A Forest Hidden

Chapter 2 - Love and Hatred

When they approached the Senju settlement that dead morning of grey, the procession of returning shinobi entered as if a dirge.

Laying silent and still inside a wood coffin fashioned by Hashirama's divine kekkei genkai of the forest, Jun once more returned to his homeland – only this time, he was to never again leave. Eternal slumber in the Pure Land awaited him, as did his father and many brothers. Another man carrying the bloodline of the Senju was called to the table of death. Carrying the coffin into the village, Hashirama led the procession with dark eyes blank with sorrow, his frown cracking against his usually calm exterior as he held his head high while he walked. As the new chieftain of the Senju, he had to do well to contain his emotions as a strong leader should – his father saw to it himself that he remembered. Holding the front handle of the coffin, Tobirama averted the glances of the stunned villagers while his anger twisted inside his throat. At the back of the coffin, Tohei the messenger held back tears as his scowl broke upon his fractured expression, his cheeks damp with grief and anger.

Coming to a silent and slow halt near the base of the elder tree in the village's center, they set the coffin down upon the earth damp with dew. Eyes were upon the from all angles, the many villagers – young and old – staring in silence as yet another coffin entered their settlement. There were often too many to count, at times. Death was a frequent visitor during the Warring States Period, and he long overstayed his welcome. It seemed as though the many daimyo who fought for control of the lands welcomed death as long as he did not claim their own nobility for his own – only the quarreling shinobi they hired for their bitter wars of conquest would do as an offering. One thousand years was certainly long enough. Hashirama was uncertain if the Senju would even survive another one hundred years if the wars continued, if he had to outright predict the future.

"No... No!"

As the droves of Senju slowly approached the wooden coffin in silent mourning, a woman with aged eyes and greying hair stumbled amongst the crowd with her trembling daughter frantically following behind her. Her shaking fingers upon the coffin, the woman collapsed to her knees in the mud. Her wails echoed through the heart of the village, her crackling voice breaking with her sobs. Close behind, her fair young daughter wept silently, cupping her face with her quivering hands.

"My son!" The woman cried out. "My boy... My dear sweet boy...!"

Her forehead laying upon the wooden texture of his resting place, the daughter sobbed upon the coffin, her worn pink kimono becoming damp from the earth below. "Jun...!" She trembled, her voice quivering. "Brother... I'm sorry...!"

Descended from a long line of shinobi, Jun was the youngest son of the late elder Kōjin. A close childhood friend of Butsuma, Kōjin was ten years his senior and his distant cousin, and it was he who lent his hand many times during the ceaseless conflicts between the Senju and the Uchiha. When Jun was only an infant, his father returned to the village as a charred pile of ash – the unquenchable fire-release of the Uchiha claiming the life of Butsuma's trusted companion as well as all of his men who fought alongside him that dreaded day. All four of his sons would soon meet the elder once more in the Pure Land, while his only daughter remained on Earth to comfort his widowed wife - Masuyo.

Masuyo was the daughter of a lowly farmer with no bloodline or kekkei genkai to call his own. She was once young and beautiful, with hair dark as night and eyes as blue as the summer skies. Merely sixteen, she accepted Kōjin's proposal – a seasoned, well-armored Senju shinobi who was approaching his thirties. At the night of her union with Kōjin, she wore an exquisite kimono fashioned with silk and they were married at the shrine before the elder tree – as was customary for all Senju weddings. Marrying within the clan was viewed as taboo by outsiders, but it was the accepted norm for generations so that the Senju bloodline would not wane. Carrying on their legacies by their father's name alone, the Senju had long avoided the taboo of family relations by recognizing lineages from the name of the father – distancing themselves as far as sixth-cousins. Many clans across the vast lands beyond the forest did the same, from the far east to the far west, from north and south – to best preserve their strength in numbers and to protect their inherited kekkei genkai. Although, some clans such as the brutal and cannibalistic Kaguya clan that lay waste to the countries riddled in the mists were no stranger to taboos – and they made many, including intermarrying with their own siblings, their flesh and blood – or so was the rumor. The union of Kōjin with Masuyo was a rare instance of outside-marriage, and it proved to be fruitful with their four sons and sole daughter. However, the losses Masuyo felt from her husband and sons proved too great, and she aged well before her time. Where she stood in her late forties, her once shiny black hair was near white from the stress and her blue eyes were dull from grief.