Chapter Seven: Hashirama v Naruto

The bright rays of the sun were just peeking over the clouds and illuminating the village settlement that Uzumaki Jin would do anything for. As he stood on a mountain range just outside of the village that he was the leader of he kept playing back the meting that he had with Butsuma.

Everything that had been said– from the Senju gaining a possible kekkei genkai through Butsuma's first born, to the manner in which the man so callously admitted to trying to steal the Byakugan from the Hyūga, to his over-the-top rant about how the Senju were the only reason why their clan hadn't seen all out war in a very long time. The last part rang true.

All of those things just kept playing themselves back and forth throughout his mind as he tried to come to a decision about it all.

Of course, the first one was an easy enough decision to come to. The Uzumaki had an extensive library that had documented information that dated back hundreds of years. Some of the more secret information that they held traced back to the days of the Rikudō Sennin. This type of information was privy to only those that were of high standings within the clan.

They had a bit of a monopoly in the history market.

If Butsuma wanted to find out something regarding a possible latent Senju kekkei genkai genome then he was more than welcome to fish through the sections of their library that were for public use.

The other thing, the one involving a possible war with- who was he kidding? A war between the Senju and the Hyūga was inevitable now. Butsuma was gathering resources to try and make sure that everything turned out well for him. The Senju may have lost a lot of credibility among some of Hi no Kuni's more prominent clans, but they still had powerful allies.

The Uzumaki were invariably more powerful than some of the clans that the Senju lost. This was not Jin beating on his clan's chest with prideful egotism, it was just a simple fact. Anyone that can use Fūinjutsu in a fight is dangerous. Very much so. To the point where, depending on their skill level, they can end battles in one move.

Now imagine a clan filled to the brim with people that at least had the potential to do that individually.

Having the Uzumaki back them up in the war would definitely be something great for the Senju. But would it be so for the Uzumaki?

"How goes things?" Jin's thoughts were interrupted by his father, who slowly walked up to him until he stood at the apex of the small mountain with his son. They both watched as the village that they had given their lives towards protecting got ready to tackle the day's activities.

"Not good." Jin replied calmly, as expected of him. If it had been anyone else that had asked him the question, he would have said something else. Maybe make up a lie or just outright shut up; but he was dealing with his father, the man that made him a man.

"I understand. This is a situation that requires the most profound level of thinking you can muster."

"Any chance of you possibly sharing some of your wisdom, Ginrei the wise." Jin said with a nearly imperceptible smirk, still looking at the village below.

"Was that a joke? I never thought you had it in you to make one." Honestly, that surprised the heck out of Ginrei.

"I am not emotionally stunted. No one is. Even Butsuma, someone that makes me look like a happy-go-lucky idiot isn't as emotionless as everyone thinks."

Ginrei nodded his head in agreement.

"Still though, I really don't know what to do." turning to look at his son, Ginrei saw just how much weight his son was carrying. He may have been a powerful shinobi that was seen by many as an example of the perfect shinobi, but he was still human at the end of it all. It was his human side that had now shown itself as he wrestled with the thought of sending his brethren to die in a war that they did not start.

"As allies, especially allies as close as us, we ought to back up the Senju whenever possible…if we don't, and the Senju lose the war, they could face total extinction." Ginrei surmised.

"Which means we won't have a buffer any more between us and the rest of this crazy world. We will lose our biggest client in the world and– "

Ginrei put together what he assumed was going to be Jin's final part to his statement, "It will be like the not-so good ol' days, with different clans coming at us non-stop to try and kill us off. Like centuries ago."

"Do you see now? The dangers of the good clan label that you placed on us all those years ago? It may be good for business, but it doesn't work out so well for reputation amongst other clans."

"And hardcore shinobi pragmatism is better? Look at what the Senju are involved in now?" Ginrei stated with a hard glare to his son for trying to throw some mud on a brilliant marketing strategy he had come up with to garner more money for the Uzumaki during his reign as clan head.

"It doesn't matter. What matters now is how we move forward. If we acquiesce to Butsuma's request, then many of our clansmen will die fighting in a war that was not of our own making." Jin honestly wanted to punch Butsuma in the face for putting in such a precarious position. The make-up of the shinobi world was so fickle,yet also so well set in stone. When you are at the top everyone else hates you. Mostly for your hubris in thinking of yourself as invincible. It happened to the Uzumaki, and they learned a great deal from it; and now it was happening to the Senju.

"True. But if we don't then the Senju will loose. They may be strong, but even they can't face up to the combined might of two Dōjutsu wielding clans along with a whole cavalcade of others, with their only back up being the Shimura and a few others. If that happens, and they go the way of the Hagaromo, then we'll be next."

"This all just boils down to a question of do we fight now, when we don't have to or fight later when we are provoked?" Jin took in a deep breath and exhaled, before finally looking at his father for the first time since their conversation had begun, "What would you do?"

Unlike earlier on, when he had phrased it as a joke, this time Jin meant it. He really wanted his father's advice.

Ginrei seemed to think things through for a bit, before reaching a conclusion in his head and saying, "If I were clan head I would have made a decision that was best for the clan. I would have trusted in our might and willpower to overcome anything thrown at us."

