Four Kinds of Plants

"Wood Release: Peashooter!" Dave didn't want to form hand seals anymore. It was such a pain. Instead, he copied the Hashirama he remembered—just clap his hands together, and whatever he shouted would appear.

A two-meter-tall Peashooter burst out of the cracked ground.

"Oh! It looks like a summoning beast. A plant-type summoning beast? Dave, can you try having it attack me?" Hashirama stared blankly at the constantly blinking Peashooter, whose open mouth was about two meters across, then asked.

"Peashooter, attack!" Dave shouted, pointing at Hashirama.

The Peashooter's thick stem leaned back, and its mouth closed, bulging as though something was inside.

Pong! In an instant, the Peashooter opened its huge mouth and fired an enormous green pea at Hashirama.

Hashirama didn't dodge. He wanted to test how powerful this thing was. He clapped his hands together, and a wooden wall rose from the ground.

To Hashirama's surprise, the pea smashed straight through the wooden wall, which was over a meter thick. He hurriedly reached out to catch it.

Hashirama caught it, but the tremendous force behind the pea drove him back dozens of meters. His eyes gleamed.

Dave wasn't even a basic Genin yet, but he could already summon such a powerful plant. What if Dave became as strong as him? Hashirama hardly dared imagine it.

That single pea would probably send him flying, or at the very least draw blood. The pea broke apart and vanished into the air. The Peashooter disappeared too, though not because it had run out of staying power. Dave had dismissed it.

"Wood Release: Potato Mine!" Dave shouted, pressing his palms together. A bulging mound appeared in front of Hashirama, with... something that looked like a round-tipped device sticking out of it, constantly flashing red.

"What kind of plant is this?" Hashirama asked. These things were bizarre. Why couldn't he summon Wood Release plants like these?

"It needs some time to get ready. Once its head comes out, it'll explode no matter who touches it," Dave explained.

The two of them waited there for the Potato Mine to get ready.

Before long, a pair of eyes and buckteeth suddenly appeared on the mound, and the round light on its head stopped flashing. Hashirama was dumbfounded. What even was this thing?

Hashirama braced himself and stepped on it. The Potato Mine narrowed its eyes.

Pong!

The blast sent Hashirama flying back dozens of meters, and he tumbled once before coming to a stop. Luckily, he had prepared himself, or he might well have embarrassed himself in front of Dave. Still, he found the mine quite interesting.

It was twice as powerful as an Explosive Tag, but it stayed underground. Hashirama wasn't worried about nobody stepping on it or touching it, though. After all... this was the first time anything so bizarre had appeared in the Shinobi World. Someone was bound to want to touch it.

"Uncle Hashirama, do you want to see more?" Dave called.

"Keep going," Hashirama answered. He wanted to see just what else Dave could summon.

"Wood Release: Squash!" Dave clapped his hands together, and a Squash slowly emerged from the cracked ground. It was enormous, even bigger than the Peashooter, standing about half as tall as a tailed beast.

The Squash had one small eye and one large one, with downturned corners of its mouth. It looked utterly disdainful and positively punchable. Hashirama slowly approached it.

"Hm?" To Hashirama's surprise, the Squash actually made a sound, then leaped high into the air and came crashing straight down at him.

"Wood Release: Wood Prison Technique!" Seeing the dark shadow overhead, Hashirama hurriedly pressed his hands together. Lengths of wood wrapped around him, and then the Squash slammed down.

After hitting the ground, the Squash disappeared. Dave was almost out of chakra too. He couldn't keep using these indefinitely, especially single-use plants like the Squash.

When the dust cleared, all that remained on the ground was a pile of flattened wood and a flattened Hashirama, his eyes rolled back and foam spilling from his mouth.

Dave hurried forward and pulled Hashirama up.

"Uncle Hashirama, are you okay? Please don't scare me!" Dave kept shaking Hashirama, tears shimmering in his eyes.

