The Senju Clan Never Disappeared, Trouble for the Future

After the two finished lunch, they sat in the living room, idly drinking tea and chatting.

"Kushina, where did the other members of the Senju Clan go? Why are only you few living in the Senju Clan Grounds?"

Liuyun took the initiative to ask what had been puzzling him. Since Kushina lived in the Senju Clan Grounds, she should know more or less why.

"Where did they go? They didn't go anywhere... Aren't they all still in Konoha Village?"

Kushina tilted her head, not quite understanding Liuyun's question. But a moment later, she realized why he had asked.

"You mean why they stopped using the Senju name?"

Liuyun was somewhat surprised, but he quickly nodded.

"Grandma Mito told me about this."

"It was said that the Senju Clan originated in the era of the Sage of Six Paths. The surname did not originally refer solely to one person's descendants. Senju was not one person's Senju—it was a union of many people. That was how the Senju Clan came to be..."

"Senju of many people..." Liuyun murmured.

In the original story, Asura, the Sage of Six Paths' second son, eventually became the heir to Ninshu. There had always been a group of people following him. Perhaps the Senju Clan had already been born from that time onward.

After explaining the origins of the Senju Clan, Kushina went on to explain the specific reason they had abandoned their surname.

"It was said that when Konoha was founded, the Senju Clan was the largest, and many privileged classes emerged within the family because of it."

"They believed that Konoha had been founded by the Senju Clan, so the Senju Clan should hold absolute leadership over all other clans. They believed the Senju should stand above everyone else..."

Back then, the Senju Clan had been far too prominent, and the weight of that surname had been too great—so great that none of the other clans dared offend them.

From that point on, Konoha's villagers' respect for the Senju Clan gradually became... fear!

Hashirama Senju believed that once the power of a small group grew beyond a certain point, it would affect—or even damage—Konoha's stability. And the more united the Senju Clan was, the greater that possibility would become.

Even Tobirama Senju could not deny that!

"They grew increasingly arrogant, suppressing every clan in Konoha until they could barely breathe. Later, the First Hokage did not want the clan to stand above Konoha, so despite everyone's objections, he took the initiative to erase the surname and dissolve all the branches of the clan."

"Other than the Second Hokage, whose resistance was the fiercest and who retained his surname, no one else kept theirs. Even the First Hokage's own descendants were no longer permitted to retain the Senju surname."

Hashirama Senju feared that the Konoha he had worked so hard to establish would one day fall apart, so he hardened his heart and dismissed everyone on the spot. From then on, the Senju Clan split apart.

The original Senju Clan Grounds had covered an enormous area, and their wealth had been beyond measure. But after the clan split, all of it was divided among its members. What remained of the so-called clan grounds now were merely two estates.

One belonged to Hashirama Senju himself, where Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki now lived. The other belonged to the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, where Tsunade and her younger brother now lived.

"Actually, the Senju Clan has always been here. 'Senju was once many people's Senju; now Konoha is many people's Konoha.' The First Hokage said that. It was precisely because of those words that the other clan members were able to accept abandoning their surname and splitting the clan."

"!!!"

At Kushina's words, Liuyun's eyes widened.

Senju was once many people's Senju; now Konoha is many people's Konoha. As a transmigrator familiar with the original story's later developments, Liuyun could not help admiring Hashirama Senju's broad-mindedness and farsightedness.

By integrating the Senju Clan into Konoha, they had lost their surname and certain privileges, but all their people had truly been preserved, exactly as they were!

The Uchiha Clan, the only clan barely capable of competing with the Senju Clan, took the Senju's place as the object of everyone else's fear.

The empty title of "Konoha's Number One Clan" caused the Uchiha Clan endless suffering from then on.

The Uchiha Clan was still smug, believing that their old rivals, the Senju Clan, had fallen... Never realizing that their own clan had become the villagers' new object of fear. Before long, they became the target of all hostility, hated and ostracized by everyone in Konoha.

If they could not see the truth of the matter, the final result would be destruction.

Had the Senju Clan not retreated back then, they would have been the ones to die. If the Uchiha Clan did not retreat, no one would tolerate them. Their extermination had thus become inevitable.

And the more united they were, the faster they would die.

Did the Uchiha Clan truly want to rebel? Did Uchiha Fugaku truly want to rebel?

No. They had no choice but to rebel, because they no longer had any way out!

A clan's excessive prosperity was not necessarily a good thing. Konoha's cake was only so large—if you took one more bite, someone else had to take one less. Over time, this would create opposition. If no farsighted person stepped forward to resolve these conflicts, the two sides becoming enemies was inevitable.

Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, one only ever heard of shinobi clans being destroyed after becoming too influential within a village. When had anyone ever heard of a clan successfully carrying out a coup and replacing a village?

The clan-based model of the Warring States era had already been replaced by villages. Shinobi clans that did not know how to adapt and could not see the changing times would eventually decline and perish.

No wonder that throughout more than seven hundred episodes of the Naruto anime, Tsunade and her younger brother never truly stated their surname... Liuyun thought to himself.

"How is Grandma Mito... doing these days?"

After gaining a rough understanding of the Senju Clan, Liuyun asked his second question.

"Grandma Mito? She's doing well!"

Kushina looked surprised, not understanding why Liuyun had asked about Mito Uzumaki.

"Doing well...?"

"Mhm, her body is very healthy!" Kushina said with a smile.

Liuyun nodded at that. The main reason he cared about Mito Uzumaki was the Nine-Tails.

Of course, the more important reason was Kushina, the "Nine-Tails' container."

Becoming a Jinchuriki was an extremely unfortunate thing. Liuyun hoped Mito Uzumaki could live a little longer—preferably another ten or twenty years... That way, he would have enough time to grow stronger and eventually rewrite Kushina's life.

As long as she did not want to become a Jinchuriki, Liuyun would not allow anyone to force her.

Although he was still very weak, he firmly believed that as long as he worked hard, with his foreknowledge of the Naruto world, he would definitely gain enough strength before Kushina became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

He might not be able to stop Konoha, but he was confident he could take Kushina and leave Konoha.

Without realizing it, he had already come to see this little girl as something exclusively his. As their feelings for each other deepened, Kushina's importance in Liuyun's heart also continued to rise.

The two of them appeared to be nothing more than classmates now, but their relationship had long since quietly "changed."

They already held each other in their hearts. The fact that they spent every day clinging to each other was proof enough that their relationship was anything but ordinary.

It was not as exaggerated as "one day apart feels like three autumns," but they instinctively wanted to stay by each other's side.

Unless Liuyun stopped interacting with Kushina altogether, or decided to change his target... otherwise, becoming the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was a hurdle they had no choice but to cross.

Asking him to give up this adorable little girl in front of him was obviously impossible!