After several dozen minutes of fighting, Nawaki panted and said,
"Sen! You're ridiculously strong!"
After being easily defeated yet again, Nawaki collapsed onto the ground. "I thought the gap between Minato and me was already huge, but I never imagined you'd be on another level entirely!"
"You're not bad yourself," Sen remarked. "At thirteen, you're already close to Chunin level. At most, it'll take another year before you pass the Chunin Ninja Exams."
After observing him for a while, Sen had realized that Nawaki's talent was much like Kushina's. They both had far more chakra than ordinary people, but their potential had yet to be fully developed.
"Becoming a Chunin would be great, sure, but what I really want is to beat Kushina!" Nawaki wasn't discouraged in the slightest. Instead, full of fighting spirit, he charged over again with a Kunai.
If anyone else had been told by a prodigy that their skills were inadequate, they'd probably have been depressed for half the day. But Nawaki was a born optimist.
Another ten minutes passed before Nawaki finally ran out of strength and fell to the ground, reluctantly admitting defeat.
[You have defeated Nawaki. Choose an attribute to absorb: Born Optimist Physique, Physique +2, Chakra +2]
Sen: "..."
Sen stared at the system panel, speechless.
Born Optimist Physique? What kind of ridiculous attribute was that?
Tsunade had at least inherited the Senju Clan's monstrous strength. How had you ended up inheriting this?
What good was it?!
"Nawaki, don't you have some kind of Kekkei Genkai like Wood Release?" Sen asked, pulling him to his feet. "I thought you were the First Hokage's grandson. You can't use Wood Release?"
Using Sen's arm for support, Nawaki stood up and brushed the dirt off himself. He seemed completely unconcerned about Wood Release.
"Only Grandpa and Uncle Tobirama ever inherited it. Unfortunately, after Grandpa passed away, Uncle Tobirama died on a mission too, and no ninja could use Wood Release after that." Nawaki still wore a smile as he spoke.
"Ninjas don't live very long, so we have to make the most of every second and become great ninjas."
You really are optimistic...
After commenting on that, Sen continued, "By the way, what happened to your huge clan? Why are only you and Tsunade left?"
"Let me think..." Nawaki gulped down some water, then answered,
"I remember Grandpa wanted the people of the Senju Clan to merge with the people of the village. But my great-uncle Tobirama disagreed. He thought the village had been founded so the clans could thrive, and doing that would put the cart before the horse.
"Our clan was the strongest in the Shinobi World back then, but that also meant we had the most enemies. After Grandpa died, quite a few clans that had been our enemies came to assassinate members of the Senju Clan, and many of our people died.
"Then there was the war, the missions, and the poor medical care. Our clan declined day by day. Later, Uncle Tobirama had no choice but to agree, though it pained him: the clan records were merged into the village's, and no one could use the surname 'Senju' anymore.
"I guess that's about it. It's pretty complicated."
At the end, Nawaki chuckled. "The Senju Clan is all in the village now, and everyone in the village is our comrade. There's no need to draw such clear lines."
Easy for you to say. Hashirama, your descendants can't even use Wood Release anymore. How are they supposed to protect Konoha?
Sen shook his head. There was no point dwelling on it. It seemed he wouldn't be able to get Wood Release from Nawaki. Perhaps he could only look for White Zetsu.
With that thought, Sen claimed a Chakra +2 and opened the panel to check his stats.
[Name: Uchiha Sen]
[Age: 11]
[Physique: 275]
[Mental Power: 163]
[Chakra: 292]
[Kekkei Genkai: Three Tomoe Sharingan, Uzumaki Physique]
[Ninjutsu: ...
Crow Clone: When attacked by an enemy, evade the attack by combining Illusion Technique and Summoning Technique, then seize an opportunity to counterattack.
[Other: ...
Chakra Nature: Fire, Wind, Lightning, Water, Earth]
Sen closed the panel, reasonably satisfied. After all his hard training lately, every stat except Mental Power, which had increased more slowly, was on the verge of breaking three hundred.