Then he turned on the spot and started to walk away, "But I am not the clan head any more. That title belongs to someone else now. I will defer the final choice to him, knowing very well that whatever choice he makes, he has the clan's best interests at heart."

Ginrei left Jin alone to ponder.

Jin did not know what to make of his father's words beyond 'I trust you to make a decision that is good for the clan, because it's Uzumaki before all else'. That was the basic gist of how he read it. He could be wrong, but he had no one to correct him.

So that is what he would do. He would make a decision that was for the betterment of the clan.

Have you ever felt annoyed by someone? So annoyed that you wish that you could strangle them to death and just be done with them? Unfortunately you can not because you know that doing so would be considered an international criminal offence that could lead to war? Even in a culture that prided itself on backstabbing people like a sloth prides itself on its sleeping ability?

If your name rhymed with Momonoke, then you would know how that felt like.

"Staring at me isn't going to make me go away." a very calm and cool Butsuma said as he bent down to try and pick a scroll from a large rack that resided within the Uzumaki clan's famed library.

"I'm not staring." Shimonosuke replied, squinting his eyes really hard as he looked at Butsuma stand up straight and continue down the aisle picking up different scrolls, "I'm trying to see if I can develop some kind of Dōjutsu that can allow me to shoot pure chakra from my eyes."

"And if that were to happen while you were staring in my general direction…" Butsuma let the sentence hang, knowing that a man as experienced as Shimonosuke could figure out the rest. It basically boiled down to:

There will be war.

"Then there would be one less nuisance in the world ." Shimonosuke stopped squinting really hard, relaxing his facial muscles and choosing to simply fold his arms.

Butsuma looked at the man said to be a Ninjutsu expert among Ninjutsu experts and just stared at him for a few seconds. He really couldn't understand what the man hated about him. This was how he usually behaved whenever they were within each other's vicinity. Always trying to test his patience.

He didn't really care much about what Shimonosuke thought of him, he was just a librarian after all. He held no truly high ranking position within the clan. Even if he did, his loathing wouldn't even get Butsuma to sneeze in his general direction.

Butsuma just hated people that didn't give him proper respect.

Unlike his contemporary, Ginrei, Shimonosuke was nothing to him. He wasn't as dangerous as Ginrei. He was just someone that was extremely well versed in Ninjutsu because of his psychotic father's (effective) teachings. He found Ginrei's intellect to be of a higher value than Shimonosuke and his vast Jutsu. Sure Ninjutsu could save your life when in you are in a dangerous situation, but the mind would have allowed you to circumvent the dangerous situation in its entirety.

Besides, in this world, which ninja wasn't a Ninjutsu expert on some level?

He would, however, respect him for one thing, "This library is in very pristine condition."

That took Shimonosuke back a bit. A compliment? From Senju Butsuma? He must be in some alternate reality where stoic assholes of an unfathomable calibre were kings of sarcasm and compliments.

"Whoever organised it would make a good maid." Butsuma said, knowing very well who organised it all. The man that had been trying to discover if he had a Dōjutsu just a few minutes ago.

It got the desired effect out of Shimonosuke, who was already in motion before he realised it; a very guttural growl escaped his throat followed by, "There seems to be a youngster that's going to be in need of a change of pants really soon. I sense that they are going to resemble mud."

Butsuma smirked, closing the distance as well, but much slower and calmer, "Oh really? I think someone's about to have a heart attack."

It took them all of five seconds to stand just a hair's breath away from each other, flaring their nostrils in each others faces. Well, Shimonosuke was, Butsuma simply looked him up and down, scowling as he did so.

"What is your angle here, Butsuma?"

A simple raised eyebrow was Butsuma's way of saying, "Excuse me?"

"Why are you dragging the Uzumaki into a war?"

"Ah, I should've known that Ginrei would tell you what was going on. Why he seeks out your counsel when he's the much more intelligent one out of you two is beyond me."

"Ginrei hasn't said a single word to me in days, which isn't really something big for us. We've gone months without saying anything to each other." Shimonosuke said as he shook his head, "No, he didn't have to. Everywhere you go you spread death and destruction. Every alliance you make somehow crumbles due to some reason or the other."

A scowl found its way onto Butsuma's face.

"Many people across the lands view you as the pinnacle of shinobi excellence. Why they do so is beyond me? All you do is destroy. If that is the ideal shinobi, then I fear for the Senju. I don't see them making it past the next five years. They may go the way of the Hagaromo." Shimonosuke looked at the younger ninja with hatred, while said ninja just stared at him in apathy. This lasted for a few seconds, but for the two men it might as well have been a lifetime.

"You know…you and your clan need to get off your high horse and see the real world for what it is. The upcoming war will be a great reminder to you all of what the real world is like." With his peace said, Butsuma turned around and went back into the aisle that he was searching through. He had not even taken five steps before:

"How about a bet?"

"A bet? You mistake me for someone that doesn't have his priorities in order." Honestly, what did this old coot take him for? An addict? No. Being addicted to any of the shinobi vices was a sin. He was anything but an addict…maybe a little due to the mission-for-hire nature of shinobi.

"Then as a man who has their priorities in order how about we see whose world view is greater." Shimonosuke couldn't help the smile that threatened to split his face.

