Night of Fate: Ryūchi Cave: Mount Myōboku

Konoha Year 25—

Another year of great significance.

At the start of the year, the busy Toji personally went to the Senju Clan to witness Nawaki Senju's birth.

The Shinobi World did not seem to have much of a preference for sons over daughters.

Compared to gender, seniority mattered more.

The eldest son or daughter was often valued more highly. Even though Nawaki was also born beneath countless halos, the grandeur of his birth was far inferior to that of his older sister, Tsunade. Perhaps it was also because the two Senju ancestors had been dead for many years. Once people were gone, their influence faded.

Takayuki Senju and Toji both remembered Hashirama's regret during his lifetime. The moment Nawaki was born, they carefully examined his constitution.

The result was utterly ordinary. He was nothing more than a perfectly normal infant.

The innate Bloodline talent had not descended upon Nawaki.

Takayuki Senju could not help feeling worried. He had always remembered the prophecy his father had left behind: someone from the Senju Clan would eventually inherit the power of Wood Release. Tsunade had already been proven not to possess that talent. If, when Nawaki grew old enough to refine chakra, he was also proven not to have it—

No one knew how many generations later the inheritor of Wood Release would appear.

Besides that, three people Toji was familiar with were born that year.

The new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio—Inoichi Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi, and Shikaku Nara—were all born in Konoha that very year.

When Nawaki turned one month old, Chiri followed Toji to the Senju Clan for the celebration.

Looking at Nawaki, who was beginning to take human shape, a barely perceptible envy surfaced in the depths of her eyes. Both she and Toji had clearly worked hard,