"Was saving the young clan head, Nawaki, really a bad thing?"
Kawadera Uchiha asked, "Xingyue, why would your brother have doubts like that?"
Seigetsu Senju looked genuinely upset, not as if she were joking, so Kawadera Uchiha grew more serious.
"My brother's been pushing for something lately, and I don't know if it's right." Seigetsu Senju clutched her head, her gaze unfocused. "I don't know. I really don't..."
"What is your brother trying to push through?"
Seigetsu Senju said, "When the village was founded, the Senju Clan had more than two thousand shinobi. They deserved their reputation as the strongest clan in the Warring States Era.
"After the First Shinobi World War, only a little over eight hundred shinobi remained in the Senju Clan.
"During peacetime, the Senju Clan took on the most dangerous missions, and our casualties kept mounting.
"By the time the Second Shinobi World War began, only a little over five hundred shinobi remained in the Senju Clan.
"Ever since Konoha was founded, everything has flourished, but there's no question that the Senju Clan has grown weaker.
"After the Second Shinobi World War broke out, the Senju Clan suffered heavy losses.
"Especially in the past month. In the War of the Land of Hot Water and the War of the Land of Grass, the Senju Clan lost more than a hundred shinobi in a single month.
"Now, only a little over two hundred shinobi remain in the Senju Clan.
"My brother said we couldn't let the Senju Clan keep growing weaker.
"He returned to the village, rallied some people, and hoped to bring about change.
"First, he persuaded the heads of the Inuzuka Clan, the Aburame Clan, and the Kurama Clan.
"Well, 'persuaded' isn't quite right. The three clan heads had already been looking for a way to bring about change.
"The Senju Clan always fought at the very front in every war. As the Senju Clan's allies for hundreds of years, the three clans had followed them into battle, and in recent years, we'd suffered heavy casualties too.
"My brother Seiei, along with the three clan heads, went to see Lady Mito."
Kawadera Uchiha asked, "What did they want to say to Lady Mito?"
"Lady Mito said that because the Second Shinobi World War had reached a stalemate, the Senju Clan, the other ninja clans, and civilian shinobi had to be even more willing to make sacrifices so Konoha could win the war.
"The Senju Clan was willing to fight for Konoha to the last person.
"She repeated that same argument again and again, and the three clan heads fell silent.
"The Senju Clan had suffered terrible losses, and the three clans were in no better shape.
"My brother Seiei said he would be the one to play the villain.
"He proposed several plans and asked Lady Mito to consider them.
"The first was for the Senju Clan and its three allied clans to withdraw from the front lines and take turns resting, while the Uchiha Clan, the Hyuga Clan, the Sarutobi Clan, the Shimura Clan, and the other clans took over as the main forces on the battlefield.
"It wasn't that the Senju Clan was afraid to fight. We would simply take turns with the village's other clans.
"Lady Mito rejected the plan outright. She said that if the Senju Clan withdrew and set a bad example, how could anyone else keep fighting to the death for the village?
"The Senju Clan carried the honor of founding the village. We would never back down, no matter what."
Kawadera Uchiha nodded. As one of Konoha's founding-generation shinobi, Mito Uzumaki would never agree to such a cowardly plan.
"My brother proposed another plan: redistribute the forces across the battlefields.
"The Land of Grass, the Land of Hot Water, and the Land of River—Konoha was fighting on three fronts, and the Senju Clan was spread across all three.
"With so few of us left, couldn't we concentrate the Senju Clan and our three allied clans on one battlefield, where we could look out for one another?
"The village could assign its forces to the other two battlefields.
"Lady Mito rejected that plan too. She said the Senju Clan had to be present on every battlefield, leading from the front and raising the morale of Konoha's shinobi."
Kawadera Uchiha sighed inwardly. Seiei Senju's plan was eminently practical, but Mito Uzumaki still couldn't let go of the Senju Clan's founding legacy. She insisted on making the clan shoulder the burden of the entire village.
Even after the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out, Mito Uzumaki had continued worrying about Konoha's Jinchūriki until the day she died, calmly passing the Nine-Tails on to the next host.
"Finally, my brother was almost driven mad. He made one last proposal, something completely outlandish...
"He...he actually...
"He actually suggested that everyone in the Senju Clan give up their surname, set aside the burden of the clan's founding legacy, and serve Konoha as ordinary Konoha shinobi!"
