the mortal enemies of his own clan no less.
How fitting… Everything had led up to this.
The door closed with a loud clang behind Tobirama. The chamber was dark and cold - only a small torch kept the shadows somewhat at bay. One of such shadows stirred.
Tobirama gritted his teeth.
The Uchihas had had their eyes ripped out, their hands cut off, their legs bludgeoned. Tôka hadn't lied: their lives would end here, no matter what.
Tobirama unfurled the scroll he had prepared for this ritual - a work of art. The sealing contract stand-in he had carefully crafted throughout the spring. It would activate once the soul of the summoned came back to this worldly plane, made possible by a gift from the living world to anchor it.
A life for a life… Theoretically.
Tobirama went to the shadow in front of him first: one of a burly man whose face had been pummelled into submission, whose body had been thoroughly broken and whose health seemed the least tethering to life itself, from the host of prisoners at his disposal.
The young Senju eyed his shackles carefully, pondering on whether or not they would somehow interfere with the experiment he was attempting, before releasing the prisoner from the wall holding him.
The man fell on the ground loudly, inert and barely breathing - Tobirama had to grab him by his arms and drag him to the spot he needed to be near the scroll, with weak audible protests coming from him...
Then, kunai in hand, he went to the closest shadow, a woman barely older than Hashirama would have been, who had been going through the whole ordeal with whimpering fear. He held up the kunai, ready to slash her neck and end her with it - only to stop mid-air, the irrational thought of his older sister steadying his hand. For all his preparation, was he really ready to do this? To risk everything, including the survival of his remaining family, of his clan? And trample the lives of those standing in its way? He was reaching uncharted - and he knew, taboo - territory with the development of such a technique. The risk of it backfiring was so very real… He could die or, worse yet, die while unleashing a scourge on his clan that no one would be able to stop…
"No one… except Hashirama", murmured Tobirama, before admonishing himself over the unruly thought. Hashirama. It had been a year. An entire year of searching, an entire year of yearning to find her, to bring her back… A full year of strain and complete despair for his clan.
Like Itama, he was being a fool here… Itama, who had been found and retrieved from Mount Myobokou by the Uzumakis, still hoping for a similar resolution with their sister, throwing himself into every patrol in the vain search of their missing sister…
Explosive tags had been carefully laid out by Tôka on her way out. It should be enough to condemn the access to this room in case something catastrophic happened…
And if not...
Mito was on her way to Tanzaku Gai, escorted by some tracker the Uzumakis used to work with, and some of their troops…
If push came to shoves, she could make her way to the village, and then...
She would be able to overcome the technique if he could not, even if she would hate him for it.
In fact, the chance was she would hate him for creating such a technique in the first place, regardless of its success or its failure. Not unlike Hashirama, his betrothed loved life too much to accept how far he was willing to desecrate it…
And he loved her too much to care about it, as long as she was here, with him.
Love.
The thought gave Tobirama pause, as he scrutinized for answers in the cavities where the eyes of the young Uchiha woman in front of him used to be... Would Mito forgive him over this transgression? Would have Hashirama? His grip tightened around the kunai as he realised that he was willing to endure the hate if it meant his sister came back to him, found alive and safe somehow… and with her, an insurance on the future of their entire clan. He would end this war without regret. This?
This was his way to do it.
Without a word, the Senju slit the frail throat in front of him and watched silently as the life bled out of the young prisoner in a matter of seconds.
He ignored the muffled screams coming from the other shadows in the corners as he turned to the scroll on the ground and slammed his bloodied palm on it, pouring Ying chakra at the same time.
"Know this: your death will allow me to end this war", he calmly told them as the scroll started fuming, hissing, bloodied ink slowly leaking out from it… too slowly. Somehow, despite all of his calculations, the jutsu wasn't activating.
Could it be that it didn't work?
But Tobirama discarded the thought immediately as the fumes from the scroll floated in front of him faintly. His concept was sound - the reaction it caused, no matter how small in scale, was proof… And then it clicked in his mind, making all the sense in the world.
More chakra.
The jutsu needed more Ying chakra to activate, for the scroll had been infused previously with Yang chakra... It was a tenet of chakra production that would be essential for its success, Tobirama understood instinctively.
A disproportionate amount for a disproportionate demand...