"We're not children, you old– never mind." Butsuma really wanted to curse this old fool, but he wouldn't. It was too beneath him.

"You're right. We're not children, but today there will be two children fighting to showcase exactly which clan has a better prodigy."

Butsuma couldn't help the smirk that found its way onto his face, "You're saying that a nine year old boy can beat a twelve year old with more battle field experience than the years said nine year old has lived?"

Butsuma picked up a random scroll, flipped it once before catching it and then said, "He's eight actually. And yes, I wholeheartedly believe Naruto can beat your son any day."

These fools. They really had no idea how special Hashirama was. He wouldn't have taken such a significant amount of time away from his clan just to personally research a possible kekkei genkai if he didn't find it valuable. He wasn't truly forthcoming in his meeting with his precious cousins. Every clan had its secrets, and one of theirs was just how special Hashirama was.

He would show them all the error of looking down on his- no, the Senju clan's philosophy of making sure that you took every advantage you got in order to advance your cause. Hashirama would champion his ideology whether he liked it or not.

"Fine."

A victorious smirk found its way onto Shimonosuke's face once again, "Whoever wins between Hashirama, who I'm sure you've had a hand in training, and Naruto, who I've had a hand in training, will decide exactly who has the correct world view. Senju or Uzumaki."

Oh, this was going to be interesting.

The sun shone through the windows of the great Uzumaki compound to signal yet another morning on the peaceful island that a large part of the world's red head populace called home. Hashirama was already up at this point. He was sure all of his siblings and father were as well. Sleeping was a luxury shinobi could rarely afford, especially on the mainland.

Hashirama was sitting on his futon, cross-legged, and let his mind wander. Why his father had brought him and his siblings to this lovely island, he did not know. He was not going to complain about it though. Being here was fun, even though they had only been here for less than twenty four hours.

The people, the few that he had interacted with, were really nice. The saying that they were all very mellow rang true. These people were unlike mainlanders who would be at ease with seeing you scowl more than seeing you smile. On the mainland, if someone did smile at you it meant that they were stronger than you, or at least believed themselves to be, and that they were going to kill you. Hashirama had come across a few of these types, and they were all quickly proven wrong.

They had looked down on him because of his age and he made sure that they regret it. It was not nice, not one bit, but it was how you ensured your existence where he came from. Right now, on this peaceful island that had never seen war in what he guessed was forever, these people's smiles were genuine. They did not want to kill him or his family. In fact, they were family.

Which made the next bit of business weird, really.

His spar with Naruto. For some reason he had a feeling that this was not just some ordinary spar where nothing of great value was lost. He had a feeling that it meant something to someone. Not to him, or Naruto. He could tell. He had been alive for near half of the expected life expectancy of their era. This helped him cultivate a sixth sense for danger and a seventh sense for reading the environment.

Naruto was a weird kid. He seemed like someone that had a good head on his shoulders. He was strong for his age. Almost reminding Hashirama of how strong he was when he was eight, possibly nine. Either way, their spar would be interesting.

The thing that made him weird was how he interacted with people. With Mito, Ginrei or any of the people that served the Uzumaki clan, he was nice, smiled a lot and was quite pleasant. Whenever someone that wasn't any of the aforementioned people tried to strike up a conversation, he quickly shot it down with quick answers that left little to no room to ask a few more.

It was almost like he had two personalities. At first Hashirama thought that this was due to them not being his clan members, but he quickly realised that this line of thinking was wrong. He went from smiling when he was talking with Mito to unreadable when Jin, his clan head, said something to him.

Maybe he had trust issues? Or it might be something deeper?

"Hashirama-sama." a feminine voice called out, getting Hashirama to snap back to reality. It was probably one of the Uzumaki servants that doted on the main family.

"Yes." he answered.

"I've been instructed to get you so that you can join Uzumaki-sama and the rest of your family for breakfast."

Hashirama did not say anything. He instead walked over to the door, slid it open, and was greeted by the sight of a young woman with brown hair tied into two small pig-tails. She looked to be in her early twenties.

Upon seeing Hashirama, the young woman bowed and turned her body simultaneously, lifting her arm up and pointing it in the general direction of the eating area where breakfast was to be served.

"Right this way, Hashirama-sama."

Hashirama just nodded his head and walked past her. After a few steps he said, "There's no need to be so formal with me."

The young woman stood up and looked at the young, possible future clan head with a raised eyebrow. It was common amongst Uzumaki for them to not want to be referred to in honorifics, they were a generally very laid back bunch. She did not think that it would extend to those outside of the clan as well. From what she expected of those from other clans, they were pretty cut-throat. That was why her parents had moved to Uzu no Kuni many years ago. To escape all of the lousy clans and hang out with the cool one, or so her uncle had eloquently put it when he told her their family's story.

It was also why she had no problem serving the Uzumaki clan.

Mito was currently kneeling down at the breakfast table, with Tobirama to her right and Tōka on the left. Opposite them knelt Itama and his father. The maids that served the Uzumaki were currently laying food for everyone to eat that morning. Itama and his father were exchanging words in such a quiet manner that Mito couldn't here a thing.

"Hey." Mito's attention was grabbed by Tōka.

"Yes?" Mito gave her attention to the girl on her left.

