Chapter 5: Law of the Land

Valley of the End

Madara released the summoning as realization dawned. "To be able to contain the Kyuubi, and resist my summoning, the Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu is formidable indeed," he intoned. Relaxing his grip on his weapons, Madara set them down, turning away from Harribel to face Hashirama. "I said you would lead the village into darkness, but to think you would seal the Kyuubi into your own wife…"

Hashirama took a breath to answer, but was beaten by Mito, who proudly declared; "I sealed the Kyuubi within myself."

Madara looked genuinely surprised at this.

"We all must make sacrifices in the name of peace, and becoming a Jinchuriki is the burden I chose to bear, of my own free will."

Tobirama rounded on his brother and sister in law. "You mean to say that the Nine Tailed Demon Fox is sealed within Mito, and you didn't think to tell me?" he demanded. Receiving no reply, he turned back to face Madara and the blonde woman. "We shall be having words when this is over," he ground out.

Hashirama shook his head and stepped forward. "No. I'll explain it now. I was going to reveal it at the Kage summit, but I should not have kept this from you, Tobirama."

He then gestured to Madara, raising his voice a little. "You proved to me the destructive capabilities of the tailed beasts, Madara, and it gave me an idea. With the Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu, we can contain these tailed beasts into vessels, distributed across the elemental nations. With each nation possessing the power of a tailed beast, the threat of mutually assured destruction will bring about the true end of all conflict."

The Hokage's words were brimming with hope, but Madara only shook his head. "You are a naive, asinine fool. Making the existence of Jinchuriki known across the elemental nations will only spark further war as each nation bargains, backstabs and betrays to obtain more tailed beasts. No, you may create a facade of peace, but peace brought about by threat of mutual destruction is merely changing the definition of 'war'."

Hashirama paused to contemplate Madara's words, and then reined in his killing intent, though the reiatsu he was radiating was still immense. "Madara…you were like a brother to me."

Tobirama flinched at this; "Need I remind you that the Uchiha killed our brothers?!"

Hashirama ignored the outburst. "You should have stayed by my side. Even if you would never hold the title of Hokage, you know that your words hold meaning to me."

"And yours are as empty to me as your head must be!" Madara roared. "Izuna died by Tobirama's hand, and despite our truce and the establishment of the Hidden Leaf, Uchiha persecution at the hands of the Senjus has only worsened over the years! The only path to true peace is inscribed within the Uchiha stone tablet, handed down by the Sage of Six Paths himself, and without the sharingan you will never be able to decipher it!"

"Then decipher it for me. Come back to the Hidden Leaf, Madara," Hashirama pleaded, reaching under his breastplate and fishing out an amber necklace. He tossed it at Madara.

Madara caught it deftly, and sucked in a breath of surprise. The leaf with a hole in the middle that had inspired him to name the village was there, encased in glowing, pristine amber. It was a beautiful and thoughtful use of Hashirama's wood release, but despite his skill at preserving the leaf, Madara could still see the barest shadow of a split where he had slashed the leaf in two. "Why…why would you try to mend this? You know I slashed it as a symbol of my intentions toward you, and the village."

"Because I should not have been swayed by Tobirama. I should have made the feudal lords wait while I cleared the air with you first the instant I suspected you overheard him. I repaired this leaf because, to me, it is a symbol of our dreams having been fulfilled, and of the last time we laughed together. I will cherish it forever."

"Brother, have you gone mad?!" Tobirama was beside himself in disbelief.

"Silence, Tobirama. Do not think I was unaware of your dealings with the clan heads and feudal lords against Madara. After I thought him dead, I was content to let bygones be bygones, but you will not undermine me again." Hashirama's words left no room for argument. Tobirama suddenly felt very small.

Madara stared down at the amber; his eyes were burning, and his lips were dry. "Yet now I hold this symbol in my hand." He clasped his fingers around the amulet. "This is an insult to our battle! You insult your own victory by keeping all these mementos of me! " He gestured to his grave, and to the gigantic stone statue carved from the face of the valley. "I am your enemy!" His hand was trembling.

"Then crush it." Hashirama spoke softly. "Crush it, and tell me that the dream of peace you and I shared was a lie. Tell me that, were it you who had won, you truly would have marched on the village - the village you built with your own two hands!"

Nobody moved a muscle. Neither shinigami knew what to make of the exchange, and Harribel's mind was racing at the revelation that Hashirama was as powerful as Madara. She couldn't open a garganta and just escape, now that two shinigami had seen both Madara and herself, but could she really beat all the people here on her own?

The seconds that ticked by felt like minutes as Madara held the amulet a bit longer, before finally tossing it back at Hashirama. "I am dead, Hashirama. I am a hollow. There is nothing I can do for you, now."

