Senju Nawaki

Outside the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

After leaving the Uchiha Clan Grounds, Shin could see the neighboring Senju Clan Grounds.

Why were the grounds of these two great clans so close together?

Just looking at it made the corners of his eyes twitch.

"The Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan get along so badly, yet they live this close together. They really are a pair of 'best friends' who love and kill each other..."

However, compared with the Uchiha Clan's population, the Senju Clan could be described as "woefully understaffed."

The quiet desolation of the Senju Clan Grounds stood in stark contrast to the lively atmosphere within the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

"Looks like Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, was quite a failure as a clan head..."

"The Senju Clan probably doesn't even have half as many people as the Uchiha Clan." That was Shin's assessment from a clan head's perspective.

"Grandpa isn't a failure!"

A little boy roughly Shin's height appeared before him.

The brown-haired boy, with two oddly vivid blush marks on his cheeks, stared at him with an agitated expression.

The back of the boy's clothes bore a pattern of tree rings symbolizing a forest.

The two rings sat parallel to each other, joined by cross-shaped lines. Their inner sides remained open and extended outward, symbolizing the growth of trees.

This was the Forest of Senju, the Senju Clan's crest, as well as the Hollyhock Crest representing the forest.

The Uchiha Clan's Fire Fan crest, on the other hand, symbolized the military.

Thus, the red fan represented both the Uchiha Clan's Fire Release and the blood of enemies and clan members spilled in war.

Shin was startled by the sudden appearance of this Senju child.

He knew the boy was Senju Nawaki.

He quickly regained his composure.

He even felt a little like laughing.

How could he not?

The First Hokage's own grandson had actually been killed by an Exploding Tag trap.

Although anything could happen during wartime.

That kind of death was truly an embarrassment to the Senju Clan.

As for why later descendants of the Senju Clan stopped adding their surname to their names, that was a sad story.

The powerful Senju Clan would completely decline just over a decade later.

Tsunade and Nawaki, Hashirama's two direct descendants of that era, no longer called themselves Senju.

Thus, the Senju Clan, with only a few members remaining, vanished entirely from the ninja world.

In the end, Tsunade was the only one left of the Senju Clan.

And the title "Princess Tsunade," an implication that she was the Senju princess, was truly enough to make one sigh for quite a while.

"Then let me ask you: what is most important to a clan?" Shin looked Nawaki straight in the eyes.

He decided to teach the boy a proper lesson.

Nawaki pondered for a moment before slowly giving his answer. "A clan's... glory!"

After saying that, his expression became resolute.

"Heh..." Shin could not help but chuckle upon hearing the answer.

He had always held such intangible things in contempt.

Shin looked directly at Nawaki's angry expression.

His tone full of mockery, he did not agree with the boy's answer. "What matters most to a clan is survival. What glory can there be in something that doesn't exist?"

"Only after surviving can you consider glory. Simple-minded ideas can only bring temporary glory..."

At that point, he changed the subject. "The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was indeed great. He united the various clans and formed a village..."

"But what did he leave his descendants? Glory? Or the Will of Fire?"

Hearing the question, Nawaki instinctively wanted to answer.

But he realized that his grandfather truly had not left much behind for his descendants.

For so many years, the Senju Clan had protected the village without caring about sacrifice, to the point where the clan's population had now dwindled.

Of course, that was only Nawaki's one-sided understanding.

Second Hokage Tobirama Senju would never have stood by and watched his clan gradually decline.

So what was the reason the Senju Clan's population had plummeted in the mere decade or so after his sacrifice?

(Author: The King of Blame takes the blame!)

Nawaki clenched his hands into fists, and the anger in his heart gradually faded.

Although he knew that this suspected Uchiha Clan member was right.

The casual way Shin had judged his grandfather still left him somewhat upset.

"What's wrong? Are you going to fight because you can't argue? Are all Senju Clan members this unreasonable?"

In Shin's mind, the Will of Fire was merely a brainwashing tool used by those above to rule those below.

The idea of speaking only of sacrifice while never speaking of reward was far too noble.

His ideological awareness had not reached such heights yet.