"What's the deal with...what's-his-name, Naruto?" Tōka had a slightly unsure look on her face, not sure if she got the blonde haired Uzumaki's name correctly.

"Yes, Naruto." Mito clarified for the only other girl around her age in the room,"What about him?"

"Is he really, um...one of you guys?" Tōka was unsure of how to word her question as she didn't want to offend these playing host to her.

"One of us?" Mito asked, noticing that Tobirama was also paying attention to their conversation.

"Yes. You know...is he an Uzumaki?"

"Oh..." Mito had a small smile on her face as she understood why Tōka was asking her such a question, "Yes, he is. It's just that he's the first one to ever be born without red hair."

"How did that come about?" Tobirama decided to jump into the conversation as well.

"Huh?" was Mito's intelligent reply.

"I mean, how come he is blonde unlike the rest of you who are red heads?" Tobirama clarified.

"His father is blonde."

"Then he must be a very powerful man to be have genes that can suppress the usually very dominant Uzumaki red." Tobirama concluded.

"Uh...what are genes?" a very confused Mito tilted her head sideways.

Every Senju at the table heard her question and looked at her like she had grown a second head, except for Butsuma. He was too-proud a warrior for such a ridiculous look to find itself on his face. If he was a lesser man, maybe. But he was the leader of the most powerful clan in the world, and as such he had to act like it. Although, he did look at the Uzumaki heiress questioningly.

Gene was not a really hard word to grasp. It was only four letters.

"Genes, Mito, are basically what make you who you are." Naruto's voice rang from the entrance of the eating area.

"Oh, I see." was Mito's intelligent reply. Mito was not startled by Naruto's appearance like the other kids were. She had sensed him walking down the hallway, talking to a cook about something, before coming here.

"And to answer your question, Tobirama-san," Naruto said coolly as he walked passed Tōka, "My father is a civilian."

"Oh, I see." was all Tobirama said before he went back to doing what he had been before the conversation had even started, which was thinking about whatever meandered into his head.

Naruto greeted the everyone with a bow and a formal good morning before he made his way to the table, went on his knees next to Itama and kept quite.

Mito and Tōka continued their conversation while they waited for Ginrei and Jin to make their way over to the eating area, which they did after only a few minutes. Both men entered the room in a very brisk manner, tilting their head slightly at everybody that was gathered at the table, before taking their respective seats at the head of the table – Jin, and at the foot of the table, Ginrei.

Hashirama was the last to get there, the brown haired boy looked sheepish as he looked at everyone that was gathered within the room and said, "Um, sorry everyone. I, uh, kind of got lost."

Itama stifled a giggle while Tobirama just shook his head in an exasperated manner.

'When will you stop being such an idiot, brother.' Tobirama thought to himself.

"It's okay Hashirama-kun. Sit down." Ginrei said, pointing at a spot on the table next to Tōka, which Hashirama dutifully took.

The group ate together peacefully, although the kids could tell that there was some sort of hostility in the air. Who it was aimed at and who it was from, they had no idea.

The moment had finally arrived. The big fight/spar was finally upon them. Naruto and Hashirama stood across each other in a clearing that had a lot of trees. The other mainlanders and the main Uzumaki family were in attendance as well, standing quite a distance away from the two combatants. Shimonosuke, who was chosen as the main overseer of this fight was standing at the centre of the calm before the storm.

While everyone else was wearing casual clothing such as kimono and loose shirts worn under armour – sans armour, the two boys that were about to face off were wearing armour. For Hashirama it was the armour he wore yesterday on the day of his arrival, while for Naruto it was a first for him wearing armour for a fight.

He had always worn gi in training, and as such it felt very weird to him. The armour was a dull grey, accompanied by black pants, a long-sleeved shirt along with black sandals. Wrapped around his hands were bandages that started at his forearm and went down to his fingers, stopping halfway through.

Around both boys' heads were white cloths that had their clan's insignia. A sign that they were recognised by their respective clans as true shinobi.

"Alright boys, here are the rules put forth for this spar. Number one: No killing or maiming. This is supposed to be a friendly competition between two clans that like each other, not enemies. Got it?" Shimonosuke had a no nonsense look sent to both boys, who nodded their heads.

"Good. Number two, this one comes as a by-product of number one: No high level Jutsu of any kind, be it nin, tai, gen, fūin or anything else in between."

Another nod from both boys.

"Good. Now hand all lethal weapons excluding kunai and shuriken. Those are allowed."

Both boys dug their hands into their respective pouches, with Hashirama pulling out a scroll of average size and Naruto pulling out a yo-yo. This got a few raised eyebrows from the entire Senju family, Hashirama included.

The boys handed their 'weapons' over to Shimonosuke, who took them and stuffed them in his pockets.

"Alright," the old Uzumaki Ninjutsu specialist said, rubbing his hands together rapidly, "As soon as I leave your sight…let the fight begin!" and then he was gone.

"Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Release: Gunshot)!"

A swirling ball of water found itself being hurled at Hashirama's face at point blank range.

'What a shrewd tactic.' Hashirama thought as he dodged the attack, ducking underneath it and surprising Naruto. This was a tactic he'd come up with to deal with much more experienced combatants. Hit them hard and fast. Make sure that they can't get up. Step one was a ball of water to the face.

