Chapter Text
01- Counting Stars like Airplanes
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The second life he is reborn into is a messed up one. In short it's feudal Japan basically, but he dreams of a different place that has cars and black smog and the overbearing lights of a metropolis suffocate out star light.
Meanwhile the forest and nature are what call to him. Despite that he yearns for what he cannot have, an alternate modern future with blurry faces and a mundane office job and cat that greets him at home.
A lonely minimalist apartment with empty beer cans is replaced by a grand traditional house with paper walls and shoji mats.
"Brother your head is in the clouds again!"
"Ah… Sorry about that Tobirama I have a lot on my mind right now." He replied.
"Tch." The ghost looking boy reprimanded. "You always say that. Sometimes I swear it's like I'm the eldest, anyway Father requires our attendance. The old man wants to go over water walking again."
"Yes, yes. All join you shortly."
"And remember just because we're by the river it's not an excuse to skip stones."
Like that would stop the reincarnator from doing what he wanted to do. In a world so cold there are only a few healthy coping mechanisms.
When it comes to drinking it's something he's still too young for, it's only after he makes his first kill that he can take a shot of sake.
Thus he sticks to harmless bets. He wagers with one of the clan elders that it will take less than four seconds for both Itama and Kawarama to fall in and get soaking wet.
By the end of the day he is 300 Ryo dollars richer, yet in the grand scheme of things as the Senju clan heir its chump change.
Unfortunately for his other brother Kawarama the kid ended up with an x-shaped scar on his right cheek. The scratch was the result of the younger boy slipping on a rock.
Perhaps in time it would heal, but the old soul had a feeling it would be too late for that to be achieved.
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Among the noble Senju clan Tobirama is regarded as a genius. While he was born an albino that had trouble being out in daylight such difficulty was eventually overcome.
All Tobirama had to do was to circulate his entire body with a thin coat of Chakra. There, problem solved! The sun hardly bothered him ever again and it was goodbye to bad tans.
In doing so he became adept at manipulating Chakra, which in turn made him a master at sensing different living beings.
Plus some of the ideas Tobirama had for new Jutsu and the understanding he had on pre-existing techniques were considered revolutionary.
Yet when it came to his eldest brother, Hashirama was truly seen as an unsolvable enigma.
The boy blessed by nature was an airhead that jumped from tangent to tangent. Some of his hobbies included robbing the senile wicked clan elders out of money, or he was seen tending to a cute small bonsai tree of the spruce variant.
Nonetheless Hashirama occasionally spouted out concepts such as black holes and the hopelessness of there being no air in outer space.
Usually it was Tobirama that talked circles around his brothers, but the odd time Hashirama would utter something that left everyone dumbfounded...
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"What does Chakra feel like to you?" Itama said one day. It was during the basic leaf concentration practice that he asked such a thing.
Whenever Tobirama used his the only way he could describe the sensation was similar to drawing unlimited water from a well. Then once he performed several hand signs it was akin to a strong current of fast rapids.
"Unnatural is what it is." Hashirama confessed. "I hate Chakra. Its course, and ruff, and irritating. And it's everywhere."
Kawarama eyed Hashirama as if what the eldest stated was a world shattering revelation.
Tobirama raised an eyebrow. Chakra was supposed to be normal, like a comforting blanket. The second oldest recalled its presence always being there, even before he had his first conscious thought become fully realized.
Meanwhile Itama was slightly confused and shrugged off the growing tension like liquid off the back of a duck.
"I'm kidding!" Hashirama refuted with a tired smile. "I suppose it's like a leaf on the wind, unseeable but regardless everyone accepts it as real."
The younger Senju brothers simply nodded off to the upbeat tone of Hashirama's voice.
Ironically the strangeness of Hashirama had also always been there Tobirama concluded.
Something was off with Hashirama, whether that be a secret keen sense of intelligence or an unbridled sense of lethargicness as if he was an old soul.
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The Hatake clan were a smaller traveling offshoot clan of the bigger Inuzuka pack. Thus to avoid a war they could not win, Yui Hatake married into the Senju clan.
Tobirama took after his Mother the most, Itama looked like he was two different children split down the middle and Kawarama was the perfect mixture of Senju and Hatake.
Meanwhile Hashirama was the spitting image of Butsuma. If he was to succeed their Father it was only fitting that the "Hashira" part of his name meant pillar, as the next leader of the clan Hashirama was raised to be an apex of strength.
Yet such a pseudonym presented an existential crisis, as this Hashirama was not the canon character who was destined to go on to become the God of Shinobi. In fact he wasn't even sure what he wanted to set out to accomplish.
Honestly Hashirama would prefer to hide in a pile of leaves the colour of an autumn campfire then have to deal with more politics and plus added diplomacy.
There was no guarantee that a village was going to be founded. Thus all he prioritized in the meanwhile was keeping all three of his younger brothers safe.
Itama was actually the first to have a brush with death.
Luckily Hashirama showed up on the scene just on time but in doing so, inadvertently he was forced to reveal his hand. He unleashed the Mokuton aka the Wood Release on the group of unsuspecting Uchiha.
Said incident resulted in giant trees miraculously appearing in what was otherwise a barren wasteland. Branches intertwined with corpses and the bark stained red.
For the first time in any of his two lives blood clung to the skin underneath his fingernails. Since he was now considered an adult Hashirama was given a white headband and he drank the night away to forget.
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