Naruto: Ero-ninja

Blast from the Past: Toka Senju

The man that would become the First Hokage stood in a clearing near where he and his old friend and current enemy had once dreamed of a world at peace. Those dreams seemed vastly out of reach now due to the many years of bloodshed that he had experienced since his father had learned of about his secret meetings with Madara. He also supposed it was due to the low life expectancy that Shinobi such as he had since the milestones seemed to come much faster for them then the regular citizens that made up the Elemental Nations. He was expecting to hear that he had reached a new one as any moment he expected to hear about the birth of another child.

When he had awoken that morning his wife had told him it was going to be a good day. But as Hashirama looked over the battlefield littered with corpses, he was having a hard time viewing it as such. He could understand why his men would likely view it differently than him though since the Senju had been hired by the Fire Daimyo to stop the march of Frost Country's Samurai Forces, a task made all the harder as the Frost Daimyo had hired the Uchiha to protect his conventional forces from just such an attack.

However, fortune had favored the Senju since Hashirama had gambled that the Uchiha would expect him to attack closer to the border. Playing into that expectation, he had created several squads of Henged Wood Clones to lure off most of the Uchiha defenders. His true force had waited until then to spring the trap, and wipe out both the samurai and remaining Uchiha. Still the rival clan had put up a stiff fight before being overpowered.

He turned his thoughts from his laments about the current state of things as he noticed his cousin Toka Senju and brother Tobirama approaching him both wearing satisfied looks at the handy defeat of the Uchiha. "I think Frost is going to take some time to recover from this setback. The Land of Fire's Daimyo should be pleased," his cousin Toka said as she walked past the corpses of the Uchiha commander and his four sons whom he had killed.

Tobirama nodded before adding, "Still, it was fortunate that Madara does not appear to be among this force. Otherwise I doubt your plan would have succeeded. He isn't one to lose sight of an objective by breaking his main force off to pursue weaker ones."

"True, but perhaps the rumors of division within the Uchiha have some merit," Toka suggested. "That megalomaniacal fool lives to spread chaos it seems. Even his clan must be tired of the constant fighting."

"Don't tell us you have grown tired of the battlefield, Toka," Hashirama teased his cousin. "Have you finally decided to settle down and perhaps find yourself a man?"

Toka rolled her eyes as she replied, "A man couldn't handle a woman like me."

Tobirama chuckled as he countered, "Well, it might help if you actually acted like one from time to time."

Toka ignored the teasing since she had long since grown accustomed to it, and knew her cousins meant it good naturedly. The rest of her clan though, tended to believe that Hashirama was wrong not to force her to become the wife of some of the more prominent shinobi of the clan. However, she knew that part of the reason Hashirama refused to bow to the pressure put on him by the clan elders, who insisted that a woman's role wasn't on the battlefield but at home producing the next generation of shinobi, was because of his dream to end the unending bloodshed that made the lifespan of shinobi so short in the first place. She just wished his dream didn't seem to focus on one day convincing Madara to join with her clan since she didn't operate under the same belief that the Uchiha was as dedicated to peace that Hashirama seemed to think. Although to be fair, she did consider that a form of peace was Madara's ultimate goal, but one that made all others subservient to him.

Hashirama smiled as Toka gave them a dismissive shrug, and although he doubted she would be any more receptive to his advice then the previous times he had given it, he said, "All kidding aside, Toka. You should at least try to find somebody who can make you happy. Our lives tend to be far too short to not enjoy them to the fullest."