Tobirama's Magnanimity

The setting sun filtered through the windows, spilling lazily across the room as Tobirama Senju held a piece of white chalk, tapping it against the blackboard. The sound of vigorous writing echoed throughout the classroom.

Rikusei, sitting upright at his desk, looked up at the blackboard filled with text regarding the techniques for throwing Kunai and Shuriken.

The specific grip and the angle of release were drawn in meticulous detail. The lifelike illustrations were enough to make one sigh in silent admiration; it was no wonder Tobirama Senju was the one dedicated to scientific research.

The drawing on the board continued.

Rikusei recalled the names he had noted down during the self-introductions earlier; none of them belonged to the Senju Clan.

A bold idea rose in his heart: could it be that everyone who didn't belong to a famous, named clan was potentially a member of the Senju Clan?

It was highly probable.

Could it be that the Senju Clan's concealment within Konoha started right now?

Rikusei stared intently at the back of the man on the podium, feeling more and more that this was the truth. Given his personality, doing something like this wouldn't be strange at all.

The Senju Clan had no distinct physical traits. Once they shed their surname, they stood in a crowd looking like ordinary people, making them completely indistinguishable.

Unlike the Uchiha or the Hyuga.

One had people looking at you with Byakugan at every moment, and the other turned red-eyed the moment they got agitated.

"Swish."

The chalk spun rapidly through the air, a white blur passing by Rikusei's line of sight and flying straight toward the person behind him.

"Ugh."

A groan of pain, heavy with sleepiness, rang out from the window side.

Beneath his round spectacles, Mitokado Homura looked on in shock at the chalk rolling slowly across the desk, then calmly nudged his seatmate with the tip of his pen.

Utatane Koharu, wearing a small orange vest, stood up in embarrassment. She hurriedly picked up the chalk, placed it on the podium, and lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Teacher. I was too excited yesterday and didn't sleep well."

Tobirama Senju nodded, signaling for her to return to her seat. After the small disturbance, he resumed his lecture.

He could understand the state of these children, but he could not accept it. He had prepared his lesson plan with great effort, and he would not allow anyone to sleep.

Time slipped away quietly alongside the sound of Tobirama's earnest lecturing.

Rikusei filled his notebook completely. If for no other reason, he couldn't afford to miss a single detail of the vivid diagrams of muscle and joint force distribution on the board.

Especially since Izuna had fallen to this very technique.

In the early days of the school, there weren't so many rigid rules. As soon as Tobirama finished his explanation, he dragged them to the training ground to test the results of his teaching.

The noisy clamor of the boisterous students walking through the hallway caught the attention of the teachers in the office, who stood around the windows, gazing out at the situation on the training field.

Rikusei was called up first. He gripped his Kunai tightly, combining the Uchiha throwing method with the techniques he had just learned.

"Thud, thud, thud."

The Kunai were firmly embedded in the very center of the wooden target.

Tobirama Senju nodded, withdrew his gaze, and gave him an 'Excellent' rating on his paper.

Rikusei turned and walked back toward the group. The gazes he met were mostly indifferent, with only a few pupils shifting slightly.

The subsequent throwing practice further verified his hypothesis.

The Senju Clan.

No.

It should be that the descendants of the former Senju Clan were hiding within the class.

After the Kunai throwing, it was time for Shuriken training.

After a round of rotations, the morning throwing lesson came to an end.

Unfortunately, the school did not provide lunch, so they had to scatter like birds and beasts, heading straight home.

On the way to the clan grounds, Rikusei brought up his discovery. Naori and Kagami expressed that they had the same suspicion.

"The Senju Clan might have disbanded? Mmph!!"

Kagami's eyes widened, his ten fingers prying desperately at the hands covering his mouth.

"Huff."

Kagami's face flushed red as he shook his sore finger joints, his chest heaving violently.

"Shh! Keep it down." Rikusei scanned his surroundings, and seeing no one, he let out a breath and continued, "These are just guesses, but it's very likely to be true."

"But why would the Senju Clan disband?" Kagami's cheeks were full of confusion. He was utterly baffled; he found it hard to imagine a clan that had been entangled with the Uchiha for so many years suddenly dissolving.

"What is one of the basic requirements of a ninja?" Naori asked softly, as if she had thought of something.

"It's secrecy."

Kagami recalled it as if he were back in the clan school, answering honestly.

Naori was satisfied with his attitude and pondered, "The village was proposed jointly by the Uchiha and the Senju. As various ninja clans joined, small factions would inevitably form within the village. I think that is one of the reasons why the Senju Clan disbanded."

"What do you think, Rikusei?"

Rikusei stopped in his tracks at the girl's question beside him. Having little information to go on, he could only speculate, so he looked up at the thriving village and said, "Everything the Senju Clan does must be for the sake of the village."

"However~"

Rikusei drew out his tone, turning his body to look at the two people in front of him.

"What is it, Rikusei!"

Kagami took the bait as expected, urging him impatiently.

Naori simply watched him quietly, seemingly aware of what he wanted to say.

Rikusei revealed the answer, saying, "Instead of guessing here, why don't we just head back to the Ninja Academy and ask Teacher Tobirama? He shouldn't have left the school yet."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get to the bottom of this." Kagami took the lead, heading toward the Ninja Academy.

Rikusei turned his face away, avoiding Naori's teasing eyes, and gave an awkward laugh; he hadn't expected his little scheme to be seen through by her so easily.

Inside the office, Tobirama stopped what he was doing, set the teaching materials he had been organizing aside, and said to the three young Uchiha before him, "You've already discovered it?"

"It's too easy to notice! It would be strange if there weren't any Senju in the Ninja Academy!" Rikusei said helplessly, running his finger across the names on the roster.

"That's right! Teacher Tobirama, how could the Senju Clan just disappear like that?" As a descendant of their arch-rivals, Kagami Uchiha spoke up on their behalf.

"As expected of the Uchiha! So sensitive when it comes to the Senju." Tobirama Senju's silver hair swayed as he leaned forward and back, his narrowed red eyes examining them with interest.

"So it's true, then!" Kagami pressed urgently.

"Yes." The smile gradually faded from his face, and Tobirama Senju said with a touch of melancholy, "This matter will be announced at the upcoming meeting to which all clans will be invited."

"Is it worth it?" Naori, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

Her cold, clear voice echoed in the office, drifting into the distance along with the breeze that rattled the window shutters.

Tobirama silently tidied up the slightly messy papers, looked toward the village in the distance, and said with a resolute expression, "The Uchiha brats have their satisfactory answer, don't they? Why aren't you home for dinner yet?"

"I have some thoughts regarding the teaching materials." Rikusei stepped forward, changing the subject.

"Heh." Tobirama Senju leaned back in his chair and straightened his posture, examining him with keen interest.

"A ninja's perspective is particularly important. I've heard that other nations have also established Hidden Villages. Shouldn't the terrain, geography, and the flow of mountains and rivers in those countries be included in the textbooks? And perhaps the secret techniques and bloodline clans possessed by each village as well."

"You've just handed the village a massive problem!" There was a hint of trouble in Tobirama's tone as he picked up the materials from the desk, then suddenly smiled, "I had already thought of those! Though, I hadn't considered the secret techniques and bloodline clans."

The figure of Tobirama hunched over his desk in the room, busy at work, gradually vanished from Rikusei's sight as the wooden door creaked shut.