So.
More Ying chakra he poured.
Again.
And again.
Until... he felt something connect somewhence.
Suddenly, ink erupted powerfully from the scroll, in volumes ten times those of the offered blood, rushing on the ground to form the technique's formulae Tobirama had carefully scribed...
The script for the Pure world.
The script for the Impure world.
The symbol to draw in the summons.
And in its centre: the seal to shackle its repository - the burly man with the now ragged breath.
It was working.
It was working and already, the connection flickered in and out from Tobirama's mind's eye, disrupting the sense of overwhelming peace and beauty coming from the other side…
This was it.
Now was the time.
Four realms. Four signs. Quickly!
Tiger.
Snake.
Dog.
Dragon.
Tobirama clasped his hands, closing the ritual, and drew his breath.
"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei!"
Deafening silence befell in the room, Tobirama and the shadows holding their breath and wondering all for a moment if the ritual hadn't simply failed, for nothing seemed to occur...
Then, the kanji on the scroll lazily swirled at Tobirama's feet, forever breaking the mechanics of this world as the sense of purity faded away, as a tragic sense of loss settled in Tobirama's chest in its stead, as it devoured his chakra reserves greedily, making him sick to his stomach…
And there was doubt no more.
A gust of unnatural wind arose in the room drifting around the still immobile figure in the centre of the special seal, drawing dust and ash out of nothing around the man.
Then, they coalesced onto him, fusing, wrestling one last hellish scream from the writhing man, shaking Tobirama's heart to the core, before silencing him forever. His cramped figure was now smaller and lankier and when a pale and anguished Tobirama approached him, it was a confused young woman that looked back at him…
The very same one that he had executed moments earlier.
He had succeeded.
.
.
.
"Wh-what happened?" croaked the young Uchiha, eyes wide and looking fearfully at Tobirama.
Her voice… like nails on a chalkboard.
Her eyes no longer white on black pupils, but pits of darkness around clear orbs.
Her skin grey and wrinkled like that of a corpse made of paper and wood…
Inhuman, imperfect but yet… successful.
And costly.
"So, you can talk", Tobirama stated to himself, while examining the Uchiha.
"You… I… remember", the woman murmured slowly. "You attacked me!"
Tobirama noted how decayed the body seemed to be - no longer holding the gruesome wounds of his former owner, but still in no shape to pass for a living being. Was this something he could do something about? Further restoration of the body might cost him even more chakra, for what were objectively cosmetic results...
Because he, on the other hand, had depleted much of his chakra reserves in the attempt… More than half he could tell…
Meaning the summoning in its current form was consuming too much chakra to be viable in combat, even for the likes of him who had aplenty… He would need to refine the jutsu, certainly redesign the seals and the scripts on the scroll to be less taxing, if such a thing was even possible with the high threshold activation of this jutsu… He would have to tiptoe his way around for this, he knew…
That meant more experiments.
More sacrifices.
At the very least, he still had enemies to dispose of for that particular endeavour…
He would perfect the jutsu.
The resurrected woman snarled and tried to lunge at him, interrupting his train of thought only to be met with the sturdy leg of Tobirama who sent her crashing on the wall.
"I told you: your death will help me end this war," Tobirama repeated. "This is just the beginning, for all of you."
"No Senju, this is your end!" the woman spat as her Sharingan activated.
Only, they met the closed eyes of the Senju warrior who smirked as he crouched next to her.
"You were foolish to assume I wasn't prepared for this, Uchiha", he said simply as a sealing tag found its way to the woman's forehead.
She snarled angrily but he felt it: the chakra-suppressing seal was working; he could feel the subtle tendril of chakra funnelling from him to her contract to its simplest expression. Tobirama opened his eyes in time to see her sharingan dissolve back into two white orbs of hatred.
"You - what have you done to me?" she snarled looking over his shoulder at her original and now dead body. "What kind of devil jutsu is this?"
"The kind of jutsu that will put an end to this war", Tobirama answered while shackling her back to the wall, ignoring her attempts at kicking him on joints or other vulnerable parts of his body.
She had good aim but lacked both strength and now chakra to make them harmful to him. Once he was done, he sat on the ground in front of her, closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of his chakra as the Uchiha progressively lost even the energy to shout at him...