"That's not true!" Hashirama argued; "These guys here -" he motioned at Hitsugaya and Matsumoto - "are shinigami. They're spiritual entities like yourself, and they can use artificial bodies called gigai to interact with the living world!"

Now it was Hitsugaya's turn to be outraged. "Have you absorbed nothing of what we just told you? He is a hollow! You cannot reason with a hollow!"

"I am reasoning with a hollow at this very moment." Hashirama stated, matter of factly. "Madara is also clearly not a white monster with a tail, and also has his memories intact. Forgive me for wanting to believe an old friend of decades over two strangers I met only hours ago," he finished coldly.

Rangiku took this opportunity to ask a pressing question she had; "Hey Hokage, I get that you used some fancy technique to be able to see hollows and all, but how are they able to see and hear them?" She gestured at Tobirama and Mito.

"I'm sharing some of my nature chakra with them. In fact, you could say I'm sharing some of your reiatsu that I've gathered using sage mode." Hashirama explained.

Rangiku nodded dumbly. He had essentially explained nothing as far as she was concerned, but she was glad he seemed confident in himself despite the situation.

It was then that Madara recognized the two strangers. It's those shinigami when I was first here! Madara closed his eyes and tilted his head backward, feeling the cold night air seeping through the holes in his hollow mask, tickling his skin below. He could not believe his misfortune. Between the shinigami woman who had overpowered his original hollow form, Harribel behind him, and both Hashirama and Tobirama, Madara knew this was the end of the road. There was no point putting up some pathetic show of resistance with his chakra completely depleted. If he had to die, he would do so with his pride intact.

"As much as I would like to see the tablet again, I don't believe your new friends over there or Harribel here are willing to just let me go." Madara sighed.

"Then they can hear my words and heed them well." Harribel was already focussed on Hashirama, so he glanced sideways at the shinigami, and then at Tobirama, making sure he had their attention. "Madara is coming with me. You can follow if you must, but I will not tolerate any move against him."

Toshiro Hitsugaya had enough. "Lord Hokage…I truly must apologize for imposing ourselves on you so suddenly, but the laws of the Seireitei are very clear in situations like these. The hollows must be purified, for the greater good of all." He slammed his shinigami badge against his chest, exiting his gigai and flexing his reiatsu.

"Rangiku - you take Madara. I'll handle the other one. Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!" He cried, unleashing his Shikai and taking off toward Harribel in a shunpo.

Before he could register what had happened, his face was buried in the dirt, and he found himself pinned to the ground by an enormous weight on his neck. When he tried to bring Hyorinmaru to and slash at it, he found that he could not move; something had trapped each of his limbs in place. He opened his mouth to speak but only managed to inhale a cloud of dust instead. Coughing, he saw in his peripheral vision what appeared to be thick, snaking tree roots tightly coiled around his sword arm, and assumed his other appendages were similarly bound.

Rangiku, who had also left her gigai, had found herself disarmed, on her knees, with both arms firmly held behind her back. The cold edge of a kunai was pressed against her exposed neck. "I may not always agree with my brother's words, but you are in the jurisdiction of Konohagakure, in the land of fire. It doesn't matter where you are from - here, the Hokage's word is law." Tobirama announced, raising his voice from behind Rangiku so that Hitsugaya could hear, too. "Do not insult us further than you already have."

"Just who are you people?" Hitsugaya demanded, recovering from his coughing fit. He was well and truly pinned. "There are two hollows right in front of you and you decide to attack us?! The blonde one is incredibly powerful. I'm the only one here who ca-" His rant was cut short by a slight tightening of the root around his neck; not enough to cause any harm, but more than enough to warn him into silence.

Having well and truly exhausted Hashirama's goodwill, he was completely ignored. Instead, the Hokage turned toward Harribel. She had drawn her sword now in response to Hitsugaya's charge, but now held it in a half-stance, unsure how she should react. She fought the urge to take a step back as Hashirama slowly walked towards her, a smile on his face. "As you've no doubt heard by now, I'm Hashirama Senju, the Hokage of the hidden leaf village. And who might you be, young lady?" He stopped before her, introducing himself with a hand on his chest, his other hand extended in greeting.

"...Tier Harribel, Espada no. 3." She sheathed Tiburon and cautiously shook the proffered hand. She kept eye contact with Hashirama as he frowned, looked at her hand, back up to her eyes, then down to her hand again. Only then did Harribel notice Hashirama was furiously kneading her hand with his fingers. "...What are you doing?" She asked.

"N-nothing!" Hashirama stammered, blushing as he noticed what he was doing. "Your hand - it's as hard as steel. Forgive me - I've just never felt skin so solid before, hahaha!" He laughed as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, still holding on to their handshake despite Harribel having let go already. "Um…" she said, annoyed that, once again, she was lost for words.

Luckily, a closed fan smacked the Hokage on the back of his head, and he released her hand to massage the spot. "Get out of the lady's personal space, will you?" Mito chided, unimpressed at the proximity her husband had to the revealingly dressed blonde.