"Sen has always been this strong. You should know that," Kushina said, taking the cup from Nawaki. "Challenging him is just too much. I think you'd be better off challenging Minato."
Nawaki muttered under his breath, "I just want to beat you, so you'll stop beating me up..."
"Did you just talk back to me?!" Kushina's knuckles cracked as she clenched her fists.
"All right, all right. Don't start fighting," Minato hurriedly stepped in to mediate. "We've only got a month and a half before we head back to the front. We should use the time to train."
Once the two had stopped arguing, Minato went over and sparred with Sen.
Time flew by, and another half month passed in the blink of an eye.
Winter arrived in Konoha, and the weather grew colder by the day.
That evening, Sen trained until dusk before heading home. It was only six or seven o'clock, yet the sky was already pitch-black.
As he turned a street corner, two figures blocked his way.
Sen frowned and was about to step around them, but they spoke up.
"You're Uchiha Sen, right? We're Lord Danzo's subordinates. We're here for that sword of yours, the one called Samehada."
"What do you mean?" Sen took a step back, his right hand gripping his short sword while his left reached for the Sealing Scroll on his back. "I won this sword as spoils of war. According to the village's rules, it's my private property now."
"Rules can change." One of the Root Ninjas tossed a scroll over.
"This is a mission scroll personally issued by Lord Hokage. We need to study Samehada. If we can find its clan and sign a Summoning Contract, the village's strength will rise to another level."
Sen dropped the scroll on the ground and warily nudged it open with his sword. He glanced over its contents, then cursed aloud.
"One million Ryo, and you think you can buy my sword? Who do you think you're fooling? Do you know how much it's worth on the black market?!"
"It's wartime. The village doesn't have that much money. Can't you think of the village and make a small sacrifice?"
Sen spat. "Pah! When you say 'the village,' does that include us Uchiha too?"
"What do you mean?! This is a village mission. As a ninja, you should obey without question!" The other man pressed him.
Sen rolled his eyes, then suddenly smiled. "You want the sword? Fine. But I'm only renting it out, not selling it. The rent is ten thousand Ryo a day, paid one year at a time.
"If you can't return it after a year, you'll owe me fifty million Ryo in compensation for breach of contract."
"Ten thousand a day? In a year, that would—"
"That's not important!" The other Root Ninja hurriedly cut his companion off, then smiled at Sen. "Lord Danzo will surely agree for the sake of the village! Hand over the sword now!"
"Do you take me for an idiot?" Sen walked between them without looking back. "Have your boss write up the IOU and bring a year's rent, then come see me!"
The two exchanged a glance and immediately agreed. "Fine!"
As far as they were concerned, this was only a stalling tactic.
Once the sword was in Lord Danzo's hands, there was no chance he'd return it.
Did a little Uchiha brat really think he could stand against the entire Root?
Far away, Sen wore a sly grin.
He had long since discovered that Samehada had an unbreakable Summoning link with Kirigakure. No matter how far away it was, the Mizukage could summon it back at any time.
That was why he'd kept Samehada sealed away all this time.
So now they'd reached a rather ingenious arrangement: Danzo wanted Sen's sword, and Sen wanted the other man's fifty million Ryo.
In short, two millennia-old foxes had both set their eyes on each other's "stake."
The next morning, just after sunrise, the two Root Ninjas knocked on Sen's door.
"Uchiha Sen, we wrote everything you said yesterday into this IOU. We've brought a year's rent, too. Sign here, and the money is yours."
Sen opened the scroll. The IOU looked convincing enough; it even bore Danzo's handwritten signature and the Root's seal.
"Mm. Looks fine."
"Then sign it and give us the sword," one of them said, hurriedly holding out a pen.
Sen took the pen and rolled it between his fingers, but didn't put it to paper. "The penalty is fifty million Ryo. I can't just sign this without thinking. What if you refuse to pay later? I'll need a few witnesses."
Before you continue