Off to the sidelines Butsuma looked at Jin and asked, "How was he able to perform that jutsu so efficiently? It should be impossible for someone his age."

Seeing an eight year old perform an elemental jutsu seal-less was a rarity. Butsuma was sure that not even he could do that at age eight. Looking at Jin as he kept his eyes trained on the blonde Uzumaki fighting his son, back-pedalling as he blocked a series of blows from Hashirama, Butsuma could not help but wonder what else the boy could do.

"The boy is a genius." was all Jin said, letting Butsuma figure out what he really wanted to say. I ain't saying shit.

Back on the battlefield, Hashirama was keeping things at a close quarters, making sure that Naruto did not get any breathing room. Punch after punch he threw at the younger boy, watching him block, parry or dodge, before a quick counter was launched that Hashirama easily turned on its head. The latest one was jab to the chest, which was pointless really if Hashirama were honest because his armour could handle it well.

Regardless, he grabbed the offending wrist, used it to pull Naruto in before he smashed his fist into the other boy's face. Naruto stumbled backwards, feeling his brain rattle within the confines of his skull, before an uppercut sent him flying backwards into the air. He was seeing stars.

As soon as his body hit the ground a shadow loomed over him. Thinking quickly, he rolled backwards just as Hashirama's feet hit the ground, cratering it. After getting to his feet Naruto realised that his only saving grace would be space. He needed space to think. He wasn't good when it came to thinking on the spot. He was a planner that needed time.

Spitting out a glob of water in the quickly advancing Hashirama's direction, the boy ducked his head to the side, letting the attack sail past him harmlessly. Naruto wanted to internally curse as he continued to back-pedal while shooting out more and more globs of water, which Hashirama continued to dodge with ease.

Naruto continued his water assault while moving backwards, taking Hashirama around a tree, then another, and another, all while not relenting with his water assault. A normal eight year old would have already fainted from chakra exhaustion from spitting out so much chakra produced water, but Naruto was not a normal eight year old, even among shinobi. He was an Uzumaki. If there was one thing that the Uzumaki clan were well known for besides their unparalleled talent to Fūinjutsu, it was that they were chakra monsters.

Hashirama was becoming bored with this game that Naruto was playing. Taking him around all of these trees was becoming increasingly annoying. The part that annoyed Hashirama the most was that he was allowing all this to happen. The forest was his domain. He knew that with most shinobi, if they cornered themselves in a forest against him, they would be dead already. So why was he allowing Naruto the opportunity to live passed this mistake. No one else did.

And then something wet hit him, right against his temple. It was a water ball, that much he was sure of. What he was not sure of, as he rolled to the side thanks to the impact of the ball against his head, was how he was hit from the side when Naruto was running in front of-

The Naruto that he had kept his eyes on was no more. He had vanished into thin air the second the ball that him disoriented him. As he looked up, he saw that he was all alone in the forest, Naruto no longer anywhere in sight.

Quickly bringing his hands up to form the ram seal, Hashirama disrupted his own chakra flow for a second, releasing the Genjutsu that Naruto had placed on him in order to get away from him. Now he was standing in a dense forest all by himself. Naruto had taken that moment of respite to escape from him.

It was okay though, at least he could take solace in the fact that they were in a forest full of fully formed trees, and in this environment Hashirama knew that he was king.

Bringing his hands together to form the snake seal, Hashirama sank to the ground in less than two seconds, completely disappearing from the world.

With the clan heads

While Naruto and Hashirama were busy beating each other black and blue, the clan heads and their progeny simply stood still and waited. And waited. And waited.

"How long will they take in there?" an impatient Mito asked.

While Tobirama was a lot like his father in regards to him being of the understanding that Shinobi should not reveal their emotions, even his impatience was beginning to show. Tōka was impassive as she just kept her eyes trained on any form of movement happening within the forest, while all Itama did was sit down and take out a piece of candy. It quickly went into his mouth.

"As long as they have to." Jin answered his daughter, "So long as they don't maim or kill each other, everything will be fine."

Plus Shimonosuke was there to make sure that they did not go overboard. Kami knows how spars can escalate to dangerous levels really quickly.

With Naruto

Naruto was crouching on a branch, reviewing their entire fight so far. Hashirama was a hard hitter. A really hard hitter. If he had not been getting his clock cleaned by Jin every other day, then he would be feeling a whole lot worse. He was definitely starting to think that Jin's torture sessions (ala training) were paying off. That last uppercut would have made him black out all of those months ago.

Another thing he could take solace in was the fact that Hashirama was not fast than he was, even when he ran backwards. Jin was definitely a bastard but when it came to training he did not mess around. Naruto could definitely see the fruits of his torturous labour.

The final thing that he took solace in was how Hashirama was not really good at spotting Genjutsu. Maybe he was, but Naruto wouldn't know. Most shinobi tended to use extravagant methods when utilising Genjutsu, thus ruining their very own illusions.

If you're a ninja that is known to have low levels of chakra, then suddenly making it rain fire is a little too out of your element. If you're a ninja that is known for using water when fighting then it isn't totally infeasible when you suddenly summon up water to attack from the side. Totally believable.