He could feel the constricted connection between his chakra network and hers, how his own chakra was unable to stretch the boundaries imposed by the suppressing seal and how little of it was now pouring between the two of them. It was as unnatural a sensation to him as the nature of his new jutsu would be to others - rightfully so.
Still.
By immersing himself into his chakra and focusing on its flow, he could feel tentatively the contour it was drawing of her network while slowly pouring into her. Unsteadily. Uncooperatively. Unruly at every turn, every section, every relief, escaping his will despite his vigilance, only to cascade into her depths meaninglessly… He could feel how different her network was from his - not just that, but how different it felt from anyone Tobirama had ever encountered.
Family.
Friends.
Enemies.
All their networks were thrumming with activity, chakra relentlessly traveling from one end of the body to the other, stretching the network, shaping it and re-shaping it at every passage. Even the dead - the real dead - always retained the ghostly traces of previously harboured life into them, their chakra network decaying as much as the corpses, collapsing onto themselves into mazing ruins.
But hers?
There was nothing to see.
No chakra beyond his own, no trace of decay or decadence, only stillness seemingly favouring the gateway from his chakra… So strange: despite noting earlier the glaring physical discrepancies, it was only now while discovering the extent of his transgression that Tobirama realized how mistaken he had been.
This woman was not alive at all, she was not dead either.
She - it - mimicked the signs of life but was no longer human, a pale copy of her former self...
A grotesque creature from his own doing.
Tobirama pushed back the sudden feeling of inadequacy and shame to focus once again on his chakra - and the implication of what he was experiencing and instinctively understood while journeying throughout her network.
Shinobi used chakra to power their techniques, regardless of their natures: this meant chakra had to be malaxed then transported into precise proportions to the relevant area in their bodies to be exploited for the techniques, a feat made possible by the existence of the chakra network.
Hers... - Its network simply existed, as rigid and still as the ground Tobirama was sitting on, without the vibrancy caused by life, or crumbling caused by death. Without the suppleness, elasticity and reactivity of a live network, chakra would have a difficult time to circulate into it… or rather, a difficult time to circulate efficiently into it.
Chakra loss was favoured by the nature of the creature's network's design: the chakra travelled from the source to its intended destination, yes, but at the cost of filling not just the path taken, but every crevasse and rivulet on the way, the rigidity of the network not allowing for precise chakra distribution in the body. As a result, each technique relying on chakra would be much, much more costly than it would normally be for the creature, with a disgustingly high amount of chakra being wasted in order to execute it…
Would the creature even realize this?
Tobirama doubted it. The young Senju felt how cold and void it was, existing beyond what the perimeter of life should entail: it made his skin crawl.
It was only because he was the summoner, and so attuned with chakra and gifted with sensory senses beyond the norm, that he could realize the derelict happening in it... That Uchiha probably hadn't realized that flaw ensconced in what was a blind spot for the summoned. The creature had no clue the chakra it had used to trigger its Sharingan previously was pooled directly from his own reserves, rather than kneaded by it… The act of kneading was probably beyond it actually, any attempt being in reality a siphoning of Tobirama's reserves.
Maybe if it turned its Sharingan to inward exploration, the creature would realize how disfigured her network actually was, but there was little it could do about it, let alone about Tobirama being the source of its chakra...
In any case, this was a crippling issue for this jutsu, at least in a combat situation.
He had reached her Hare; from here, he could scout out the entirety of her network by expanding his chakra into her. It would take an excruciating amount of time to do so while having the suppressing seal activated on her, but he knew the security was necessary and had all the time in the world to further his exploration. Patiently, he threaded his chakra in her network, noting pathways and irregularities to the ones he was familiar with. A unique opportunity to understand the physiology of the Uchihas, to study their Sharingan and eventually find a weakness to exploit…
.
.
.
They set off the next morning at the crack of dawn, and quickly found their rhythm as the forest woke up around them.
What surprised Shibuya the most was how… familiar the fauna and flora was to him.
Pools of deep blue water, scattered around like beacons of sustenance, offered glimpses into the local inhabitants as they came to refresh themselves there, offering to the three shinobis their sight through the waters' surfaces, rippling with their ephemeral reflections.