Madara laughed in genuine mirth for the first time since he had left the village. Harribel was strong, and was certainly a dangerous foe, but she didn't look like she wanted to fight at the moment. Moments ago he was prepared to be cut down, and now Hashirama had just been caught shamelessly caressing Harribel's hand. He just couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. Hashirama had always possessed the unique ability to switch between an utter clown and a force of nature at the drop of a hat.

"You may be interested to know, Hashirama," Madara said, "that Harribel's skin is so hard that when I tried to kick a broken piece of your sword through her side, the blunt end stabbed back through my greaves."

Hashirama's eyes widened at that, before he schooled his features. "Ah, so did Harribel here beat you up that badly? Your chakra is so weak it's almost undetectable…wait you broke my sword?!" He jabbed an accusatory finger at Madara. "I was wondering where that went! That katana was handed down through my family for generations!"

Madara turned away at that. "Look, it's a long story. I'll explain later."

When he did not elaborate further, Hashirama spoke again; "I'll hold you to that. When Tobirama's Flying Raijin brought us in, it looked like you two were just about to go another round." He locked gazes with Harribel again, this time the mirth absent from his features. "Are we going to have a problem?"

Harribel had never been one for intricate plans and schemes. She obeyed Aizen because he had given her the power to protect her fraccion, and didn't do much to pass the years except wander around Hueco Mundo, protecting the odd hollow from an untimely death. She supposed she could stay here and see how things played out. She could retreat through a garganta at any time, after all, and she may as well gather as much intel as she could on these powerful beings.

"No," she replied, after a pause; "Madara tested a fire technique and accidentally hurt my subordinates. We fought briefly, but for now I am content to simply observe."

Hashirama's features softened to a smile again; "Now that's a story I definitely want to hear!" He turned and pointed toward Konoha. "Come, then, walk with me and let us go read this tablet that Madara is so eager to see again. You have caused no harm since your arrival, Harribel, so I shall treat you as a guest of the Hidden Leaf Village unless you give me reason otherwise."

He took a few steps, then suddenly turned back toward Madara. "Also…just how long are you going to keep wearing that creepy mask?!"

Madara facepalmed; "I'm a hollow, Hashirama, the mask is part of me now…let's go. I'll explain what I can on the way."


A few minutes after the shinobi and hollows' footsteps faded into the distance, an utterly flabbergasted Hitsugaya whispered, "Rangiku…hey Rangiku are you still here?"

"Right here, captain!" Her bubbly voice instantly sounded above his ear. She had expertly positioned herself just out of sight of his peripheral vision.

"How long have you been standing here, Rangiku…" Hitsugaya sighed.

"Well, right after Tobirama released me. I thought it would be fun to see how long it took before you called for help." There was a slight pause as she checked her soul pager. "Three minutes and forty one seconds! And I thought it would be at least five."

"Get serious, Matsumoto, and get me out of these stupid roots. We have authorization to release our limiters."

"Yeah…I can't believe how fast the Senjus were." Rangiku said as she chopped at the root binding her captain's sword hand. Once it was freed, she got started on the one around his neck.

Hitsugaya's soul pager rang. As the captain was still restrained, Rangiku fished it out of his shihakusho instead, sucking in a sharp gasp as he saw the caller. "It's the captain-commander," she said as she picked up the call and placed it in front of Hitsugaya.

"Captain Hitsug-...what happened to you? Explain yourself." The head-captain demanded. Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of the 10th division, had his right cheek squished against the ground, and a thick brown root forming a semi-circle around his neck was locking his head in place. As such, the soul pager displayed his profile sideways.

With as much dignity as he could muster, Hitsugaya took a breath, careful not to inhale any dust this time; "Long story, but I'm fine. We were caught off-guard by how powerful the residents of this world are, but now that our limiters have been released, everything will be under control, sir." he reported.

"Do not get cocky, Captain Hitsugaya. I have received vice-captain Matsumoto's distress call mentioning two human-like hollows with zanpakuto. This is not the first time we have encountered such creatures. They are known as Arrancar, or shinigami-hollow hybrids."

"I am sending you some classified information regarding an event 100 years ago that led to the defection and disappearance of 6 captains as well as the commander and vice-commander of the kido corps. Captains Komomura, Kenpachi, Tosen and Aizen have been dispatched to assist you in the capture of these Arrancar. Hold your position until they arrive, and review these documents well. Do not fail to apprehend the Arrancar. They are extremely deadly, but must be captured alive if they are to reveal where the others have been hiding."


AN:

A little bit of action here - you get to see 20% power Hitsugaya vs sage-mode Hashirama...heh.

Next chapter will be a lot more action-focused, though. We also won't be spending much more time in the Elemental Nations after this.