Kawadera Uchiha was stunned.
Everyone said the Senju Clan eventually gave up its surname and assimilated into the village. Was this when it happened?
Nawaki Senju's death had dealt Tsunade a devastating blow and broken the Senju Clan's final resolve.
If Mito Uzumaki had heard that her own grandson was dead, then Seiei Senju's efforts to persuade her would surely have succeeded by now.
The Senju Clan would have started giving up its surname at this point. To put it nicely, they would be assimilating into the village. To put it bluntly, they would have lost all hope.
If they assimilated now, the Senju Clan still had two hundred shinobi and could preserve some of its strength.
If they kept holding out, then...the Senju Clan's fate might be even worse than in the original story.
Kawadera Uchiha hurriedly asked, "That's a brilliant proposal. Giving up the surname and setting aside the burden of the past—I think it's an excellent plan. What did Lady Mito say?"
"Lady Mito was about to reprimand my brother when Naka Aburame, the head of the Aburame Clan, cut in first. 'One of my clansmen joined the Anbu and died on an investigation mission.'
"That mission was to investigate a rumor that had been spreading around the village.
"Some faction in the village was deliberately spreading the rumor that the Senju Clan lived up to its name as a founding clan, always charging into battle first, and that all we had to do was follow behind them to keep winning.
"Someone wanted to put the Senju Clan on a pedestal. Someone wanted to hide behind the Senju Clan during the war.
"To quote the head of the Aburame Clan, someone wanted to wring the last bit of value out of the Senju Clan, until they got their hands on the clan's thousand-year legacy!"
Hearing this rumor, Lady Mito fell silent—a rare sight.
However, the young clan head, Nawaki, was carried into the hall. He sternly rebuked my brother and criticized the three clan heads as well.
"What do a few sacrifices matter for Konoha? The Senju Clan has never feared sacrifice.
"In the Warring States Era, the Senju Clan sacrificed for the clan.
"In the era of the hidden villages, the Senju Clan sacrifices for the village we founded—Konoha.
"Even with the bones in his lower body shattered by the explosion, he still wanted to recover as quickly as possible and fight for Konoha. No one else should show even the slightest weakness!"
Lady Mito immediately reversed the position she had just begun to soften on and ordered my brother confined to his quarters to reflect on his actions."
Kawadera Uchiha suddenly understood why Seiei Senju had said in his anger that saving the young clan head, Nawaki, had not been a good thing.
He understood even more clearly than Seiei Senju did.
In the original timeline, Nawaki's death had been the final straw that broke the Senju Clan.
After the village was founded, the clan's losses kept growing, until the honor of founding the village became too heavy a burden for the Senju Clan to bear.
The Senju Clan gave up the honor of founding the village, abandoned its surname, and surrendered its clan lands, living in Konoha as ordinary villagers.
It wasn't glorious, but at least they had secretly preserved their bloodline and their legacy.
Even Tsunade, a core member of the Senju Clan, had given up her surname. That proved that in the original story, everyone had accepted the decision to abandon it.
But all of that had changed because Nawaki Senju survived.
The more than two hundred shinobi left in the Senju Clan would continue to bear the honor of founding the village.
Powerful clan members like Ken Senju had long since been all but wiped out.
If shinobi like Nawaki Senju and Seigetsu Senju, who had yet to reach their full potential, were sent to the front lines, the casualties would only grow even more horrific.
Kawadera Uchiha said, "Xingyue, don't blame your brother too much.
"I agree with what he's doing.
"For a great clan like the Senju, preserving its legacy comes first. It shouldn't worry about temporary ups and downs.
"Your brother is trying to protect the Senju Clan's legacy, isn't he?"
"But ever since I was little, I've heard Father say that the Senju Clan gave everything to Konoha. Konoha is the Senju Clan's future!"
Kawadera Uchiha said no more.
Beliefs instilled over generations were hard to change in a short time.
He just felt uneasy. Nawaki Senju's survival would lead to an even more tragic fate for the Senju Clan.
Was it impossible for them even to give up their surname and live as ordinary villagers?
Ken Aburame suddenly came over and said:
"Captain Xingyue! The commanders are gathering their subordinates. Our unit is heading into the Land of Grass with the Third!"
Before you continue