It's that subtlety, that understanding, that makes the difference between someone that sucks at spotting and using Genjutsu and someone that is awesome at it. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't a good user of Genjutsu. Most Uzumaki were not. The fact that he could use one, as weak as it was, was a miracle on its own.

Whatever else he had to think about was interrupted by a shift just below him. The branch that he had been crouching on, hiding away from Hashirama suddenly contorted with the flexibility of a python. A really fast python. Luckily for Naruto, he was faster than an animated branch. Quickly substituting himself with a broken twig lying on the ground, Naruto found himself staring up at Hashirama as he emerged from the branch that he was on just a few seconds ago like a spectre.

"I almost had you." Hashirama stated with a smile on his face, looking down at Naruto.

"What in the world is that?" Naruto asked, pointing at Hashirama.

"What is what?"

"That thing that you did. Moving the tree. I didn't know anyone could do that." and he honestly did not. Well colour him surprised because Hashirama was doing it.

"It's my kekkei genkai." was all Hashirama said. When it was clear that he was not going to say anything else, Naruto simply shook his head in disbelief.

"And here I thought bringing you in here was going to be an advantage to me."

Hashirama just shrugged.

"Oh well." Naruto said nonchalantly. He dug his hand into his lonesome holster and retrieved a kunai. What Hashirama noted was how Naruto did not hold it in a reverse grip like most combatants do when they are going to use the kunai as a close-quarters weapon, meaning that Naruto was going to actually try and throw it at him.

The distance between them would make such a throw absurd. Hashirama knew he was nowhere near being the fastest shinobi alive, but he knew that he could dodge the kunai without much effort. Surely Naruto knew that thanks to how he was able to dodge the balls of water he spat at him at a much closer distance than the one he wanted to throw the kunai from.

Without disappointing Hashirama, Naruto threw the kunai at the Senju boy, who plucked it out of the just as quickly as it had been thrown.

"Really?" was all Hashirama said, flashing the kunai up at Naruto.

Naruto did not say anything, simply taking out another one and throwing it again'. Hashirama would have caught this one as well had it not been for the wire he saw attached to the rope. He quickly threw the kunai he had in his possession back at Naruto, aiming for the wire attaching his kunai to him.

Naruto simply sidestepped the attempt while his kunai sailed passed Hashirama's face, with the older boy not even dodging.

'Perhaps I overestimated him.' was Hashirama's first thought as Naruto pulled his kunai back with his wire.

"Is that the best you can do?" Hashirama's face held a bit of a scowl to it.

Naruto saw this and smirked. His plan was coming along well, "No. This is…"

With the others

Naruto and Hashirama had been gone for more than five minutes now, and it was starting to get aggravating, even for the adults. They wanted to see what both boys could do, but they could not. They knew that they could easily follow the battle if they wanted to by simply keeping pace with them from a distance. Unfortunately, that would disrupt the flow of the fight, as they would both have their senses misfiring as they would judge all of the other adults as if they were combatants and would probably direct a few attacks their way thinking that it was the other boy that they wanted to defeat.

BOOM!

That quickly got everybody's attention, getting Mito and Itama to sit up from the ground that they had been sitting on and having a light conversation with each other on and focus. Another boom. And another.

After three more booms, which the adults had associated with falling trees as there was the unmistakable creek that came before the resounding crashing boom of the tree falling to meet the earth.

Hashirama came flying out of the tree line backwards. He was airborne for three seconds, before coming back down to meet soft grass feet first. He had a few cuts littering his body. His armour was dented around the abdomen and his Senju head cloth had disappeared.

Whatever had happened within the confines of the forest had turned the tide of the fight.

Naruto came shooting out of the tree line a few seconds later, holding onto a giant kunai that was actually taller than he was by quite a bit. He landed on the ground and looked at Hashirama. He stuffed his giant kunai point-first into the ground, getting raised eyebrows and shocked expressions from all of those watching, except Mito.

"Okay… " Hashirama said, clearly as shocked as everyone else that was not Uzumaki Mito, "What the fuck is that?"

He had never seen a kunai that big. Ever.

Shuriken? Sure, he had seen a few shuriken that were that size. There was a clan that specialised in making giant shuriken. Kunai on the other hand were something else entirely.

"Like seriously," he questioned, "How?"

He was not the only one that wanted to know.

"A shinobi never reveals their tricks." Naruto said with a smirk on his face.

Off to the sidelines, Jin, Butsuma, Tobirama and Ginrei all noted something that was out of place with this kunai, besides its size. While it looked like a regular kunai, for the most part, there was one key difference. The handle, just before the giant ring that sat an entire head above Naruto, had Fūinjutsu markings.

From what Ginrei could ascertain from the markings, it was a growth seal. A seal meant to enlarge certain things. They had no real practical use as you could not use them on anything that was animate. Animals and plant life that were forced to grow into larger forms of themselves tended to die whilst growing. The physical trauma was too much for any living thing to contain.

"Father," Tobirama said, "What sort of seal is that?"

"Ask them." Butsuma said, hiking his thumb in Ginrei and Jin's direction.

"It's a growth seal." Mito stated, getting Tobirama to look at her. Hashirama heard her as well, but chose not to look in her general direction, because his fight was still on.

