--Spirits of Creation and Destruction--

Chapter Three

Madara sat by the river. He was now fourteen years of age, and Kuwa decided that Madara would get a title. He had eight tails now, even though it had been less than a year. This was the fastest anyone had ever seen an Uchiha gain tails. The ceremony was in a few days, and he was stressed to the max. He was so worried that we would fail, even though that wasn't really possible. He seemed to find a way.

Madara's ears twitched; he heard something. The person was trying not to be found - that was clear. He sniffed the air. Fae. That would mean a Senju. 'Hashirama?' He thought. No, it couldn't be. Hashirama was gone. He shook his head and stood up, tails swaying. He didn't think twice about his pursuer as he walked back into the forest.

That was when Tobirama began to move as well.

--

Madara spent the rest of the day preparing for the ceremony with Kuwa. Tobirama had followed him, coming right back to the Senju compound like the clan leader had asked. The Senju now had an edge in the war, they knew where the Uchiha resided. All because of Madara's carelessness.

--

The Titling Ceremony wasn't very long, it was the battle after that was. The Uchiha went over the top with the ceremony, because Madara gained another tail. The first Nine-Tails since Seiso Uchiha, of course they would want to celebrate. Madara was a respected figure in the Uchiha clan now, almost certain to become the clan leader. But the celebration after was not what Madara expected. Sure, he wanted to win the war, but not by hurting people. Specifically not a brown-haired Fae.

But the Uchiha, high on happiness and drunk from the sake, stormed the battlefield. They came into Senju territory, claiming it and pillaging the stores and houses of innocent fae who didn't want to fight. The Uchiha in their sober state wouldn't have done this.

The Senju took this as a threat. They couldn't allow their enemies to take their land and kill their people. They were going to fight back, and they knew just how to do it.

"Tobirama had his transformation." Butsuma said to Hashirama. Butsuma was mentoring 14-year-old Hashirama to become the Senju clan leader.

"Oh yeah, I saw him," Hashirama responded, not evening looking up from his scroll.

"Well-" Butsuma was cut off by a fae running into the room.

"The Uchiha! They're attacking!"

--

"W-wait!" Madara stumbled after all the Kitsune wrecking the Senju town. He was breathing heavily, his ears were down and his tails were sagging.

"W-we can't fight like this! We need to-. . . We need. . ." Madara had been running for a while, of course he was out of breath.

--

Hashirama was doing the same thing, trying to get the Senju not to fight.

"Why wouldn't we!?" A member of the branch family yelled at Hashirama. "You're letting your feelings get in the way! You, of all people, should fight!"

Hashirama stopped. Maybe he was letting his feelings get in the way. But. . . what feelings, exactly? He flushed a bright red.

'Oh.'

'Oh!'

Hashirama had an idea. He sprinted across the battlefield, trying his best to not bump into other spirits, Fae or Kitsune. "Excuse me! Pardon me!"

"Heeey, we're fightin' heeere!" a drunk Kitsune slurred.

"Sorry," Hashirama called back.

Now all he had to do was find Madara.

--

"Oh God." Madara rasped, his voice hoarse. He had been yelling at the Uchiha to stop fighting. "Ugh." he ran his hand through his messy medium length hair. Had his life been normal, he would have been fighting, and probably drunk too. But he had to meet that tall brown-haired boy. 'He probably can't be called a boy anymore. But how would I know. . .' Madara sighed, walking to a big rock on the outer edge of the village. He sat down, taking a deep breath. "I gotta think about this logically. Uh. That's not really my forte. Whatever. Where would--"

"Madara!" a familiar voice called out to him. It was deeper though. Not the voice of the Senju he had been missing. No, this was a new person. He was a Fae now, a magical being. Not the brown-haired human-looking little boy he met two years ago.

". . .Hashirama?" Madara slowly looked up. 

(AN: cliffhanger time)