The fighting had started again as soon as the snow melted. It wasn't as bad as the first time, because all parties had learnt their lesson. And it also had something to do with the fact that this war was not linked directly to either the Uchiha or the Senju. The Uchiha were fanning the flames more than anything, and the Senju were just trying to stop them from making the problem grow bigger.
Amazingly enough, both clans had managed to keep the ceasefire going through autumn and until near the end of winter, when something huge happened. The protagonists of the incident were the Shimura and the Hyuga clans, who were both allies of the Senju, and so supposedly on the same side. To understand what happened, an introduction to both clans is necessary.
The Hyuga were one of the biggest noble shinobi clans of the Land of Fire. They were as high-profile as the Uchiha and the Senju in some aspects. But they preferred to keep to themselves even more than the Uchiha. They only struck up an alliance with the Senju because they too were forced to move south, and had to try and be neighborly with someone. And there was no way in hell that it could be with the Uchiha who had a rivalry with them over which dojutsu was the best. They didn't fight much, but having witnessed their Juken with her own eyes, she knew that they were worthy opponents.
The Shimura however were more of a second zone clan. They had some strong shinobi, and were big enough to be noteworthy, but they lacked that certain something that put some clans in the big leagues. They had no kekkei genkai, no amazing bodies and no hidden techniques. Not even a standing summoning contract like the Sarutobi had with monkeys and apes.
Incompetent teammates apparently ran in both sides, because like the Chinoki before them, the Shimura had no qualms about betraying an ally to gain an advantage. They couldn't exactly steal something from the Senju, so they decided to try and get their hands on the Hyuga's Byakugan.
On one of their joint missions, they attacked the three Hyuga shinobi that accompanied them, and killed them to steal their eyes. They then tried to make it look like they had been ambushed by an Uchiha team they had managed to lure near the place where the events took place. They even sacrificed one of their own, to not raise suspicions while they were still working on how to replicate the Byakugan. Apparently, replicating dojutsu was a common research field in this era, and the Shimura thought themselves capable enough to do it. Their plan would have probably worked, if they had picked any other clan other than Uchiha to shoulder the blame.
The Hyuga had a secret. A secret that only the other dojutsu wielding clan knew about. A long time ago, both clans were looking for ways to stop their kekkei genkai from being stolen. A member of the Uzumaki clan, the cousins of the Senju from the Land of Whirlpools who specialized in seals, came up with a solution: he tried to sell them both. It was a seal that you could put on the head of the members of the clan that had two properties: First, it allowed the person who had put the seal to burn the brains of the ones wearing it with just one hand sign. The other was that once the person dies, their eyes get automatically destroyed.
The Uchiha had obviously refused such an inhumane thing and kept to the practice of hunting down the thieves and killing them. But the Hyuga had started using it on almost every member of their clan that wasn't a direct descendant of the clan head. It was one of the many points both clans disagreed on, but had decided to keep a secret between them.
Anyway, as soon as word got out about what happened, the Hyuga clan head knew that someone had tried to play him. The Uchiha knew that the forehead bandages of the Hyuga clan members weren't just a fashion statement, and that it was useless to try and steal the Byakugan from someone other than him and his eldest son. He contacted Tajima, to ask him to play along, until the results of their investigation came through. It was really funny when Tajima sent Madara's squad to act out a "fight", between them and the Hyuga heir's team, in front of everyone in the middle of a market. The Shimura, who had been on edge ever since they discovered the empty eye sockets of their victims, relaxed a little. It was the wrong move because, not even a week later, the Hyuga clan had stormed into their compound, killing as many as they could, before retreating to the Senju territories. They met with a confused Senju Butsuma on the same night, and dissolved the alliance when he refused to pick a side.
No one was more satisfied about the whole thing than Tajima, and on the few occasions he had crossed swords with Butsuma after that, he never failed to bring it up. The Uchiha who were "angry" at having been framed, attacked the Shimura once again, and the Senju had to go and defend their allies.
It was during one of those times, in the early days of spring, that Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama fought each other for the first time.
Haruka's prediction had been correct and, after getting information on the characteristics of their squad, Butsuma created one that could match it. The Senju team also had four members: the brothers, Hashirama, Tobirama and Itama, and their first cousin, a girl named Senju Touka. This team had been rushing as back-up to help the Shimura fend off an Uchiha attack, when Tajima had ordered Madara's squad to prevent them from coming any closer.
Then and there, they learned why Senju Butsuma had been hiding his heir all this time, instead sending him to the front like Madara. The bastard had a kekkei genkai: The Mokuton.