"Growth seal?" Tobirama inquired, as if he were tasting something in his mouth and he could not quite figure out what it tasted like, "What does it do? Grow stuff."

"If by grow stuff you mean make things bigger, then yes. That is exactly what it does." Mito answered, not taking her eyes off of her best friend.

Just looking at him stare down the much older Hashirama was awe inspiring. She wanted to be like that one day.

Back with Hashirama, he was staring intently at Naruto's giant kunai, which at first glance seemed harmless, for a kunai, due to its size; but Naruto somehow knew how to use it practically in battle. The cuts on his body and the dent on his armour were enough to support that claim.

"Growth seal, huh?" Hashirama said, trying to buy time, "Never heard of it."

"Yeah. I don't suppose anyone outside of our clan would know it." Naruto said, "After all, it was created to counter the Akimichi clan when they started throwing around giant body parts as part of their main fighting style almost two hundred years ago."

"Two hundred years ago? Is that when the Baika no Jutsu was invented?" Hashirama asked, slightly shocked at the level of detail with which Naruto knew things.

Naruto just nodded, "Unfortunately for us, the seal is useless on living things, unless if they can survive through the pain of having everything within them suddenly expanded to massive proportions." He then shrugged, "Honestly, how the Akimichi clan do it, I have no idea."

Quickly blurring his hands through different seals Hashirama slammed his hands on the ground and said, "Doton: Tsuchi Douyou Hira no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Shaking Palm Technique)."

The dirt that was in front of Hashirama suddenly found itself being lifted off into the air and flying in Naruto's general direction. The pieces of earth were not big, but they would be painful if they hit, which was why Naruto ducked behind the giant kunai he made, back first.

The kunai was pelted with a repeated barrage of the small chunks of earth for a few seconds, before it all stopped just as soon as a shadow loomed over Naruto. Hashirama's feet found nothing but earth once again as Naruto rolled out of the way, pulling himself up and yanking his hand– pulling on the string that was attached to his kunai.

Hashirama spun out of the kunai's way, and watched as it became smaller in the two seconds it took to fly back into Naruto's possession. Naruto let go of the kunai, letting it dangle on the string it was attached to, before he started spinning it rapidly, twirling it around his body in different patterns for a few seconds, before he let it loose, flying towards Hashirama rapidly.

Naruto's assault was something that Hashirama had expected, having dealt with the weird fighting style before when they were in the forest; and just like before he was able to dodge the first few strikes really quickly, before the darn thing was retracted and then sent flying by an ox kick to the ring, sending it back at Hashirama at full speed.

The style was strange, looking like a mixture between someone using a kusarigama and a yo-…

'Oh, hell. Now it makes sense.' Hashirama thought as he rushed forward, looking to get past the kunai, cut the string it was attached to, and make sure that he brought the battle back to a close quarters encounter. The yo-yo that Naruto had earlier was used in this manner. He probably made it gigantic in order to flatten people with it.

Hashirama's plan was an admirable one, but the kunai was yanked back as soon as it flew past his head. Already expecting this to be done, Hashirama cut the cord the string was attached to but it was too late.

"Look out!" Itama's panic-stricken voice was his only salvation as a last second backwards glance allowed him to see the kunai enlarging to its previous gigantic size, now with the added benefit of having the momentum of a small, regular-sized kunai.

Hashirama hit the deck as quickly as he could, allowing the rouge kunai to sail past him and meet its master. Naruto, who was already closing the distance between himself and Hashirama, used his smaller stature to good effect and just slid underneath the kunai, not really losing much momentum, and quickly righted himself and closed the distance between he and his opponent.

Naruto threw a right-footed kick a Hashirama, who was on one knee, but it was caught in his left palm. Stuck in an awkward position, Naruto was pulled in by Hashirama as he rose up and delivered a solid punch to his stomach. The armour took up most of the blow, but it was still strong enough to force the oxygen out of Naruto.

Hashirama's punches were absurdly hard hitting as far as Naruto was concerned.

Pulling himself back, Hashirama- still holding onto Naruto's leg- sent a punch flying at Naruto's face, but the blonde boy caught it with his open palm. Hashirama tried to move, but Naruto had a surprisingly firm grip. This lead him to make the only logical conclusion. He was stuck.

So there they were, stuck in a deadlock. Hashirama's left arm was holding Naruto's right leg, while Naruto's left palm kept Hashirama's right fist in check.

"Heh," a smirk found its way onto Hashirama's face, "You know, despite having figured out that you are strong, I still held back against you. A mistake I don't plan on repeating."

As soon as he was done saying that, a kunai found itself placed on Naruto's neck.

'A clone?' Naruto thought, panic dancing across his features.

"I made it while you were ducking behind your kunai." Hashirama explained.

There was a moment of silence between the two, as Naruto simply stared Hashirama down. After it was all said and done however, he just took a deep breath and said, "You know, I have to apologise as well."

This drew a tilted head out of Hashirama.

"I also underestimated you." Naruto said, before he looked at his hand that was holding Hashirama's fist back. Hashirama noticed this and looked at the two connected hands as well.

"What the-?" Hashirama began, shocked by what he was seeing.

