Just like the young Hashirama outside Kamui's Dimension, the two young Hashirama who had been scolded by Madara sat gloomily on the ground at the same time, curling into tiny, pitiful balls as they apologized to Madara.
Maybe it was Indra's chakra acting up, but the two young Madara Uchiha inside and outside the space actually felt they had gone too far with the scolding. Seeing Hashirama curled up on the ground like that, they felt rather guilty and started apologizing too.
However...
"Sorry, I didn't know you had trouble peeing."
"With that many people standing behind you, would your Fire Release fizzle out like your Pee Release too?"
Who would have thought Hashirama-sama was this kind of Hashirama-sama when he was a kid?
Minato Namikaze and Adult Kakashi stood there. As adults, it was not really appropriate for them to stop the children from joking and roughhousing, but deep down, they finally understood why Madara Uchiha's younger brother had said Hashirama Senju looked innocent on the outside but was black-hearted underneath.
No wonder Izuna Uchiha hated his brother's rival, Hashirama Senju, even more than the Second Hokage who had killed him.
This so-called innocent airhead was actually rotten to the core.
"You think I won't use you for skipping stones?!!"
"Watch it, or I'll burn you for firewood! You wooden Senju blockhead!!"
Bonk...
Bonk...
Both young Hashirama sank into gloom at the same time.
"I'm ready for you to use me as a stone and skip me across the water. Go on, throw me."
"If you can actually throw me to the other side of the river, that is..."
"I'm ready for you to use me as firewood and light me up for warmth. Go on."
"If your Fire Release doesn't fizzle out like your pee..."
"Hahahahaha!!"
"Can't even skip a stone to the other side of the river."
"His Fire Release will fizzle out like his pee."
Naruto and Obito repeated young Hashirama's words, laughing without the slightest restraint.
Seeing young Madara Uchiha's face turn the color of aged wine, Sasuke pressed a hand to his forehead, unable to keep watching the interaction between his and Naruto's previous Indra-Asura reincarnations.
And of all times, their Jōnin instructor just had to add, in the most annoying tone possible, "My, my~ It really does feel like seeing the old Sasuke and Naruto again~"
"How does it?!"
"For example, how you said you hated Naruto, but even if it meant losing your important qualification as a ninja, you still couldn't bear to watch him go hungry?"
"Shut up! You and Obito Uchiha weren't any better!!"
Kakashi's face instantly stiffened with embarrassment, and he gave in. "Fine, let's call it even."
"Hmph!!"
In a parallel world of the original timeline, the first meeting between the Warring States Period's young Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju unfolded.
Neither of them knew that a group of people inside Kamui's Dimension was watching their ridiculous exchange.
Hidden deep in the forest were Butsuma Senju and Tajima Uchiha, who had been revived from the world of the mission scrolls because of Itachi's mission scroll, or perhaps because of Sasuke's wish.
The two of them had no idea how they had been transported here from the Uchiha's secret hideout in the Hidden Mountain.
The moment they heard voices, they immediately concealed their presence and hid behind the trees.
And then they witnessed exactly how their own sons became acquainted with the other family's foolish son.
"Is there something wrong with your son?!"
"There's something wrong with your son! Something seriously wrong!"
These two old fathers, sworn enemies on the battlefield, had once died together in an explosion of explosive tags.
Now that they had died once and been revived from the Pure Land by the mission scroll, they were arguing like a pair of childish old men.
At the same time, Hashirama and Madara, who had fought an enormous battle that even changed the terrain of the Land of Fire in the Warring States Period, had separated and fallen into this world's small river, drifting downstream with the current.
Inside Kamui's Dimension, everyone from Team Kakashi and Team Minato was stunned.
Why were Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju from their world floating in the river?!
Judging by their tattered state, before coming to this world, the God of Shinobi and the legendary ninja must truly have held nothing back against each other!!
Tobirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha were considering whether to go into the river and "retrieve the bodies" when they heard young Madara Uchiha from the main world outside Kamui's Dimension call out.
"Hey! There are two corpses floating over here!"
Hashirama and Madara, who had been staring blankly into space, heard the boy's voice and found it strangely familiar.
Tap, tap, tap.
Someone crossed the river, stepping across the water until he reached their side.
"These two must have been badly injured before they died, but I can't tell which clan's ninjas they are."
"Your name's Hashirama, right? So you really are a ninja."
Hashirama and Madara, lying in the river and pretending to be corpses, were dying of embarrassment. They had no idea how one fight had sent them traveling again, this time back to the era when the two of them first met.
"This place is about to become a battlefield. We should hurry back. Right, you are...?"
"My name is Madara. Like you, I can't say my surname."
"We can't casually reveal our surnames. So we really are both children from ninja clans."
"Yeah. See you next time."
Hopefully, not as enemies.
After young Madara Uchiha and young Hashirama Senju of the main world left, those who should not exist in this time and space were about to travel again.
Quick-eyed and quick-handed, young Obito Uchiha pulled the First Hokage and his ancestor, who were still lying in the river playing dead, into Kamui's Dimension.
