The child-snatching war by the Naka River

In Konoha's sixth year, within the Land of Fire, the ninja village called Konoha was thriving under the protection of the two strongest shinobi, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

The Uchiha and Senju Clans, who had slaughtered and hated one another during the Warring States Period, now lived side by side on the same land. After those brutal years when lives were worth less than weeds and the average lifespan was under thirty, shinobi treasured this hard-won peace all the more. More and more Shinobi Clans chose to join this newborn power. It seemed that a beautiful future without war or bloodshed was just within reach.

But could a thousand years of hatred and blood debts really be set aside so easily?

"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"

By the Naka River in Konoha Hidden Village, a black-haired man dressed in purple, his hair tied in a high ponytail, glared fiercely with dark eyes as he desperately pursued a brown-haired woman whose clothing bore the Senju Clan's crest. Seeing her pick up speed, about to slip away right before his eyes, he made a snap decision and unleashed the fire release techniques the Uchiha Clan took such pride in.

Four fire dragons attacked the seemingly defenseless brown-haired woman simultaneously from above, below, left, and right. Yet there was not a trace of fear on her face. Instead, she gave a scornful sneer. She leaped off the ground, spun once in midair, and hurled three kunai with explosive tags attached to their ends at three of the approaching fire dragons.

Boom-

After the thunderous blast, the three fire dragons and explosive tags destroyed one another. The violent explosion shook the earth, threatening to obliterate everything nearby. But both the black-haired Uchiha man and the brown-haired Senju woman deftly evaded the blast and flying debris. The Senju woman landed directly on the river's surface, securely tucking what she held in her right hand behind her while her left swiftly formed hand seals, drawing on the chakra throughout her body.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

A water dragon surged up from the river and slammed straight into the fire dragon. Steam billowed over the water, blocking the man's view, and the woman seized her chance to race onward without looking back.

"Senju Toka!"

The Uchiha man gritted his teeth, his blood-red Sharingan manifesting in his eyes as he glared viciously at Senju Toka... and the "thing" she held in her right hand.

"You child-stealing thief! Give me back my daughter!"

"Pah! Uchiha Hōkaku, have you no shame?!"

At those words, Senju Toka practically fumed. She turned her head and hurled abuse at him:

"What do you mean, your daughter? Shingetsu is my daughter! Mine!"

"Urgh..."

The little girl tucked under Senju Tōka's arm had lost all will to live. The moment her own mother had taken her through a full 360-degree spin in the air, her stomach had begun tying itself in knots. Fortunately, she had not had breakfast before Tōka came to steal her away, or she would have thrown up by now!

Under the sunlight, the little girl, pale and translucent as a sticky rice dumpling, raised her head pitifully and looked aggrievedly at the confronting Tōka and Hōkaku.

"Mom, Father, I'm so dizzy..."

"Shingetsu!"

Uchiha Hōkaku's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. His expression was as savage as a man-eating demon from legend. Had the child not still been in Tōka's hands, he probably would have lunged at her and fought her to the death.

"Senju Toka, if you don't know how to look after a child, then never look after her again! Give her back!"

"Uchiha Hōkaku, how dare you say that?! Weren't you the ones who snatched Shingetsu away from me first?!"

Senju Toka was so furious that she stopped running altogether and stood on the river's surface, trading insults with her old nemesis, Uchiha Hōkaku. Both lost their heads, pointing at each other's noses and offering all manner of profane greetings to each other's families. For a moment, obscene curses flew everywhere, as though they were back on a battlefield in the Warring States Period.

Only five years old, Uchiha Shingetsu dutifully raised her little hands and covered her ears to keep her innocent heart from being corrupted. She sighed helplessly, then let out another, longer sigh.

Ugh, here they go again.

Caught in the crossfire between those two mortal enemies, Tōka and Hōkaku, since birth, Uchiha Shingetsu had long since figured out their habits. Whenever they met, they argued, and once they started, there was no end to it. They were practically firecrackers, crackling and popping without stopping.

While they continued their endless argument, let us take a moment to get acquainted with these three people and their complicated relationships.

Senju Toka, third-in-command of the Senju Clan, a trusted direct subordinate of Hashirama Senju, the Hokage of Konoha and God of the Shinobi World, and also an elder of the Senju Clan, was an exceptionally powerful elite kunoichi.

And Uchiha Shingetsu's biological mother.

Uchiha Hōkaku, third-in-command of the Uchiha Clan, a capable subordinate of Madara Uchiha, the Uchiha Clan Head and Asura of the Ninja World, was likewise an elder of the Uchiha Clan and a rare Shinobi prodigy.

And Uchiha Shingetsu's biological father.

Uchiha Shingetsu had just turned five that year. She was the daughter of Senju Toka and Uchiha Hōkaku, and Madara Uchiha's personal disciple.

And one terribly unlucky transmigrator.

Being transported into the dark, cruel world of Naruto, where human life counted for nothing, was already a tremendous misfortune. Worse still, she lacked a transmigrator's greatest advantage-advance knowledge of the plot. Before transmigrating, she had barely watched a few episodes of Naruto.

Never mind how little Naruto she had watched; even if she had seen it, what good would that have done? The plot would not begin for another fifty-odd years. Not only would she have to endure three entire shinobi world wars, but she would also have to face that damned night of the clan massacre!

Just thinking about it felt like a cruel joke. If she actually lived until the massacre, she reckoned she would be an old woman in her fifties or sixties. Never mind enjoying her twilight years in peace-she would be killed by Uchiha Itachi, that wonderfully "filial" son with his bizarre way of thinking. Being born an Uchiha truly was the worst luck imaginable.

