Aren't We Just a Bit-Player Clan?

"Tobirama! Calm down. Can't you see there's a child here?"

Only after his big brother said that did Tobirama Senju notice the white-haired little boy in the room.

He gave Torikaze a look, and Torikaze understood what Tobirama Senju meant.

He immediately stepped forward, accepted the envelope Hashirama Senju handed over, and put it away. "Lord Hokage, Lord Tobirama, then I'll take my leave."

Hashirama Senju smiled. "Yeah, go on. Grow well while carrying on your father's will!"

Torikaze nodded, then turned and left the Hokage Office.

The instant he shut the office door, loud venting erupted from inside.

"Uncle, do you know why Lord Tobirama is so angry?"

The Senju clansman scratched his head. "It seems one of Lord Tobirama's plans failed, but I don't know the specifics. It's not something we're supposed to know, anyway."

????

So it was you, you old bastard, who pulled this scheme! And you even gave me that look? Pah!

Though he had found the culprit, he still had to endure it. He kept an innocent smile on his face. "Thank you, Uncle. I'll head back now."

After leaving the Hokage Tower, he could finally complain openly. "You damned Second Hokage! Just wait another thirty years, and I'll show you what it means for the village kids to bully a feeble old man!"

"Of course, now definitely isn't the right time. With one Water Release: Mop in the Water, he could flush me straight into the sewers."

Who could casually create water out of thin air, anyway?

"Better go home first and see what Father's will actually says."

With that, he headed toward the Windcloud Clan compound.

"Big Brother! My plan failed! The spy died on the way here! It must have been the evil Uchiha Clan!" Tobirama Senju snarled viciously inside the Hokage Office.

Hashirama Senju rubbed his forehead. "What does this have to do with the Uchiha Clan? Besides, acting like this won't help peace in the end."

"Hmph! I'm merely being forewarned is forearmed. And Kumogakure was the one that sent the spy. I was only taking advantage of the situation, yet someone ruined it! They'd better not let me find them!"

Tobirama Senju had once learned by chance that Kumogakure had dispatched a spy to Konoha.

He had planned to capture and interrogate the spy as soon as he entered Konoha, extracting Kumogakure's intelligence, but the plan ultimately failed.

Seeing his younger brother firing on all cylinders, Hashirama Senju could only speak helplessly.

"If that's the case, then go ahead and do what you need to do. I trust your mind."

Hearing his big brother say that, Tobirama Senju's anger finally subsided.

His big brother's thinking was far too naive. The current peace existed only because the major ninja villages feared Konoha's strength.

The moment anything happened to his big brother, Konoha would likely be attacked from all sides!

"By the way, which clan was that white-haired child from?"

"That's right, he's from the Windcloud Clan. I noticed that he has already refined Chakra, and he has more of it than ordinary ninja."

Tobirama Senju nodded as well. When he first saw Torikaze, he had carefully observed him.

The Chakra contained in that tiny body was already no weaker than that of Konoha's First-Rate Ninja.

With proper guidance, he would absolutely become a pillar of Konoha's future!

"Looks like the Windcloud Clan is going to rise again."

"Yeah," Hashirama Senju said seriously.

"If Windcloud Mountain hadn't failed to learn their clan's secret Ninjutsu, the Windcloud Clan probably would never have joined Konoha."

"That's the drawback of a single line of inheritance. Big Brother, do you have any thoughts about this child?"

Hashirama Senju pondered for a long time. "He has good talent. I intend to take him as a disciple, but I'll need to observe his character first."

"Then let's do that. If both his talent and character are excellent, we'll take him as a disciple."

"Achoo!" Torikaze, who was on his way home, felt his ears grow a little warm.

He sneezed, then muttered, "Who's talking about me behind my back? It can't be the Hokage, can it?"

Naturally, Torikaze knew nothing about the conversation in the office.

But he did not believe the First Hokage would fail to notice the Chakra he already possessed. On the contrary, that had been his goal.

If he wanted to live peacefully in Konoha, there was no better title than being the Hokage's disciple.

Just look at those two old bit players, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.

Sure, they were muddleheaded and senile, and they turned Konoha into a complete mess, but they had no ambitions!

They were simply lacking in ability. Yet didn't they still live safely all the way into Boruto?

Even if you were the head of some great clan, you still had to call them Elder.

That was why Torikaze had chosen to make a small display of himself before Hashirama Senju.

Still, handing Konoha over to those few incompetent people to manage could only be considered the Second Hokage's helpless choice.

The young Third Hokage Hiruzen could still be called a Ninja Hero, but the elderly Third Hokage was truly hard to praise.

He grumbled to himself as he walked, and before long, he arrived at a vast estate.

Every building in the estate bore the carving of a White Crane soaring among layered clouds.

This was the Windcloud Clan's crest, the Windcloud Crane Crest.

The clan compound was quite large. He had heard that Torikaze's grandfather had fought for it.

The old man had passed away as early as Konoha Year 3.

With no servants around, the enormous estate felt especially deserted.

But Torikaze was used to it. Even when his parents were still alive, there had only been three people in the household.

There was not much difference from now.

After entering the house and finding a place to sit, Torikaze opened his father's will.

He was curious about what it said that his father had specifically instructed him not to read it until he turned six.

He gently unfolded the letter. The first thing he saw was his father's hopes for his son's future, along with greetings and apologies.

Torikaze, you are already six this year. Have you grown any taller? Forgive your father for only being able to meet you in this way.

Looking at the will his father had left behind, there was not a single word of love between the lines, yet Torikaze could clearly feel his father's deep love.

"Old man, for someone so bad with words, writing this much must have been hard on you."

In Torikaze's memories, Windcloud Mountain had always been a man of few words.

Whether with his son or his wife, he had rarely spoken much.

Torikaze read quickly. This was also the first time he learned that his father had been such an emotional person.

Though he was usually taciturn, his love for his wife and son had never been lacking in the slightest.

Suddenly, the words of instruction came to an abrupt end.

The final remaining passage made Torikaze rub his eyes uncertainly, but the words remained clearly written there.

Torikaze, there is a hidden door in my room.

Remove the painting covering it, and you will find the secret Ninjutsu our Windcloud Clan takes the greatest pride in—Cloud Release!

If you can master it, the Windcloud Clan will rise again!

After confirming that he was not seeing things, Torikaze froze for a moment.

????

"The Windcloud Clan's Ninjutsu? Cloud Release? Aren't we just a bit-player clan with a tiny bit of money? Isn't that how it was supposed to be?"