The Girl in the Trees
Hashirama was tense through breakfast that morning. He had stayed up most of the night trying to think of any plan that could save his friend and the only thing he could think was to somehow warn Madara. If Madara could run then it wouldn't matter what punishment Butsuma gave him, it would be entirely worth it. The whole way to the Naka he was plotting how to possibly warn his friend that had the least chance of being detected.
He decided on picking up a decent sized rock and scratching out a warning onto it.
He reached the river at the same time as Madara, who suggested they throw stones. He brightened just a bit, it was the perfect opportunity.
They both took aim and then loosed their rocks, not even bothering to skip them. They looked down at the same time and Hashirama felt his shoulders tense. Madara's stone had a similar warning on it. Before either of them could act on it though, their families exploded from the treeline on either side of the river. The two clan heads faced each other, spouting hatred, and his little brother stood in front of the little brother Madara had told him so much about.
Their little brothers, their precious people were set to kill each other and their fathers didn't even care.
Then Tobirama's shoulders tensed slightly and his eyes slid off the small Uchiha to focus on the treeline 10 yards downstream.
"You in the trees, come out and face us."
Out stepped a girl who looked almost exactly like Madara, but her hair was longer and pulled into a high pony tail on top of her head leaving some of the front down to frame her face. Despite being pulled so high, her hair still fell to the middle of her shoulder blades.
Tobirama ignored the sudden stutter of his heart and focused back on the Uchiha in front of him. Whoever this girl was, she had the look of someone who felt similarly to Hashirama. The idea that all the fighting and killing was pointless.
In the next heartbeat she was in front of Tobirama, between his father's blade and the boy in front of him. She had loosed her two daggers and caught Butsuma's blade with them, but the weight of the blow had driven her to her knees. Distantly he realized that Hashirama was between him and the Uchiha clan head's blade. The girl in front of them let out a strangled cry, like she had realized something she couldn't bear to think about.
The Uchiha clan head growled at her. "I thought you were to stay home, child. You’re too weak for a battle like this, nearly too weak for any battle. Why are you here?”
His words struck Tobirama as odd. Couldn't they sense her chakra pools? She hadn't shown herself, even after he and his father had burst from the trees, yet she hadn't seemed surprised or worried when he called her out. More than that even, she had just successfully blocked his fathers blow and aside from dropping to a knee had barely blinked. Interesting.
"I'm here to defend lives, Father. Nothing more, nothing less." Her clear, almost musical voice cut into Tobirama's musings about her supposed weakness and Hashirama looked at her, nearly awestruck.
Hashirama's awe projected into his voice, "You look like Madara!"
The girl let out a surprisingly delicate snort as she pushed against Butsuma's blade. "Well that would make sense, as I'm his twin sister."
"Quiet!" Both the clan heads snapped at once, their children falling silent immediately.
Hashirama continued to regard the girl with barely restrained awe, while Tobirama decided he would make it his mission to discover more about her. Why was she called weak when she was obviously skilled enough and strong enough to traverse 10 yards in the blink of an eye and block a sword swing from a clan head? Did they know about her chakra pools? Was she a sensor? Exactly how talented was she with those daggers? What kind of food did she like? Wait. Where had that thought come from? He obviously didn't care about her. Just her skills and the threat she posed to the clan.
Hashirama's eyes snapped to his friend when he heard Madara tell his father that he wouldn't be able to beat Hashirama. That was a lie! Madara was lying in the hopes of everyone walking away from this alive!
"Hn. Well then, we should retreat. Your sister's presence does nothing to sway the odds in our favor." The clan head and the youngest Uchiha made to jump away. Tobirama didn't think that sounded right. With her chakra pools and the ease with which she was continuing to hold his father's blade at bay he guessed she was either stronger than the clan head was letting on, or the clan head didn't know how strong she was. Taking the obvious disdain the man had for his oldest daughter into account, Tobirama would bet on the latter, but why?
She stayed for a heartbeat longer than her father and brothers, the clan head not even seeming to care that he had just left his daughter at the mercy of the three Senju as he vanished into the woods.
"I'm sorry I couldn't stop this, Hashirama."
Her words gave the two boys pause as she Body Flickered back to the far edge of the clearing. She stayed for a heartbeat longer, looking back at them and it seemed like she was trying to commit them to her memory, then she disappeared.
The two Senju tuned their father out for the journey back home. Hashirama kept playing Madara's twin's words over in his mind. "I'm here to defend lives...nothing more, nothing less" and "I'm sorry I couldn't stop this" played on repeat the whole way home. She seemed to want peace as much, if not more than Hashirama himself. If he thought he could get away with it, he would cry for happiness.
Tobirama on the other hand, couldn't get the look on her face out of his head. That strangled cry she had let out...it hadn't seemed to be because of the strength of the blow she had blocked. It came a beat too late to be from that. In fact, it came about the same time she seemed to notice that her father had tried to kill him. Then he realized with a start that she had not once activated her Sharingan, even though it would have given her an advantage. Surely she had it. Hmm. This girl was more interesting than he wanted to admit.
That night their father informed them that they would be going to battle the following day.
"If the two Uchiha from the river are there you will fight them. From the way Tajima was speaking to her and about her, his daughter will most likely be absent, but if she happens to be there don't bother with her. Keep an eye on her certainly, it is foolish to ignore an enemy just because they are weak, but don't engage unless she does."
The two brothers acknowledged their fathers orders and went to bed, thoughts filled with possibilities for the following day.