Animals of all kinds that crossed their path from time to time as well, unique in the colours they were displaying, or the nature of their hides: exquisite silvery serpents, shimmering butterflies, elusive, red-bottomed macaques or curious ebony deer…
All flitting and sliding between the trees, forming a ballet of life dancing to nature's rhythm.
Combined with the extravagant vegetation and the imbued fog, it made for a spectacular symphony.
All in all, their journey through Shikkotsu the next day was remarkable, even if uneventful.
Being only three, they travelled at a good pace, covering a large amount of terrain and stopping seldomly at water sources for a quick meal made of bread and fruits.
"What do you think we'll find at that structure, Shibuya-san?" asked Itama at one such halt.
It was the middle of the afternoon, and they expected to have made roughly a third of the journey toward it, all the while scouting the areas for any trace of human presence or tracks - unsuccessfully so far. Shibuya shrugged non-committaly.
"Who knows. The only certainty is that this structure isn't natural."
"Could it be man-made?" asked Mito, a large frown marring her face.
"A spire this tall and made with such a strange material?" said Shibuya, eyes roaming in the forest. "I doubt it, but then again, this land is not a normal land… Maybe things like this are possible here."
Mito hummed.
"Maybe a jutsu then…"
The two others watched her closely, pondering her words.
"If that's the case, we'll have to be ready to subdue the caster", she continued, thinking out loud. "Luckily, it could be Hashirama…"
Shibuya remained silent. His sensing abilities hadn't been able to perceive any trace of her chakra here since their arrival - her being involved with the making of that structure was doubtful to him.
"And if it's Katsuyu?" asked Itama, somewhat worriedly.
"You heard Gamakouji-san: be a diplomat about it", came the laconic answer of Shibuya, getting a smile out of both Itama and Mito.
"No need to cross that bridge until we reach it: we'll deal with this when the time's come", assured Mito Uzumaki.
"Aye."
As forecasted by Shibuya, they reached the structure the second day of their travel, unimpaired.
It was even more impressive from up close, its sides reflecting powerfully the light of the sun, magnifying it enough to pierce through large portions of the fog in the area.
Pools of a fuming substance were surrounding it and, instinctively, they all understood they shouldn't come into contact with it under any circumstance.
"Acid", simply said Shibuya as they examined the amber-like structure from a distance." Itama, wait!"
The younger shinobi had already jumped beyond the barrage of deadly substances, landing on the other side, close to the monument of amber.
His heart missed a beat for an instant, as he recognized immediately the figure trapped inside, frozen in time.
A figure that had been haunting his best dreams and his worst nightmares for the better part of the last year.
The figure they had come so far away to find.
The figure of Hashirama.
"Big sis'! BIG SIS'! Hashirama!" he shouted frantically as his fist hit forcefully the amber-like structure.
"No way…" reacted Mito, as she jumped beyond the pools of acid too. "This can't be…"
"You fools!" yelled Shibuya, all his senses on alert as he followed suit. "This is no childish display: this whole area has been staged…"
He quieted somewhat at the sight of the Senju teenager, her long hair floating around her, seemingly asleep behind this wall of amber.
"A trap?" hypothesized Mito tensely, probing the structure…
"It's rudimentary, but there's no mistake: someone made this, yes", stated Shibuya, eyes calculating. "At least, she is alive in there, I can faintly feel her chakra… But this area might be observed right now…!"
Itama felt suddenly on edge. He couldn't see anything abnormal beyond what was presented in front of him: the spire, the pools of acid, the sparse vegetation… and his sister, alive! Everything seemed fine.
Better than fine and…
"It's too quiet", the young Senju realised with a start. "No animals, no nothing!"
He was right, thought Mito. The absence of sound had been gradual, as the structure loomed closer and closer before them, so they hadn't realised it at first... but now that it was pointed out, it was blatant.
"We should free her…"
"Not yet…", cut Shibuya, unsheathing one of his swords. "You two, be ready for anything."
As Shibuya ushered those words, the ground beneath their feet started to shake as never before.
And before they realised it, a colossal form emerged from the depths of the earth, soon towering over the spire as if it was nothing…
It was a creature whose movements were slow and deliberate, the weight of its immensity and the rhythmic pulse of its motions creating shockwaves that reverberated through the landscape, rearranging terrain and shattering the ground like an earthquake would, transforming the earth beneath them into a tumultuous wave of upheaval.
