UNKNOWN POV
"It has been a while since I felt this abundant natural energy."
It has been some time since I last visited the Shikkotsu forest; as I felt the abundant natural energy flowing around, I felt my body relaxing and my mind calming somewhat of the anxiety I was feeling recently; as I let my senses expand their range the ambience of the forest felt somewhat different from before.
Immersing myself in my senses, I tried to search for the reason for this subtle difference; how should I put it?
'hmm... the forest feels livelier than before. Yes, that's it.'
In the past, the forest used to be completely silent whenever I arrived except for some subtle chirps of animals, but now I find some sounds of chatter in what used to be a completely silent place.
Curious about the cause of such a change, I moved towards the source of the sounds to check it out.
As I reached the place, I saw what seemed to be a gathering of summoning beasts near a makeshift shed by the lakeside; as I approached, some of the summoning beasts were alerted of my presence, and immediately, they moved in tandem and took a defensive stance towards me.
Moving in sync, I could feel them surrounding something in the centre of their formation, as my senses picked up what felt like a small lifeforce at the centre of the summoning beasts, making it seem like they were probably protecting a cub; yet my trained eye as a shinobi made me reconsider the notion as I instinctively picked up the discrepancies in the surroundings.
Just like the crude shed, which appeared to be made like a human housing, a tree trunk that seemed to be used as a table had what seemed a board of shogi on top of it and a small cart in between the summoned beasts from which I sensed the small life.
All these constructs show signs of something more than what meets the eye because while I do not dent the wisdom of some of the summoned beasts, a gathering of so many different species of them along with these items is not something I feel is commonplace.
'definitely...something is happening here'
I thought as I approached their gathering place to see more, but my actions seemed to have made the other group vigilant, giving rise to hostility, so I immediately stopped right there to prevent any conflict.
'umu.. I should probably declare I have no hostile intentions or this might start a fight
I thought as I nodded to myself and while thinking how to proceed I suddenly saw a familiar giant slug near the shed turn towards me, grasping the opportunity I immediately called out
"It is nice to see you again lady katsuyu, I hope my arrival didn't disturb you ha ha ha."
"It is nice to see you too, Hashirama-sama", she replied.
And I immediately saw the animals relax as they opened a path towards the center and I was stunned by what I saw.
Hashirama POV
The crowd of animals parted making visible to me what lay in the centre and the sight that was presented left me stunned, the situation so bizarre that the sight if it took me a minute to accept the scene and recover my wits, and know this I have seen many shocking and grand scenes, hell I've Madara smile fondly probably thinking of some lady but even that didn't shock me as much as this scene did.
When the sea of summoned beasts parted opening a path to the centre revealing what resembled a weird crib with wheels like a cart and a high backrest built upon a box about the height of my waist, the realised bares like a fence made me know it's a crib for sure but it gave quite a feeling, it felt like some kind of throne and a child was sitting on it surrounded by majestic beasts. It was like a king surrounded by his army.
As soon as the shock wore over and I recovered, I did the one thing I thought most appropriate. I made a hand seal and disrupted my chakra to break out of the genjutsu, and the scene in front of me immediately changed, and the child and the crib disappeared from my view. I breathed a sigh of relief. I heard Lady Katsuyu's chiding voice.
"What are you doing Hashirama-sama!" said Lady Katsuyu as she Sensed Hashirama use chakra.
"I was just put under a genjutsu and had to disrupt my chakra to recover, my apologies." Hearing her chiding Hashirama apologised.
"What genjutsu?" (Katsuyu)
"Ha ha ha ha. It was amazing genjutsu. I just saw a child sitting on a throne-like crib in the centre of your gathering. I don't know who cast the jutsu, but he must be strong; even Madara wasn't able to catch me, so off guard." (Hashirama)
"....."(Katsuyu)
"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha…. He so funny." (childish voice)
"KU KU KU KU KU What a funny human"(Sage monkey Uncle1)
"I haven't had such a laugh in a long time"(Sage Monkey Grandpa)
"Heh, he seems stupid to me."(Mr wolf)
"Must've hit his head in childhood…poor child"(sage monkey grandma)
"hahahahahahahahahahaha"(all the other animals rolling on the ground)
Senju Hashirama just looked at the child sitting in the grand crib as he questioned reality and then looked at the summoning animals that kept laughing at him he felt the deep malice of the world toward him; so he turned to Lady Katsuyu for consolation only to see her whole body of the slug trembling like a water balloon trying to keep her laughter to herself.
[And so Hashirama and Madara joined hands for INFINITE TSUKUYOMI ;) JUST Kidding. ]
Hashirama sat on the ground, drawing circles in a corner, and only looked back when the laughter had stopped, and by now, he had recovered to his usual self.
When he turned back, he saw the child give a look towards Lady Katsuyu and then look at the other summoning beasts as if communicating with them; as if coming to a decision, he saw Lady Katsuyu asking the animals to excuse them.
He watched as the summoning beasts started leaving the vicinity. Before he left,t, he saw the child call a small monkey, wh, ich, before lea,ving, cleared the tree stump of the board game, placing the tree stump in front of his crib, then the child gestured for him to sit.
And so was the first meeting between the current Shinobi God and the future Sage.
CHAPTER NAME - MEETING THE SHINOBI GOD
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Years later in an underground cave
Two old men connected to a giant golem sat facing each other
Madara - Why did you join me, Hashirama?
Hashirama - Because I realised that the only things that truly exist in this reality are pain, suffering and futility. I will make this world forget all its laughter, and now this world, too, shall know pain.