This was Konoha Year One, when the village had only just been founded, and Madara Uchiha hadn't defected yet. If he crushed Hashirama to death, who would fight Madara Uchiha with giant mechs at the Valley of the End later? Who could he count on? Himself? He didn't believe his current Squash could crush a giant mech to death.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just... so many Stars..." Hashirama drooled, and a few Stars even seemed to pop up over his forehead.

"Hashirama!" Mito had been watching them train from the sidelines. When she saw this, she hurried over, took Hashirama from Dave's arms, and called out.

"Wood Release: Sunflower!" Realizing things had gone wrong, Dave hurriedly shouted.

A sunflower sprang from the ground, a smile on its face as it swayed toward the sunlight.

Mito stared blankly at the bizarre plant Dave had summoned, apparently not understanding what he meant to do.

"Ahem, Aunt Mito, you'll see in a moment," Dave said hastily.

The sunflower kept swaying toward the sun, and then a glittering golden flower popped out of it.

Dave picked up the sunshine and placed it on Hashirama. Under Mito's amazed gaze, the sunshine gradually sank into Hashirama's body.

The dazed Hashirama felt a wave of warmth. When he came to his senses, he found his wife holding him, with his nephew Dave and a bizarre, constantly swaying flower beside them.

"What happened, Mito?" Hashirama asked.

"Uncle Hashirama, I thought... I thought... waah!" Dave suddenly threw himself onto Hashirama and burst into tears. After all, he was a child now, so he had to act like one.

"Oh, right, I remember now. It's okay, Dave. Your Uncle Hashirama was careless. I never expected your Wood Release to be so strong already." Only then did Hashirama remember what had happened before he passed out, and he hurried to comfort him.

"Wood Release?" Mito exclaimed beside them.

"Yes, that's right, Mito. Dave has Wood Release just like me, though his is a little different from mine. He can actually summon plants," Hashirama explained.

"Oh, I see. So that strange flower is one of them? Just now, I saw it suddenly spit out a flower, and then Dave placed that flower on you, and you got better." Mito finally understood.

"What? Dave's plants can even heal injuries? How...?" Hashirama was a little stunned. He had thought Dave's plants were only for attacking, but apparently they could heal too. What if he could summon defensive plants?

"Then, Dave, can you summon defensive plants?" Hashirama sat up and hurriedly asked.

"Yes." Dave nodded. What a joke. Was his Wall-nut just there for decoration?

"Dave, your Wood Release is incredible!" Hashirama marveled. Still, he didn't want to test it right now. He was still a little dazed. Dave's sunflower could heal physical injuries, but it couldn't fix his rattled brain.

"All right, Dave, I'm fine now. Let's take a walk around the village." Hashirama got up, brushed the dust off himself, and smiled.

"Okay!" Dave had wanted to go out and explore for ages. If his father in this life hadn't stopped him under the lofty pretext of talking to strengthen their father-son bond, he would have gone out to play long ago.

With a little hand clasped in a big one, the two walked carefree through Konoha's streets.

"Huh? Madara! Madara! I'm over here, Madara! What are you covering your face for?" Somehow, Hashirama and Dave had wandered all the way to the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Spotting the familiar figure, Hashirama raised his hand and shouted. Madara, meanwhile, wore an expression that said he didn't know this person, then turned and walked away.

Hashirama ran over and slung an arm straight across Madara Uchiha's shoulders.

"Idiot..." Madara Uchiha said coldly, looking at Hashirama grinning foolishly beside him.

"Boohoo, Madara, how could you say that about me? I'm so hurt! Boohoo!" Hashirama pretended to cry, leaving Dave staring in disbelief behind him.

Dave knew this uncle of his was a bit of a goof, but how did he become this ridiculous the moment he stood in front of Madara???

"Oh, right, Madara, this is Tobirama's son, Senju Dave. Dave, this is a friend of your uncle and your father, Madara Uchiha."