With a shock, Itama realised it was a slug that was defying the very fabric of nature's scale, a living embodiment of its immense power.
"Jump!" ordered Shibuya. "NOW!"
His two companions reacted in unison, moving as far as they dared, while the Slug emerged from its slumbers beneath the surface, its movements echoing the ebb and flow of tectonic forces, projecting acid everywhere, shaking the spire where Hashirama rested...
At the front of its enormous body, a pair of immense, multi-faceted eyes glowing with an ancient intelligence watched them move. Eyes shimmering with a luminescence that pierced through them, casting an eerie radiance not unlike the lights from the previous nights…
Itama wondered how much these eyes were the product of Shikkotsu, and how much Shikkotsu was a product of them; they seemed to hold the wisdom of ages.
The young Senju felt crushed by the slug's presence as he landed atop one of the giant trees, awe and fear and anger disputing the control of his mind in equal measure.
The creature's body seemed infinite, its undulating form emerging from the ground was rippling with segmented layers of iridescent chitin that caught the light in mesmerizing patterns… Its hue shifted between deep, earthy white and vibrant metallic blues, giving it an otherworldly allure. Jagged ridges adorned its sides, refuges to an abundance of mosses, fungi, and bioluminescent flora.
Its underbelly was lined with rows of gaping vents that released steam and gases, contributing to the eerie atmosphere that surrounded it, while acid was melting the rock beneath it…
A deep, resonant bellow that echoed across the forest and pierced their ears resonated, a sound of primal nature, sending vibrations through the air that reverberated in the chests of the three shinobis who dared to witness its presence.
They realised Shikkotsu had finally awakened its ultimate guardian, the titanic slug finishing to traverse the earth before them, with a graceful yet unsettling fluidity…
"Katsuyu", Itama breathed, astounded.
"IN THE FLESH", came the creature's answer as a blow of sound strong, profound… feminine.
Away, a flock of birds took to the sky, leaving behind them the confrontation of small men with a primal force of nature.
.
.
.
Nothing worked.
His ninjutsu was thwarted every time.
His taijutsu was useless and neutered with humiliating ease.
And genjutsu? It never had been an option in this fight…
It never was when one was facing the Uchihas. And this one, this ninja he was facing…?
He was powerful.
A perfect mix of talent and fury - and deadly force …
A beast…
A demon.
Horuma gritted his teeth.
"Uchiha… SCUM!" he spat, both defiant and desperate.
Izuna smirked.
"And now… your doom", stated the young Uchiha.
Izuna' scythe met the sword of the enemy once more, in a clash that pushed the latter back easily.
Taking advantage of this small lull, Madara Uchiha surged up high in the air as his younger brother lept away, his hands flying through mudras as his characteristic gunbai found its way on his back once more, eyes red with passion and a hunger for blood…
The shinigami made manifest, in the eyes of Homura, looking up…
"Katon: Gokamekakyuu!"
Madara' sentence fell from the sky, like the roaring wave of flames he produced to strike the ground; Horuma made a final prayer to the kamis as the attack devoured him and the ranks of his allies and companions, devastating their lines and sending their army in disarray.
A world of fire that ravaged the land and left its witnesses astounded - the heat was so intense it forced back Izuna and some of the Uchihas' own allies…
All in all, this was the perfect timing for a final push, and Lord Yoshimoto Imagawa didn't miss it.
"Charge!" hollered the giant, tilting his mount to the air, sword brandished.
"AYE!" roared his men, brandishing swords of their own.
And as the call resonated through the war drums, a wave of riders this time surged from the west, swift as the wind and powerful as the man who led them.
The enemy troops were no match for them.
Surprised and disorganised, the remaining lines of soldiers were toppled and strewn all around the battlefield, in a sea of agony and death...
"Forward! Forward men!" incited the daimyo, unhinged as his sword went through one of the retreating enemies.
His soldiers obeyed with abandon to the order, marching on, crushing anything - anyone! - who stood in their way.
And as the Uchihas overcame the remnant shinobis opposing them, the battle turned to a bloodshed, as more and more enemies retreated, collapsing their remaining defensive lines...
"No escape for you!" spat the blurring figure of Izuna, his scythe lobing off the head of a running ninja cleanly.