Then again, if she really lived that long, would she let the massacre happen? Even as a wrinkled old granny, Shingetsu would drag her cane over and beat those two scourges, Uchiha Itachi and Shimura Danzō, to death.

As for surviving the Fourth Shinobi World War and living until Boruto: Naruto Next Generations?

Dream on!

Back to the matter at hand: the Senju Clan and the Uchiha had been mortal enemies who would never rest until the other side was dead. Senju Toka and Uchiha Hōkaku, in particular, had fought and tried to kill each other for years. Their relationship was as firmly established as Madara Uchiha's with Hashirama Senju, or Uchiha Izuna's with Tobirama Senju-and just as incompatible as fire and water.

So that raised a question.

How exactly had Senju Toka and Uchiha Hōkaku ended up together and even brought Uchiha Shingetsu into the world?

Someone once said that love and hate were originally the same emotion. While that statement was not a universal truth, it suited Tōka and Hōkaku quite well.

Their desire to kill each other was real, but so was that unnecessary measure of admiration and concern they held for one another.

Originally, Senju Toka and Uchiha Hōkaku would most likely have fought on the battlefield until only one remained, or simply killed each other. But the alliance between the Senju and the Uchiha completely changed their fate. Once they no longer had a reason they had to kill each other, the affection in their hearts began to sprout, grow, and finally bloom.

And so, one day after Konoha's founding, with a little help from alcohol, the two ended up in bed together.

Shinobi never had the elaborate formalities of commoners and nobles. Living on a knife's edge every day, they preferred to enjoy whatever pleasures the present offered. So, once they sobered up, the two simply tidied themselves up and went their separate ways.

Both Senju Toka and Uchiha Hōkaku knew perfectly well that, even though the Senju and the Uchiha had built a village together, the resentment between their clans could not be dissolved so easily. Thus, their blossoming affection could only wither away before it ever bore fruit.

Yet surprises always came where people least expected them. Three months later, the oblivious Senju Toka finally discovered that she was pregnant?!

Senju Toka had originally intended to swallow that secret whole. Not only did she keep it from the child's father, Uchiha Hōkaku, she even applied directly to her clan head, Hashirama Senju, for a year-long mission, planning to give birth in secret.

But the fetus in her belly refused to behave. From the moment it took shape, it began causing trouble, constantly absorbing Tōka's chakra. As a member of the Senju of the Forest, Senju Toka did not possess the vast reserves of Hashirama Senju, but she was still a monster in the chakra tons category. Even so, she could not withstand the fetus's endless, unrestrained draining.

With death from chakra depletion looming, Senju Toka had no choice in that desperate situation but to seek out Uchiha Hōkaku and drag him into supplying chakra to the fetus alongside her.

Hōkaku was the child's father, after all. If she had to die, they might as well all die together. Whatever happened, she absolutely would not let him off.

But that did little good. Uchiha Hōkaku was drained half to death too, while the child's appetite only grew. The two miserable parents, sucked dry until they resembled mummified corpses, put their heads together. This could not go on. They had to find another unlucky sucker.

There was a problem, though: this unlucky sucker had to possess an enormous amount of chakra, have a personal connection with both of them, and be willing to help clean up their mess. Ideally, he would also be a blood relative... After filtering through all those requirements, essentially only Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju qualified.

Hashirama Senju, with his chakra hela-level reserves, had originally been the most suitable candidate. Kindhearted as he was, he would never abandon Senju Toka and the child in her belly. Unfortunately, Hashirama Senju also had a blackhearted younger brother named Tobirama Senju. If he learned about this, whatever happened to Tōka, her child certainly would not survive.

For all those reasons, this difficult task ultimately landed on Madara Uchiha's shoulders. But who was Madara Uchiha? He was the undefeated Demon of the Battlefield, the terrifying, cold-faced Uchiha Clan Head. If he learned that his trusted subordinate had hooked up with the enemy and produced a bastard, heaven only knew whether he would simply stab the child, mother, and father to death together!

Uchiha Hōkaku was nearly worried to death over it. His heart pounded with fear every day, and his thick black hair was almost falling out from the stress. But for Senju Toka and their child, he still knocked on Madara Uchiha's door, prepared to die.

Unexpectedly, Madara Uchiha not only readily agreed, but generously offered his own large residence for Senju Toka to stay in during her pregnancy. He also suppressed all news of her pregnancy. For some reason, he seemed deeply interested in this child who combined Senju and Uchiha blood.

Around this peculiar fetus, Tōka, Hōkaku, and Madara maintained a delicate balance. Without question, all three harbored their own ulterior motives and plans.

With Madara's involvement, however, the fetus that had been constantly absorbing chakra finally seemed satisfied. It remained quietly in its mother's belly until birth.

But that was where the real problem began-to which side did this little girl, with both Senju and Uchiha blood, belong?

"Of course this child belongs to the Uchiha."

Madara Uchiha gave a deeply disdainful sneer and delivered that answer on the spot.

Following the principle that the strongest fist had the final say, he effortlessly knocked out Senju Toka and Uchiha Hōkaku. Not only did he seize the naming rights to both the child's surname and given name, but he also took her as his disciple. In the shinobi world, which placed great importance on passing down traditions, the bond between master and disciple was no weaker than the blood ties between parent and child. It could even be closer.

Yes, the name Uchiha Shingetsu bore Madara Uchiha's unmistakable personal stamp. The Uchiha was Madara Uchiha's Uchiha, while the characters for Shingetsu were loaded with allusions to a certain someone's ideals. When Shingetsu first learned her name, she nearly fell apart. Holy crap, Madara, you haven't already read that damned stone tablet, have you?!

After finally managing to give birth, Senju Toka sank into complete despair. How was she supposed to get her child back now? Aside from Hashirama Senju, who could possibly beat Madara Uchiha?!