They had obviously paired up at the beginning of the fight: Madara and Hashirama, Izuna and Tobirama, Hikaku and Itama, and finally Haruka and Touka. The first two pairs were on even grounds but for the two others, the Uchiha advantage was quick to show.
Itama had turned out to be their medic. A good fighter, but not good enough to face Hikaku, and certainly not as good as Haruka in the field of chakra control to be able to extract himself from his opponent's genjutsu fast enough to avoid the sword coming at him. Imagine their surprise when a branch grew off the hand of Hashirama, who was keeping an eye on his brother while fighting, and struck Hikaku's hand. Hikaku jumped back fast enough when he noticed something coming at him, and managed to avoid any serious injuries.
The Uchiha were all surprised and Izuna hadn't even seen the punch that sent him flying coming. His attention was instantly back on his opponent, but he kept cursing the freaky Senju loudly all through the fight.
Madara was on edge. Clearly his old friend hadn't told him about his capacities. The good thing about wood though was that it burned, and fire was kind of Madara's thing. Still he was pushed to give this fight his all, a first time for him. It was especially aggravating when you took into account the fact that Hashirama was backing up both Itama and Touka with his branches that came out of everywhere, while keeping a careful eye on Tobirama and Izuna, ready to help his brother if Izuna had an advantage.
On Haruka's side, her fight with Touka was going great. The Senju girl was a serious opponent, but she was no match for Haruka. She was a genjutsu specialist, and at the beginning of their fight, had tried to cast one on Haruka. Haruka hadn't been able to help it and exclaimed mockingly. "Did you just try to trap me in an illusion?".
That earned a few snickers from the Uchiha squad, who knew that Touka was done for. The poor girl hadn't even had the time to think before Haruka sent her flying to a tree. Not one of her special punches. She wasn't planning on killing anyone if she could avoid it, and there was no need to show her cards from the beginning. Touka came to her senses quickly and went back into the fight. But each time she tried to trap Haruka in one of her jutsus, the latter just kept avoiding it and trying to knock her out to get it over with, only for one of Hashirama's branches to pop out of nowhere and stop her. It gave Touka the time she needed to recuperate and go back on the offensive.
After this happened a few times, Haruka had been angered enough to let her good resolutions go with the wind. She gathered chakra in her fist, and before the branch could come out of the ground to try and stop her, she punched it really hard. The branch broke, a hole was dug in the ground surrounding it and a couple of trees fell off. The four Senju, who had never experienced this, were thrown off balance and landed in various awkward poses, while her teammates knew that it was coming and had jumped away from the impact zone.
It's their turn to be surprised.
Hikaku sighed. " What happened to playing nice?"
Izuna brushed some of his hair out of his eyes and said, " A warning would be appreciated next time."
And Madara just looked amused at the flabbergasted look on Hashirama and his teammates face. She on the other hand just raised her balled fist and gave Hashirama a glare. "Keep to your side of the fight, and stop butting in where you're not invited."
The Senju squad had jumped to the other side of the hole, and were eying them warily. Hashirama gave an amused laugh at her remark, but Tobirama interrupted him. " Anija, we need to get going. This fight can't keep going on any longer."
Hashirama just threw him a look. "You say that like it is simple to beat them. We're on equal terms. I am already fighting as hard as I can. Madara is a lot stronger than what you think. A moment's carelessness could cause us to lose. And you still haven't managed to shake off Izuna either."
The Uchiha just listened, not planning on attacking, unless the Senju made a move to leave.
Just then, a falcon came into view, up in the sky. That was their signal. Madara gave their opponents a devious smile. " Let's do this again some other time, ok? We have places to be."
And with that they bolted in the direction of the compound. Their mission was just to stall them, while collecting information on this new squad that was supposed to rival theirs. It was a success on both counts.
When they gave their report back, Tajima's unease was clear. The Mokuton was supposed to be a legend. But now it actually exists. And the details they gave about Hashirama's strength only made things worse. Madara, too, was preoccupied. So far, everybody had thought that he was the strongest kid around. The Uchiha had already started thinking about a future where their supremacy was clear. But now, the Senju heir seemed to be as good as theirs. Basically an equal rivalry, like Butsuma and Tajima's, was in the making. The stalemate between the clans was only getting longer and longer. Madara, who had finally found a rival, was training harder than ever. Everyone on their squad was.
After that confrontation, Tajima had had his fun with the Shimura, who were reduced to a quarter of their initial size after the attacks of both Hyuga and Uchiha. The Hyuga clan had decided to not ally themselves with anyone else. But their relationship with the Uchiha had clearly improved, and they even exchanged courtesy visits.