"Cower before the might of the Uchihas!" roared Madara, as he dawned on a group of three shinobis and flattened them with a powerful gust of his warfan.
The massacre lasted until the sun ran past its zenith.
By then, there was no army left to fight, just a few souls spared to spread the word of this new tale about the Uchihas demons…
Lord Yoshimoto entered the city of Shangri-la unchallenged, its population stricken and subdued, its nobles praying for his mercy.
"This state of bliss… it's all thanks to you, Madara."
The man was in his lodgings, camping outside the city as his men had seized control of it, a drink in hand and ambition alight in him.
Outside, the sun was fading away quickly.
"You and your Uchihas", added the nobleman, now sitting amicably. "That warfan of yours and the scythe wielded by your brother Izuna are quite the special weapons… Takumi village, huh? Maybe I should order for one of my own fufufu…"
Standing stiffly, the young Uchiha didn't answer. His eyes were roaming between the two samurais that were focused on his every movement, and the sight of a masked woman, seated close to the daimyo, in quite the revealing attire.
It stirred an appetite in him he didn't know he had until very recently…
"We only act on the orders from my father… lord Yoshimoto", corrected Madara, troubled. "All the praise goes to him and his sagacity."
"Of course, of course… Such a loyal son!" placated the older leader. "I admire Tajima-san for that, you know… Though, and I mean no disrespect to your father, you seem to gather much more support from your troops than he ever did."
He wasn't lying.
Madara knew he had garnered quite the reputation, both in the eyes of his enemies and his own clansmen. A fervour that excited him even more whenever the time to spill blood had come…
Today had been no different.
And with the capture of Shangri-La, that was another route under the control of their daimyo, and another gathering of shinobis that fell under the purview of the Uchihas. The north would soon be theirs.
And all those successes were not attached to his father's name… but to his own.
The masked woman got up, drink in hand, and Madara felt all considerations drift away with her, as she retired to an adjacent room.
A slip-up didn't miss by Lord Yoshimoto, as he finished his own drink quietly.
"By the way… I heard news from your clan."
"What news?... My lord."
Lord Yoshimoto took his time, fishing for a reaction from Madara, but the latter didn't move, waiting for an answer.
"How is your cousin Hikako? Did she fight well today like you two brothers?"
"She did", answered Madara non-committaly. "Why do you ask?"
"I know of the whereabouts of some of your vanished clansmen."
Madara tensed.
He knew that before him, how?
"Who gave you this information? If I may ask."
Lord Yoshimoto chuckled, sensing the questions brought to the young Uchiha's mind by his revelation.
"A friend", he finally admitted, still smiling.
"... You shouldn't take kindly to strangers, let alone spies, my lord", stated Madara, suppressing his ire.
"A friend of mine is a friend of the Uchihas, boy… though I'll keep that in mind."
Lord Yoshimoto was suave, Madara admitted. Still, his impatience was showing, regardless of the status of the man in front of him. Perceptive, the daimyo didn't hold out any longer.
"The Senjus caught wind of your movements near Tanzaku Gai. One of your advanced scouting parties was seized by them two weeks ago, I believe it was Hikako' sister's group…"
"Rûta's group."
"Yes, the very one."
Madara wondered how well-informed Lord Yoshimoto was if he knew that Hikako had a sister… Was he monitoring them all, or her specifically? Without them noticing…? Moreover…
"Send words to Hikako-san", concluded Yoshimoto, getting up before moving to the adjacent room like his concubine did before. "If I can do anything to help her sister Rûta, I will."
He left behind a Madara white with anger.
If Hikako's older sister truly had fallen into Senjus' hands… There would be hell to pay!
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.
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Author's note: Season 3 is finally here!
Thank you for your patience over this summer's pause, and for taking the time to read the first chapter of this third season of Hashirama's journey as a shinobi!
Mito Uzumaki has assembled quite the eclectic squad to try and locate Hashirama!
With results beyond anything she could have imagined…
How will the encounter with Katsuyu unfold?
Meanwhile, Tobirama is tampering dangerously with fringe concepts… and dire consequences! Failure isn't an option…
And Madara is ready to go on a warpath, for the sake of one Uchiha…
…We'll see how these situations evolve in the next chapter of this third season!
Until then, dear readers!