One was the God of Shinobi, and the other was known as the legendary ninja, but both of them looked utterly undignified. Their clothes were torn, their hair was a mess, and most importantly, they were soaked from head to toe, with water dripping from the tips of their hair.
Thanks to how widely Hashirama's cells had spread, even after fighting a world-shaking battle, these two men who had broken through the Ninja World's ceiling of combat power could recover from their injuries at an incredible speed, relying on either original or imported Hashirama's cells.
It was only the social death that made Madara Uchiha somewhat unwilling to wake up.
Of course, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, did not feel the slightest social death. He could even jump up and excitedly reminisce about the past with Madara.
Fortunately, they soon traveled to the next world, and everyone's attention shifted elsewhere.
...
"Madara, Izuna, you're back."
Outside Kamui's Dimension was the Uchiha Clan's territory.
The moment the two brothers saw their father's dazed expression, they immediately remembered what point in time the outside of Kamui's Dimension had arrived at.
Outside were the panting young Madara Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha.
The clansmen stared numbly and mournfully with their Sharingan as one wooden coffin after another, each carved with the fan emblem, was buried in the ground.
"Go see your younger brothers one last time."
The Tajima Uchiha outside said this, then turned and left, leaving the young Madara and Izuna brothers frozen where they stood.
Inside Kamui's Dimension, Madara Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha's expressions looked terrible. Beside them, the five Uchiha brothers who had been saved by Naruto and Sasuke in another parallel world looked toward the two of them.
No wonder a figure like Madara Uchiha would go this far for the mission in Naruto's hands.
Perhaps to Naruto and Sasuke, it had only been a battle where they had not even been injured. To Sakura and Rin, it was simply what Medical-nin were supposed to do.
But to Madara Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha...
It was the greatest regret left from their weak, powerless youth.
No matter when, even after he had become powerful enough to be called a "legendary ninja" by the Ninja World, whenever he remembered Tajima Uchiha's words, "Go see your younger brothers one last time," it was like reliving that nightmare all over again. No matter how strong he became, he still could not change the powerlessness he had felt back then, when he failed to protect his younger brothers.
"Young Clan Head, Izuna-sama."
"We've come to see Myoko, Togakushi, and Kurohi one last time."
"Please come this way."
The Uchiha Clan's ninjas moved aside. Young Madara Uchiha placed his hand on the coffin lid and trembled for a long time, but no matter what, he could not bring himself to push it open.
Because they were small, the three little bodies had been placed in the same coffin.
They wore white burial clothes, their faces covered with snow-white cloth.
Just from their figures, he could tell that these three bodies belonged to his three younger brothers.
The two surviving brothers sealed away every emotion, as if they were forcing a hurricane and raging waves into a box.
"I heard it was the Senju Clan."
"Yes. While they were carrying out a mission to deliver supplies to the front line, they encountered adult ninjas from the Senju."
"Did they go..."
He wanted to ask if they had gone peacefully, but they had run into the Uchiha's sworn enemies. It was obvious that it could not have been easy.
"The three young masters fought the Senju ninjas fiercely before they died. Their bodies were covered in blade wounds, with hardly a single intact spot left. Young Master Togakushi suffered water torture before his death. When we found him, his body was badly bloated and decomposed from soaking. Young Master Kurohi's body was next to Young Master Myoko's, so he must have been protected the whole time. Also..."
"Barring any accident, he must have awakened his eyes right before death. After killing an enemy in return, in order to prevent the secret of the Sharingan from leaking, he destroyed his own eyes according to the clan's rules."
"Right before death..."
"He awakened the Sharingan..."
For a ninja of the Uchiha Clan, awakening the Sharingan should have been something worth celebrating.
So whenever they thought of their younger brother awakening his eyes just before death, only to have no choice but to destroy them with his own hands...
"Young Clan Head, Izuna-sama." The ninja beside them helped close the wooden coffin in front of them. "Please remember our hatred with the Senju."
As far as the eye could see, wherever the last light of dusk fell, there were coffins waiting to be buried.
"Remember our dead clansmen."
"Remember our hatred with the Senju."
Inside Kamui's Dimension, the five Uchiha brothers watched the scene outside and listened to those words, falling silent, unable to sort out what they felt.
Madara Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha, revived by the mission scroll, wore expressions so dark they were frightening.
Ninjas from both the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan were also inside the space. Seeing such a scene, neither side said a word.
"This time, aside from the Hagoromo Clan, our enemies also include the Uchiha Clan. They have always been ruthless!"
It was Butsuma Senju's voice.
Minato Namikaze explained, "The space-time outside Kamui's Dimension has changed again."
Tobirama Senju's brows drew together sharply. "It's the Senju burial ground."
Sure enough, after young Obito adjusted the visible range of Kamui's Dimension, everyone saw the Senju brothers standing beside Butsuma Senju.
An enraged young Hashirama, young Tobirama suppressing his emotions, and little Itama crying.
"This is..."
Hashirama Senju said, "It's when Kawarama was buried."
***
…
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
[email protected]/PinkSnake (100 Chapters Ahead).
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.
***