Fated Encounter

The war was about to begin again. At times like these, familiar faces and strangers alike could be seeing each other for the last time. How could days like these ever come to an end...

Hashirama thought as he made his way to a riverbank. For some reason, this ordinary river always seemed to lift his spirits.

But this time, someone had arrived before him.

A spiky-haired boy tossed a flat stone into the river.

Tap... tap... tap.

The stone skipped three times across the surface before plunking into the water.

"Next time, I'll make it all the way to the other bank."

The spiky-haired boy sounded a little frustrated as he picked up another stone.

Hashirama was intrigued. It seemed the boy enjoyed skipping stones too. He picked up a stone, closed one eye, and tossed it into the river...

Normally, he wouldn't have needed to do that, given his perceptiveness. But whenever he was here, he never deliberately used his abilities. It made things more fun.

The stone bounced three times across the surface, then smacked down on the opposite bank.

"You just need to lift your hand a little when you throw. That's the trick," Hashirama said with a warm smile.

The spiky-haired boy turned his head slightly, looking displeased.

"I know that, obviously. If I really tried, I could definitely make it across. Anyway, who are you?"

"I'm Hashirama. I can't tell you my surname for certain reasons."

Hashirama?

The spiky-haired boy immediately thought of Senju Hashirama. But running into his sworn enemy as soon as he left home was absurd—almost as absurd as wiping out the Senju Clan with an Explosive Tag.

"Hashirama, huh? I'm Madara. I can't tell you my surname for certain reasons either."

"Watch this. This time, I'll definitely make it to the other bank."

Madara focused and tossed another stone, using his usual shuriken-throwing technique.

Hashirama watched, his expression shifting. That stance... Was he a ninja?

The stone bounced three times across the surface and seemed about to reach the opposite bank, but then it dropped into the water.

Caw, caw, caw! A few crows happened to fly overhead.

Madara froze in the pose he'd thrown the stone from. Then he spun around and pointed angrily at Hashirama.

"You bastard! You stood behind me on purpose to make me lose focus, didn't you?"

"I'm the super-sensitive type. I can't even pee if someone's standing behind me!"

The sudden outburst startled Hashirama and triggered one of his quirks. His mood immediately sank, and he sat down, hugging his knees as he murmured,

"Sorry..."

Madara blinked. He hadn't expected Hashirama to react that way, and quickly tried to comfort him.

"It's fine. You don't have to get so down about it."

When Hashirama didn't respond, Madara realized he might have been in the wrong. He sighed and rubbed his head.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have tried to pin the blame on you."

At that, Hashirama stood up, suddenly a completely different person from before.

"Hahaha, it's fine. I forgive you!"

Madara felt like he'd been tricked by the abrupt change. He pointed at Hashirama and shouted,

"You bastard! Were you messing with me just now? Believe me, I'll use you to skip stones!"

Hashirama hugged his knees again, shutting himself off.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry. To make it up to you, I've already accepted that you'll throw me to the other bank. Go ahead."

Madara realized he couldn't do anything to someone who looked so pitiful, and sighed.

"Do you realize how annoying that quirk of yours is..."

Hashirama slowly raised his head.

"But I hope you can make it to the other bank."

Madara immediately snapped.

"You bastard! Get out of here!"

Hashirama obediently got up and smiled. "All right, I'm leaving."

But just as he was about to move, Madara grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't you dare move."

You're the one who told me to leave. You're the one telling me to get out.

Hashirama stared at Madara, baffled. "What do you want? Can you make up your mind?"

Madara let go, looking awkward.

"I... I..."

Before he could finish, Hashirama's expression suddenly turned serious as he looked toward the river. A corpse was slowly drifting down from upstream.

Hashirama didn't think he needed to hide his identity as a ninja from Madara, so he used Water Walking to go check. Friends ought to know the same things about each other.

Madara watched Hashirama and froze. His expression changed as he asked,

"Are you a ninja?"

Hashirama examined the corpse and realized it was from the Hagoromo Clan.

"This place is about to become a battlefield. You should head home."

Madara fell silent for a moment. A ninja, Hashirama, their ages... All these signs suggested that the boy might be Senju Hashirama.

Should he fight him? Kill him?

But would anyone really be foolish enough to reveal his name and the fact that he was a ninja—especially after seeing Madara use a shuriken-throwing technique and give away his own name?

He's probably guessed who I am too. I don't know why, but even though this is our first meeting, I feel an inexplicable kinship with him, like we're brothers.

In the end, Madara didn't attack.

"All right. You should head home soon too."

Hashirama waved goodbye.

"See you, then. I hope you make it to the other bank next time."

"You really are a bastard! If you're leaving, then hurry up and go!"

"Hahaha!"

Hashirama left with a smile. He also found it strange. Though this was their first meeting and their personalities were completely different, he felt a brotherly kinship with Madara.

He's a ninja, named Madara, and around my age. But he didn't attack me, so he probably isn't Madara Uchiha.

Hashirama knew how the Uchiha felt about the Senju, just as Madara knew how the Senju felt about them.

But Hashirama's sincerity was exceedingly rare in the Warring States era. Combined with the mutual pull of their reincarnated Chakra, it was why neither of them had attacked the other.

When Hashirama returned to the clan grounds, he found his younger brothers busy. Tobirama was hiding in his room, while Hashirama and Itama were practicing their techniques.

Everyone's occupied. What about Hiugo?

Hashirama went to his house and knocked. After a while, Hiugo came out.

"Big Pillar? What's up?"

"Hiugo, let's train together."

"...Sure. I'm bored anyway. That smile of yours—did something good happen?"

"Hahaha! I met a really interesting boy while skipping stones."

"Oh? Let me read your fortune. Does he have spiky hair?"

Hashirama looked a little surprised. "How did you know?"

"I don't just know his hairstyle. I also know his personality is the opposite of yours."

"That's incredible. How'd you figure that out?"

"I guessed. People with completely different personalities are drawn to each other. It's the same with appearances, actually. Your hair is smooth, so you're drawn to someone with spiky hair. Your manner is gentle, so the other person's is a little forceful. This kind of complementarity usually leads to a deep friendship."

Hashirama suddenly understood. He made a fist and tapped it into his other palm.

"That makes so much sense! That must be why you and Tobirama get along better than you do with the others. Tobirama has spiky hair and is introverted, while your hair is smooth and you're extroverted."

"..."

Hiugo thought about it. It did seem to fit, and there was nothing wrong with the logic. But in the future, Sasuke and Naruto both seemed to have spiky hair.

Hashirama couldn't help praising him.

"Hiugo, you're amazing. You noticed all that from such little things and even came up with a whole theory."

Hiugo looked a little embarrassed.

"It's nothing. I was just making things up. I happened to guess right."

"No, the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Look..."

"Stop. Training. Let's go train."

"Oh, sure. Actually, I think we could use Wood Style to develop a technique. I've already thought of a name for it: Secret Technique: Wood Style: Super-Many-Connected-Shuriken-Illusion-Dance Technique."

Hiugo furrowed his brow. Even with his imagination, he couldn't figure out what that was supposed to be. Shuriken? Genjutsu? Or Wood Style? How could you combine all that into one technique?