My Name Is Senju Hashirama

My name was Senju Hashirama, the eldest son of the Senju Clan, an ordinary ninja of the Warring States Period.

Father always said that we ninja were born for war, and that killing was our destiny.

But I did not think so. Ninja were not tools for killing—never had been. I was simply too young, and no one paid me any mind.

Later, my younger brothers died before my eyes. First Kawarama, then Itama. I was heartbroken, and for the first time, I defied Father.

I ran to the riverbank and cried alone. There, I met someone—Uchiha Madara, the man who would remain entangled with me for the rest of my life.

In truth, it was not our first meeting. The last time, he had spoken of his dream—a dream identical to mine.

Then there was Uchiha Shin, a man I never managed to see through in my entire life. He acted strangely; I could not quite put it into words. It was as if he knew everything in advance.

But Shin was a good person. I was certain of that. So the three of us became sworn brothers. For the first time, members of the Senju and Uchiha, hereditary enemies, opened our hearts to one another.

Those days were happy. I had two like-minded friends, and together we spoke freely of the future, imagined a world without war, and even agreed to build a village of our own.

Build our own village... Heh.

Not long after, we broke apart. The reason was simple: our fathers' generation on both sides learned of us.

Many things happened afterward—so many that I could no longer remember them all. There was war everywhere, war at every moment. It seemed I had blended into the Warring States Period, becoming like most other ninja. But