Chapter 1: Senju of the Forest
Konoha Year 20, Autumn.
"Morin boy! Do you even understand what you're saying?! Are you questioning Konoha—questioning Lord Hashirama's ninja way?!"
"This is treason!"
"Stand down at once! To spout such nonsense in a clan meeting—do you intend to wipe out decades of the Senju's sacrifice?!"
"This is Clan Leader Tobirama's decision! You think your few sentences can overturn it?!"
The Senju compound was in uproar.
Several elderly clan elders were trembling with fury as they roared at the young man before them. One of them, leaning heavily on his cane, forced himself upright, his wrinkled face shaking with indignation and disbelief.
After all, whether it was Senju Hashirama or Senju Tobirama—both, even after becoming clan leaders, had always treated these elders with at least a measure of respect.
Yet the young man before them, the target of their reprimand, stood unmoved. His gaze met theirs without the slightest hint of retreat, and his voice was even sharper than theirs.
"Fully assimilate into Konoha?"
"Heh… sounds nice. And how is that any different from dissolving the Senju clan altogether?"
"Centuries of the Senju's glory erased in a single move. And when the clan dies out a few decades from now because of this decision, every last one of you old men will be remembered as sinners. Tell me—when you're dead, how will you face Elder Buddha?"
Seeing the elders use the names of the Senju brothers to pressure him, Senju Morin didn't flinch at all. Instead, he directly invoked the name of the former patriarch—Senju Butsuma.
"You—you—!"
"Outrageous! Simply outrageous!"
The elders' faces were flushed red, their rage boiling over as Morin refused to bow his head.
At that moment, several younger voices rose up behind Morin.
"Hmph! A bunch of shortsighted fossils, fooled in an instant by a few fancy words."
"Big Brother Morin, let's go. They're not worth our time."
"They can't even lift a kunai anymore, yet they still insist on meddling in clan affairs!"
Unlike the feeble elders, a group of young Senju clan members had gathered behind Morin. Their words weren't just rude—they were openly laced with scorn.
The elders' fury immediately shifted toward the young clansmen behind Morin. The oldest elder swept his gaze across them and, even more displeased, snapped:
"Just look at what you've turned these children into! Let me ask you this—where is Tao?"
"He becomes a jōnin only recently and already thinks he can ignore clan rules? He doesn't even bother showing up to the clan meeting?"
Senju Morin narrowed his eyes, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he shot back:
"And what would he come here for? To listen to you discuss how to carve up the clan? To watch you throw away a thousand years of Senju honor?"
"Nonsense!"
"Such arrogance from a brat!"
The elders were livid now, their voices shaking with rage.
In the end, the clan meeting broke apart in complete discord.
"We can't control you anymore!"
"We're old—far too old!"
"No respect at all! We've given decades of our lives to this clan, only to be trampled by the younger generation!"
"Just wait until the clan leader returns—see how you explain yourself!"
One after another, the elders hobbled away, muttering curses as their canes thumped angrily against the wooden floor.
These Senju elders were relics—survivors from the Warring States era.
For reasons of his own, Senju Hashirama never appointed new elders during his tenure as clan leader, and his brother Tobirama chose to continue this tradition.
To Morin, the message was clear enough:
One dies, one fewer to worry about.
After the disastrous meeting, the elders left fuming, and even the younger Senju were wearing dark, stormy expressions.
And what had caused such a rift in a clan once known for its unity?
All of it stemmed from a proposal made by the current clan leader and Second Hokage—Senju Tobirama.
"The Senju Clan shall fully integrate into Konohagakure."
This was not Tobirama's original idea. His older brother, the "God of Shinobi" Senju Hashirama, had brought it up at the very founding of Konoha.
But even Hashirama, with all his prestige, had faced unanimous opposition from the clan.
Hashirama was no Madara. As much as he wanted to see the new village prosper, he could not bring himself to force his ideals upon his people.
Thus, the notion was shelved—publicly, at least.
But Tobirama was cut from a different mold. Where his brother was an idealist, Tobirama was a pragmatist to the core.
Even during Hashirama's time as Hokage, a large portion of the village's administrative work had fallen onto Tobirama's shoulders.
The Ninja Academy and the ANBU had been established during the First Hokage's era. Only the Konoha Police Force was Tobirama's own creation.
Like his brother, Tobirama had great hopes for Konoha's future.
Influenced by both Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, he believed that the very existence of large clans created divisions and distance between shinobi.
Thus, during the First Shinobi War—following Hashirama's death—Tobirama fought on two fronts:
On one hand, he led Senju shinobi to shed their blood for Konoha.
On the other, he quietly dismantled the clan's influence, distributing important village positions to other clans and even to commoner ninja.
So despite producing two Hokage in succession, the Senju clan's so-called privileges had evaporated the moment Hashirama died.
Tobirama may have borne the Senju name, but he was a Hokage of Konoha—not of the Senju Clan.
Proof?
Among all the disciples he had taken, he had even accepted someone from the clan he disliked most—the Uchiha.
Yet he had never taken a single Senju disciple.
To Morin, the implication was unmistakable:
Tobirama had no intention of allowing a third Senju Hokage.
And now, with the First Shinobi War nearing its end under Tobirama's leadership—and with Kumogakure recently extending a proposal for alliance—Tobirama finally revealed the dagger he had long concealed.
He revived Hashirama's old idea and added his own concrete measures.
Under his plan:
The Senju clan would no longer live together in their traditional compound. Instead, they would disperse throughout the village, living as ordinary citizens of Konoha.
He would no longer forbid—indeed, he would encourage—marriages between Senju and Konoha's commoner ninja, minor clans, and even the nobility of the Land of Fire.
He gave it a pleasant name:
"Integration into Konoha."
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