"I challenge you to a duel!" Nawaki unclenched his fists and issued the challenge.

Seeing that the other boy was not joking, Shin stopped looking at him mockingly.

His gaze turned serious as he immediately agreed. "Fine. I, Uchiha Shin, accept your challenge!"

"My name is Senju Nawaki!" Nawaki likewise stated his full name.

To him, defeating the Uchiha before him was the most important thing right now.

Kids were like that. When they could not win an argument, fighting was perfectly normal.

"Let's begin!"

Seeing Shin accept the duel, Nawaki swung his tightly clenched right fist.

He used his words to distract his opponent while throwing the right punch he had secretly been charging all along.

Caught so off guard, an ordinary child would probably be struck directly.

Nawaki could already picture his opponent being knocked to the ground by a single punch.

Shin watched the fist draw closer and closer to his left cheek, and only one thought crossed his mind: This punch is going to hurt...

With the boost from his eyes' dynamic vision, the fist seemed to move in slow motion, frame by frame, as though someone were repeatedly pausing playback.

Young man, you have no martial ethics...

That phrase suddenly appeared in his mind.

Along with several thousand words of criticism.

Shin instantly shifted his gaze to Nawaki's eyes.

Then he silently recited in his heart, Body Freezing Technique.

Bang!

The next second, Nawaki fell to the ground while maintaining his punching posture.

Shin looked at the fallen Nawaki, calculating the power of his Genjutsu.

The Body Freezing Technique was a Genjutsu that could stop a person's movements.

So-called Genjutsu influenced another person's mind through images, sounds, and other means.

That included sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

A skilled Genjutsu could even affect multiple senses at once, making it impossible for someone to distinguish truth from illusion.

However, the advanced ninja Three Body Techniques included an immobilization technique also called the Body Freezing Technique. That question had to be asked of AB.

(Author: AB is just a manga artist. What the hell does he know about Naruto? Parentheses dog.)

The "Tsukuyomi," which transcended the concepts of time and space, pulled a person's mind into Tsukuyomi space.

It was a level of control beyond the influence of ordinary Genjutsu.

Shin's fear of pain had led him to give up learning taijutsu from a young age.

At five years old, he did not have much Chakra available for ninjutsu training either.

So he could only focus on Genjutsu, whose inherent requirements were more favorable to him.

This was his first time using Genjutsu on another person. While freezing Nawaki's body, he also used the boost to his own processing power to construct a rather realistic dream for him.

Compared with ordinary ninja, his Genjutsu was clearly far more realistic.

"You challenged an Uchiha ninja without any countermeasures against Genjutsu. Did you see that I didn't have the Sharingan, or were you just too overconfident?" Shin did not think highly of Nawaki.

He felt that Nawaki was the type to charge straight ahead no matter what. He deeply disliked that sort of personality, where a little provocation was enough to make someone rush forward.

"I hope you won't still be this impulsive in a few years..."

Shin waited for a long time but saw no sign of Nawaki waking up.

So he went around Nawaki, who was still having a pleasant dream, and once again headed toward the Ninja Academy.

Half an hour later, Nawaki finally woke up after dreaming that he had successfully become Hokage.

The moment he opened his eyes, he discovered that his duel opponent had long since vanished.

Recalling that realistic dream, he finally realized that the other boy had not meant any harm.

"I actually lost to that guy's Genjutsu..."

Looking utterly dejected, he quickly got up from the ground.

At the same time, he silently repeated the other boy's name in his heart. Uchiha Shin, huh? Next time, I'll definitely defeat him!

"Hm, what time is it now?"

The next moment, Nawaki realized it was getting late, and his face instantly fell. "Oh no! I wasted so much time. If my sister finds out I was late for enrollment..."

"She'll definitely find an excuse to dock all my allowance!"

Realizing how serious the situation was, he hurriedly ran toward the Ninja Academy.

Nawaki's sister was Tsunade.

She always found all kinds of excuses to either trick him out of his allowance or withhold it.

He firmly believed that being late for enrollment this time was such a perfect excuse that his sister would definitely seize the chance to make trouble for him.

He could prove that with his own history of blood and tears.