"They say you shouldn't look into the eyes of an Uchiha when you do battle with them." Naruto spoke with conviction, "I may just be a beginner at Fūinjutsu, but I can tell you this…" then his eyes held a cold steely detachment to them, "Never let an Uzumaki, even a beginner, lay a hand on you."

Why did he say this? Well, Hashirama's right hand current hand a seal spread out on it. Just his hand. It was a seal that most shinobi, even those that knew fuck-all about Fūinjutsu knew all too well.

It was the seal found on an explosive tag.

"H-how?" Hashirama's tone carried a hint of panic in it. He wanted to know how Naruto placed the seal on him.

"Well, I'm not much for flashy techniques." Naruto explained, "I'm more of a practical kind of guy. While most people would find flashy ways to do the simplest of tasks, I tend to just keep it all minimal. Such as in the case of how I applied this seal."

Unfortunately for Hashirama, Naruto was not going to divulge much on how his technique works. Even if was simple. All Naruto did was take his understanding of what Fūinjutsu was at a grass roots level- written universal code for the hand seals one uses in Ninjutsu- and just applied it in a way no one had ever thought of.

He wrote the seals, both the growth seal and the explosive tag's seal on to his hands. Each one took up a different finger. All he had to do when he was in combat was simply touch someone, and the seal was on them. It was how he had cheated the Teppōdama as well. All he did was inscribe the jutsu's formula onto his chest, and he could fire as many globs of water as he wanted.

This way of 'cheating' Fūinjutsu came with a slight hiccup. In the case of actual ninjutsu, he had to learn them first, and then only would he be able to use them in the manner he does. With Fūinjutsu it was slightly different, due to human flesh having different properties to exploding tags, he had to rewrite the entire seal, changing it to react to skin and not paper, and to also include a shrinkage seal, which compressed the seal into a few squiggly lines of Fūinjutsu. Not the overly complex version that people would not be able to recognise.

While the explosive seal was different from the regular, much easier to make version found on tags, it still looked pretty much the same when compressed.

Jutsu that could be utilised without hand seals… it was very convenient.

The spar was ended with a draw. Both Naruto and Hashirama agreed that it was a fair outcome, given how the fight had played out. Hashirama was very impressed with Naruto. He was strong, not as strong as Hashirama was at his age, but he was smarter. Very much so.

As the Senju and Uzumaki contingent headed back to the main family's home, the adults walked together while the kids kept to themselves, with the battle being relived by both parties.

"My favourite part was when nii-san thought that he had won," Itama said animatedly, hands flying all over the show, "Only for Naruto to be like," then he imitated Naruto holding Hashirama's fist, sans fist, "You never touch an Uzumaki." Then he broke the pose, "That was so cool!"

Naruto definitely had a fan in Itama now. Also, Naruto was pretty sure he heard a suck it, Butsuma from Shimonosuke…nope, he was probably imagining things. Why would he say something so crude to a clan head?

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Hashirama shouted at his little brother, feeling betrayed with him seemingly finding Naruto cooler if he was to read further into his statement than what was said.

Itama opened his mouth to answer, but then quickly shut it. He shook his head furiously, telling Hashirama he was not going to say anything. To Hashirama though, he might as well have because no answer meant that Itama supported Naruto.

"No fair." Hashirama hand comical tears streaming down his face, "My own brother likes you better than me, Naruto."

"I don't blame Itama for doing so Hashirama." Tōka chimed in from the side, "You beat him up all the time when you train together, so it's no wonder you would lose his support."

"Whaaaaaat…" Hashirama had the facial expression and mannerisms of a fish, as he rapidly looked around for support. Itama said nothing, keeping his face stony and staring forward. Tōka just smiled and shook her head. Tobirama was cold, as usual. Although he did were a small smile on his face for some reason. A reason that Hashirama deduced quickly.

"What!? Don't tell me you supported Naruto too, Tobi."

Tobirama just calmly looked at his brother for all of three seconds, before he said, "I have no idea what you are talking about." smile still in place.

"Noooooo!" Hashirama shouted comically to the heavens, getting a round of laughter from everyone, Naruto included.

As the house they were walking towards came up on the horizon, Naruto couldn't help but think to himself about how nice the Senju kids were. Mainly Itama and Hashirama. Tobirama and Tōka…not so much. They were just too quiet to get a read on.

Still though, he had a feeling he was going to enjoy the few days they were going to spend together.

To be continued

Whew, done. That was tiring. Seriously. I tried really hard to put this chapter together as quickly as I could. It was very hard. I realised something with Naruto as I wrote the chapter. He was perfect. Too perfect for my liking. As such, I decided to change his interactions with people just a little bit.

He won't be an antisocial prick or anything, but he won't be nice to you until he gets to know you. If you noticed the change in his behaviour from the previous chapter to this chapter, this was the reason why.

With this chapter's conclusion, we are now two or three chapters away from where the story will really take off. I can't wait to dish it all out for you guys.

Anyway, enough about that. I really enjoyed putting together that fight. If you hafn't figured it out yet, it was all a vehicle to allow me to showcase Naruto's fighting style and his techniques at this point. Next chapter you'll see more combat and more Uzumaki shinobi than you know what to do with.

That's all for now, let me know what you think. As always, take care.

I'm out of this bitch.