Madara: I'll Wipe Them Out!

In the Land of Fire, in the woods outside the Hyuga Clan Compound.

Branches flickered between light and shadow as a dozen or so figures darted through the canopy.

The man in the lead wore red armor, both arms trailing behind him as he leaped across thick tree trunks in great strides.

Hashirama Senju looked excited, his eyes curved with his smile.

"If the Hyuga Clan joins us, Konoha's security and reconnaissance will be covered."

He turned and shouted to the Senju shinobi behind him.

"The Byakugan can see far. Whenever anything stirs around the village, they'll spot it at a glance!"

"I've already picked out their grounds, right beside that big forest to the east. Plenty of room!"

At that, Hashirama couldn't help bursting into laughter, which carried far through the woods.

The party moved swiftly, clearing the treetops and landing on the mountain path in moments.

The gate of the Hyuga Clan Compound stood just ahead.

Hashirama strode forward.

"Where's the Hyuga clan leader? Why hasn't he come out to meet us?"

A Senju shinobi following him gripped the handle of the kunai at his waist and surveyed their surroundings warily.

"Lord Hokage, something's wrong with the Hyuga Clan."

"There are only two people at the gate. Something's off about them."

Hashirama followed his gaze.

The two Hyuga clan members at the gate stood ramrod straight. When they saw Hashirama's party approach, they neither lowered their heads nor came forward to bow.

Farther inside the gate, moving crates lay haphazardly along the roadside, many without their lids on.

Passing Hyuga clan members gathered in twos and threes, watching coldly beyond the gate.

"It's fine. They probably haven't finished packing."

Hashirama waved a hand and laughed.

"We're a little early. Let's go in and sit down first."

He strode forward and stepped through the gate of the Hyuga Clan Compound.

Two people emerged from the courtyard.

The young man in front was sixteen or seventeen, his forehead bare, with no white cloth wrapped around it.

Half a step behind him followed an old man past fifty.

Hashirama stopped, narrowed his eyes as he sized up the young man, and slapped his thigh.

"It's you! The lad standing guard outside the Main Family hall the other day. I remember you!"

He craned his head to look behind him.

"Where's your clan leader, Nissei? Why did he send you to meet me?"

Shinichi stopped three paces in front of Hashirama, his face expressionless.

"The clan leader and the elders all died that night."

"I'm the Hyuga clan leader now."

Outside the gate of the Hyuga Clan Compound.

Hashirama Senju's smile froze, and his forward-leaning body abruptly went still.

"Dead? How did they die?"

"I killed them." Shinichi lifted his eyelids, his tone utterly flat.

The Senju shinobi behind Hashirama blanched. With a swish, they all drew their kunai and stepped forward.

Shinichi's eyes brightened slightly. A pale blue light flashed within them before they returned to their original white an instant later.

Hashirama's pupils contracted slightly. He immediately raised an arm, blocking his clansmen behind him as they prepared to attack.

This was the Hyuga Clan's own affair. Outsiders had no place interfering.

Hashirama lowered his hand, exhaled, and looked at the young man before him, who was only sixteen or seventeen.

"Then is the Hyuga Clan... still coming to Konoha?"

"No," Shinichi said.

Hashirama Senju lowered his hand and looked at Shinichi.

"Why not?"

Hashirama's voice was gentle as he took a small step forward.

"Madara and I founded Konoha to put an end to war."

"When I was young, I had two younger brothers, Itama and Kawarama. Both died on the battlefield when they were very young."

"Back then, I thought I would build a village where children could grow up without having to take up a blade and go to war when they were only a few years old."

Shinichi stood where he was, listening quietly, his face calm.

Hashirama sighed and looked at Shinichi with sincerity in his eyes.

"Your Hyuga Clan's Byakugan is precious. Plenty of people in the Shinobi World have their eyes on it."

"It'll be different if you join Konoha. Konoha has the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan. Once the Hyuga join, we'll all be one family."

"After you join Konoha, Hyuga children will be able to grow up like ordinary children, without having to go to war."

Having finished, Hashirama scratched the back of his head and grinned.

"What do you say? Come to Konoha with me."

Shinichi looked at Hashirama Senju before him, his expression calm.

"The Hyuga are one family too."

"And even within that family, there's still a main family and a branch family."

Hashirama paused, taken aback.

"The Hyuga have only just overthrown our own main family. We don't want to find ourselves another one."

Shinichi paused and looked straight into Hashirama's eyes.

"Going to Konoha would burn us up inside."

Hashirama opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"The Hyuga aren't going to Konoha."

"We're going to build our own village."

"As for keeping children off the battlefield..." Shinichi raised a hand and brushed the dust off the hem of his clothes.

"The Hyuga can do that ourselves."

Hashirama stood with his mouth open, unable to speak for a long while.

Suddenly, his head drooped, and he sank into a crouch by the mountain path as though all his strength had left him.

He held his head in both hands, a dark cloud seeming to hover above him as he muttered under his breath.

"Rejected again..."

"Madara was like this, and now the Hyuga too..."

The Senju shinobi who had accompanied him froze in place, still holding their kunai.

One silently sheathed his kunai, pressed a hand to his forehead, and let out a long sigh.

After crouching for only a short while, Hashirama patted his knees and stood up. Without even brushing off the dust, he stared into Shinichi's eyes.

"Those eyes of yours aren't the Byakugan, are they?"

"This is the Tenseigan!"

"The Tenseigan?"

Hashirama's eyes suddenly lit up as though he had spotted some rare treasure, and he became animated.

"So your Hyuga Clan's Byakugan can evolve just like Madara's Sharingan."

His eyes shining, Hashirama stepped forward.

"Young man, what's your name?"

"Shinichi Hyuga," Shinichi answered.

"Shinichi Hyuga..." Hashirama repeated the name, then broke into a grin.

He offered no further persuasion, nor did he utter a single threat.

"If you ever change your mind, Konoha's gates will always be open to the Hyuga."

With that, Hashirama turned and waved to the Senju shinobi behind him.

"Let's go. Back to the village!"

Several figures sprang up from the ground, leaped into the treetops, and vanished into the depths of the woods in an instant.

The Hokage's office, Konoha, Land of Fire.

The slanting evening sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the room in a dim yellow glow.

Hashirama pushed the door open and strode inside, hanging his cloak on the rack.

"The Hyuga aren't joining Konoha anymore."

Seated at the desk, Tobirama Senju stopped writing and raised his head.

"They aren't joining Konoha? Why?"

Hashirama pulled up a chair, sat down, and sighed.

"The Hyuga Clan wants to establish its own shinobi village!"

Tobirama's brows knitted tightly, and his expression darkened.

"The Hyuga Clan actually wants to establish its own shinobi village?"

"There can only be one shinobi village in the Land of Fire, and that's Konoha!"

Madara Uchiha, who had been leaning by the window the whole time, slowly turned around.

"The mere Hyuga Clan thinks it can establish a shinobi village?"

"I'll wipe them out!"